Page 24 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - March 2012

True Stories of the Zodiac True Stories of the Zodiac PISCES (THE FISH) about six miles (9.6 km) per second (more than Continued from Page 22 20,000 mph [32,187 kph]), the collision would liquefy both the piece of debris and the wall of the craft. With a flash of heat and blinding light, CAPRICORN (THE SEA GOAT) molten metal would splatter the inside of the cabin. Air would stream out of the hole, leaving any surviving astronauts just a few moments to escape. If the piece of debris were larger, the craft would “unzip,” that is, its exterior would come away from the frame like the peel of a banana, and the contents of the craft would spew out. And, incidentally, add to the space junk tally. WHAT’S UP? Traditional Dates: February 19 - March 20 So what’s up there? Here’s the short list: Actual Dates: March 12 - April 18 * Used-up satellites * The rockets that carried the satellites Traditional Dates: December 22 - January19 The Story Behind the Sign: Remember up in the first place Actual Dates: January 19 - February 15 Typhon, that big, bad sea monster that Pan * Discarded fuel tanks changed himself into a sea-goat to escape? Well, * Various equipment from scientific The Story Behind the Sign: Capricorn is the he wasn’t the only god bravely running away experiments disguise of the god Pan, who, when confronted from that monster. Aphrodite and her son Eros * Your basic nuts and bolts with the sea monster Typhon, decided it would did the same thing, turning themselves into * Lens cap be wise to change into an animal to escape actual fish to flee (much less conspicuous than a * Equipment covers detection (and smartly done, since by this time sea-goat). Pisces represents those fish. * Thermal blankets Typhon had already ripped out Zeus’s tendons). Astronomical Sights: With you bare eyes, * The coolant from Soviet spy satellite’s So he turned his top half into a goat and his you’ll be able to observe the Circlet, a ring of that congealing into balls about an inch in bottom half into a fish. Yeah, that is really stars that define the head of the pair’s diameter inconspicuous. southernmost fish. Grab a telescope and you’ll * The 400 million tiny and long-obsolete Astronomical Sights: Capricorn’s two be able to see M74, a spiral galaxy that faces antennas the Air Force released into orbit in brightest stars that appear to make up Alpha Earth head-on. [] 1963 to see if radio waves would bounce off Capricorni aren’t actually tied to each other them (one id ten times as far away from us as the SPACE JUNK * The camera that astronaut Michael other). Beta Capricorni’s stars, however, are Collins “dropped” while on a space walk in definitely paired up. There’s enough discarded stuff flying 1966 around out there to stock the biggest AQUARIUS (THE WATER BEARER) garage sale in te cosmos. HELLO? HELLO? And don’t think the problem doesn’t Since 1957, the U.S. and the former Soviet concern you, earthling. If a piece of space junk Union have carried out approximately 4,500 collided with a satellite that is used for your cell launches, Those launches account for the vast phone calls or send you the digital directions majority of the 10,000 large objects and the used by your travel GPS, you could be millions of smaller pieces of debris that orbit inconvenienced. aimlessly above the earth. Most of the little stuff Oh, and by the way, that camera that is too small to see on radar, but is big enough to Michael Collins lost his grip on? It reportedly cause serious injury if it collided with a has been found. Everything else is still up there spacecraft. for the most part, and as long as it doesn’t With every new space launch - an collide with something and liquefy, the experts average of one every four days - the problem at NASA say it will probably stay in orbit for gets worse. You may be asking yourself, “what hundreds or thousands of years. [] Traditional Dates: January20 - February18 are the chances?” There’s a lot fo space in outer Actual Dates: February 16 - March 11 space. From The ‘X’ Zone Book of FACT*oids... The Story Behind the Sign: The most solid A MIR HAPPENSTANCE story linked to Aquarius is that it represents Mir, the Russian space station launched - In the last century, the average life span has Ganymede, a cute young shepherd boy who was in 1986, was hit by a piece of space junk big increased by over 30 years, kidnapped by Zeus and brought to Mount enough to dent the inner wall of the crew - Most parrots can only acquire a 20-word Olympus to be the cup-bearer of the gods. compartment. Even though only four collisions vocabulary. (Zeus’s usual cup-bearer, Hebe, had been put between craft and junk have taken place since - Trepanning, or drilling a hole in the skull, is out of commission by a sprained ankle). Less the beginning of space flight, scientists predict the oldest known operation. mythologically, it’s been said that Aquarius got that the International Space Station, which is - At birth you start with around 300 bones, but its “water-bearing” reputation because in much larger than Mir, will be a “plump target” by adulthood you have around 206. ancient times it was the constellation that was for wandering debris. - Spiders coat their legs with an oily spittle so rising in the sky during the rainy seasons. According to a recent study, each decade they are not caught in their own webs. Astronomical Sights: The stars of Aquarius that it’s in orbit, the station will have about a 20 - Only females are carriers of hemophilia, but aren’t much to look at, but a couple of percent chance of a “critical penetration” that only males contact the disease. interesting nebulae, including the Helix Nebula, could kill a crew member or destroy the station. - A hummingbird weighs about as much as a readily visible in binoculars, and the Saturn copper penny, Nebula, which looks like it has “rings” when WHATS THE DAMAGE? - The three known blood colors are red for looked at through a large enough telescope. A small piece of space junk, say two or mammals, blue for lobsters, and yellow for The ‘X’ Zone Podcast are available at three inches (5-8 cm) across, would rip a five- insects. www.xzonepodcast.com, Apple iTunes and inch (12 cm) hole in the wall of a pressurized - Pigs can get sunburned. [] on Boxee spacecraft. And because objects in orbit move