| May and June were busy months for me. As many of you know, science is
my profession as well as my hobby. In May, I traveled to Portland, Oregon
to participate in the Applied Climatology Conference organized by the
American Meteorological Society. I taught a portion of the applied
climatology business applications short course, presented a paper (on
climate indices for the economy) and a poster (on drought monitoring at
NCDC) at the conference, and participated in a western U.S. drought
monitoring roundtable after the conference. It was a busy schedule, giving
me just one day for sightseeing, part of which I spent at OMSI (the Oregon
Museum of Science and Industry - see my discussion later in this report).
In June, I traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida to participate in the
Southeastern Fire and Climate Workshop. On the way home, Shirley and I
spent a couple days at Orlando, visiting Epcot Center and the Kennedy
Space Center. We also moseyed on over to Tampa's MOSI (Museum of Science
and Industry) for a couple hours (see my discussion later in this report).
Sandwiched in between these work bookends was a walking pneumonia
episode. As I said, a busy couple months.
As a consequence, the Alaric Science Department was quite busy, with
away teams to opposite ends of the country!
Science Lab
The Science Lab listserver is a cool place to find news and web pages
on neat developments in science. If you're interested in receiving
fascinating science posts, including a list of upcoming science shows on
tv each week and a weekly science trivia question and Star Trek trivia
question, go to the yahoo web page and sign up! Here's how:
- Go to the egroups (yahoo groups) web page (http://groups.yahoo.com/)
- Under the "Join a Group" section, type in the name of the group to
join and click on "Search".
The name of the group is:
Science-Lab
You'll want to join the first Science-Lab group listed.
Recent posts to the Science-Lab list include:
- Solar System - Maybe Like Ours - Pretty Darn Close!
This is a very exciting discovery. A solar system that has a gas
giant like Jupiter, in about the same type of orbit as Jupiter, that
is about the same age as our solar system, and that is only 41 light
years from earth ... practically a next door neighbor!!! System 55
Cancri.
You can read about it at the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/14/science/14PLAN.html?todaysheadlines),
in a NASA Science News report (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/13jun_newplanets.htm?list647810),
in a Science News magazine online article (http://www.sciencenews.org/20020615/fob2.asp),
CNN's web page (http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/06/20/exoplanets.jupiter/index.html),
and Newsweek magazine's web page (http://www.msnbc.com/news/767762.asp).
Science News also discussed planet hunters' work in the article,
"Dusty Disks May Reveal Hidden Worlds: On the trail of extrasolar
planets" (http://www.sciencenews.org/20020504/bob8.asp).
If you want to join The Planet Finder Club, go to this web page (it
sounds really cool!): http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/Planet_Finder/planet_finder_club.html
Here's the NASA June 13 internet press release (02-111) on 55
Cancri:
NEWFOUND PLANETARY SYSTEM HAS "HOMETOWN" LOOK
After 15 years of observation and a lot of patience, the world's
premier planet-hunting team has finally found a planetary system that
reminds them of our own home solar system.
Dr. Geoffrey Marcy, astronomy professor at the University of
California, Berkeley, and astronomer Dr. Paul Butler of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C., today announced the
discovery of a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star at nearly
the same distance as the Jovian system orbits our Sun.
"All other extrasolar planets discovered up to now orbit closer to
the parent star, and most of them have had elongated, eccentric
orbits. This new planet orbits as far from its star as our own Jupiter
orbits the Sun,'' said Marcy. NASA and the National Science Foundation
fund the planet-hunting team.
The star, 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer, was already known
to have one planet, announced by Butler and Marcy in 1996. That planet
is a gas giant slightly smaller than the mass of Jupiter and whips
around the star in 14.6 days at a distance only one-tenth that from
Earth to the Sun.
Artist conception of 55
Cancri system (from NASA).
Using as a yardstick the 93-million mile Earth-Sun distance, called
an astronomical unit or AU, the newfound planet orbits at 5.5 AU,
comparable to Jupiter's distance from our Sun of 5.2 AU (or about 512
million miles). Its slightly elongated orbit takes it around the star
in about 13 years, comparable to Jupiter's orbital period of 11.86
years. It is 3.5 to 5 times the mass of Jupiter.
How the 55 Cancri system
compares to our Solar System (from NASA).
"We haven't yet found an exact solar system analog, which would
have a circular orbit and a mass closer to that of Jupiter. But this
shows we are getting close, we are at the point of finding planets at
distances greater than 4 AU from the host star," said Butler. "I think
we will be finding more of them among the 1,200 stars we are now
monitoring."
The team shared its data with Dr. Greg Laughlin, assistant
professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of
California, Santa Cruz. His dynamical calculations show that an
Earth-sized planet could survive in a stable orbit between the two gas
giants. For the foreseeable future, existence of any such planet
around 55 Cancri will remain speculative.
"The existence of analogs to our solar system adds urgency to
missions capable of detecting Earth-sized planets - first the Space
Interferometry Mission (for details on the Space Interferometry
Mission, go to http://isc.caltech.edu/sim.html
or http://sim.jpl.nasa.gov --
RH) and then the Terrestrial Planet Finder (for details, go to
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_index.html
-- RH)," said Dr. Charles Beichman, NASA's Origins Program chief
scientist at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"This planetary system will be the best candidate for direct
pictures when the Terrestrial Planet Finder is launched later this
decade," said UC Berkeley astronomer Dr. Debra A. Fischer.
Marcy, Butler, Fischer and their team also announced a total of 13
new planets today, including the smallest ever detected: a planet
circling the star HD49674 in the constellation Auriga at a distance of
.05 AU, one-twentieth the distance from Earth to the Sun. Its mass is
about 15 percent that of Jupiter and 40 times that of Earth. This
brings the total number of known planets outside our solar system to
more than 90.
Discovery of a second planet orbiting 55 Cancri culminates 15 years
of observations with the 3-meter (118-inch) telescope at Lick
Observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. The
team also includes Dr. Steve Vogt, UC Santa Cruz; Dr. Greg Henry,
Tennessee State University, Nashville; and Dr. Dimitri Pourbaix, the
Institut d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, Universite Libre de
Bruxelles.
The star 55 Cancri is 41 light years from Earth and is about
5-billion years old. Further data are needed to determine whether yet
another planet is orbiting it, because the two known planets do not
explain all the observed Doppler wobbling. One possible explanation is
a Saturn-mass planet orbiting about .24 AU from the star.
JPL manages the Terrestrial Planet Finder and Space Interferometry
Mission for NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena. More information, including artist concept and
animations, can be found on the Internet at:
- Excuse Me, My Tooth Is Ringing....
British engineers say they have invented a revolutionary tooth
implant that works like a mobile phone and would not be out of place
in a James Bond spy movie.
Sound, which comes into the tooth as a digital radio signal, is
transferred to the inner ear by bone resonance, meaning information
can be received anywhere and at any time--and nobody else can listen
in.
Despite its similarity to high-tech gadgets dreamed up by Bond's
faithful "Q" sidekick, the inventors believe the gizmo could become
the first in a whole suite of nonmedical devices implanted into the
human body.
Full Story: http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=1105673
- The Real Holodeck - Deep Vision: When Walls Become Doors Into
Virtual Worlds
Dr. Thomas DeFanti, a computer scientist and photographer at the
University of Illinois in Chicago, and colleagues have developed a
high-tech imaging system that recreates a three-dimensional likeness
that looks right from any viewing angle. They call it the CAVE, which
stands for Cave Automatic Virtual Environment -- a cubic room of
screens onto which rear-screen projectors throw computer-generated
views of a virtual scene.
A visitor to CAVE sees -- and sometimes hears, feels, and even
smells -- a three-dimensional world that seems to engulf him or her.
That virtual world can include anything a computer can simulate, from
the inside of an atom to an ancient Greek temple or the heart of the
Milky Way. What's more, the CAVE dweller can move around the objects
and experience them from all sides, just as he or she might in the
real world.
This is accomplished through the aid of an eyeglass frame fitted
with an electromagnetic or ultrasonic tracking device which enables
the computer to monitor the orientation of the person's head and eyes
and redraw images in corresponding perspectives. Almost sounds like
Star Trek's holodeck, eh?
For details, go to the Science News page: http://www.sciencenews.org/20020601/bob8.asp
This issue's science facility discussion focuses on not one, not two,
not even three ... but four places of science interest!
OMSI Away Team Report
First OMSI - the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry,
which is located in Portland, Oregon. OMSI has an OMNIMAX IMAX theater,
Murdock Planetarium, featured exhibits, and lots of labs and
demonstrations, in addition to a cool science store and cafeteria. The
museum is presented at a level similar to the great science museum of
Boston, MA, just a notch below Philadelphia's wonderful Franklin Institute
Museum of Science! According to the OMSI brochure:
"Opening Minds Daily: OMSI puts the wow in science for the kid in
each of us. Explore a world of hands-on fun! With more than 200 hands-on
exhibits, a five-story OMNIMAX Theater, an authentic submarine, eight
interactive laboratories, and a state-of-the-art planetarium, there is
something for everyone.
"Build a river, uncover fossils, mix chemicals, hold a walking stick
insect, or watch as a hologram is developed right before your eyes. OMSI
has eight interactive laboratories where science educators are ready to
encourage your investigators. Don't miss the Vernier Technology Center
where you can explore the ever-changing world of computer technology, or
the KOIN6-OMSI Weather Lab where you can talk with meteorologists and
learn about weather forecasting.
"Strap in and hang on! As OMSI's Motion Simulator twists, turns and
surrounds you with sight and sound you can travel back in time, dive
into a fiery volcano, speed around a Grand Prix race track and
experience incredible adventures.
"Take an in-depth look at science topics ranging from chemistry to
geology to technology while meeting new friends and making great
memories. OMSI offers week-long day classes and residential camps
throughout the summer and during school breaks."
I was able to spend just a couple hours at OMSI, but I could have spent
the entire afternoon there. Most of the items in the science store were
geared for kids, but they do have some great Quick Study Academic Bar
Charts, sort of Cliff's Notes things.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is located at 1945 SE Water
Avenue, Portland, OR 97214. Phone number is 503-797-4000, email (if you
want to join) is membership@omsi.edu and their web
page is http://www.omsi.edu
MOSI Away Team Report
Second: MOSI - the Museum Of Science and Industry, which
is located in Tampa, Florida. Their motto is "Making Science Real: Come
In and See All You Can Be." Tampa's MOSI is the largest science center
in the Southeast and home to MOSIMAX, Florida's only IMAX DOME theater.
According to the MOSI brochure:
"MOSI offers more than 450 "minds-on" interactive activities, making
science a real-life adventure.
The Science Store - books, models, T-shirts, telescopes,
and more. A unique shopping experience with science and educational
fun.
BioWorks Butterfly Garden - sponsored by Southwest Florida
Water Management District and NationsBank. An engineered ecosystem
that emulates natural wetlands and provides a natural habitat for
butterflies.
The Saunders Planetarium - cruise the galaxy! Daily shows
and weekend "star parties," weather permitting.
GTE Challenger Learning Center - part of an international
network of centers established by the families of the Challenger crew.
Conduct your own mission in this 21st century classroom with space
station and mission control simulators."
Shirley and I were able to spend just a couple hours at MOSI. I found
most of the exhibits to be geared toward smaller children, which is a good
thing, and I'd like to visit it again some day. I would rate this science
museum to be on the same level as Charlotte's Discovery Place.
The Tampa Museum Of Science and Industry is located at 4801 E. Fowler
Avenue, Tampa, FL 33617-2099. Phone number is 813-987-6000 and their web
page is http://www.mosi.org
Kennedy Space Center Away Team Report
Third: The Kennedy Space Center, which is located at,
well, Cape Kennedy, Florida. This is IT, The
Place To Be, the dream center
for all who dream of exploring space, "where a day becomes an Odyssey"!
It's all for real, as (for those of you who don't know) the Kennedy Space
Center is the working space flight facility for the U.S. space program.
As such, much of the facility is restricted and off limits to visitors.
But what we can tour is the Visitor Complex, which has all sorts of
exhibits and activities, and KSC bus tours to the LC-39 Observation Gantry
and the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Needless to say, security was tight.
I started my day at about 10 a.m. touring the Visitor Complex. This
place has all sorts of exciting exhibits, including:
- Early Space Exploration - where you can see the actual
Mercury Mission Control consoles and other space artifacts
- NASA Art Gallery - artwork by astronauts and others
- Mad Mission to Mars: 2025 - "live-action, theatrical effects,
and 3-D computer animation take young space cadets on a wacky adventure
through the cosmos." I didn't get to see this.
- Exploration in the New Millennium - "touch a real Mars rock
and experience the future of space travel." I missed out on this, too.
- Shuttle Explorer - walk through "Explorer", a full-scale
orbiter replica
- Robot Scouts - "kids will love this cosmic adventure!" Adults
will, too! The Viking, Galileo, and another robot explorer, all with
talking personalities.
- Rocket Garden - real historic rockets that tell the story of
man's quest for the stars. Really cool!
 
click for another
image
- Launch Status Center - live shuttle mission briefings. Had an
interesting discussion with the NASA employee giving the briefing.
- Universe Theater - "Quest for Life" movie showing daily, but
I had to miss it - no time.
- Two IMAX Theaters - they were showing "The Dream is Alive"
and "Space Station" when I was there. These IMAX theaters are flat
screens, so I was a little disappointed, being used to the IMAX dome
theaters.
They have lots of other exhibits, including Astronaut Encounter
(yes, you get to meet a real astronaut, mostly Space Shuttle crew),
Nature and Technology, Children's Play Dome, Center for
Space Education, Space Walk of Honor, and Astronaut
Memorial. And then there's Space Shop, the souvenir shop which
rivals all other souvenir shops - you could spend a fortune there!!
From the Launch Complex-39 Observation Gantry, you can spend
time at the interactive exhibit area and check out a briefing film. From
the top of the gantry, you have a 360-degree view of the Launch Pads, the
Crawlerway, and the Vehicle Assembly Building. The VAB is huge, as
the bus drove right past it!
The Apollo/Saturn V Center is a giant building housing the
Firing Room Theater, which re-creates an Apollo launch, the Lunar Theater,
which depicts the first moon landing (with a full-scale LEM replica
landing right on the stage!), and a 363-foot Saturn V moon rocket. You go
into the exhibit room, look up, and your jaw drops open -- there, hanging
from supports, are the stages of a REAL Saturn V! Just awesome! On the bus
to the Apollo/Saturn V Center, I sat next to a KSC engineer, who was
touring with his family. We were two engineer-scientist types talking
NASA-NOAA "shop" -- had a great time!
I had planned on spending just 5 hours at Kennedy Space Center, then
getting over to the nearby Astronaut Hall of
Fame before they closed at 5 p.m. But I ended up spending all day at
KSC. Anybody interested in buying an Astronaut Hall of Fame admission
ticket? If so, drop me a line!
The Kennedy Space Center is located along Florida's Space Coast, 45
minutes east of Orlando. Phone number for information is 321-449-4444 and
the Visitor Complex web page is http://www.KennedySpaceCenter.com
Epcot Away Team Report
Fourth: Disneyworld's Epcot Theme Park, which is located
just south of Orland, Florida. Epcot is just one of four Disneyworld theme
parks, which also include Disney-MGM Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Disney's
Animal Kingdom. Disneyworld also has Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach,
Downtown Disney, and Disney's Wide World of Sports. Shirley and I had only
one day to whiz through Epcot, but you could easily spend several days at
just that one theme park.
The Epcot slogan is: "Discover the Wonder: Set your imagination free
and it will end up here." Epcot is where you "experience the wonders of
the future and explore the cultures of the world!" The park is divided
into two sections: Future World and World Showcase.
In Future World, we visited the following:
- Spaceship Earth (presented by AT&T) - the Spaceship Earth
Ride gives you a history of the milestones in communications vital to
man's survival -- from Cro-Magnon cave paintings to electronic space
communications.
- Universe of Energy (presented by ExxonMobil) - this is a
fast-paced exploration of the forces that fuel our lives and the
universe itself. They cover fossil fuels, solar, wind, and nuclear
power, and the power of the mind.
- Wonders of Life - deals with biology, including exhibits and
films illustrating the body's immune system, aging, the human brain, a
sensitive film portrayal of the birth process, and much more.
- Innoventions (presented by many different companies) -
hands-on exhibits where you'll catch a glimpse of how science and
technology are improving our lives today and in the future. Lots of
really interesting stuff!
- The Living Seas - gives you a better understanding of
mankind's dependence on the seas, our past relationship with them, and
the role they will play in our future. With 5.7 million gallons of
water, this is the largest man-made ocean environment in the world. They
have many species of exotic fish in several tanks. I especially liked
the stingrays.
- The Land (presented by Nestle) - the ride takes you on a
cruise through a tropical rain forest, the African desert, the American
Plains and farms of yesteryear. It helps us to understand Man's
relationship with the land and how we need to take care of Mother Earth.
World Showcase is centered around a large lagoon and consists of
buildings, displays, entertainment, and shops illustrating the cultures of
eleven countries. We made it all of the way around the lagoon, in spite of
the late afternoon thundershower (actually, this was the only time our
sightseeing was interrupted by the weather). Shirley especially enjoyed
the areas by Germany and Japan.
DisneyWorld and Epcot are located south of Orlando, Florida on
Interstate 4, exits 64B, 65, 67, and 68. Phone number for information is
407-WDW-INFO. DisneyWorld's web page is http://disneyworld.com and Epcot's web
page is http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/waltdisneyworld/parksandmore/parkindex?id=TPEpcotPrk
Check out the Alaric's science department web page:
http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/AlaricSci.htm
FCapt. Richard Heim
Chief Science Officer
USS
Alaric
AlaricRH@sprynet.com
Region One Sciences is looking for an Assistant RDC and a newsletter
editor. If you're interested, contact me to find out how to apply: Richard
Heim, P.O. Box 2072, Asheville, NC 28802, or by email at AlaricRH@sprynet.com or check out
the details at our web
page.
In science news across the region, reports have been received from the
Chief Science Officers of the USS Heimdal (VAdm. Willy Smith), USS Hornet (Cmdr. James "Jamie" Delantonas),
USS Jurassic (Lt.jg Joe
Lamantia), USS Tycho (Chief
Petty Officer Adam Gorrell), and Shuttle Francis Marion (Cmdr. Dee Okolotowicz), in
addition to the USS Alaric.
At a recent Tycho meeting, Adam gave a report on genetically enhanced
pigs. Dee continues to work on the Francis Marion's Science Department web
pages. On April 13th, the Francis Marion sent a small Away Team on a
scientific visit to The Discovery Center (Discovery Place) in Charlotte,
North Carolina. As Cmdr. Okolotowicz reports:
It was an excellent exploratory mission, as we learned many new
concepts, and re-visited known ones. Ensign Lon Okolotowicz found it to
be very interesting and a lot of fun! He was literally the "kid in the
candy store!" We experienced a "holodeck-like" exhibit (actually a
flight simulator), called "Roller Coaster through the Galaxy." It was
unbelievable! This CSO, who usually hates real roller coasters, actually
rode it all the way through the Milky Way! But I admit, I had to close
my eyes a few times! Whoa!
The interesting part is that the Discovery Center is going to have
another simulator exhibit there soon called "Space Walk 2004" where you
will get into this flight simulator, blast off from earth, flying all
around the completed Space Station Freedom, as well as explore the
station, taking a space walk around it! I'm really looking forward to
experiencing that one! Perhaps several of the local area ship members
will be able to make this away mission when the time arrives.
I also want to urge any Science department members, regardless of
which ship you are on, to check out any show available in an IMAX
theater near you. These shows are extremely informative, highly
entertaining, and will stun you (pardon the pun) beyond belief, with
their style, graphics, and their presentation. We recently saw the IMAX
presentation of Shakleton. I was more than a little impressed with the
program. IMAX just seems to keep outdoing themselves in productions.
Check out the Region One Sciences web page: http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/R1Science.htm
FCapt. Richard Heim
Regional Division Chief,
Sciences
Starfleet Region One
AlaricRH@sprynet.com
The Starfleet Sciences web page (http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/starfleet-sciences.html)
continues to be popular with STARFLEET members, having over 210 hits since
its debut earlier this year! Eventually, I'd like to include links to web
pages listing Star Trek science-fiction becoming Real Science, so if you
know of any such web sites, please send their url's to me.
In an effort to serve as a communications resource for the Science
RDC's and RC's throughout STARFLEET, here is the latest science contact
information I have:
| Region |
RDC |
Science RDC |
Contact |
| 1 |
RDC |
FCapt. Richard Heim |
AlaricRH@sprynet.com
P.O.
Box 2072, Asheville, NC 28802
http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/R1Science.htm
|
| 2 |
RDC |
Capt. Neil Yawn |
CMOSNUFFY@aol.com
P.O. Box
733, Graysville, AL 35073 |
| 3 |
RDC |
Capt. William Downs |
krazydog@juno.com
Science@region3.com
2025
Peachtree Rd. NE #244, Atlanta, Ga. 30309-1421 |
| 4 |
RDC |
FCapt. Charles Flowers |
charles@migmaster.reno.nv.us
90 Silver Reef Drive, Reno, NV 89506-1822 |
| 5 |
Science
Liasion |
FCapt. Thomas Rutledge |
tomkhatt@excite.com
16821
Smokey Pt Blvd #812, Arlington, WA 98223 |
| 7 |
Science
Contact |
Brig. Gen. Larry S. Neigut |
USSMALVERNE@aol.com
Box
105, 304 Parkville-Station Road, Mantua, NJ 08051-1674 |
| 10 |
RDC |
Cmdr. Nan Dooley |
nancyrae@alaska.net
HC1,
Box 500, Gakona, AK 99586
http://r10.hypbus.com/sciences.html
|
| 11 |
RDC |
Comm. Alan Yates |
scarab@ay.com.au |
| 15 |
RDC |
LtCmdr. John Prushko |
jprushko@together.net
103 Main Street Upstairs, Vergennes, VT 05491
|
Science News from Around the Fleet:
- Capt. Yawn reports that Region 2 Sciences published the fourth issue
of their bi-monthly newsletter, Exploration. He will be happy to email a
copy of the pdf file to anyone who contacts him (CMOSNUFFY@aol.com), and any Science
officer may submit an article to the newsletter. This is a really great
newsletter, containing science news and articles from the R/2 RDC, ARDC,
and RC. Check it out!
Thank you to all for your reports!
FCapt. Richard Heim
Fleet Division Chief,
Sciences
STARFLEET
fdp-science@sfi.org Click Here to Return to Table of
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