THE AMAZING CO-INCIDENCE ------------------------ *----------------------------------------------------------------* | This is a fictional story which tells of the occurrance of a | | typical total solar eclise, bearing in mind the kind of hype | | which can take hold of the mass consicousness and go nuts in | | the wilds of illusion, relating to the business and the urge | | of career surrounding the events, such as took place in Baja | | California in the summer of 1991, that hype and more did not | | in any way further the funamdental understanding of eclipses. | | All that happened is a lot of money changed hands. And some | | careers were ruined or almost ruined by failed equipment and | | cloudy weather. | *----------------------------------------------------------------* Already there are 4.9 billion residents of this planet. One is thinking in a daydreaming way of a scenerio that is absolutely incredible. But not daydreaming really. The person walks quickly along a downtown street, trying to fit together pictures in the mind regards an upcoming event. One side of the picture is the popular dogma, which is being reviewed in the form of fast racing thoughts as follows: ....books produced for the masses by astronomy writers write about amazing co-incidences; saying that because the Sun is about 390 times farther from the Earth than is the Moon, and the Sun is about 400 times larger across than is the Moon - as seen from the Earth - then when the orbiting in space are co-incidentally right, the Moon can slide over the Sun causing an eclipse. ....when exactly right, the eclipse is really spectacular, awesome to everyone who sees god and the laws of physics or some grand theory in it. A truly total eclipse. ....in general terms the new Moon, and Sun, are the same size when seen separately in the sky. During a total solar eclipse the Moon (being a new Moon) is more or less invisible until it occults the Sun. ....on the other hand is the person's even deeper intuitional unrest, summarized as follows: Just where in space are the Moon and the Earth located, when a total eclipse occurs? To repeat, where exactly IS the Moon's location between the Earth and the Sun, when the eclipse is absolute? Absolute now means when the Moon and Sun are superimposed not in parallax, but perfectly, in full cross sectional diameters. ....by triangulating the optics of certain eclipse concepts in recreational mathematics at home, the person has learned that there are sharp orbital constraints for the Moon during eclipses, locked in a very narrow range when the Earth oscillates, between positions at Aphelion, and Perhilion of orbit, around the Sun. ....mainly, all of the spectacular new Moon eclipses can only occur with the Moon homed to a very narrow tiny little niche, right on the inside vacinity of the Moon's mean of orbit. ....this narrow little region is such a narrowed range that there is a tantalizing problem in this, which the person reviews in the mind's eye as follows: ...In an eclipse with the Earth at its Average distance from the Sun, the Moon will be a little bit Earthward, not quite at the midpoint between the Moon's mean and perihelion of orbit. Perihelion is the minimum of orbit averaged over time, not its yearly closest approach. ....when the Earth is at either the inner (perihelion) or outer (aphelion) positions, the Moon shifts to exact positions on either side of the above said midpoint (mean), displaced by only very small distances, so small that the Earth itself could fit right into the gaps not just as a filler, but as a fundamental part of the picture. In fact, the Moon's tiny displacements in orbit ARE equal to the Earth's exact size. More to the point, to the polar and equatorial RADII of the very EARTH itself! ....this definately images amazing constraints for location of the Moon with respect to Earth during total eclipses of the Sun, in basic geometry.... so thinks the person, walking along the street. It should be pointed out strenuously that this unique image is one the person has worked out. The mass media has created crazy images of what look like seeming vast stellar distances, with wide hurling bolo balls of eclipsing bodies due to elliptical orbits and the like. In fact the Earth's orbital ellipse is so slight, there is only a 3.3% variance in the Earth's orbit, farthest in, farthest out from the Sun, overall, regards the Earth's orbit around the Sun. To help get conceptual controls on the roam of the Earth as it rolls around orbit, the person has found a nice model in the form of a typical stereo LP recording, standard 33 rpm size. When the LP is concidered the size of the Earth's orbit, the narrow lead-in part at the outer edge of the LP record roughly approximates the Earth's amount of eccentricity. If the lead-in is recut so instead of several winding turns to the start of the first record, the cut goes from the edge of the LP to the edge of the first record in half a turn of the disk then back to the outer edge, the slight oscillating motion the needle makes tracking back and forth along this rut demonstrates the actual amount the Earth moves back and forth in and out from the Sun, due to its elliptical orbit. The centerhole of the LP cannot model the Sun. The Sun is roughly 215 times smaller than the LP, so it would be about the size of a small nail hole at the record's center. This would seem too small, until you look up to the sky and instead of seeing Blazo the Sun burning a hole bigger than blazes you see a really tiny disk in comparison to the size of the whole sky, the sky being the giant blue mushroom as seen from under it. Usually, the eyes notice only the obvious Sun, forgetting the huge blue mushroom surrounding the Sun, a dome which fills the whole of the periferal vision and more, a blue hemisphere so vast it cannot to be taken in fast at once by a sweeping glance cast skywards. Ahem. It has to be appreciated that these images of scale are passing through the person's thoughts as fast glimpses of information. The picture now in place in the person's mind is of the narrow track on the outer edge of the LP, focused to a small nail hole at the LP's center. To repeat, this small nail hole is the Sun. The slight back and forth motion of the needle on the outer lead-in track is the eccentricity maxima and minima of the Earth's orbit. (I.e. the Earth's aphelion and perihelion of orbit. Somewhere in this has to be scaled the Earth, and also the Moon. Here, the image almost breaks down simply due to the fault of scaling factors. The tiny point of the needle itself; about 100 times smaller than the nail hole, adequately suggests the Earth to scale. The Earth like a mote of grit more or less invisible to the naked eye, would roll along (fit) in the groove of the record. If a large pinhole (a little more than one/half the size of the nail hole) were centered over this nearly invisible Earth, then the Moon would be circling around the rim of the pinhole. The Moon itself would be a mote about 3.7 times smaller than the size of the almost invisible Earth. This imagery is a far cry from the hand drawn renderings done by artists, of a big Moon and bigger Earth, circling a blazing sunball on the pages of astronomy books. All of this, internalized in the person's mind, is taking place as the person walks quickly along the street. In the city it has grown dark from the encroaching shadow of the eclipse. It is midday but the streetlights are already on, early, tripped into circuit by light sensors which normally operate only at twilight. The Sun is already nearly eaten by the Moon moving in from the right over the noonday Sun. The person is passing a video store where more than a dozen of the T.V.'s in the window are tuned to the great event, to a bright yellow Sun with cartoon eyes and a grin on a crooked face. A pair of Airfame stereo speakers (cr) are over the entranceway facing the street. It is the combination of the incredibly clear sounds from the Airframe speakers and the nonesense on the stereo T.V's in the window, which momentarily catches the person's attention. It is a kiddies cartoon, about a fierce Mr. Sun, and Johnny Moon who has to get to the eclipse on time to save the day, so the Universe won't get eaten by rasping nasty planets having a gay old time in bromo land. Just listen to those VOICES! Abigale Earth is running frantically around in orbit with a shrieking fake voice trying to find the secret formula from the maker of gravity, so that Johnny Moon can make Mr. Sun whole again. The person thinks anew about such wonder. Can this drawn out nonsense really teach science to children, or do the laughing little sharpies end up wondering what is wrong with the intelligence of the adults who made such a T.V. show as THIS for kids. So thinks the person heading with renewed purpose up the busy street. The person quickly becomes emersed back into the reverie of private thought, this time reviewing in the mind's eye the equations of a solar eclipse, as have been done at home on the kitchen table and NOT from textbooks. The textbooks don't have any equations. Not even one. The person becomes preoccupied with a familiar notion that here must be a more precise mathematics in all of this, so precise that by adding and subtracting mathematical terms, other astronomical terms including the size of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun, can be determined exactly. A particular thing this person can claim to have learned on their own is that geometry triangulations using trig formulas aren't necessary to calculate eclipsing bodies in principle, in that basic ratios can be used in many combinations based on pure equalities in the form of simple proportions. For the Earth and Moon, some of the ratios are: ...a Moon orbit (Mx) divided by the Moon radius (Mr), is proportionate to an Earth orbit (Ex) divided by the Sun radius (Sr). It means that the Sun radius, when multiplied by the ratio of a given Moon orbit over the Moon's radius, becomes a resulting Earth orbit. Conversely, the ratio of a given Earth orbit divided by the Sun radius, when multiplied by the Moon radius, becomes a resulting Moon orbit. In other words: [Ex ö Sr] = [Mx ö Mr] . It was by this simple means that the person has been able to find that the Moon's location is approximately mid placed between the Moon's mean and minima of orbit, homing in on a plus/minus factor of precisely the Earth's radius either way, when the Earth is at either Aphelion or Perihelion of ellipse in solar orbit during an eclipse. Another very curious but straightforward piece of information has come out of the person's private research. It is that the ratio of the Earth radius divided by the Moon radius, is in proportion very much the ratio of the Earth's eccentricity increment divided by the Sun radius. The aforesaid increment is the distance between the Earth's mean of orbit (Eo), and either extends in ellipse, i.e. to the Earth's averaged maxima (Ea the Aphelion), and averaged minima (Ep the Perihelion). In other words the increment is one half the width of the lead-in part of the afore imaged LP, which is: [(Ea - Eo) or (Eo - Ep)] ö Sr = [Er ö Mr] where, in scale, (Ea - Ep) is the width of the LP's lead-in part, compared to the area streching across the nail hole Sun. It is a similar ratio to the size of the Earth compared to the Moon. However, this is again where there is frustration in general solar system mathematics. The plus and minus eccentricity increments of the Earth orbit calculated this way, is 00.03% larger than the Earth's present day eccentricity increment. These math parts do not fit together perfectly, or so it seems. All of this stuff, internalized in the mind, is taking place as the person walks quickly along the street. Things are rapidly feeling less familiar out here in the city. A small thought balloon forms in association with a quick look at the sky, in that the person can see the occlusion of the eclipse is definately on. A spectacular transit is starting to zero in on the center of the all important target in the sky, the happening, the Total Eclipse. At this point the person's thoughts in reverie takes a sharp turn, becoming externalized into quite a different situation. The person is strolling east to west along the main street in the downtown part of the city. It is a moment before one o'clock. An hour earlier the blazing Sun had been beaming like dayglo in the blue intense summer sky directly overhead. Now the darkened city air is being cooled by a dry hot wind blowing to the east, out onto the oceon. There is one tiny wedge of the Sun left. Nearby is a sidewalk kioske sitting amongst others on the rapidly darkening street. These are vending tourist goods. One of the stalls sells Mexican Hat Dance sombraros including ones with brims that when eyeballed seem perfectly circular. Whereupon the person begins to image the following science fiction scene. This is done in amusement, pursuent to a version of an amazing co-incidence. It is in answer to a popular science magazine currently on the newstands with the headlines: "ECLIPSES - AMAZING CO-INCIDENCES IN NATURE"! The image that begins to form in the person's mind is not hallucinations with medical implications. This is innocent stuff. Thoughts which are scientifically risky, physically impossible. Typical science modelling, in other words. The person imagines buying a sombraro with a circular brim, and wearing it heads west up the street. A sudden gust of wind from around the corner of the Four Seasons Hotel blows the hat off, landing it with a little skid a few feet ahead of the person, west along the sidewalk. Of a sudden, several things begin to happen almost but not quite simultaneously. Because of the fact that the hat is festooned with tiny mirror fragments as part of its gaudy decoration, the hat is in a place to reflect the Sun, such as there is. And so the hat is sparkling on the sidewalk, reflecting the last half ring of light from the east wedge of the Sun. In fact for a moment there is a very bright hat lying on the sidewalk in the midst of the twilight. The person sets down the briefcase and is just reaching forward to pick up the hat when the main event occurs. For a time dilated instant there is nothing there. The hat has vanished. It takes a slow motion second to see that instead, there is a dark dot marking the spot where the hat had been. In a fantastic co-incidence, the umbra of the total eclipse has come racing right over the person's shoulder and onto the hat. The person peers very closely and can see an unusual light around the hat brim. The circle of light scintillates exquisitely like a diamond necklace, formed in delicate amongst the silicon chips (sand grits) in the sidewalk. Then just as abruptly, the hat is back where it is, as the umbra continues its swift pace up the sidewalk to the west, outspeeding the planet's rotation. The person watches the small dark spot as it flees across the intersection, zipping up and down over the stopped cars and people along the street up ahead, then across the river, then over the Foreign Languages Complex of the university, to finally disappear up and over the top of the distant Highrise Physics Building. At that instant the bell in the Peace Tower two blocks away loudly tolls the hour. It is exactly one o'clock in the afternoon. These amazing co-incidences all happen within the moment. It has become very quiet on the street because the traffic has stopped. Everyone is getting out of their cars and coming out of the stores to take a look at the eclipse now in its totality. The person observes that where the Sun had been is like a black hole, with a circular horizon in the form a radiant corona and hot little fingers licking in slow motion around a circumpherence as if seen through a telescope. The person has been smart enough to whip out the pair of proper sunglasses to see the effect when looking directly at the eclipse. The motion of the Moon across the Sun is so slow it has to be imagined. PART TWO : The Umbra ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Shortly after, a few instersections over from the clock, the person will be standing next to a jock and will be deep in thought at the intersection, waiting for the light to change. A youth in shorts will have just arrived here and while waiting for the light will be adjusting the headset of a brainpoof walkman. The volumn is loud enough that the person can hear a squeezed announcer's voice saying: " ...yes, the big moment of the total eclipse is officially over. Astronomers, standing in wait at the top of the Highrise Physics Building here, who have gathered here from around the world for the big event, have been richly rewarded. It is reported that the center point of the umbra passing over our city, actually passed directly over the official bullseye; a 20 inch Zildean ride cymbol brought here by one of the imaging team members to mark ground zero. " ...In what has been termed fantastic, in this eclipse of the century, the umbra mathematically passed directly over the official bullseye; that Zildean ride cymbol, just as the Peace Tower bell tolled the hour. In official terms, ignoring the effects of the atmosphere which physically spreads the umbra across several miles, the mathematical focal point of the eclipse came within a tiny percentage of error of being focused perfectly on the bullseye, that is, on the 20 inch Zildean ride cymbol, the kind jazz drummers use, I can see it right here beside me a few feet to the left on its cymbol stand", the announcer raves on, the same announcer doing wrestling matches when eclipses aren't happening. Scientists interpret such a small percentage of error as being a direct Hit! " ...I am now standing viewing the excitement around me up here on the Highrise, and there is plenty. Officials have just informed me that the actual umbra would have been too large to have been seen directly without line of sight equipment, although a citywide fast moving shadow within the penumbra has been reported to have been seen by several area residents, although scientists say these people probably saw UFO's and not a real shadow. " ...This particular total eclipse has been hailed as 'The Event Of The Century', due to its remarkably pure nature. That is, say scientists, the bodies in this particular eclipse are lined up in an utterly straight line to the Sun. That is, at this moment, there is no tilt in the orbit of the Moon, and it is lined up as straight as an arrow between the center of the Earth, the center of the Moon, and right on through to the center of the Sun, a truly remarkable and EXCEEDINGLY rare co-incidence, almost totally impossible, but one that can happen from time to time over the eons, leading scientists say... " " ...Meanwhile, as the celebration mounts up here on the Physics Building Highrise, the many scientists and observers here anxiously await their first datas, due in from the Sweep Stakes any second now as... " Needless to say, downtown at the intersection the person's attention will have been attracted to the newscast. The youth standing alongside in sports shorts will be trying to untangle the wires of the headset, so the twisting earphones is imparting a special effect to the sound source. It is obvious that the youth isn't interested in the announcements. The announcer will continue with..." " ...at this juncture, when the Moon eclipsed the Sun, the Sun was exactly 1.49563336 times 10 to the power 13 centimeters from the Earth, and the Moon was exactly 3.6529858 times 10 to the power 10 centimeters from the scientist's bullseye down here at point zero on the surface of the Earth, atop the Highrise, officials report. In scientific terms this means... " (some static on the brainpoof walkman) " ... or so I've been told, that because the Moon was focused directly at the center of the Earth, it means the Moon was TOO CLOSE to the Earth to form a small umbra, at least one that could be imaged to exact size from the surface of Earth without a special computorized telescope. " ...In fact that telescope is right here beside me on top of the Physics Building Highrise. It is part of the impressive high tech state of the art assembly up here called the Psuedo-god by its technicians. Even now, this arm of the universal intelligence project continues to be syncronized to the largest known computer in the universe, located in the Foreign Languages Building which I can easily see here from my vantage point up here and, yes, even from here I can see that... " Hereupon the light will change green to the GO. The youth will be first to start, darting fast out into the intersection angling toward the entranceway to a video store. But the person will stay put ignoring the odd colored traffic lights, writing down the just quoted astronomy datas. Something about these figures is sponsoring a significant response in the person's thought processes. It is that these figures are recognized. So much so that the person is convinced that the means are at hand for calculating something elegant and obvious which has never been suspected before in the mathematics of gravity in the solar system. The coming solution is foretold in the intuitional chambers of the person on the street as the fantasy is cancelled involving the umbra and the sombraro, and the person will start walking toward the Centuries Cafe further along the street, where an aquaintance is the manager. A glance at the sky tells the person that it will be certainly past the moment of occlusion yet still the metal vapor streetlights will be combined with the eclipse light to continue the odd one o'clock dark brown bromine ambiance in the city. The traffic will be back to normal momentarily as people get back in their cars and drive on. It is certain the person is turned on wishing, in fact believing, that there are more deep and profound resonances in the equations of solar eclipses from the makers of gravity. In the meantime... PART THREE: This Is One Of Our Most Triumphant Days --------------------------------------- Many are celebrating. A few aren't. "An AMAZING co-incidence", muses one of the astronomers who have amassed on the roof of the Physics Highrise Building to observe the eclipse. This astronomer was the one who'd introduced the well known fact that from their privileged elevation, the distance to the center of the Earth is co-incidently exactly equal to the planet's averaged radius. This average is gained by adding the polar to the equatorial radius, and dividing by two. But that amazing co-incidence is not THE amazing co-incidence under discussion at this moment. "I was certain the focal point would miss the bullseye by at least three miles", the same astronomer adds. The bullseye is central to the amazing celebrations currently taking place. The time is not yet ripe for the upcoming raging theoretical debates that will certainly put more torque on the lower lips of many an ambitious thinking science careered human being. The bullseye is on top of the Physics Faculty Highrise. The actual bullseye is located close to the Psuedo-god, which a young astronomer has been monitoring. From appearances sake, it seems this young astronomer feels they have just lost some points in a career. "I concur, extra-ordinarily physical. Virtually a pin point phenomena, astronomically. Exactly where I put the latitude. But why wasn't the altitude at least a mile higher", another of the observers observes. This is said with a touch of woe in the voice. "Yes, too bad", the oldest present says. "I myself sadly bobbled the time element; off by a full point zero eight seconds. One of my worst mathematical mistakes". It is obvious that something in this distinguished person's confidence has been cancelled by degrees. An anonymous voice quips; "you three should go home and practice some more homework", in a tone which touches off laughter among everyone present. After the lull after the laughter, the next thing said is very more to the point. "My gall darn image just exploded"! This is said by one of those who have been closely studying the output of a portable clone multi-phasic multi-tasking multi-parsing computer over which the 20 inch Zildean ride cymbol - the world famous bullseye - is meticulously positioned on a cymbol stand. "Wait a sec, I think I'm getting some of it back on channel 53. Ahhh here it is, channel 63", the same person continues, scanning the device. "The mathematical point of the umbra was a half a meter across less .007 centimeters, and shifted to the left of the cymbol's centerhole by about 1.34 centimeters. Also, it passed .4321 seconds ahead of 1 o'clock atomic clock time. That's this clock here", that person says, pointing to a black box with nothing but a digital readout for a clockface sitting on a table near the Zildean ride cymbol. The fact of the clock is a fact that everyone up here already knows, of course, but some scientists like to re-affirm their parameters often. "What an AMAZING co-incidence. The three catagories are just about exactly what someone bet they would be!", one of the department head rejoins in utter incredulity. "Someone indeed did get the time, the place, and the space of the focal point right, right, and right. Right indeed!". It is an assistant's turn to speak up. "Yes, someone HAS guessed the time, place, and space, exactly! What an amazing co-incidence!". "You know", another specialist says, "the thing hit the bullseye so right on you'd think it was actually the cymbol that rang at 1 o'clock, instead of the bell on the Peace Tower". After the lull after the laugh there is suddenly: "I'm not sure, but I think I saw the spot actually go by". There is a pause as everyone turns. "I think I saw the spot both coming and going." These loud golden comments come suddenly and unexpectedly from a loudspeaker stationed next to a person wearing a microphone and headset. Someone has pushed a wrong button. This person is a radio broadcaster from a national network and is standing high on the central observation platform next to another person who is still glued to the raised eyepair of a giant portable telescope. From this elevation, the commentator who wears the headgear has a better view over the city and the Highrise's sides than most anyone else up here. The gear that surrounds this international broadcaster is EXTENSIVE and EXPENSIVE. The two fully loaded glaringly painted moving vans parked down below have been cargoed up to this roof just to get the broadcaster's voice into the satellites, TV cameras are busy, grinding away, focused of course directly on the commentator's large face. Makeup paste can be clearly seen starting to marble above the collar. "It seemed to me it nearly divided me in two as it passed", the commentator continues in a deeply intonal voice blaring loud through the loudspeaker, while still broadcasting live to the nation. "Scientifically impossible", quips an anonymous individual hooting through cupped hands. "You prove it's possible, you'll win a nobel prize". Again everyone laughs following the quip. "Well, now, it's officially in the Psuedo-god and is being sent out over satellite, NOW!", says a technician speaking up slowly, for the first time, while still checking the knobs of the Psuedo-god's computer controls, and then pushing the determinant button. This technician is probably an outsider because this technician is working the knobs with extra vigor needlessly. "Unquestionably this is one of our most triumphant days. Yet I didn't think the image would come so close to you", someone from somewhere else remarks over satellite. "After the dismal failure of Halley's comet I'm thrilled with what I saw today", says another voice, much higher pitched, over satellite. Pitched even higher the voice continues; "I want to thank all of you, of the scientific community, and especially those esteemed members of the profession of astronomy, for providing ME the opportunity to ... " The voice over satellite fades in a squelch which is neither friendly, neither unfriendly, but obviously it was squelched. Nuances of the effects of liquor were obviously heard and it didn't matter if the voice had come from the other side of the planet. "Did we get our diameter of the Sun", the chief of it all suddenly summarily states, reaching into a pocket, as do many others now begin to rummage around in their pockets for money. The time has come to pay off the bets. It is really hot up here on top of the Highrise and hardly a wind blows warmly from off the oceon. But enough of a gust catches a 50 dollar bill from someone's hand and blows it over the edge of the Highrise and lofts it like a miniature flying carpet toward the downtown part of the city. The bill slowly glides away, heading downward, dipping up and down, until it is too small to be seen. The bell on the Peace Tower has 6 minutes to go before tolling quarter past the hour. PART FOUR: God's Odds ---------- Because of satellites, identical scenes are being flashed in brilliant graphs to astronomy installations, physics colloquial rooms, and into personal computers around the planet. Fortunately the odds in this amazing adventure had renormalized in the last minutes to other than 50-50. Because, just prior, the odds were heading straight into a 50-50 stalemate because of a built-in old fashioned Student Fit routine slyly inserted at the final moments by a grinning Upsilon Particle data group from across the oceon. Everyone had been caught off guard by this deft manouver, because the STUDENT FIT in question was such an old one with so many unknown sinkholes instead of Gluons and Flavor in its data base. In fact a trashing crash had nearly occured in the whole of this amazing adventure an hour earlier. A premonition of the crash had been first heard in a few echoing words having different seeming accents heard in an analogue line leak in the manner of a two-part long distance conversation; first was a western sounding "Howdy there yo all" ... followed by an oriental sounding "Ahh So!". The collaborators had finally got their link together. An instant later a toggled math wrap had slammed into place in the Psuedo-god's master program, instigating a standing random, wherein each time a percentage of error factor was called upon (in number crunching the sifting odds through the final hour before the eclipse's totality), the words 'AH HA, YOU HAVE BEEN STONED' appeared. It had been, needless to say, a sharp startle to everyone monitoring the action, particularly for those whose lifestyle is to take things with blinding seriousness. Things had suddenly seemed bizarre, as far as hard core science was concerned. On channel 168 the Psuedo-god was suddenly blaring things like: " ... new definitions just pointed out by the magnetic axis team. The latest leading indicator indicates the scientific umbra will probably not skirt the city, revision! revision! it will miss the bullseye by a giant .0000123 to .000124 centimeters HA HA ... " " ... magnifying eyeballs looking in from the space shuttle, strenuously emphasize the fact that the mathematical umbra being so precisely aimed to observational headquarters by hard working scientists, concidering the infinitely variant fulcrum through which the earth and the moon are able to slide rule in space, continues to pusha da odds on a paradice to a particular high frequency of a da snake eyes HA HA ... " Someone saying: 'order me a pizza' had come in quietly in the background on this one. Meanwhile, the standing random had been carried across into certain divisional handicaps, resulting on channel 77 in things like: " ... members of the Believable Schemes Society have just reported that the TOTAL GRAVITY CONCEPT, introduced in a stunning new disclosure only this morning, has a devastating mathematical mistake on page 363, voiding the 402 pages which follow. It means for the moment that Newtonian/Einsteinian/Hawkings gravity theories are in firm control of the odds again HA HA ... " " ... another Tired Photon theory has just hit the Big Bang. The attempt has been shown to be incompatable with the wide uncertainty in Hubble's constant. Hubble conceeded the attempt moments ago. While being suspended from the faculty roll call only two hours ago Hubble neverthless has announced intention to file suit with the Hubble Review Board, once they locate a suitable spiritualist medium to recontact Hubble and to re-negotiate new terms, Ha Ha ... " " ... the probability of non chance is not just remote, but gone, because one of the hypothetical constructs contained an inverse strange attractor, which caused all of the equations to disappear sucked up a worm hole in an astonishing display of rude instant vanish HA HA ... " Mind you, this was all very droll to those who only wanted to place a bet. Channel 253 was piping hot too, reporting things like: " ... it means the sweepstakes are wide open again. At the moment, the leading contender in the Believable Theory Catagory, is that the orbit of today's total solar eclipse is otherwise mathematically meaningless unless an observer is there to see the orbit and therefore influence its existence HA HA ... " The lineups at the Lotto counters everywhere that Lottos are legal and many illegal were growing long and irritated. And whiffs of disbelieving the 15 dollar first prize in the Lotto were causing stirs of panic in the breasts of many solid citizens, plus of course the flakey handful. Some of the flakiest were the vending clerks, assuring everyone that the computers were merely overloaded. You bet they were. The $15.00 win was of course the biggest problem, it was supposed to be $150 million. The Lotto was simple: estimate the exact time, place, and space that the eclipse's umbra passes over the world famous bullseye, the 20" Zildean ride cymbol set on a cymbol stand on top of the Highrise Physics Building. The cymbol had been a wild idea donated by a grad student but the sense of it had quickly caught on and even hard core physicists liked its shiny look, freshly polished to a new sheen with milk on a cotton cloth, so unorthodox, yet so intelligently valid. It was very late when some desparate assistants to the Psuedo-god got together the figure that completed the earlier sneaky toggle from the laughing rascals in the Upsilon Particle Group, and so snapped the irritating math wrap out of the logic of the betting processors. Official minded humans were once more in control of Psuedo-god. And then is when some hackers, who'd been stiffing the action from out on a swing and who called themselves 'The Hyper Drive Help Menu' when they first typed in Hello!, finally got into the machine language and began a run at trying to tie the odds of the insider's betting pools to infinity, through topological conundrums via grand unification schemes, using missing mass and dark matter theories as buffers, going for it at 110% as the eclipse converged toward totality. Their intended 100-0 finish, balanced across the board for all betting, would mean that those in the pools who had misguessed the drift of the umbra the most as it came racing in off the oceon towards the downtown core of the city; or rather, they'd fudged the physics of the focal point the most in their figuring, wouldn't have to pay god's odds for their sloppy homework. The worst off the mark would be the winner. As it was, the odds had begun to restore to more like those of a normal horse race right at the finish, as the umbra raced over the Zildean cymbol at nearly 2000 kilometers an hour. PART FIVE: Time To Be Utterly Serious -------------------------- Amongst the jubilant celebraties atop the Highrise, the experimental imaging team have a special reason to celebrate. In the first replays of the eclipse, it is already obvious that under the commands of green atomic clocklight, the lenses of their eyes in the sky have focused in stereoscopic precision to such an accuracy it is in excess of 11 significant figures, virtually eliminating mechanical intransigences from their particular experiments. In prior preparation, the relativistic speedup of atomic time in the apparatuses when removed long distance from the Earth's gravity, as well as the more sluggish atomic times and the red shifts in the broadcasts from a partner satellite closer in to bigger gravity over the Sun's south pole, had all been so affirmed in pre-trials that the imaging team had taken to playing what they called 'lurking turkeys', using the lenses and relativisitic plus/minus time shifts to create flying saucers running amuck amongst phantom moons and planets in the terran region of the solar system, zapping the phantoms with gravitons, and blowing away the saucers with tycheon and anti-tycheon particles shooting through the lenses, speeding backwards faster than light from the future, and speeding forwards faster than light from the past, until it was time to be utterly serious. The purpose of the imaging team's imaging during the eclipse was simple; to learn the diameter of the Sun to greater accuracy, then compare it to the Sun's diameter at the next solar eclipse, and to keep the comparisons going in an accumulating record so as to learn first if the Sun changes size in any way; then to learn later if any such change in size is regular in the manner of periodic puslations. Or continuous in an expansion or contraction. Or is it chaotic without rhythm. Any one of the three answers would give the stinkers, er, thinkers more to tinker with in forming ideas for future theories up the line about the solar system's astrophysics. PART SIX: Imagine Hearing The Electrons Talking To Each Other --------------------------------------------------- It isn't just the moxie of the imagers. In this amazing network of human and computer intelligence is international intrigue; (intrigue is the political buzzword for the amount of money being spent); there is more, much more, historically. This is an imaging experiment at many levels. The computer workstation up on the Highrise roof, officially called the Psuedo-god, is actually more sophisticated than the name suggests, with co-axle multi-pin cables snaking into conduits through the roof of the Highrise, down large tubes into the artificial intelligence installation called the Psuedo-pod under the Foreign Languages Building across the commons. teh tubes are over six feet across. The Psuedo-god is big, as big as humnkind can make it in today's state of the art, made to be the 'largest most powerful computer in the Universe' as proclaimed by the atheistics nursing it along trying to make it as much in their own image and likeness as possible, at least, in the way it works, not in the way it looks because many of the atheists are shockingly homely, not because of how they were born but because of how they think. Everything connected to this other place; universally called the Psuedo-pod; besides being screened from electron smog, is shielded from relativistically time stalled Muons cascading in from outer space, plus new expandable chips that use only 100,000 atoms per byte in a few of the areas where old fashion memory devices are still being used and haven't had time to be replaced by the new micro-biters which have just come online. As well, there is protection in the form of very fast acting capacitors from any above stratosphere accidental nuclear explosions. Spaceside, there is shielding against raw cosmic particles from the outer fringes of creation, and gamma ray bursters protection, and from the solar wind for the satellites in synchronous orbits over the equator, plus the monitors hula hooping around the Earth's poles, plus the drone circling alone in an orbit sufficiently constructed of geometry to remain over the south pole of the Sun during the duration of the eclipse and experiments. Albiet nothing has been installed to handle the unconfirmed plausibility of human thought interference; a subject so much in disagreement that no two individuals had spoken even one agreement during the earlier planning. Nevertheless, in sum total, this whole system is smart enough that one could almost imagine hearing the electrons talking to each other: "...Space here ...Roger Earth . ..I've got a harmonic hiss from 7 cycles ...Roger, is it human..." Parameters for the imaging experiment include the following: The radius of the Moon along any co-ordinate is finitely known via long standing space craft reconnaisance, as is the exact momentary distance of the Moon from the Earth via laser reflections from two bee's eye reflectors on the Moon's surface at a known elevation and temperature. Hence being watched is the exact instant when the Moon's first mountain peak peeking from the Moon's left profile touches the right rim of the Sun, compared to the exact instant the last peak of the Moon's right profile leaves the left rim of the Sun. For this are another pair of space telescopes in binnocular, each with a double set of syncronized lenses, one focused on the peaks of the Moon, the other on the edges of the Sun. The satellite over the Sun's pole monitors the magnetic field and plasma fluxes, as well as, with its own lenses, it gets to take a peek around a right angle tangent toward any energy humps on the edgings of the Sun. Ultra violent and x-ray cameras everywhere up there complete the package, the last satellite launched just a few minutes before peak time, when someone got angry and pulled a plug and all of a sudden the satellite's systems started working green all the way. What a co-incidence the plug had connected the water filters before the hydrogen oxygen batteries kicked in. The exact angle of the peaks are easily fixed through local parallax. Since the Moon's velocity and also that of Earth are both known moment by moment to more than enough accuracy, the size of the Sun during bracketing by the eclipse is to be deduced to another significant figure or two by the computer scientists at the university who have already pleased the Psuedo-god with every conceivable iota of information without having to concider randoms. The only possible random could be discrete changes in the size of the Sun during transit time of the measures. It was decided to leave this theoretical plausibility out of the program because it was too much like playing dice with loaded intelligence. Another arguement, withdrawn from the final plan, was concideration as to whether gravity in straight line of sight between bodies is maximally contained in a string, a rod, a barbell, or do gravities intertwine like an umbilical cord, or double helix, both of which may or may not kink and shift in space. Etc. Nobody could say they knew. One other minor variability posed an arguing problem for some geo-physicists involved in the program. This was a tidal bulge which might discretely reshape the Moon during the experiment, due to the fact that the Moon might be passing over subtle gravitational anomalies in the mass compounds of the Earth on that curved part of the globe most directly faced to the Moon during the eclipse, hence effecting the Moon's apparent orbit slightly. A tiny yes/no factor was therefore induced to account for this possibility. However, it was understood by everyone that such a bump in the field of gravity wouldn't likely be enough to change the readings of the size of the Sun. It meant tho, that this advanced program couldn't possibly ever look for a constant in solar astronomy. In the computer's language the thought of any constant was missing entirely from the software, except for the universal gravitational constant; the weakest term in the entire experiment. Another experiment is being conducted during the eclipse. This one is the winning entry of a gradeschool class. With an advanced 35mm camera having automatic shutter, a photograph of the Sun was taken from the schoolyard by simply pointing the camera to the Sun and taking the picture. The same camera with the rest of the film is now aboard a space shuttle where a crew member takes a second picture of the Sun through the shuttle's windows, when the shuttle is at the same mean distance from the Sun as was the schoolyard on Earth. The idea is to compare these two photos. When seen side by side at a glance the two photos will show how much the atmosphere distorts the appearance of the Sun to every citizen of the planet. It might also even show if the appearance of the Sun changed size slightly due to the general relativistic effects of Earth's gravity, contracting it. But only a few, were brazen enough to brazen this conjecture. A second part of the same experiment concerns the Moon, with similar photos being taken, using the same 35mm camera for a shot of the full Moon at night from the schoolyard, then from the shuttle when the Moon is full lit and the orbiting shuttle is as close as possible to being at the same distance from the Moon as was the camera when taking the earlier nightime photo from the schoolyard on the planet. Science being what it is, another camera is also being used for the same experiment. This one is designed to eliminate all distortion of any kind in its construction including of course such standards as chromatic abberation, and the creaking of molecules due to temperature changes in both lattices of the camera's atomic structures. It is intended that comparisons of spaceside vrs Earthside sizes of the Moon and Sun will be physically flawless, theoretically. So careful has the camera been concidered, that image changing natures due to general relativistic effects of gravity were discussed. Some of the main theory team felt that the size of the Sun seen from afar in space is contracted in cross sectional area due to relativity. Actually, for most scientists, the subject of gravitational relativity is a can of worms. PART SEVEN: How Now Brown Cow ----------- --------------------- Quite Full White Bull It is worth mentioning that a philosophy of science class is assembled in the Physics Auditorium on the ground floor below the upper echleon offices of the Highrise. This class has been hard at work on an assignment given a week earlier, with the instructions that: using no equations, submit a simple brief statement per student. The question was this: Why is the Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun an amazing co-incidence? Conversly: Why is it not? BECAUSE is not a valid answer. During the week, answers from the students had trickled in to be compiled by the professor's teaching assistant, into three lists which the prof is now writing onto the big computer board for the benefit of the class, plus those hooked in at home and in other University classrooms via T.V. cable and the computer networks plus the Web. Now is the time for the summaries to be evaluated by the class. Firstly the Philosophy Of Science professor begins; reading from one of the student's remarks: "In order for eclipses to occur, instead of one place only, there is in the terran region of space a setting in which the Earth and the Moon can align in a line of sight with the Sun to form recurring eclipses in parallax... This region around the Sun is occupied by both bodies as they move through their extemes of eccentricity. The eccentricity is caused by their elliptical orbits... The eclipse turns awesome when the apparent areas of the Moon and the Sun are exactly superimposed, when seen from somewhere on the surface of the Earth, in a line forming tangents past the sides of both the Moon and the Sun. At such times the shadow of the Sun, er, I mean the Moon, is focused toward a point which transverses in an arc over part of the Earth... The professor puts down the sheet of paper and continues, apparently drawing on the Professor's own knowledges, enhanced by insights gleaned from the student's submissions. "In Newtonian/ Einsteinian physics, where every iota of cause and effect in the physical dimension is judisciously studied, sharp focusing at the Earth's surface is not expected to occur for several reasons. Following are two lists of the more important reasons: 1-A. Due to daily spin, the radius of the Earth from planet center to the equator is approximately 21 kilometers more than is the distance from the Earth' center to the poles. In the iotas of hard core solar astronomy, this is a sizable difference. 2-A. The surface of the Earth is not polished like a marble. The texture in rough means that further iotas are impressive by the fact that the surface can be said to occur amongst mountain tops, on the waving oceon, or on the oceon floor. 3-A. The level of the oceon and of the land both fluctuate due to daily tides caused by gravity of the Moon when the Moon passes overhead, so the exact measurement of the Earth's surface must vary, according to the time of day the measure is made, and where, and where the Moon is. 4-A. The Moon's surface is textured by crators and ridges. There is an iota of bulge measurable on the face of the Moon which constantly faces the Earth. 5-A. Overall, the Moon's radius in a line facing the Earth is approximately 1.1 kilometers greater than toward the Moon's poles. 6-A. In a line along the Moon's ecliptic axis of orbit (tilted 5 degrees to the Earth orbit) is yet another distension in the spherical shape of the Moon. This third radius is a little more than the average of the Moon's polar and Earth-faced axis. 7-A. Add to the above, the further constraint that Earthly atmospheric diffusion causes the umbra to disperse, such that the umbra is broadened beyond its true mathematical profile by the time it reaches the surface of the Earth. "Except that the amount of the scattering can also be determined mathematically". "This last comment is a correction added by me, your professor". The professor continues to write very rapidly upon the wall sized computerized board (entering the text into a voice enterpreter which projects the results without a single spelling mistake), saying, thickly: " ...This first list made from student's remarks comprises those datas which might otherwise be concidered as constants, given that the solidly accreted sizes of the Earth and Moon are not likely to change in the overall. Add to the list the possibility that the averaged distance (or orbital mean) of the Earth from the Sun is not likely to change, unless the gravitational dynamics of the solar system itself were to fundamentally change. Now, wouldn't THAT be news, to come to work in the morning and find that our favorite gravitational constant has shifted in pitch, so to speak, while everyone was drinking morning coffee. Note I said the constant. The accelaration of solar gravity would actually change if, if what, if the solar system drifted into surroundings of a more densly massed part of the galaxy. Or, hmmm, would the accelaration slow dowwwnnn". It was the way the professor rolled two large eyeballs faster than ever that got the response from the audience, a few of whom were starting to nod off. "This brings us to the second list, dealing with information in Newtonian/Einsteinian physics in which measurable change is actually observed". The professor takes the second list being handed forward from the teaching assistant, and now continues to write rapidly (type on a keyboard) with hardly a pause except to turn to face the students periodically, during which the professor bounces up and down on the springboard of the feet. This professor doesn't shift sideways, back and forth, as many do, when lecturing. (The students don't know it, but the University is also demonstrating a new techology comprising the computer system, its various input means, the blackboard projecting the input, and the connections to other places around the world, all a breakthrough new form of conferencing at the academic level. And so, this time, the professor types on keyboard). 1-B. Besides its flares and sunspots, the Sun is mottled by rounds of contained gas which boil in slow motion everywhere Earth observers see on the Sun's surface. Is the Sun's surface down in the valleys between the billows, or along the tops of these mighty pillows? "This is a bit of poetic licence, I presume", rejoins the professor, before continuing to write. 2-B. There are hints that, astronomically, the average size of the Sun is various over time. The hints are not yet established. There is incomplete knowledge as to whether a change would be either a random fluctuation, or a systematic pulse, or a swelling, or a contraction, as time goes on, or even that it occurs. 3-B-?. Does the Sun have a black hole at its center? (After this unexpected question a big question mark goes on the blackboard). Some say yes, and prove it with dazzling mathematics. And some say no, prooving it with equally dazzling mathematics. (This gets a laugh, during which the professor wipes the question off the board, then continues). 3-B. For each new eclipse there is a new set of co-ordinates. The Earth and the Moon are never in exactly the same place twice in line with the Sun. The Earth has an orbit marked by its eccentricity extremes, which include the closest approach and farthest outreach from the Sun per yearly Earth orbit (called the appogee and perigee of orbit), as opposed to the Earth's Perihelion and Aphelion of orbit which are the closer and farther distances averaged over time in the overall ellipse of Earth's orbit. 4-A. Similarly the orbed Moon doth roam lunarlarily within its orbitational permissivenesses. When the Earth is farther bound from the Sun, the Moon must surely roam farther flung from the Earth for miraculous parallax to occur. (The professor pauses to think this one over. The professor says; "Somebody here must of been reading Issac Newton", before continuing). 5-A. Any parallax results in both an umbra and a penumbra. The penumbra is a conical shadow region enlarging outward into space beyond the Earth. The umbra is the converging cone cast by the Moon straight to the Earth when the Sun is blocked. The ice cream end of the cone is the Moon. The focal point slides in and out variously, converging to a visible point in front of the Earth, or at the surface of the Earth. The point of the ice cream cone is physically non visible when focused beyond these limits, as when the focus point is below the Earth's surface, or out there in space before, or beyond behind the Earth. In any case what is empirically seen is the umbra's focal; a spot up to several hundred kilometers in diameter sweeping over the Earth. To picture the focal, picture an ice cream cone being thrust point first into the oceon. "Good image", says the professor to someone in the class, shooting some talk in the manner of a very precise eyeball glance to the student in question. 6-A. When the umbra is focused well short of prime at the Earth's surface, a rim of sunlight will be seen around the Moon, since you will actually be looking through part of the penumbra. When focused at the prime (the surface of the Earth), the famous diamond necklace of the corona and flares will be most spectacularly seen suddenly in color around the Moon, but nothing of the Sun itself will be visible. If the umbra is focused at an elementary place in space behind the Earth, the Moon will be covering the Sun so much that the Sun could seem like a dark hole in space, completely obscured by the Moon. The professor pauses to say: " ...In summary, there isn't a single eclipse which occurs over and over repeatedly, with all bodies in the exact same place in space, never varied, as we see it. Nevertheless it is on those rarer occasions when proportions in distances between the Earth and Moon and the Sun are really excellent, that the eclipses are most spellbinding to modern observers all the way back to the most babbling of ancient worshippers. But, to continue: 7-B. The force of Earth's matter in resistence to the lift and sweep of tides, besides being thought to gradually brake our spin, also finds a path of least resistence via gravitational coupling back to the Moon. This is supposedly a drag, which inexorably slows the Moon's motion, in theory. Inexorably, thus, the Moon is expected to slowly draw away from the Earth. If theory is correct, this is change so gradual that it is material only over the passing of millennium. It is, however, measurable, in theory. The forces involved are frictions, these being the inertial throwing of the oceon's weights against land masses but more so the friction of water running over shallow seabeds. There is also the cohesive resistence of land masses against lifting and lateral tensions, due to all of the land and sea tides in total. 8-B. The Moon's eccentricity is subtely unstable. Even though as years pass and the Moon appears to have an averaged orbit which is estimated by averaging techniques, the Moon takes kicks from the other planets in its swings around Earth such that the Moon ricochets sometimes being pulled in a little closer to Earth. On the other hand it never rebounds to the same extent away from Earth. This off centered camshaft effect makes it difficult to ascertain the Moon's present day eccentricity with precise accuracy. 9-B. The question of exact eccentricity is quite a problem astronomically. 'Exact' means to know to a whole string of significant figures. The problem can be likened to estimating the exact weight of a human, averaged over a lifetime. The estimated human weight of a man or woman for a thirty year period will not be otherwise the same as for a sixty year period. Similarly, even though the Earth's orbit has been accurately observed for many centuries, this does not mean that the measurements will be exactly the same after several more centuries of measuring. In the present epoch, further measurements will likely produce trivial revisions in the estimates of the Earth's and Moon's means of orbit and eccentricities. In retrospect, concidering the epochal major changes, and currently expected trivial revisements, what exactly is the Earth's and Moon's eccentricities when averaged over their overall lifetimes? This last clause gets the class to pause a bit, thinking. Enough of a distraction to allow the professor, without seeming to break stride, to erase the first part of the giant computer board, the equivalent to erasing the first of three large blackboards across the front of a classroom. 10-B. And finally, space dust filters down onto the surface of the Moon and the Earth inexporably changing their size over the eons. Maybe, maybe not, both bodies also inexorably expell gas over the eons. Who knows, maybe the size hence stays the same, overall. There is a pause as some paper is shuffled back and forth between the Professor and the teaching assistant. Soon enough the shuffling stops. The professor begins anew, speaking but not writing: " ...What you have here so far, then, are what things are. Now, then, did anyone QUESTION the DOGMA? Turns out a few did. This is what we now have from the other side of the science of philosophy. List 3". The professor takes the list handed from the teaching assistant and begins to write (er, rather, type, no, rather, speak) in the professor's famous fast manner again, walking around with head up then down almost at the same time: The professor is well aware that every move, every motion, is on camera. " ...These are student's arguements in favor of um, a perfect eclipse. A perfect eclipse is one which may be, ah, articulated in reasons other than those previously discussed in last week's class and as just summarized in lists 1 and 2. Now for this remaining group of student submissions. These are like mini-essays so please be patient till I get them on board". Dr. Philosophy begins to scan several sheets of paper, using the read-scanner for input, as follows: 1-C. ...therefore these questions regards eccentricity semi-beg a similar situation regards quantum dynamic factors in an atom. First, let's not confuse an atom's ideal state; electron orbitals are best described as cloud-like and perfectly circular in their simplest states, in modern physics. Other fixed images for the cloudiness also abound, for instance barbells, or double figure eights. The quantum theory can now with precision predict atomic events based on knowing where an electron is most likely to be located at a given time, when knowledge about the atom's excitement state is also given at that time. However, at any given instant in time, the electron does not have to be in that most likely place. In fact, at times, the electron might not even be in the atom. Never mind, Over a long time span it becomes apparent that the electron can be said to be located in someplace somewhere in its cloud image, at that time. So reliable is this method for science, that it can be said that those preferred electron locations are constants. However in Newtonian/Einsteinian physics, that same cannot be said for Earth and Moon eccentricities, unless the Moon and Earth are concidered to be stable entities in a fundamentally stable solar system which remains so for a sufficient time that, for the duration of that stableness, the flexing eccentricities can be said to be constantly homing in on a quantum-like dynamic, appearing as most preferred locations, when averaged for the lifetime of that solar stableness. This can be modelled merely by speeding up a computer animation of the solar system and watching the orbital eccentricities stablize into more or less constant circled outlines which will be the Perhilion, Mean, and Apheliion. Draw a straight line across the diameter of the orbit and there will be points where the line crosses the circles. These points on the orbit's blurred outer radius can be deemed constants. "Ah yes. But let's go on", says the professor. 2-C. It would be absurd, scientifically, to presume that because the Sun's radius may fluctuate or vary, and because both Earth and Moon eccentricity may transfigure over time, that neither three datas can be said to be constants in any deeper dynamic amongst fundamental forces, and hence thereby to conclude that the occurance of a new Moon eclipse is co-incidental in nature, offering nothing more than good fortune in the excitement of an occasional awesome event to the inhabitants of little old Earth. ("Hmmm? Hmmm," says the professor, some remark dying on the professor's lips at the moment of its birth over this last bit of lore. The professor letting it pass, resumes the scanning right away). 3-C. If the Sun radius and both the Earth and Moon elliptics of orbit could be said to be fundamental constants during an extended time period said to be a stable event for the solar system, then the occurance of a perfect New Moon eclipse would not have to be a randomly chanced event, amazing, but definately not co-incidental. 4-C. In this 'other hand' hypothesis, it might be presumed that the Sun in its current phase of evolution keeps lurking around a scientifically finite size which is fundamentally constant, even though its physical size is constantly changing back and forth. Similarly, it is suggested that the Earth and Moon are both locked within their orbits, which temporarily plus and minus on either side of eccentricic values which are also fundamentally constant. 5-C. It is important to acknowledge that no physical measure can be said to be constant unless it relates to at least one other physical measure in an invariant, or pre-predictable, manner. It is also important to retrospect that invariant does not mean exactly and only as the way Pi translates change in measure from a circle to a straight line, between for instance the radius and circumpherence of a circle. Invariant can also mean, for example, in the manner of electrons homed in at most preferential orbitals, when given the measuring of electrons over a long time period for a given excitement state of an atom. 6-C. Allright!. If there is going to be speculation, let's speculate beyond Jupiter and Saturn. Let's speculate that resonance recurrances are a property in fundamental gravity. Let's speculate that accreting mass didn't form the outlook of planets and the Sun. Instead, resonances formed the outlook of the accreting masses. Something like the way iron filings on paper reveal the outlook of the field of a magnet. More filings means more of the outlook is revealed, rather than a different outlook. The outlook has always been there even when unrevealed. In this case, always means for as long as the magnet has been actively magnetic, even without the filings. " ...Interesting idea", says the professor. After this, the professor speaks again, saying: " ...And finally, we had a couple of really daring remarks come in. They are rough shod, but interesting. I would like to see the author in my office after class. I will know the author because of other remarks made also but not included in the following. The interesting remarks are... "; Dr. Professor writes them out: 'The gravitational Constant is Relative'. 'Observed gravity is relative throughout the universe'. 'The rate of accelaration in the fall of an apple to a planet's surface or a Moon to that planet, and the planet to the Sun, is peculiar to a system's location near a galaxy core vrs a location at the outer fringes of a spiral, or to nearby large mass conglomerates'. 'No two identical systems (assuming two can be identical) in a spiral galaxy will observe exactly the same value for the power of gravity, unless the total mass including visible and invisible forms for that galaxy, are known by observers of both systems, and it is learned that both systems are emersed in identical quantities of ambiant mass surrounding them.'. 'The gravitational constant varies according to location and amount of ambiant background mass, effecting each dynamic system in which the constant is being observed. When the ambiant background mass is unsuspected by the observers within a dynamic system, such as is the case here at Earth, gravitational force is relative to their own system. Somewhere else in the galaxy, the same experiments as used on Earth to measure the Gravitational Constant, will produce a different value for the Constant of Gravity, due to differences in the masses in space surrounding the home planet of that exeriment. When the amount influencing ambiant background mass is known, then the gravitational force might be deduced as being constant, or not a constant, for all systems in that galaxy'. 'Only when all of the mass in the universe has been mapped, can it be said if, or if not, that the gravitational constant is universal'. At this point the bell rings to end the class. PART EIGHT : Dissolving the Mistakes ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ It happens that the person still standing on the main street at the intersection waiting for the traffic light, has with them the means and methods. The eclipse has just finished its Totally, however things are still not back to normal. The fantasy with the eclipse's umbra and the Mexican Sombraro has already been forgotten by the person, drifting away to nothing in the time stream of the mass consciousness of the planet. In the briefcase is a compass, a straight edge, and a pencil. Besides a battery operated pencil sharpener, the person also carries a sophisticated portable calculator which features 12 memories and easy switching from floating decimals to scientific notation, which switch without any digits being chopped off. The best feature of this little machine is that all calculations are done correctly to 13 significant figures. The 14th digit is internally factored to a 0 or 1, depending on if it is below or above digit 5. This 14th digit can be extracted by subtracting the digits in front of the decimal point of a number and out will come the 14th digit into the display. The worst feature of this machine is that it is the end of a brief line. It is a maverick which came out when other companies began to introduce hand held programables, followed by personal computers; these others being two other generations which require rigorous programming to be used to add 1 + 1 = 2, and which won't add past 8 10 or 12 digits without more rigors. In further harrassment against creative intelligence, the sophisticated calculator's company went out of business suddenly, so completely that even the designs of the circuits disappeared, whereby repairs must be made by rummaging for circuit boards amongst the original distributor's back shelves. There are individuals waiting for months, in the hope of buying such a calculator second hand. The most obvious advantage of this calculator is that it frees the brain from the strain of artificial logics to do straight forward algebra. This is because insights can hit in 1/10th of a second. The person has found over the years that it is far easier to write out results (when all of the calculator's 12 memories are full) by hand, and to re-enter the datas by fast key tapping when swooling around for answers, doing problems where an answer can't be known until it is found. The person is the kind who can work rapidly for hours on creative math, writing out datas and re-entering them in the calculator, despite the tedium. Some ten second calculations would take hours just to program as a step in a computer. These are amongst the many thoughts moving in the person's consciousness as the person now crosses another intersection and heads in a hurry toward the Centuries Cafe, where an aquaintance is the manager. Thoughts return to the fact that the person is also reviewing in mindsight those papers in the briefcase which contain calculations pursuent to the Earth's eclipse problem and the fact that total eclipses are not 'amazing co-incidences', if the facts the person has in notes in the briefcase are correct. The Earth orbit just quoted over the radio station is less than the Earth's mean of orbit by an amount already turned up in the person's earlier playing around with math done on the kitchen table. The Moon orbit also just quoted over the radio is also one calculated, earlier. Only this time it is longer, by a distance equal to the Earth's averaged radius. It means that by mathematically moving the focal point of today's eclipse to the center of the Earth with the center of the Earth moved to the Earth's mean of orbit, and incorporating the Moon as a full cross sectional area completely through the Moon's center, eclipses might verify how to calculate some orbits from summed and multiplied constants in astronomy. More importantly, it would reveal that eclipse potentials are quantal rather than random. This person's project had begun as one of personal curiousity; 'just where is the Moon located, exactly, with respect to the Earth, during an eclipse of the Sun'? The first surprise had been in finding that the Moon was restricted to within such a very narrow limit located just in on the Earthward side from the Moon's mean of orbit. But, since, the person hadn't been able to pin down hardly any useful information, especially about a location for the Earth. Pinning things down has been like trying to predict silly putty. Like trying to put salt on a pigeon's tail. Like trying to factor digits from the reciprocal side of an equation. The person had found that adding and subtracting the Earth's radius from the Moon's mean of orbit produced Earth orbits which bounced around in non-recognizable albiet slight variances on either side of the Earth's present day eccentricity, depending on whether polar or equatorial radii for the Moon or Earth were used. The person was also well aware that plus or minus increments of the Moon radius upon the Moon orbit, varied the resulting Earth orbits in a plus and minus action seemingly like, but not exactly the same as, the Sun radius, in some cases. Trying to piece all of these pieces together into a self evident pattern has preoccupied the person at home for several weeks prior to this eclipse. The person enters the Centuries Cafe, taking an empty table near a front window with a view toward the oceon. The Highrise Physics Building cannot be seen, blocked by a brick wall. The traffic in the street is running again. Still in, the twilight ambiance steeps the countryside in bromine colored hues. There is still a giant's bite missing from the east side of the Sun. No one minds that the person spreads out a few papers on the table and positions the calculator so it can be easily used. The restaurant is not very busy at the moment. To make space the person has moved the table's eating accrutements out of the way. The person begins by entering datas into the calculator's 12 memories. This takes but a few seconds per entry. The datas include the averaged, polar, and equatorial radii of the Earth, the radius of the Sun, and the mean orbits of both the Earth and the Moon, as well as the Earth's orbit. The person also stores the digits of some pervious calculations, which include calculations with the Earth at its perihelion, mean, and aphelion of orbit. Oops, all 12 memory registers have been used, the Earth's mean of orbit is written instead on a piece of paper for instant reference. In about six hours and fifteen minutes, these terms, precisely delineated, will be deemed as solar constants calculated from a small set of basic fundamental proportions. The constants will include the equatorial and polar radii of the Earth, and similarly for the Moon. And similarly for Venus. Holy Cow!, for VENUS!. PART NINE : The Bonanaza ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Science historians particularly like to follow step by step a finder's sequences in any reasoning which leads to new understanding. This won't be possible today because the person works so fast that when the answers are finally calculated, the person can't recall how each of several dozens of new pieces of information first clicked into place. Another hour has passed. On the table are scattered a number of new pages of calculations, some having datas crossed out and changed many times. Some of the latest involve an imaginary Sun projected into the orbit of Venus, eclipsed by planet Venus positioned in the orbit of the Moon this time, instead of the planet Earth, in two new and separate views, oppositive to the Moon. That is, the Moon is now where the Earth was. To make a long story short, what the person has found is that two basic radii sizes for the Earth (polar and equatorial) (and the same for the Moon) appear to be constants, as is the Earth's eccentricity, and mean of orbit. Subtracting 1, 2, or 3 units of the Earth's radius from the position of the Moon in orbit during a series of eclipses starting when the Earth is at its Perihelion of orbit, converts each of the resulting Moon locations into absolute positions for perfectly eclipsing the full cross sectional diameter of the Sun, as eclipsed by the full cross sectional diameter of the Moon with the Earth at its perihelion, mean, and aphelion of orbit. Most striking, is that the exact amount the Moon actually shifts in orbit when perfectly eclipsing the Sun with the centerpoint of the Earth at Earth's Perhihelion, Mean, and Aphelion positions in orbit, is exactly equal to the cross sectional size of the Earth itself, ie. the Earth's diameter. The Earth can fit right into that tiny slot of displacement like a ballbearing. Holy Cow! now THAT is interesting new physics. In fact the diameter is the polar and equatorial Earth radius added together and divided by two. In fact, the Earth's Polor and Equatatorial radii are precisely calculated (instead of averaged) when going for the final iotas of accuracy. The same for polar and equatorial radii of the Moon. All 100 percent at home in the tight unquestionable picture. Several other pieces of data now also all lock together nicely in unquestionable ways, in which the constants of body size - and calculated parts - sum and multiply in perfect fundamental proportions. These include the oppositive view. These are; with the Earth in the Moon's orbit and calculations made from the center of the Moon when it is positioned at the Earth's Perihelion, Mean, and Aphelion of solar orbit. Or rather, with the Moon locked at Earth's Mean of orbit, and a phantom (recurring) Sun is moved in and out, in the orbit of Venus, to Venus's Aphelian, Mean, and Perihelion of orbit. This of course yields a bunch more information involving (what else would you expect, thinks the person) an image of the Sun brought forward into the orbit of Venus, and an image of Venus brought forward into the orbit of the Moon around Earth, and making total perfect eclipses with the Sun image in the orbit of Venus. The Earth when it too is substituted for the Moon, at a slightly longer distance out in positions in the Moon orbit, also overlaps the imaginary Sun in the orbit of Venus, as noticed in the mathematics by the person. The small amount of hop the two phantom moons (Earth, and Venus) make in the Moon's orbit, are both equal to the size of the planet called Venus, right down to polar and equatorial radii for that cloud covered planet, calculated from two different eclipse systems, to precisely the same values. Talk about things interlinking. It will be clear to anyone who has ever done creative research that the person will by this time be thinking of ways they might describe this information to other people. But, after thinking about it motionless and silently for a long moment, the person figures the best thing to do next, is to find a suitable way to describe the information in ways that can be easily understood as notes later. The person keeps working by making freehand a few very careful sketches festooned with appropriate labels and indentifying terms. But this looks like hindu script, or worse. So as a final touch the person quickly tabulates the datas in several tables which show the equations and the digits which result. The digits are the uncontestable proof of the answers, since they match all the way to the end the most accurate and up to the minute solar astrophysical datas known to date. The sketches however are merely a start for a new blueprint in the realms of gravity. Or rather, the sketches aren't, because these are the person's own hand drawn renderings. But the information is fundamental, regardless of how it is presented. In a last minute hunch, the person pauses to take another look at yet another possibility. This involves moving the Moon to Venus so an imaginary Moon now orbits the planet Venus. And a look from Venus beyond the Moon to see the real Sun raises the question? what size of object in that teleported Moon orbit is needed to eclipse the Sun now, from Venus. An unexpected bonus turns up. Surpisingly, it is the planet MERCURY itself which is now the Eclipser. Or at least an IMAGE of Mercury in the Moon's orbit around Venus, which eclipses the Sun perfectly through full cross sectional diameters. This is just turned up moments ago. A Polar, Averaged, and Equatorial radii are calculated for Mercury when planet Venus with a recurrant phantom Moon orbit around it is moved to Venus' Perihelion, Mean, and Aphelion of orbit. Oh say is that ever nice, thinks the person, when writing down the calculations which prove THAT news exists. Rather than a blasting euphoria or a wild excitement with a moment of classic idiocy over a new discovery, the person merely epiphanates into a mood of relief and a deeper satisfaction, knowing the hard part of the long time project is finally over, very much like perceiving a state all of a sudden a little stronger, a little brighter, a little more constant, in the emotions. At this point the person has begun to really believe that emotions are not supposed to change back and forth willy nilly in intense excitements or fears or other conditions which the people of the planet take so much for granted. It is beginning to appear that the more that is known in unquestioned Cosmic Truth, the more stable become the emotions. In this regard, the person is changing within very quickly, the person's long time perception of self is ungoing major revisions, in fact, has been undergoing such changes for quite some time. These are the emotions and thoughts of the person at this moment. No one else in the Centuries Cafe is aware of the person's answers. Except the telepathic manager. The manager isn't telepathic like in movie scenes where svengali-like nods and glinty glances flash between knowers around a room. Neither will anyone grip their temples in answer to subliminal mucking around. Rather, the manager is intuitive. At the moment of the solutions, when the person seated at the table with fingers wracking away at great speed on the calculator, when the person knows that everything is correct, at this juncture in the movement in consciousness the manager abruptly leaves the cash desk and comes straight over to ask the person if another cup of coffee is wanted. This is interesting because it happens that the person is just at this moment coming around from the math to thinking 'gee I'd like another cup of coffee'. Also of interest is that the manager has a heart felt smile, coming over. It is the proper intuitive response to the strengthening in emotions which have taken place in the intuitive person at the table. Such emotional kind can be felt by others. And those who are most aware in their understandings are those most likely to warm up a room whenever they enter. Not only that, others can be intuitively inspired into better performance creatively and humanly when irridated by such power. But now for the other personal matter to take care of. The bonanza. Having now double confirmed that the handful of pages of insights are correct, the person drinks the coffee, thanks the manager who is a friend, and heads out across the river toward the Psuedo-god headquarters to pick up the Lottery prize for giving the closest guess as to the exact Time, Size, and Location of the umbra relative to the Highrise during the Eclipse. At this point the person has no idea as to how much the Lotto comprises. But, indeed, the Lotto reciept is in a shirt pocket and the numbers are on it for sure, and no one can argue as to who is entitled to win it. The surprise, of course, will be that the win will be only $1500 due to the frenzied eager tinkering from around the world by propeller heads trying to proove they can fool a psuedo-god and doing the job easily. Who knows where the rest of the millions went. The thing about big computers, is that when they loose control, they can loose control completely. Before exiting the Centuries Cafe, the person leaves the papers, just completed, for the manager to peruse at leisure. These give an expanation of Solar quantal gravity states. Amateur astronomy, as with many people in the modern world, is a hobby of the manager of the Centuries Cafe. FINISHED Ray Livingstone.