Page 9
Thursday • September 26, 1996
Dark Side
crora of me Moon
to enter last eclipse until 2000
IM
u/i'
|roughoi/ North America will
t a triple|reat Thursday night: a
tal eclipe of a harvest moon,
ithabrigit Saturn in tow.
JMost q North America won’t
|e anotler total eclipse of the
oon unll the year 2000, and as-
tfSI monies say these kinds of very
public displays help reconnect a
generation of children who have
“lost contact with the sky.”
“With the amount of electric
lighting we’re using, we’re washing
out the sky,” said Bob Stencil, head
of the physics department at the
University of Denver. “When we il
luminate the sky, we’re depriving
children of a chance to tap into
the cosmic wellspring of creativity
and imagination.”
A total lunar eclipse occurs
whenever the Earth moves direct
ly between the sun and the full
moon, casting its shadow across
the moon. Even when the moon
is completely in the Earth’s shad-
Linar eclipse
Almcit anyone in North America will be able to see the
mooi turn a dim shade of orange-red or red-brown during
Thusday’s lunar eclipse. The next total lunar eclipse won’t
occr until January 2000.
8:12 p.m. 9:12 p.m.
Thurs. Thurs.
12:36 a.m. 1:30 a.m.
Fri. Fri.
Redington, The Bail
when its bre
o stop attheSJ
ady stopped at’ll
h two vehicles.
10:54p.m. !
larth’s
hadow
M 10:19 p.m j 11:29 p.m. j\
! ^■'VTotaT etllose'
■'fv ciinbra
J \ ] ' ' I
• \ ■ Penumbra 1
III times are
fmtem Daylight
Moon’s path
East
What to look for:
8:45 p.m.: The moon enters
the penumbra, developing
a faint shading.
9:12 p.m.: The moon enters
the darker portion of the
Earth's shadow, the umbra.
For an hour, it slips deeper
into the shadow, glowing
orange, red or brown. This is
considered a partial eclipse.
10:19 p.m.: Total eclipse
begins. Look for changing
colors and shadings.
Also, watch for Saturn
just below or to the right of
the moon.
Page 1
it athletes should
sional career op|
come their wavdi
professional cai
- would hurtjhej* iurce: Sky & Telescope magazine
percentage, Groff!
ages the athlete;
e a degree. Discovery
ional Consortium
i ts was established
lent athletes to coi
trn professional,
Lunar eclipses
happen when the Earth
is directly between the
sun and the moon.
The moon gradually
darkens as it passes
into the Earth’s shadow.
Sun Earth
Moon
Moon’s
orbit
\
>
Earth’s
shadow
AP
ow, it doesn’t get entirely dark; it
is often a faint reddish, illuminat
ed by sunlight filtering around
the Earth’s edge.
This time, Earth’s curved shad
ow will fall across the moon start
ing at 9:12 p.m. EDT, with the
darkest part of the eclipse coming
at 10:54 p.m.
This lunar eclipse comes at the
same time as the harvest moon,
which is the full moon closest to
the first day of autumn. A harvest
moon is not necessarily different
from other full moons, but crisp,
dry fall weather can make it seem
brighter and more distinct.
Making things even more in
teresting this time, Saturn is po
sitioned in the sky very close to
the eclipsed moon. As the
moonlight dims, stars will come
out and Saturn will seem to
shine more brightly.
“This is a wonderful dance be
tween the Earth and the moon,
sort of a cosmic ballet,” said Jack
Horkheimer, director of the Mia
mi Planetarium and host of the
PBS show “Star Hustler.”
Dust from volcanic eruptions
or smoke from forest fires can af
fect the color of the eclipsed
moon, which can vary from a dull
gray to a coppery or muddy red
color. A lunar eclipse can give sci
entists a reading of how much
dust is in the atmosphere.
“Anybody can see the eclipse
with their own eyes,” said Paul
Knappenburger, president of the
Adler Planetarium and Astrono
my Museum in Chicago. “Just
find a comfortable place and
watch the moon perform.”
alaxy’s high-energy gamma rays pose questions
rn to school to mi
partial financial aid
return to
hours of either ci
s service work ft
he city where they
mally
A&M associate atb
red by the moneyc
ts offer. In most!
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.ck the maturityoij
■developed player^
it are successful,'
said.
NEW YORK (AP) — A distant galaxy has
owered Earth with two record-setting
urstsofvery high-energy gamma rays and
a puzzle into scientists’ laps.
“It'svery difficult to explain how this hap-
originalenroltae bed,"said physicist Jim Gaidos of Purdue
ceive die financial iiVersity.
Very high energy gamma rays have been
ported to come from two distant galaxies,
two more are under study. The rays are
o take coursesat|isorbed by the upper atmosphere and
n't pose any risk to health.
Scientists think a spinning black hole in
ese galaxies somehow sends out jets of
micaffairs,saidyoi itterand radiation.
These jets bump into energy packets
called photons, changing them to the gam
ma rays, scientists theorize.
It will take some doing to explain two
gamma ray bursts detected last spring, Gai
dos and other researchers said in Thursday’s
issue of the journal Nature.
The bursts came from a galaxy called
Markarian 421, which lies about 400 million
light-years away.
The first burst, on May 7, send 15 to 16 gam
ma rays per minute crashing into the Earth’s at
mosphere, nearly three times the old record.
The second flare, eight days later, set a
record for being so brief: half an hour. Previ
ously observed flares have lasted for days.
This brevity suggests that the gamma rays
must have been generated within a very
small space.
Scientists will now have to rethink their
theories to come up with a way that a galaxy
could produce the high intensity seen in the
first burst, through some process that can
turn on and off in only half an hour and act
within a very small space, Gaidos said.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said.
But Gaidos said he’s not ready to declare
current theories dead.
Jules Halpern, an associate professor of
astronomy at Columbia University in New
York, said there’s probably a “clever explana
tion” for the new observations that won’t
overturn current theories.
On Sale Saturday at 10am!
said. ■^■1
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1 -800-COLLECT PRESENTS
ysics major and
said she came
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with special guest: CHALK FARM
Sunday, October 27
Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheatre
Tickets at Foley’s, Randalls and the MSC Box Office. Or charge by phone: 409-268-0414
Produced by MSC Town Hall and PACE Concerts
Lsl ©1996 A&M Records, Inc./Mercury Records. All rights reserved.
Register 'Vote • 1-800-Call-RTV • www.rockthevote.org
STUDY ABROAD IN
MEXICO
You can spend SUMMER SESSION l in
PUEBLA for SPAN 221 and SPAN 222
MEXICO CITY for JOUR 273, JOUR 406,
and JOUR 484
OUERETARO for NUTR 421 and NUTR 485
While experiencing the exciting
culture of MEXICO
For more information please visit
the faculty at the
MSC, MAIN HALL
ON
OVERSEAS DAY
SEPT. 26. 10:00 - 2:00
4 SIUDT AltOAt* MKXJKAMS
Ml ftUEZCUHAUW.
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«... ©
Texas Instruments
Career Fair
Wednesday, October 2, 1996
Texas A&M
John J. Koldus Building
Room 110-111
Interviews Scheduled
Please bring your resume anil a copy of your transrripl or a lisl of courses.
(Minimum .1.0 GPA required)
Talk to TI's Major
Product & Service
Groups
TI's technical managers anti
recruiters want to see you.
They want to tell you about
the job opportunities in the
many technologies which
make Texas Instruments a
leader in electronics.
That's why TI is having a
Career Fair on the Texas A&M
campus, October 2, 199(i. It gives
the company three days to bring
in key engineers and managers to
meet you. They'll come from
various TI sites to describe
programs, answer questions and
schedule interviews.
Sign Up For Interviews
If You Are Graduating
With These Degrees:
Bachelor's. Master's or PhD
degrees in:
• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Computer Science
(Business and Scientific)
• Business Analysis (BANA)
• Mechanical Engineering 1
• Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
• Physics (Engineering and Solid State)
• MBA with EE undergraduate degree
The Career Fair and sign-ups for
interviews will be held: 9:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m., October 2. Room 110-111,
John J. Koldus Building. Interviews
(by appointment): October:! & 4.
Texas
Instruments
m
Amt
^m^.
7258 University Drive
FOR THE WEEK OF SEP 30 - OCT 3
TICKETS GO ON SALE SUNDAY 3-5 PM
SEE THE PEOPLE SOOK FOR ”””
DISCOUNT VOUCHER COUPON! ySsj
SCIENCE ANDENGlNEERiNG
MON
Sep 30
TU£S
Cell
WED
Oct 2
THUR
Oct 3
CHEM
101
7-9 PM
CH 4
CH 5
CH 6
CH 7 or.
RHYS
201
9-11 PM
CH 6
CH 7
CH 8
PRAC
TESTS
ENGR
109
11 PM-
1 AM
PART A
PRAC TEST 1
PARTS
PRACTEST 2
MON
Sep 30
TUES
Oct 1
WED
Oc t 2
THUR
Oct 3
MATH
152
6 - 8 PM
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PRAC TEST
MATH
151
8-11 PM
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PRAC TEST
BUSINESS
MON
Sep 30
TUES
Oct t
WED
Oct 2
THUR
Oct 3
ACCT
209/
229
7-9 PM
BILLY’S
VIDEO
PART 1
BILLY’S
VIDEO
PART 2
CH 7
PRAC
TEST
ACCT 209 & 229 MATERIAL IS THE SAME FOR EXAM 2
ACCT 230 BEGINS OCT 7TH
TUES
Oct 1
WED
Oct 2
FINC
341
9-11 PM
CH 6
HOMEWORK
CH 6
HOMEWORK