Irene

My Ridgefield friend's roof is now growing a tree but all are safe within. According to the Ridgefield Press, power is out in more than half the town and trees are down on almost every road. Pope's hill (steep part of Ridgebury Road) is closed and there is flooding on Rt 116 near Barlow Mountain Road. Irene hasn't progressed to New York yet and Ridgefield is already in a state of emergency. This picture from NOAA's GOES-13 satellite shows why. It is indeed a mammoth storm. This note comes from our new home in Alstead, NH 182 miles north of Ridgefield where it has been raining all night. Stay safe - today is a day for board games, cards, reading and just mediating on the fact that nature is in control no matter what man tries to do. Photo: NASA/NOAA GOES project- taking Aug. 27 at landfall in NC.

Pluto - Downgraded and Downsized

It was 5 years ago that the International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto to a newly created category of dwarf plant. This new category helped explain the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune that make up the Kuiper Belt. Pluto dilemma was created by the discovery in 2005 of a second major Kuiper object, Eris. Eris was rightly named for the Goddess of discord and strife. She is credited with stirring up enough jealously and envy to cause the Trojan War and now centuries’ later discord among astronomers. When discovered by American Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, Pluto was thought to be larger than Mercury and possibly bigger than the Earth. Since then it has been downsized to about 1,455 miles across which is less than 20% as large as Earth. Plus it is 0.2% of Earth’s mass. It’s extremely elliptical orbit is not on the same plane as the eight official planets and at times makes it overlap Neptune orbit. During this time it is closer to the sun than the gas giant. It takes 248 Earth years to complete one circuit around the sun at an average distance of 3.65 billion miles. This distance makes Pluto one of the coldest places in the solar system with surface temperatures hovering around -375ºF. It has 4 known moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra and a newly discovered tiny one presently called P4. Charon is about half the size of Pluto which leads some astronomers to regard Pluto and Charon as a double dwarf planet or binary system. Even though it is smaller than Earth’s moon, Pluto has managed to hold onto a thin atmosphere composed mainly of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide that extends about 1,860 miles into space and changes color. Just recently it discovered by NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft that Charon also has an atmosphere. New Horizon should reach Pluto in July 2015 giving us a new outlook on the tiny worlds at the edge of our solar system. Info credit to Space.com Photo credit Space photos comparing USA/Pluto/Charon

The Truth about Raindrops

We all know how raindrops are shaped, like little teardrops. This is justified whenever we see a dripping faucet or any picture in publication whether in paper form or on the net. However, this is NOT the case. The common raindrop actually goes through an evolution of shapes none of which are tear shaped. Little raindrops, which we will call droplets that have a radius of less than 1mm are spherical. As they fall from the sky they collide with other droplets. Some of these droplets are adsorbed to create bigger droplets. As it grows the surface tension of the water and the pressure of the air pushing up against the bottom of the drop start to create a more hamburger bun shape. If more droplets are absorbed and the size continues to increase, the raindrop will flatten and develop a depression. If it continues to grow, the drop eventually become parachute shaped until the thin umbrella top can no longer hold its shape and it explodes into smaller droplets. If you want to get deeper in the subject, check out Alistair B. Fraser’s Web page “Bad Rain" at www.ems.psu.ed/fraser/Bad/Badrain.html

Near Miss or Look out Below!

The "things movies are made of" happened at 1:14PM this afternoon. A small asteroid named 2011 MD whizzed by the earth a mere 7,500 miles above the coast of Antarctica, 2,000 miles south by southwest of South Africa . That would put it beneath some of our geosynchronous satellites which orbit 22,236 miles high. 2011 MD was only discovered last Wednesday (June 22) by LINEAR, a pair of robotic telescopes in New Mexico that scan the skies for near-Earth asteroids. The best estimates suggest that this asteroid is between 29 to 98 feet wide, about the size of a tour bus. This makes it too small to survive the plunge through our atmosphere. Also there is little chance that the rock would hit one of the our satellites. They are too few and too far apart. Objects this large usually fly by the earth every 6 years but not all of them are discovered. On Feb 4, 2011, asteroid 2011 CQ1 came within 3,500 miles of us. Rocks that zoom by this close are jettisoned back out into space as shown in the picture provided by Space.com. Scientist frequently use this doglegged shift in trajectory when propelling satellites through space. The acceleration caused by it means less fuel consumption by the satellite.

Summer Solstice

Today is the “Longest” day of the year - the Summer Solstice. Called a variation of Midsummer by most northern cultures, this marks a day of great celebration. When man determined time by the sun and moon, midsummer was the middle of the growing season. Most celebrations took on a joyous quality. At Midsummer food was easier to find, herbs could be gathered and crops had been planted in anticipation of a bountiful harvest. It was considered by some cultures a good time to wed as it fell between the intense work of planting and harvesting of crops. The “downtime” could be spent in preparation and celebrations. In China it was a time of balance. Midsummer celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces.

Now with modern technology driving our lives, it is barely noticed. However, the natural world will be resetting its internal clocks to reflect the eventual slide toward the cold season. Now is the time for second clutches of eggs or litters and for the young to start their intense survival training. Sunlight drives the natural rhythm of plants. The work of photosynthesis has reached its peak and now food production will decline. With the gradual decrease in sunlight some plants will start setting buds for the next growing season. We owe this all to the 23.5º tilt of Mother Earth. It causes sunlight to be unevenly distributed over our planet’s surface as it orbits around the sun. This creates the seasons – the main driver behind the Rhythm of Life.

Women's Hiking June 21 - 23

Join us for our final week of hiking before summer vacation.
The DC Women's Hiking Group will be hiking at Bennett's Pond on Tues., Jun. 21 and Thurs., Jun. 23rd.
From Rt. 7 heading north, take a left onto Bennett's Farm Rd. and the parking area will be on the right hand side of the road.
From Rt. 35 leaving town, take a left onto Limestone Rd. then take a right onto Great Hill Rd.
Follow Great Hill to end and take a right onto Bennett's Farm Rd.
Parking area for Bennett's Pond will be on the left side of the road.
Meet at 9:30am.
The hiking group will start up again in the fall.

Have a wonderful summer!

Women's Hiking June 14 & 16

The DC Womens Hiking Group will hike Tues., Jun. 14th and Thurs., Jun. 16th at Lake Windwing in Ridgefield.
Take Rt. 35 to Limestone Rd. Follow as Linestone turns into Bennetts Farm Rd.
Take a right onto South Shore Dr. which is across from Ridgebury Elementary School.
Turn left into the parking area.
Meet at 9:30am.