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Posted By: wwh A word challenge - 11/24/02 05:33 PM
On the big globes of the world that used to be seen mounted on a yoke and pedestal,
with the continents and oceans labelled, there was a figure of eight shaped diagram
wih the months labelled. I once saw on Internet a series of exposures on the same
film, made by a serious amateur astronomer, which he mounted in an attic skylight
aimed at the zenith, with exposures made roughly weekly, when it was not cloudy,
at noon time. The images of the sun each week of the year fell in an enlongated
figure of eight.
While out on my walk just now, I remembered the word. Let's see how many of you
can find it.

When you give up, you can see it at:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020709.html

Posted By: Faldage Re: A word challenge - 11/24/02 06:06 PM
analemma

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: A word challenge - 11/24/02 07:19 PM
thanks for this, Bill. this is a word I don't ever remember learning, though I have been an astronomy buff for a long time... why I never heard it seems a bit of a dilemma.

Posted By: wofahulicodoc Re: A word challenge - 11/24/02 09:16 PM
It always reminds me of the last song from Fiddler on the Roof, featuring the name of the little town they are being driven out of...

I filed away a nice little essay on the subject that I was saving for the Winter Solstice, and here you've gone and anticipated it. Think I'll save it for next month anyway...

Posted By: wwh Re: A word challenge - 11/17/03 07:55 PM
I just found a new site with a lot of information about analemma. Problem, you need to buy QuickTime 4 for over 20bucks. I chickened out at that price. I also am not bright enough now to understand the explanation, at least not on the first try. For those smarter than I am, here's URL:
http://www.analemma.com/Pages/framesPage.html

Posted By: sjmaxq Re: A word challenge - 11/17/03 09:42 PM
Well, you're smarter than I, Dr. Bill, by a very long chalk, so if the equations are beyond you, they're beyond me. I can, however, let you know that the QuickTime player is available as free download from apple.com - it plays movies made with the software you have to buy. So, if all you want to do is watch QuickTime movies, the software is free.

Posted By: wwh Re: A word challenge - 11/17/03 10:09 PM
Dear Max: these days my humility is not a pretense. I understand that the fact Earth's orbit is elliptical, and the orbital speed is higher when Earth is close to the Sun.
It's the next step where I don't yet get it.
And while I have a version of QuickTime, the message said I'd have to cross their palm with silver to get update.
And I'm using a PC, not nothing from Apple can help me.
So if at first I don't succeed, I'll try,try again. Bill

Posted By: sjmaxq Re: A word challenge - 11/17/03 10:14 PM
> And while I have a version of QuickTime, the message said I'd have to cross their palm with silver to get update.
And I'm using a PC, not nothing from Apple can help me.

Not so, Dr. Bill. I'm not saying it's worth your while to bother but Quick Time is made by Apple, in versions for both Windows and Apple, and the latest version of the QuickTime player is still available for free.


Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: QT - 11/17/03 10:37 PM
just don't click anything that says Quicktime Pro, and you should be able to upgrade for free.
what frustrated me about the site is they don't tell you how big the movies are, in kilobytes, so I don't know how long I should expect to wait for them to load. and on a dial-up, that is a prime consideration. </rant>

Posted By: wwh Re: QT - 11/18/03 12:20 AM
I've been able to get some of the animations to work, and understand a bit more. I plan to keep trying. I have wanted to understand this ever since I bought my kids a globe fifty years ago.

Posted By: Jackie Re: analemma - 11/18/03 02:11 AM
the Equation-of-Time. Oh, this is SO cool! Thanks, you-all! The tilt of the earth, and also the elliptical orbit. Neat!

Posted By: wwh Re: analemma - 11/19/03 10:55 PM
I've got it! One of the few things I remember from calculus over sixty years ago is: "Always examine the means and the extremes."
Suppose the earth's orbit were a perfect circle, and you were able to turn the sun into a huge stroboscope, that flashed only once in twenty four hours, and had it synch'd so the blip hit on the Greenwich meridian vertically.
If you could instantly on Jan 1 turn earth's orbit into an ellipse that shortened earth's distance from the sun, the blip would arrive early.
Isn't that easy to understand?

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