Ole (Olaus) Roemer, a Danish astronomer, had calculated the speed of light this day (07 Dec 1676), 340 years ago! He did so by observing the eclipses of Jupiter's moon, Io, during the years 1668 to 1674.
* By timing the eclipses of the Jupiter moon, Roemer estimated that light would take 22 minutes
to travel a distance equal to the diameter of the Earth's orbit around the sun.
* The speed of light in a vacuum is 1,86,282 miles/second (2,99,792 kms/sec).
* In theory, nothing can travel faster than light.
* If one could travel at the speed of light, one can go around the earth 7.5 times in one second.
Roemer's measurement is based on the following assumptions:-
* Io orbits around around Jupiter and the time it takes is 42.5 hrs.
* If an observer stays at a constant distance from Jupiter, he will see that it comes out of the
eclipse at the same interval of 42.5 hrs.
* The Earth revolves around the Sun once a year.
* Because the distance between Earth and Jupiter is changing, Io eclipse interval will change.
* * *
Back at 'The Quarterdeck'.
Our day had commenced at 5 AM. Since Saly had gone for her yoga classes, it was Lekha who'd made the morning cuppa for the three of us. We were on our return journey by a 20' to 7. The road was comparatively free, with sparse traffic and passing through Kadavanthra, Vyttila and Idapalli junctions hardly took any time. Breakfast was at the Saravana Bhavan, short of the Paliyekkara toll plaza. Viswambharan, the security guy at the hotel was anguished and surprised when I'd told him about mom.
We're at Guruvayur, half an hour later and we'd made two stops - one at the chemist's to buy a medicine for Lekha and the other at the ICICI Bank to drop my credit card cheque in the drop box. Immediately on reaching home, I'd gone to the nearby internet cafe to scan my voter's ID card and send it to my office at Kollam as I'd promised, Vishnu, yesterday.
Tailpiece.
Why do Hindus cremate their dead?
Hindus believe that burning the body to destroy it, helps the departed soul to get over any residual attachment it may have developed for the deceased person! Burial, among the Hindus, are only for holy men, saints and children < three years, the belief being that the former two would have attained a level of detachment!!
Something that I'd come across recently.
* By timing the eclipses of the Jupiter moon, Roemer estimated that light would take 22 minutes
to travel a distance equal to the diameter of the Earth's orbit around the sun.
* The speed of light in a vacuum is 1,86,282 miles/second (2,99,792 kms/sec).
* In theory, nothing can travel faster than light.
* If one could travel at the speed of light, one can go around the earth 7.5 times in one second.
Roemer's measurement is based on the following assumptions:-
* Io orbits around around Jupiter and the time it takes is 42.5 hrs.
* If an observer stays at a constant distance from Jupiter, he will see that it comes out of the
eclipse at the same interval of 42.5 hrs.
* The Earth revolves around the Sun once a year.
* Because the distance between Earth and Jupiter is changing, Io eclipse interval will change.
* * *
Back at 'The Quarterdeck'.
Our day had commenced at 5 AM. Since Saly had gone for her yoga classes, it was Lekha who'd made the morning cuppa for the three of us. We were on our return journey by a 20' to 7. The road was comparatively free, with sparse traffic and passing through Kadavanthra, Vyttila and Idapalli junctions hardly took any time. Breakfast was at the Saravana Bhavan, short of the Paliyekkara toll plaza. Viswambharan, the security guy at the hotel was anguished and surprised when I'd told him about mom.
We're at Guruvayur, half an hour later and we'd made two stops - one at the chemist's to buy a medicine for Lekha and the other at the ICICI Bank to drop my credit card cheque in the drop box. Immediately on reaching home, I'd gone to the nearby internet cafe to scan my voter's ID card and send it to my office at Kollam as I'd promised, Vishnu, yesterday.
Tailpiece.
Why do Hindus cremate their dead?
Hindus believe that burning the body to destroy it, helps the departed soul to get over any residual attachment it may have developed for the deceased person! Burial, among the Hindus, are only for holy men, saints and children < three years, the belief being that the former two would have attained a level of detachment!!
Something that I'd come across recently.
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