ALERT NEWSLETTER – July 2020

Hi everyone & an early Happy 4th of July!

I hope you are staying cool and hydrated as we wind our way through the heat of Summer.

Our next ALERT meeting will be July 14 and as with last month’s meeting, it will be held remotely.

Dues time also arrives with the July meeting.

So join me as I dust off the wallet, shoo away the moths and cough up some dough, so I will remain current.

Since we can’t meet in person, I suggest visiting our blog at https://alert-alabama.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/Documents/alertapp.pdf for information on where to send the dues and also for the form if you are not a member and would like to join.

Everyone stay safe!

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Politics And ALERT

From its foundation in May 1996 ALERT has always been a non-political entity. In fact the purpose of its creation was to provide a neutral ground where people could direct their severe weather reports to the National Weather Service free of ham political posturing and hissing, as was hampering the NWS mission in those days, (and occasionally still does).

This neutrality extends to “secular” politics as well.

The membership of ALERT is and has always been made up of a diverse group of members with a wide range of political views, left wing, right wing and those in between.

ALERT works for our parent agency the NWS. Just as they are non-political, so are we and so shall we be,

I have tried to keep this newsletter free from politics, ham or otherwise, mindful that it isn’t my personal blog, but is designed to represent ALERT and the NWS, hopefully in a positive light. Also I have a strong dislike for stress and arguments, which I have seen irrevocably damage long standing relationships over problems that could not be solved by the screaming and over people that would not give them the time of day of they passed them on the street.

All of this is to say that ALERT will not to be drawn into or associated with political drama. Just as “storm chasing” is not something ALERT or the NWS participates in, neither is politics.

What people do outside of ALERT is their own business. But, if someone, either in the group or outside, drags our group’s name into the fray, it is not by our consent or knowledge.

So if the temptation hits you, do as I do. When the Wisdom whispers into my ear “this is not the right path”, heed her gentle voice and choose the wiser path.

It’s the better thing to do.

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Where To Get Away From It All

One of the grand traditions of Amateur Radio is the DXepedition, where operators travel to distant lands to provide operators with the chance to contact the rarer of the 340 Amateur Radio “countries”.

Some of these locations may be jungles. lush tropical islands, uninhabited sandbars or rocks that jut out of the ocean only at high tide in a remote corner of the world

One question that may come to mind is what is the world’s most remote location?

One might think of the depths of the Amazon or the frozen world of Antarctica. But that is not the case.

The most distant spot on Earth, or the “Pole Of Inaccessibility” is located in the South Pacific
at latitude 48° 52′ 32″S and longitude 123° 23′ 33″W at spot known as “Point Nemo”, Nemo being Latin for “no one” and also a reference to Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo.

It lies more than 1,670 miles from the nearest lands.

To the north, Ducie Island, part of the Pitcairn Islands group. Motu Nui, part of the Easter Islands in the northeast, and Maher Island off the coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica to the south.

It is so distant that the closet people to Point Nemo are the crew of the International Space Station as it passes 220 miles overhead.

Not even the man who discovered Point Nemo, survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela has ever visited it.

In 1992 he located the point in the ocean that was farthest away from any land using a computer program that calculated the coordinates that were the greatest distance from three equidistant land coordinates. It is very possible no human has ever passed through those coordinates at all.

In fact even marine life is scarce as the coordinates are located within the “South Pacific Gyre”, an enormous rotating current that prevents nutrient-rich water from flowing into the area. Also, because the region is so isolated from land masses, the wind does not carry much organic matter which can fall into the 42 degree waters.

Without any food sources, it is impossible to sustain any life in this part of the ocean other than the bacteria and small crabs that live near the volcanic vents on the seafloor.

It has been described as “the least biologically active region of the world ocean”.

It also was the source of a mystery

In 1997, oceanographers recorded a mysterious noise less than 1,240 miles east of Point Nemo called “The Bloop”.

“The Bloop”, was louder than the sound of the largest living animal, the blue whale – leading to speculation that it was made by some larger unknown sea creature.

What strange one eyed multi-tentacled creature that could drag ships to their doom was heralding its discovery announcing its presence?

None, as it turned out, as NOAA confirmed the sound to be the sound of icebergs. When large icebergs crack and fracture, they generate powerful, ultra-low-frequency sounds. Subsequent recordings of known ice quakes have shared similarities with the Bloop.

The place is also a graveyard or “space cemetery” because more than 263 spacecraft were disposed in this area between 1971 and 2016. This includes hundreds of decommissioned satellites and various unmanned resupply spacecraft to the Mir space station and the International Space Station, including Russian Progress cargo craft, the defunct Soviet space station Mir and six Salyut space stations.

The area is officially known to space agencies as the “South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area”. In particular, the Russian, European and Japanese space agencies have long used it as a dumping ground, because of its remoteness and for its limited shipping traffic, so as not to endanger human life with any falling debris.

The stations do not fall intact, but create debris fields spread across the ocean floor, mainly fuel tanks and pressure vehicles.

Point Nemo isn’t the only space graveyard. There is another from Cape Canaveral stretching far into the Atlantic, which contains the spend rockets of countless unmanned satellites, the boosters of Project Mercury and Gemini and the stages of the Saturn V and 1B rockets that launched the Apollo spacecraft.

The other major graveyard stretches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan across Asiatic Russia and the trackless regions of Siberia, where pieces of the boosters that launched Vostok, Voshkod, Soyuz and the Soviet Space Shuttle Buran lay.

But, back to Point Nemo, it is said that on a calm day, the sea surface in the heart of the South Pacific Gyre is a beautiful clear cornflower blue, with a hint of violet.

So, if you have the urge to take the SS Minnow on a 3 hour tour, and be “rare DX” as a Maritime Mobile station, enjoy the view. Let us know when you will be available.

Just watch for falling space junk.

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally called “Quintilis”, the fifth Roman month, Quintilis was renamed “July” in 44 BC in honor of Julius Caesar.
July is miserably hot, as land temperatures reach their peaks in late July through early August – the Dog Days of Summer.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional period of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11.

The Romans on the other hand said that the Dog Days ran from July 24 through August 24, or, alternatively, from July 23 through August 23, coinciding with the Sun and the Dog Star Sirius rising at the same time & their combined heat supposedly adding to the summer misery.

As you endure this heat, remember to drink lots of fluids, hug the shade & avoid the afternoon sun.

Also please resist the temptation to take Fido for a walk during the heat of the day. Remember that the “official” temperature readings are taken 6 feet above ground level. It’s much, much hotter on the ground where Fido & Puss have to walk with bare paws, where it could easily be 150 degrees.

Before taking Muttley for a walk, place your hand on the pavement and see how hot it is. If it’s miserable to you, it will be miserable to him also. Just walk him in the morning or wait until the sun is setting and it cools off to a tolerable level and try to stick to grassy areas. Then go have a good time together.

The last week of July is usually the hottest week of the year. Tropical conditions are dominant, with conditions similar to that of the Amazon Valley.

This is the time to test the “Brown Grass Theory”. According to this theory, if the grass remains green the temperature will probably not reach 100, but, if the grass turns brown, get set for triple digits. This is a local Birmingham rule, which the Old Timers at the Birmingham NWS, such as Frank Makosky and J.B Elliott used for years.

In July the least rainfall falls in the Northern Hemisphere.

Tornado activity drops sharply, with a 47% decrease nationwide. July has an average of 103 tornadoes.

Hurricane activity increases, but major hurricanes are not yet frequent. By months end, one hurricane will have occurred. Seven percent of a year’s hurricane total occurs in July.

Long track hurricanes are possible, forming off the African coast and crossing the Atlantic, either to threaten the US East Coast, then eventually veering off towards Bermuda. Or in the case of “Low Latitude” storms, cross the Atlantic, strike the Leeward Islands; enter the Caribbean and then striking the Yucatan, or the Western or Northern Gulf coast.

July Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

From 1851 to 2019 there have been 125 Tropical Storms and 59 Hurricanes, 27 of which made landfall in the United States.

Among notable storms are 2005’s Hurricane Emily, the only Category 5 storm to form in July, reaching 160 MPH and striking Mexico.

Hurricane Bertha, a 125 MPH storm holds the record for the longest lifespan for a July hurricane, churning for 17 days.

Days grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon decreases from 79.6 degrees at the beginning of the month to 74.7 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 14 hours 20 minutes on July 1 to 13 hours 49 minutes on July 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

July 1 Sunrise 5:41 AM Sunset 8:01 PM
July 15 Sunrise 5:48 AM Sunset 7:58 PM
July 31 Sunrise 5:59 AM Sunset 7:48 PM

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Dwarf Planet Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are in a rough planetary alignment on the same side of the solar system. Uranus and Neptune are being antisocial or perhaps socially distant off to the side of the solar system.

Other than causing people’s brain lubricant to shift to one side, it has no apparent effects.

Mercury is hidden in the glare of the Sun at the beginning of the month, but, then reemerges into the predawn skies.

On July 22 Mercury will reach his highest point in the sky or “Greatest Western Elongation” of 20.1 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

Venus, magnitude –4.6 in Taurus, shines brightly low in the east in the dawn. She is moving slowly through the Hyades Star Cluster, which is at 153 light years distant is the nearest open star cluster. It makes up the “v shape” which is the heart of the constellation Taurus, with the apex being the red star Aldebaran.

Above this is another open star cluster, the Pleiades about 9° above it, but more distant at an estimated 444 light years.

These star clusters will be difficult to see at the start of the month due to the glow of dawn, but, will get easier as the month progresses and they rise earlier in the predawn sky. By the 12th the brightest stars should be visible, especially Aldebaran, which Venus will be passing near.

In a telescope Venus is a large, thin crescent, about 15% sunlit. Week by week, it will shrink into the distance while waxing in phase.

Venus will be at her greatest brightness on July 8, and her farthest distance from the Sun, or Aphelion on July 10, at 0.73 astronomical units or 66.7 million miles from the Sun.

She will be the bright “Morning Star” of summer and fall.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in Shaggytaurus, or rather Sagittarius.

Earth will reach her farthest distance from the Sun or Aphelion on July 4, when she will be 94.5 million miles from our home star, as she and the Moon wobble through space, the Moon tugging on the Earth like an unruly pup on a leash.

Mars, magnitude -0.4 in Cetus The Sea Monster, rises due east around midnight or 1 AM and at the first light of dawn shines very high and prominent in the southeast.

Earth, being in a faster orbit around the Sun, is speeding towards Mars. Mars will appear twice as large when the Earth passes by him at their closest approach or “Opposition” in the first half of October.

Mars is an 84% sunlit gibbous disk. A small telescope will show Mars’s gibbous shape, it’s shrinking South Polar Cap, which is a seasonal shrinkage, as it is Summer there, and, in good seeing, perhaps some of its dark surface markings.

Jupiter, magnitude -2.7 on the border of Sagittarius and Capricornus rises in late twilight.

The giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun on July 14. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and its moons. A medium-sized telescope should be able to show you some of the details in Jupiter’s cloud bands. A good pair of binoculars should allow you to see Jupiter’s four largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io, appearing as bright dots on either side of the planet.

Saturn, magnitude +0.2 on the border of Sagittarius and Capricornus also rises in late twilight.

Jupiter and Saturn form a striking pair that hangs low in the southeast after dark. Jupiter is the brightest. Saturn is lower left of Jupiter by about 6°.

The two giant planets shine at their highest and telescopic best around 1 or 2 AM in the south.

The ringed planet will be at “Opposition” on July 20. His face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. A medium-sized or larger telescope will allow you to see Saturn’s rings and a few of its brightest moons, including planet sized Titan, the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only known body in space, other than Earth, where clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in Aries, is low in the east just before dawn.

Neptune, magnitude 7.9, in Aquarius, is well up in the southeast before dawn, east of Mars.

July’s Full Moon occurs July 4 at 11:44 PM CDT or 4:44 UTC on July 5 and is called “Buck Moon” in Native American folklore. This moon gets its name because the male buck deer begin to grow their new antlers at this time of year. It has also been called “Full Thunder Moon” & “Hay Moon”.

On July 4 & 5 there will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow, or penumbra. During this type of eclipse the Moon will darken slightly but not completely. The eclipse will be visible throughout most of North America, South America, the eastern Pacific Ocean, the western Atlantic Ocean, and extreme western Africa.

In Birmingham the eclipse will begin on July 4 at 10:07 PM, with the maximum eclipse at 11:29 PM and ending at 12:52 AM on July 5.

This will not be a dramatic “Blood Moon” event.

What is noteworthy is that this will be the third eclipse in a row, as there was another Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on June 5 and an Annular Solar Eclipse on June 21.

It is normal to have eclipses paired with one lunar and one solar. But, a third eclipse is rather rare.

Since eclipses can only occur during a Full Moon or a New Moon and since we get one of each roughly every 15 days, you might wonder why we don’t get an eclipse every Full and New Moon?

The answer to this is that the Sun’s apparent movement across the sky and background stars is steady and unchanging along a path called the “Ecliptic”. The moons path is slightly tilted by just over 5 angular degrees, or as in official NASA terms, is “catawampus” from the Sun’s Ecliptical Plane or path.

Sometimes it is North of the Sun’s path and said to be in “Ascending Node”. Sometimes it is South of the path and said to be in “Descending Node”.

For an eclipse to occur the Moon has to exactly intersect the Ecliptical Plane or the “Nodal Axis” and be in a direct line with the Sun and the Earth.

To help complicate things, moon’s orbital plane “prescesses” or slowing turns like a spinning top or coin that is slowing down and this causes the nodes to move in a clockwise direction around the zodiac and takes 18 years, 7 months and 9 days to make one complete revolution. Eclipses occur when either the new or full moon occurs close to the nodal axis. The closer to the axis, this “deeper” the eclipse or the more “total” it becomes. The Moon’s orbit is also somewhat oval shaped, and so can be too far away to totally block the Sun, which is why you have Annular eclipses.

All of these events can be predicted mathematically. Given that I have but few functioning brain cells remaining and none of them are in the mathematical portion of my brain, I will not attempt to explain how these calculations work, but just be grateful that the gents at the US Naval Observatory are smarter than I.

The moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on July 12, when she will be 251,159 miles from Earth.

This will occur at Last Quarter Moon.

During Last Quarter Moon the visible portion of the Moon points East, with the dividing line between the dark and light portions of the Moon, or “Terminator” pointing roughly North and South, which can be useful to remember for rough direction finding when out in the wilds.

Though it won’t peak until the night and morning of August 12 & 13, the Perseid Meteor Shower begins July 17, and lasts until August 24. This shower, associated with comet Swift-Tuttle will peak at 60 meteors per hour in August.

New Moon will occur on July 20 at 12:33 PM CDT or 17:33 UTC. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on July 24, when she will be 228,892 miles from Earth.

First Quarter Moon will occur July 27, with the visible portion of the Moon pointing West.

The Delta-Aquariad Meteor shower peaks on the night of July 28th into the morning of the 29th.
This shower annually occurs from July 12 through August 23 is made up of debris from Comet Marsden Kracht and produces a ZHR or Zenith Hourly Rate of 20 meteors per hour.

The First Quarter moon will block many of the fainter meteors this year. But if you are patient, you should still be able to catch a few of the brighter ones. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

4171 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of June 24, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

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This month’s meeting will be on July 14 at 7PM

The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting.

Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

Hope to “see” you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net