Starship Asterisk*

Lilly wrote:My students dont like this explanation today... They said it is to complicated... too much information in a few words..... I found it interesting....

• Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

• Down - in the mire!...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac wrote:

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<<Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian and duelist. Today he is best known as the inspiration for Edmond Rostand's most noted drama Cyrano de Bergerac which, although it includes elements of his life, also contains invention and myth.

Cyrano de Bergerac's works L'Autre Monde: ou les États et Empires de la Lune ("Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon", published posthumously, 1657) and Les États et Empires du Soleil (The States and Empires of the Sun, 1662) are classics of early modern science fiction.

In part one [of L'Autre Monde (1657)], an attempt to reach the Moon to prove there is a civilization that views Earth as its moon leads the narrator to soar from Paris into the sky by strapping bottles of dew to his person, but he fails and lands back on Earth. Believing to have traveled straight up and down, he is confused by local soldiers who tell him he is in France; they escort him to the provincial governor who informs him that it is in fact New France. The narrator explains to the governor that all matter is formed inside and expelled from stars, and that once the Sun has run out of fuel it will consume the planets and restart the cycle. He uses New France as evidence for this theory, claiming that its only being discovered not long ago by European explorers was because the Sun had only recently sent it to Earth.

The narrator tries again to construct a way of reaching the Moon, this time through a flying machine that he launches off a cliff's edge. Though the craft crashes, local soldiers attach rockets to it, hoping that it will fly to celebrate the feast day of St. John the Baptist. Dismayed at this use of his machine, the narrator attempts to deconstruct it while the fuse is lit, but the machine takes off and sends him into space. He meets inhabitants who have four legs, musical voices, and amazing weapons that cook game for a meal while it's being shot, as well as the ghost of Socrates and Domingo Gonsales of Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone. His discussions with Gonsales include how useless of a concept God is, that humans cannot achieve immortality, and that they do not have souls. After these discussions, the narrator returns to Earth.

In part two, a new machine that focuses solar energy through mirrors to generate bursts of air sends the narrator to the Sun. Those living on a Sun spot teach him about the solar system by relating it to how atoms move. Upon the surface of the Sun, he is tried for all the crimes humanity has committed by birds, but one who knows him sets him free. The narrator then discusses with Tommaso Campanella how sex would work in Utopia.>>

gvann wrote:Chimborazo's peak is also the place on Earth where the acceleration of gravity, g, is lowest. Anyone know exactly how much it is? I calculate about 9.76 m/sec^2

Chris Peterson wrote:
The acceleration of gravity isn't determined only by the distance from Earth's center, but by the local density of the crust. As a result, Huascarán Peak in Ecuador, which is slightly closer to Earth's center than Chimborazo, actually has the smallest acceleration of gravity on Earth, 9.7639 m/s².

• That's one way to avoid putting on the pounds.

http://www.foodsforfibromyalgia.com/2010/03/07/world-record/http://www.foodsforfibromyalgia.com/2010/03/07/world-record/ wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Deirdre Rawlings, along with a group of non-climbers, orchestrated by Chris Darwin (great-great-grandson of the famous Charles), climbed Mt. Huascuaran, second highest mountain in the Peruvian Andes to partake in the highest dinner party in the world at 22,604ft (6,769 meters), and as a result created a ‘visual joke’ and gained a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. Chris Darwin had been inspired by the advice given to him at the age of 13 by his grandmother: “[i]Chris, if you cannot be first, be peculiar[/i]”.[/color][/b]

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<<Most people have an adventure deep inside them – a secret urge to drive across a continent, sail an ocean, or climb a mountain. The Social Climbers is a tale of one such dream. An absurdly ridiculous dream which, carried out with epic incompetence, became a ludicrous reality.

Led by Chris Darwin (great-great-grandson of the famous Charles), Deirdre Rawlings, together with a party of nine inspired amateurs, including a 62-year-old grandfather, set off for Peru to create a bizarre visual joke: the world’s highest dinner party. Only two had any mountaineering experience, yet they chose to host the dinner on the summit of Peru’s highest and most unpronounceable mountain, Huascuaran – at 22,604ft (6,769 meters).

They had been warned about terrorism, blizzards, avalanches, frostbite and altitude sickness. But no one could have predicted the real hardships they would face: loss of libido, a documentary crew led by an obsessed German philosopher, an absurd love triangle and chronic flatulence; nor could they have foreseen the litany of injuries and disasters that would befall the expedition: malaria, bronchitis, Guardia, hemorrhoids, a ripped shoulder, cracked ribs, hypothermia, pregnancy and a frozen bottle of red wine.>>

neufer wrote:

Chris Peterson wrote:
The acceleration of gravity isn't determined only by the distance from Earth's center, but by the local density of the crust. As a result, Huascarán Peak in Ecuador, which is slightly closer to Earth's center than Chimborazo, actually has the smallest acceleration of gravity on Earth, 9.7639 m/s².

• That's one way to avoid putting on the pounds.

http://www.foodsforfibromyalgia.com/2010/03/07/world-record/http://www.foodsforfibromyalgia.com/2010/03/07/world-record/ wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Deirdre Rawlings, along with a group of non-climbers, orchestrated by Chris Darwin (great-great-grandson of the famous Charles), climbed Mt. Huascuaran, second highest mountain in the Peruvian Andes to partake in the highest dinner party in the world at 22,604ft (6,769 meters), and as a result created a ‘visual joke’ and gained a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. Chris Darwin had been inspired by the advice given to him at the age of 13 by his grandmother: “[i]Chris, if you cannot be first, be peculiar[/i]”.[/color][/b]

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<<Most people have an adventure deep inside them – a secret urge to drive across a continent, sail an ocean, or climb a mountain. The Social Climbers is a tale of one such dream. An absurdly ridiculous dream which, carried out with epic incompetence, became a ludicrous reality.

Led by Chris Darwin (great-great-grandson of the famous Charles), Deirdre Rawlings, together with a party of nine inspired amateurs, including a 62-year-old grandfather, set off for Peru to create a bizarre visual joke: the world’s highest dinner party. Only two had any mountaineering experience, yet they chose to host the dinner on the summit of Peru’s highest and most unpronounceable mountain, Huascuaran – at 22,604ft (6,769 meters).

They had been warned about terrorism, blizzards, avalanches, frostbite and altitude sickness. But no one could have predicted the real hardships they would face: loss of libido, a documentary crew led by an obsessed German philosopher, an absurd love triangle and chronic flatulence; nor could they have foreseen the litany of injuries and disasters that would befall the expedition: malaria, bronchitis, Guardia, hemorrhoids, a ripped shoulder, cracked ribs, hypothermia, pregnancy and a frozen bottle of red wine.>>

geoffrey.landis wrote:"That makes Chimborazo's summit the place on Earth's surface closest to the stars."

Indeed. Closer to some of the stars... further from others.

neufer wrote:

Chris Peterson wrote:
The acceleration of gravity isn't determined only by the distance from Earth's center, but by the local density of the crust. As a result, Huascarán Peak in Ecuador, which is slightly closer to Earth's center than Chimborazo, actually has the smallest acceleration of gravity on Earth, 9.7639 m/s².

• That's one way to avoid putting on the pounds.

http://www.foodsforfibromyalgia.com/2010/03/07/world-record/http://www.foodsforfibromyalgia.com/2010/03/07/world-record/ wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Deirdre Rawlings, along with a group of non-climbers, orchestrated by Chris Darwin (great-great-grandson of the famous Charles), climbed Mt. Huascuaran, second highest mountain in the Peruvian Andes to partake in the highest dinner party in the world at 22,604ft (6,769 meters), and as a result created a ‘visual joke’ and gained a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. Chris Darwin had been inspired by the advice given to him at the age of 13 by his grandmother: “[i]Chris, if you cannot be first, be peculiar[/i]”.[/color][/b]

---

<<Most people have an adventure deep inside them – a secret urge to drive across a continent, sail an ocean, or climb a mountain. The Social Climbers is a tale of one such dream. An absurdly ridiculous dream which, carried out with epic incompetence, became a ludicrous reality.

Led by Chris Darwin (great-great-grandson of the famous Charles), Deirdre Rawlings, together with a party of nine inspired amateurs, including a 62-year-old grandfather, set off for Peru to create a bizarre visual joke: the world’s highest dinner party. Only two had any mountaineering experience, yet they chose to host the dinner on the summit of Peru’s highest and most unpronounceable mountain, Huascuaran – at 22,604ft (6,769 meters).

They had been warned about terrorism, blizzards, avalanches, frostbite and altitude sickness. But no one could have predicted the real hardships they would face: loss of libido, a documentary crew led by an obsessed German philosopher, an absurd love triangle and chronic flatulence; nor could they have foreseen the litany of injuries and disasters that would befall the expedition: malaria, bronchitis, Guardia, hemorrhoids, a ripped shoulder, cracked ribs, hypothermia, pregnancy and a frozen bottle of red wine.>>

BMAONE23 wrote:

geoffrey.landis wrote:Arguably the closest mountain top to the "Stars" would be what ever southern peak (probably Vinson Massif in Antarctica) lies closest to Alpha Centauri B, our closest star that isn't the Sun

Cousin Ricky wrote:

BMAONE23 wrote:
Arguably the closest mountain top to the "Stars" would be what ever southern peak (probably Vinson Massif in Antarctica) lies closest to Alpha Centauri B, our closest star that isn't the Sun

That would be Proxima Centauri, not Alpha Centauri B.

And certainly not Vinson Massif. There is a 23&deg; difference between Proxima's declination and Vinson's latitude, making the Earth's curvature a bigger factor than Vinson's altitude.

• More like a 16° difference:

Vinson Massif's latitude:        78° 31′ 31.74″ S

Proxima Centauri Declination 	−62° 40′ 46.16″

geckzilla wrote:I took "closest to the stars" to mean the imaginary sphere at some unknown height above Earth regardless of atmospheric thickness, distance to individual stars, or Earth's current position. Ie, Flammarion engraving

Nitpicker wrote:

geckzilla wrote:I took "closest to the stars" to mean the imaginary sphere at some unknown height above Earth regardless of atmospheric thickness, distance to individual stars, or Earth's current position. Ie, Flammarion engraving

That imaginary sphere surrounded a flat Earth though, did it not? So that would make Everest the closest. (Though if it really were flat there couldn't be any mountains.)

That Wiki Article wrote:Some commentators have claimed that Flammarion produced the image to propagandize the myth that medieval Europeans widely believed the Earth to be flat.[16] In his book, however, Flammarion never discusses the history of beliefs about the shape of the Earth. His text suggests that the image is simply a fanciful illustration of the false view of the sky as an opaque barrier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmament wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]The sun, planets & angels and the firmament. Woodcut dated 1475[/color][/b]

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<<The firmament is the structure above the atmosphere, conceived as a vast solid dome. According to the Genesis creation narrative, God created the firmament to separate the "waters above" the earth from the "waters below" the earth. The word is anglicized from Latin firmamentum.

The word "firmament" is first recorded in a Middle English narrative based on scripture dated 1250. It later appeared in the King James Bible. The word is anglicised from Latin firmamentum, used in the Vulgate (4th century). This in turn is derived from the Latin root firmus, a cognate with "firm". The word is a Latinization of the Greek stereoma, which appears in the Septuagint (c. 200 BC).>>

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act 2, Scene 2

HAMLET: This goodly frame, the earth,

• seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
  excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
  o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
  with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
  me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_spheres wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF]Geocentric celestial spheres; Peter Apian's Cosmographia (Antwerp, 1539)[/color][/b]

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<<The celestial spheres, or celestial orbs, were the fundamental entities of the cosmological models developed by Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus and others. In these celestial models the apparent motions of the fixed stars and the planets are accounted for by treating them as embedded in rotating spheres made of an aetherial, transparent fifth element (quintessence), like jewels set in orbs. Since it was believed that the fixed stars did not change their positions relative to one another, it was argued that they must be on the surface of a single starry sphere.

Ancient and medieval thinkers considered the celestial orbs to be thick spheres of rarefied matter nested one within the other, each one in complete contact with the sphere above it and the sphere below. When scholars applied Ptolemy's epicycles, they presumed that each planetary sphere was exactly thick enough to accommodate them. By combining this nested sphere model with astronomical observations, scholars calculated what became generally accepted values at the time for the distances to the Sun (about 4 million miles), to the other planets, and to the edge of the universe (about 73 million miles).

Albert Van Helden has suggested that from about 1250 until the 17th century, virtually all educated Europeans were familiar with the Ptolemaic model of "nesting spheres and the cosmic dimensions derived from it". Even following the adoption of Copernicus's heliocentric model of the universe, new versions of the celestial sphere model were introduced, with the planetary spheres following this sequence from the central Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth-Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.>>