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Where are all my friends? Come on in and lets get comfy by the fire!

Hippie Bowman

By Hippie Bowman,
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Hippie Bowman
Hippie Bowman

Good morning everyone and happy holidays! I know I have been away a long time. And all of you deserve an explanation. For many years I did the breakfast club. In the end I knew it had run it's course

Sukubia Scarmon
Sukubia Scarmon

Okay, I abadoned my Lindenhome now, and opend up a ticket for the abandond land I want to own. Here's fingers crossed I did everything right. Can't wait! Woho! 

Rhonda Huntress
Rhonda Huntress

Rhonda's thoughtful thought of the day: If you love someone, set them free.  You will know your love is true if they don't press charges.

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Madelaine McMasters

Madelaine McMasters

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There are two axes of rocking motion, plus a change in size.

Here's an animation of an Earth satellite in a highly eccentric orbit...

Watch the red "view vector" pointing at the satellite from Earth. That's the line-of-sight to the satellite. Notice that the arrow rotates slowly around the Earth when the satellite is way out there and faster when in close. That satellite doesn't spin, but because it orbits the Earth, Earthlings get a 360° view of it. To them, it would appear to be spinning. And it would appear to be spinning faster at perigee (closest) than apogee (farthest). We'll call that "apparent spin" because the satellite isn't actually spinning (since it has solar cells, it's going to be pointing at the Sun if it can).

Also notice that the satellite is tilted (to the right from our deep-space vantage point) with respect to the orbital plane. When it's way out at apogee, Earthlings get to see a li'l of its bottom (and it looks smaller) and when its closest they see a bit of the top (and it looks bigger). When the satellite is one quarter way round the orbit in that video (not one quarter of the orbital circumference, but 90°), it would appear tilted to the right. Half an orbit later, it would appear tilted to the left. During one orbit, just as the satellite appears to spin, it also appears to wobble about its axis, forward/right/backward/left. Of course, it's neither rotating nor wobbling, as we see from our deep space vantage point.

The Moon is, of course, a satellite of Earth. It's in a slightly ellipitical orbit and it's tilted on its axis (7° compared to our 23.5°). But, unlike the satellite in the video, it's also spinning about its axis at a very constant rate of once per orbit (a lunar month). The Moon's rotation rate is locked to its orbital rate, so the same side faces us all the time. On average over the lunar month, the apparent and actual rates cancel exactly, but throughout the orbit the "apparent spin" rate changes. It's sometimes faster than the Moon's rotation and the Moon appears to spin backwards. Then the apparent spin rate slows and the Moon appears to spin forward. That oscillation between forward and backward creates an "apparent wobble" in the rotation, which is more subtle than the wobble caused by the tilted axis. You'll notice it if you watch craters near the edge of the moon slip towards/away from the edge. And if you watch carefully, the Moon also oscillates in size as it's distance from the Earth changes.

And finally, this reminds me of something that has peeved me since childhood. When looking through my telescopes at star parties, I've had people ask me if I'd ever like to see the dark side of the moon. I tell them I do that almost every night the moon is out. They give me a puzzled look. If I'm lucky, I can point up at a thin crescent Moon and say "How much of that crescent Moon is dark?". Some people slap their foreheads, some change their look from puzzlement to annoyance.

And this explains why I like Gary Larson (The Far Side) more than Pink Floyd (The Dark Side).

Happy Saturday, Kids!!!

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Madelaine McMasters

Madelaine McMasters

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Hippie Bowman wrote:

Good morning all!  Happy Mothers day!  No breakfast today so take your mother out for breakfast or perhaps give her a call and tell her how much you love her!

Peace!

If I tell Mom I love her, she'll think I'm dying. I'm just going to cook her a Mother's Day dinner without any cayenne pepper. That's as much affection as I can show her without raising suspicion.

;-).

Happy Mother's Day all you Moms!!!

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Hippie Bowman

Hippie Bowman

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Madelaine McMasters wrote:

Hippie Bowman wrote:

Good morning all!  Happy Mothers day!  No breakfast today so take your mother out for breakfast or perhaps give her a call and tell her how much you love her!

Peace!

If I tell Mom I love her, she'll think I'm dying. I'm just going to cook her a Mother's Day dinner without any cayenne pepper. That's as much affection as I can show her without raising suspicion.

;-).

Happy Mother's Day all you Moms!!!

LOL Maddy!  Yeah!  Better not to shock her!  You can always make brownie points with cooking!

 

Peace!

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valerie Inshan

valerie Inshan

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Happy Monday Hippie, Maddy, Jo and all! Since you seem to be so fond of astronomy, I'll post my latest purchase in SL. This animated planetarium by Ex Machina is just awesome! The thing is, I went to so many events this weekend, I can't remember where I bought it! :P 

Have a lovely day my friends! 

ex machina.jpg

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Madelaine McMasters

Madelaine McMasters

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Construction of a RL orrery (I made a crude one in SL in my early days) is on my bucket list. That's a pretty one you've got there, Val. When I was a kid, we build solar system models out of styrofoam balls. We then took turns being the Sun, by holding a flashlight. I liked being the Sun, and having everybody orbit me.

Happy Monday, Kids!!!

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valerie Inshan

valerie Inshan

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Madelaine McMasters wrote:

I liked being the Sun, and having everybody orbit me.

But... but... you are our Sun, Maddy! Until you build your RL orrery, you may be interested to know that the Ex Machina one comes in a cieling version too. You could rez it on your cieling, lay down on your SL bed and look as us little planets orbiting around you! 

I would hug you, but hugging the Sun sounds way too dangerous... ;) :matte-motes-sunglasses-1:

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KarenMichelle Lane

KarenMichelle Lane

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Snugs McMasters wrote:

Capture-Snugs.PNG

Oh my gosh, Snuggs has posted her 500th post! Congratulations! :matte-motes-sunglasses-1:

restless_sun.jpg

                                                                Mmmmm.......that sun glow feels soo nice.

 

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