Re: Planet X: SLOWING Rotation 1

Bill Nelson wrote:
> In sci.astro Nancy Lieder <zetatalk@zetatalk.com> wrote:
>> tell me what "98% gibbous" means to you.  If Webser's
>> says that it means more than a half face, but not yet full,
>> then we're dealing with (for an average of 29.53 days
>> between full moons and not less than 29.51) a period of
>> 14.755 at least.  98% of that lesser number is 14.46 days,
>> so we're .295 days from the full moon, right?  How ELSE
>> do you interpret 98% gibbous?
>
> My interpretation would be - 98% of the visible face is
> illuminated. I don't see how any other interpretation is
> possible.

Thanks, Bill.  With 9.9% of the time remaining (.295 days, assuming the
shortest possible period of days between full moons) we have only 1% of
the illumination time (assuming gibbous to be half the phase period)
left?  So Frank is telling us that the Navy data is OUT OF SYNC WITH
WHAT THE MOON IS PRESENTING TO HIM!

David Tholen wrote:
>> 98% of that lesser number is 14.46 days, so
>> we're .295 days from the full moon, right?
>
> Wrong ... Full Moon was 2 days later.
> The fraction of illumination is not a linear function
> of time.

You're not seeing the forest for the trees, Dave, again.

The slowing rate of the Earth, OUTSIDE of the occasional leap second,
has been noted by others, and mentioned in the media. An article in the
December 13, 1984 Washington Post report that the Earth had experienced
a sudden unexpected slowdown in rotation. Later, on July 15, 1988, an
article in the Wall Street Journal stated "Why earth should have slowed
.. isn't wholly understood," and further reported that scientists at the
US Naval Observatory and at the Jet Propulsion Lab found that the
"earth, like an unbalanced washing machine," has developed "wobbles as
it spins." Still later in July, 1990, Omni Magazine reported that
between January 24 to February 3, 1990, the Earth's rotation suddenly
and unexpectedly slowed down again. US Naval Observatory scientists
reported that the slowdown was more abrupt than usual. On August 9,
1991, the New York Times speculated as to the causes of the slowdown in
the following article "As the world turns, its rotational speed is
slowing down by an average of 1.4 milliseconds each century. But now
scientists have determined that the deceleration is occurring somewhat
fitfully. The slowing causes the Moon's orbit to expand slightly and a
day on Earth to grow ever so much longer."