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By
Todd Marshall
DigiDemp
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Learning Continues
in the Realm of Planet Psi.

September 5, 2003

If you have read the CornDancer article you will know that the webmistress has officially declared me to be the Empress of Planet Psi. (Something that started out as a joke.) So.... Greetings, Loyal Subjects!

Both College Physics and Astronomy classes are underway. The learning continues! I am still not used to this form of communication, so I have been a bit remiss in my promise to keep things up-to-date. I kept thinking that I have to be as creative as the rulers of the other planets and got bogged down in trying to be clever....

If there is something in particular that you would like to see included on the page for your class, please let me know. This site is, after all, for you.

I also would encourage you to come by my office if you need help understanding some topic. Don't stay in the "I don't understand, but I don't know what to ask" state. Often it only takes a couple of minutes to clear things up.

Check out the Planet Psi Newsroom when you visit, and don't pass up those Bonus Point questions!
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Mars
Watch 2003

On August 27, Mars was as close to the Earth as it has been in 60,000 years or so. It's still close today. Try to take some time and go out and look at it through binoculars (or a telescope, if you're lucky enough to have one). If you look southeast at about 10 p.m. on a clear night you should have no trouble finding Mars shining brightly in the sky. If you are observing early in the morning (around 5 a.m.) Mars will have moved to the southwest.

The photo above was captured by the Hubble Telescope on Tuesday, August 26.

An interesting article on this subject can be found at space.com, "Mars Will Not Kill You" by Robert Roy Britt. Be sure and check out the embedded links in Mr. Britt's article!

Dr. Heather
Woolverton
Autumn, 2003

WHAT DIS?

1

Antimatter Surprises

A solar flare can create up to a pound of antimater, the Astrophysical Journal Letters reports in an overview of a project drawing data from NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft.

Ozone Hole

The Antarctic ozone hole is bigger than it has ever been at this time of year, threatening populated regions of south America and New Zealand with harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation, the Financial Times of London reports.

How Cold Is It?

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have cooled a sodium gas to the lowest temperature ever recorded — only half-a-billionth of a degree above absolute zero.

PLANET PSI is ruled by Dr. Heather L. Woolverton,
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Central Arkansas.
An independent entity in the CornDancer consortium of planets,
Planet Psi is dedicated to the study and exploration of the physical sciences.
CornDancer is a privately owned developmental website for the mind and spirit
maintained by webmistress Freddie A. Bowles of the Planet Earth.
Submissions are invited.