The Flight Deck for February 2002, Issue 105
From the Bridge:
Welcome to February, the month of Valentines, groundhogs, and in my
case, a very nasty flu bug. I sincerely apologize for the lateness
of this newsletter, but today's my first day out of bed. It's
interesting; if I move too fast, the world starts doing the mamba. A
facinating sensation, but a bit unnerving.
The February meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 16th, at
6pm. The place? FADM Paul and ADM Sandy Sundstrom's abode is the
staging area for the month. Directions below. Remember, bring
plenty of goodies and raffle items. There's going to be plenty to
cover this month, including information from the Starbase 6
Commanders' meeting earlier in the month.
CAPT Cathy Dailey
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Upcoming events:
February 16th--February meeting at FADM Paul & ADM Sandy Sundstrom's
March 10th--USS Defiant 10th Anniversary party
March 16th--March meeting at ADM Mark & RADM Mary Bischoff's
("Night Out" to follow)
March 30th--Starbase 6 away mission to Federation Science
exhibit at Louisville Science Center, Louisville, KY
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Beamdown Coordinates:
FADM Paul & ADM Sandy Sundstrom
237 N. 18th Ave, Beech Grove
Directions:
1. Take I-65 to Keystone Ave Exit (#107).
2. Turn right if coming from the south
left if coming from the north
3. Turn right at light onto Troy Ave.
4. Turn left in between Walgreens' and Chinese takeout place.
5. Continue straight through stop sign (stop first!)
6. 237 on right side of street.
Hope to see you there!
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From the "Goofy Galaxy" desk:
Goofy galaxy spins in wrong direction
By Richard Stenger
CNN Sci-Tech
(CNN) -- A galaxy captured by the camera of the Hubble Space
Telescope seems to be rotating in the direction opposite of what it
should, astonished astronomers announced this week.
Most spiral galaxies have arms of gas and stars that trail behind as
they turn. But this galaxy, known as NGC 4266, has two leading outer
arms that point toward the direction of the galaxy's rotation,
according to Hubble researchers.
"NGC 4622 suggests that maybe people do not know all that there is know
about spiral structure yet. Our study may lead to a new understanding
of spiral arm production in galaxies," scientists Ron Buta and Gene
Byrd said in an e-mail to CNN. A Hubble observatory photo shoot
indicated which edge of the galaxy tilts closer to the Earth, allowing
the astronomers to determine the spin of the galactic oddball.
"I believe this kind of structure is rare, if not unique, among the
relatively small number of galaxies we can see with sufficient detail
that we could detect it," said Keith Noll, another Hubble scientist.
This high-resolution image, besides showing the reverse spin of the
galaxy, unveils the blue bursts of recently formed stars in the outer
pair of galactic arms.
A closer inspection reveals another enigma: a trailing inner arm that
wraps around the galaxy in the opposite direction of its rotation,
just like conventional arms of spiral galaxies.
"It is pretty clear that there are both clockwise and counter-
clockwise spiral arms, so something funny is going on," Noll said.
What could make it comport itself so strangely? That its two outer arms
are lopsided suggests that something major disturbed it. It could have
hit and ingested a much smaller galaxy, the astronomers theorized.
"What caused us to suspect that a collision or merger might be
involved in this galaxy is that we found a strong, sharp dust lane
right across the nucleus of the galaxy. We suspect a companion was
destroyed in the merger and that the dust lane is the surviving
evidence," Buta and Byrd said.
NGC 4622 resides 111 million light-years away in
the direction of the constellation Centaurus.
Galaxies, which consist of stars, gas and dust, rotate extremely
slowly. Our sun, located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way,
goes around the galactic center about once every 250 million years.
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From the Cutting Room Floor:
Failed Star Wars: Episode 2 Titles
Crouching Jedi / Hidden Sith
Planet of the Jedi
Obi and Ani's Bogus Adventure.
Indiana Jones - The Jedi Temple of Doom
Gone with the Sith
Blazing Lightsabres
Look Who's Fightin'
Look Who's Fightin' Too
Star Raider
Ani Skywalker and the Search for the Holy Helmet
The Skywalker's Guide to the Galaxy
Star Wars II: The Wrath of Han
Around the Universe in 80 Parsecs.
The Good, the Bad and Jabba.
One Flew over Watto's Nest.
James Bond: Jedi Never Die
A Tale Of Two Sith
The Sith Sense
Silence of the Ewoks
Young Sabres
Me, Myself, and Yoda
The Replacement Siths
Jedi Interrupted
Dude, Where's My Landspeeder?
O, Darth Vader, Where Art Thou?
Charlie's Jedis
Save the Last Duel
The Last Action Jedi
History of the Force Part 1
Lethal Lightsaber
Gone in 1 Lightyear
Ani Skywalker's Day Off
Honey I Shrunk The Jedi
Honey I Blew up the Jedi
Sleepless in Dagobah
My Fair Jedi
Attack of the Killer Ewoks
The Gungan Clone Project
101 Gungans
Yoda, I Shrunk the Padawans
Saving General Kenobi
Jar-Jar Binks: Prince of Gungans
Little Orphan Ani
A Few Good Jedi
All the Pretty Sith Lords
And for those of you who expect a wedding in EPII:
My Best Padawan's Wedding
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end transmission
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