No. 197 June 1999
ASTRONOMERS DON'T LOOK AT THE STARS BUT SEE THE LIGHT Whether you do or don't use a telescope, looking at the stars with the human eye is very limited. The human eye cannot see either the longer (infrared) light(waves) or the shorter (ultraviolet, gamma, and x-rays) light(waves). Astronomers actually look at the lightwaves (that the stars "millions of miles away" have sent to us) and not the star itself. The stars emit lightwaves the eye can't see so the visible and invisible (star)light is "photographed". Similar to one's image on the film in a camera, a star's light (i.e. its image) is on the astronomer's film. As a person's image is composed of colored and physical features, the image of a star's light (which is called electromagnetic radiation) is composed of various lengths and intensities of light rays. The specific electromagnetic picture of a star is called its electromagnetic spectrum. As with people, each star has its own physical characteristics or qualities that are reflected in its light (electromagnetic spectrum). The astronomer analyzes the recorded light sample (the electromagnetic spectrum) of light(waves) of various sizes and intensities, the pattern of which will tell the astronomer about that star's age, size, and other qualities common to other stars and unique to it. Astronomers do not look at, nor do they really study, the stars. Astronomers study the star's light (in spectral photographs). How else can they say that "such and such" star which they are now studying died "X" million years ago. How Astronomers Use Spectra to Learn About the Sun and Other Stars by Jeffrey W. Brosius, issued by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in February 1997 (NAS 1.83:1998-10-055-GSFC) is 12 pages of very enlightening information about how astronomers use spectra to study star light.
CAN YOU TAKE THE HEAT? It seems that a 1999 study: "Northern Hemisphere Temperatures During the Past Millennium: Inferences, Uncertainties, and Limitations by Michael E. Mann, Raymond S. Bradley and Malcom K. Hughes" (Geophysical Research Letters, v. 26, no. 6, pages 759-(762?) is available as a pdf file from the NOAA Paleoclimatology Publication Site at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/mann_99.html . The abstract for Mann's article provides some discussion of the weather prior to 1400 AD but the most decisive conclusions relate to the post 1400 AD era climate data. "The 20th century warming counters a millennial-scale cooling trend and the 1990s was the warmest decade, and 1998 was the warmest year. The new heat level is the concern of the United Nations Environment Programme's international team of climate experts, health officials, and meteorological agencies. Rome and Shanghai are planning to install heat health watch and warning systems like those already in place in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The Heat Index, which is already part of the National Weather Service's weather reports and forecasts, is the composite Temperature-humidity State that results from the combination of the current air temperature and the humidity level. For example, 94 degrees F with 60% humidity equals a Heat Index apparent temperature of 108 degrees F. "Predicting Heat Worldwide" Environmental Health Perspectives v. 105, no. 5, May 1999, pages A238-A239(HE 20.3559:105/5) will explain the concern about heat warning systems, and "An Evaluation of Climate/Mortality Relationships in Large U.S. Cities and the Possible Impacts of a Climate Change" by Laurence S. Kalkstein and J. Scott Greene, Environmental Health Perspectives v. 105, no. 1 January 1997 pages 84-93 (HE 20.3559:105/1) will give the details as to how, why, and where some people in the United States can take the heat and the adverse "high risk air masses". Of the 44 large metropolitan areas examined, there are eight cities that do not have "high risk air masses" in the summer and seven cities that do not have "high risk air masses" in the winter. The authors see an increase in summer mortality and a decrease in winter weather-related mortality if the climate warms as their climate models predict.
CLIMATE CHANGES AND HEALTH The Kalkstein article sets the stage of how Americans are currently reacting to and coping with summer high temperatures, and high-risk masses. The average daily temperature in the United States, which has increased by 0.4 degrees centigrade since the turn of the century, has affected our health and will continue to do so. The question of how the higher average daily temperatures and our climate change will effect both the environment and human health is a question currently being researched by the EPA and researchers from eleven universities and public institutions. Their research and analysis can be found on the "Climate Change and Human Health" web site at http://www.jhu.edu/~climate/ "The Climate Change Crystal Ball, Climate Change and Human Health" Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 105, no. 7, May 1999, page A243 (HE 20.3559:105/7) is a brief introduction to the facts that climate changes such as a higher daily temperatures, a faster rate of evaporation, more cloud cover, increasing precipitation, and more violent storms are climatic factors to consider. The EPA and researchers say that these factors will effect not only people but also diseases ("Climate-controlled Disease?" Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 105, no. 7, May 1999 page A239-A240 [HE 20.3559:105/7] ). Climate can influence the occurrence, spread, and containment of infectious diseases. The warmer climate and conditions mentioned above will hinder the occurrence of ticks and mosquitoes related diseases, but will foster the growth of pathogens , such as Salmonella that survive in or on food. Hot dry weather will also cause some airborne diseases such as meningococcal meningitis to thrive.
HOW COLD IS COLD & HOW HOT IS HOT? To answer these questions you have to know the current air temperature, the humidity, and the wind speed. In summer, if the air temperature is 90 degrees F and the Relative humidity is (at) 50 percent, the temperature a person is experiencing is the "Apparent Temperature" of 96 degrees. This latter figure is called the "apparent temperature" or Heat Index. The Heat Index figure is always higher than the air temperature because it reflects the amount of moisture or humidity in the air. In the winter time, when the air temperature is only 20 degrees and the wind is blowing at 20 miles/per/hour, the actual temperature you feel is 10 degrees below 0 F, the "Wind chill factor". In the cold weather the wind rather than the humidity makes the temperature we feel much lower and colder than the air temperature. Both the hot and humid days and cold and windy days can be life threatening. Too much heat can inhibit normal bodily functions and result in one's death. Too long in the cold or very cold can result in frostbite injuries or death. Heat Wave, A Major Summer Killer issued in 1985 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (C 55.2:H35/3) is a very good introduction to heat waves, the dangers of excessive hot weather. It includes a Heat Index Chart for determining the Heat Index or "Apparent Temperature" when given Air Temperature and Relative Humidity data. If you have a computer and Internet access set your browser to http://www.nws.noaa.gov/er/mhx/heatwvt.htm which provide information and a link to a Heat Index Chart. To find both a Heat Index Chart and a Wind Chill Chart set your browser to http://www.nws.noaa.gov/er/iln/tables.htm and find answers to "how hot is hot?" and "how cold is cold?"
UPDATE ON THE ELECTRONIC HAVES & HAVE-NOTS OF THE DIGITAL DIVIDE In issues number 173 June 1997 and 187 August 1998, we learned about those households which have computers, modems, and access to the Internet, i.e. the Haves. In those households that are without computers, modems, and access to the Internet live the "Have-Nots". The 1995 Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the "Have Nots" in Rural and Urban America (July 1995) and Falling Through the Net II: New Data on the Digital Divide (July 1998) set the stage for our viewing the "Haves" and "Have Nots" of the electronic age. Now in the July 1999 Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, we learn the "rich are getting richer" and the "poor are getting poorer". Part I of this 1999 report shows that eventhough more households are connected to the Internet some households are falling further behind. Part II provides significant information about Internet use outside the home at work, school, libraries, and public facilities. Also new is information on how people use the Internet to develop themselves economically and professionally. Part III survey shows how the "Haves" choose to spend their time online and why the "Have Nots" are have nots. We also learn why some people are not connected to the Internet, the challenges ahead in solving the digital divide, and several of the key policies in promoting access to the Internet. In the appendix there is a "Trendline Study" depicting trends in household telephone, computer, and Internet access at various points since 1984. All three reports can be found at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide/ which is the information home page for the "Haves" and "Have Nots", Americans falling through the Net, and the Digital Divide.
ASTERIOD HAZARDS? It was about 65 million years ago when an asteroid hit the earth. The dinosaurs were, most likely, unaware of their fate but they could not have survived the asteroid's impact. However, in 1998, on March 11, 1998, Harvard Astronomer Brian Marsden issued a public announcement that "1997 XF11", a mile-wide asteroid was going to pass within a mile of Earth in the year 2028 with a "small" chance that the asteroid would actually hit the earth. Needless to say, this national public announcement appearing in newspaper articles of March 11 and 12, 1998 topped the Orson Welles' October 30, 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, which caused millions of people in the eastern United States to panic and fear the Martian invasion of Earth. In any case, we have survived Orson Welles' Martian invasion of 1938 and Marsden's asteroid collision scare of 1998 (that the asteroid could hit the Earth in 2028). Dr. Clark R. Chapman our national asteroid expert says the chances of the Earth being hit by an asteroid/comet are 1 in 20,000. This fact is found in the Table: "Chances of dying from selected causes (USA)" within: Statement on "The Threat of Impact by Near-Earth Asteroids" by Dr. Clark R. Chapman ...before the Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives at its hearings on "Asteroids: Perils and Opportunities" May 21, 1998, which is found at http://www.boulder.swri.edu/clark/hr.html . In Chapman's website: http://www.boulder.swri.edu/clark/clark.html , he also explains and discusses the asteroid scare in Hazard from the Skies?, The Asteroid Impact Scare of Mid-March 1998 5 April 1998 (with updates) which is found at http://www.boulder.swri.edu/clark/fx11.html . Was Marsden's asteroid scare of 1998 "better choreographed" than that of Welles? The asteroid scare was followed by the release of two movies: Deep Impact and Armageddon. The former is about asteroid impact survival and in the latter Bruce Willis destroys a asteroid. The Orson Welles radio listeners had no "equally helpful" movie releases. You can find a Western Colorado educational website covering Orson Welles at http://www.western.edu/jour/scifi/wells.html and pictures of him at http://otr-trader.com/index.html .
August 12, 1999
http://www.nku.edu/~yannarella/news9906.html