WHAT'S NEW
of interest
AMAZING "ALIGNMENT" OF PLANETS AND MOON
The week of December 1 to December 8 has a once-in-a-lifetime alignment of the planets and moon AT DUSK IN THE SOUTHWESTERN SKY---as seen from Earth's frame of reference! Unfortunately as I write this the forecast is for cloudy weather most of the week. Here's what to look for:
- Starting ON the horizon, Pluto is visible only with a telescope.
- From Pluto, moving up and to the left at about a 30 degree angle are Mercury, Mars (you will now be facing almost due Southwest), Venus (very bright), Neptune (need binoculars, blue dot), Uranus (need binoculars, blue dot), Jupiter (very bright).
- Jupiter is almost due South. Look toward the Southeast to see Saturn, about level with Jupiter.
- Meantime, the crescent, just past new moon starts Dec 1 down near Mercury near the horizon, then moves up the line to be beside Mars Dec 2, Neptune Dec 3, Jupiter Dec 4, and Saturn Dec 8.
- Let's hope the weather clears for some of this!
SOLSTICE
The winter solstice is approaching. Note the length of the day and where the sun comes up or goes down now, relative to due east/west.
PHYSICS MUSEUM
Two museum rooms, to the right as you enter Sterling Hall, have demonstrations of physics phenomena which are both fun and instructive, including a few Physics 107 computer animations in the second room. Of interest are Prof. Sprott's chaos animations, also in the second room.
PHYSICS LIBRARY
Browse for Einstein books in the Physics Library. There are also neat chaos phase space diagrams in the display case and on the wall. The Albert/Henry video is here, too.
Please email any questions, comments, or suggestions to Professor Bernice Durand, bdurand@theory3.physics.wisc.edu.
Revised December 3, 1997.
Images and layout © 1997, Shane Hamilton