Starship Asterisk*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angeline_Stickney wrote:

hloe [A]ngeline tickney [H]all (November 1, 1830 – July 3, 1892) suffragist, abolitionist, and mathematician, was the wife of astronomer Asaph Hall. She did not use her first name and so is also known as Angeline Stickney Hall. Though poor, Angeline Stickney was able to attend Central College in McGrawville, New York with help from her sister Ruth, and through teaching at the college. She majored in science and mathematics, including courses in calculus and mathematical astronomy. Central College was a progressive school where students of modest means, including women and free African Americans could earn a college degree. It was here that she became passionate about the causes of women's suffrage and the abolition of slavery.

At Central College, Asaph Hall (October 15, 1829 – November 22, 1907) took her courses in geometry and German, and she gave up her career to marry him at Elkhorn, Wisconsin on March 31, 1856. She is believed to have helped him with mathematical calculations early in his career. She encouraged him to continue his search for satellites of Mars when he was ready to give up, and he successfully discovered Phobos and Deimos.



Hall home-schooled all four of her children and all attended Harvard University. Her third son Angelo Hall, a Unitarian minister, wrote her biography. The oldest son, also named Asaph, was born on October 6, 1859 and served as director of Detroit Observatory from 1892 to 1905. Other sons were named Samuel (second son) and Percival (fourth son); Percival Hall (1872–1953) was the second president of Gallaudet University from 1910 to 1946 (he himself was not deaf).

She died at North Andover, Massachusetts at age 61.>>

orin stepanek wrote:Some how the crater doesn't look much like an impact crater! I wonder how it was formed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stickney_(crater) wrote:
<<Phobos's unusually close orbit around its parent planet produces some unusual effects. Phobos orbits Mars below the synchronous orbit radius, meaning that it moves around Mars faster than Mars itself rotates. Therefore it rises in the west, moves comparatively rapidly across the sky (in 4 h 15 min or less) and sets in the east, approximately twice each Martian day (every 11 h 6 min). Phobos's phases, inasmuch as they can be observed from Mars, take 0.3191 days (Phobos's synodic period) to run their course, a mere 13 seconds longer than Phobos's sidereal period.

It is possible that Stickney is large enough to be seen with the naked eye from the surface of Mars. It is located at the middle of the western edge of Phobos's face, on the Mars-facing side.

• Phobos transits Sun, as seen by Mars Rover Opportunity
  

Stickney has a smaller crater within it, about 2 km (1.2 mi) in diameter, resulting from a later impact. In 2006 it was given the name Limtoc, after a character in Gulliver's Travels.>>

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Lilliputians wrote:
<<Lilliput is ruled by an emperor, whose two sons are Admiral Bolgolam of the Navy and General Limtoc, chief commander of the army. They hope to make use of [Giant Gulliver] as a weapon of war, and are disgusted by his independendence, while Treasurer Flimnap frets over what he consumes. The Emperor is merely amused by the Man Mountain, his empress repulsed by him (although gazing up at his nether regions during a parade, she utters a cry of "Colossus!"), and scroungers Clustril and Drunlo hope tro acquire riches and court favor through him. The Lilliputians have been at war with their equally diminutive neighbors in Blefescu for generations, stemming from a dispute over which end of the egg should be broken when breakfasting.>>

• ___ *Limtoc Bolgolam*
  ______ {anagram}
  ___ *Ill Combat Gloom*

Star*Hopper wrote:Came for the "...but I see Egyptian hieroglyphics draped over the crater's rim -- CONSPIRACY!!!" comments.
Leaving less than fulfilled.


~S*H

apodman wrote:Some things are so obvious that no comment is necessary.
But it does look a lot like our friend the owl-spider.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2009/oct/01/fossil-ardi-earliest-human-ancestor wrote:

Frenchy wrote:What effect would a surge of black body radiation have on an astronomical object such as Phobos?

Frenchy wrote:What I mean by a "surge of black body radiation" is all forms of electromagnetic radiation minus the visible component of the electromagnetic spectrum. Black body radiation would most likely be produced by an astronomical object emitting mostly radio, x-ray, and gamma ray frequencies.

Do any objects in space emit just those frequencies?

jpoore wrote:Could one of Ardi's grandchildren, finding himself on Phobos, leap off?
If not, how long would it take to come back down in 1/1000 G?

neufer wrote: A general rule might be that if you can jump h feet high (in a sqrt(h)/2 second ride) on earth
then you can jump ~ 4*h/g feet high (in a sqrt(h)/g second ride) on a small planetoid
where g is the planetoid's surface gravity in G's.

rstevenson wrote:

neufer wrote: A general rule might be that if you can jump h feet high (in a sqrt(h)/2 second ride) on earth
then you can jump ~ 4*h/g feet high (in a sqrt(h)/g second ride) on a small planetoid
where g is the planetoid's surface gravity in G's.

One issue I saw mentioned in another on-line discussion of this is that our Earth-evolved muscles wouldn't be able to bring their full power to bear when we try to jump off an object of very low mass -- something to do with our body lifting off the surface before the full tension of our muscle-springs can be released.