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User: Kirsten

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  1. Re:Orbits, nodes, & more on Earth's Little Brother Found · · Score: 1

    *Any* object in orbit around the sun would have to intersect the Earth's ecliptic (which is defined as the plane of the Earth's orbit) at two distinct points, except for the special case where an object has the same orbital plane as the earth. So yes, Jupiter, Pluto, and Halley's Comet all have ascending and descending nodal points and I'm sure 2002 AA29 does as well.

    In fact, it seems that they've got all the details worked out. If you scroll down below the java applet they list all sorts of fun orbital parameters, including ascending node, eccentricity, etc. etc.

  2. Re:Horseshoe orbit? on Earth's Little Brother Found · · Score: 1

    I would make a guess and say that it's being affected a great deal by the Earth and some by all the other planets too, so you can't treat it like a simple two-body problem.

  3. Re:Not quite a planet, eh? on Earth's Little Brother Found · · Score: 1

    , a much smaller mass has to travel MUCH slower than the Earth to maintain that orbit.

    I may not have passed my classical mechanics class quite yet, but last I heard orbital speed and orbital mechanics in general are independent of mass of the orbiting body. Something like, if the gravitational force is GMm/r^2=ma, the little "m"s cancel out. And for a circular orbit doesn't a=v^2/R? (not that this orbit is quite circular) yeah.

    but then I haven't gotten my midterm grade yet, so don't take my word for it.

  4. Re:All I got was this lousy t-shirt on Star Wars-like Holograms · · Score: 1

    ---These images do not hover in mid-air either, their focal point is behind the surface of the view window.

    It's been a few years since my high school optics class, but I believe that while reflection holograms (like the ones you see of baseball cards and stuff) are normally behind the surface, transmission holograms (Is that what they're using here?) can have the focal point be in front of the surface. Come to think of it, I swear I've seen reflection holograms (the nicer ones that you hang on the wall) that "popped out" of the surface as well.

    but at least you put your laser to a worthwhile use, I just use lasers to entertain my cat.

    -Kirsten

  5. Re:Possible walkaround... on Star Wars-like Holograms · · Score: 1

    --don't know if they've come up with a way to view them without the laser?

    I messed around with holograms in high school (2 years ago) as well, although my teacher certainly didn't let me cart off any of his lasers! I recall making a (small and low quality) transmission hologram with a laser, but it could be viewed with just a bright white light (it might have been polarized though, can't remember) shining through it, so in answer to your question, yes.

    The really annoying part about this article, though, is it gives the impression that you can walk around the hologram and look at it from any angle, when you would actually only be able to see it if you could also see the film or screen it was being produced from. (unless there was fog or suspended particles or whatnot, as other people have already discussed. Thank goodness for /. where people don't automatically believe everything they read)

    -Kirsten