2 2010

centers of the Earth and the Moon causing an existence

Editorial
The International Year of Astronomy has already waved a
goodbye with a spectacular cadence. But it marked the
beginning of the new year with new zeal and enthusiasm. The
last day of the year saw the rare “Blue Moon”. Moreover, the
newyear arrives and so does spring. The colours of spring are
everywhere, be it our earth or may be the Neptune. Neptune
Spring sounds amazing doesn't it?
Astronomers looking out across the Solar System through
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recently were surprised to find
an increase in the brightness of Neptune's southern
hemisphere. They decided that was a harbinger of seasonal
change. Unlike here on Earth, where each of our four seasons
last three months, and it takes one year to travel around the
Sun, the seasons out there on Neptune last for decades!
of a torquebetween the Earth and the Moon. This
boosts the Moon in its orbit, centers of the Earth and
the Moon causing an existence of a torque and
decelerates the rotation of the Earth connoting an
increase in the mean solar day. Small difference
accumulates everyday making it indispensable to
insert a leap second at regular intervals.
In the words of Donald L Hamilton, author of “The
Mind of mankind”, “While the rotation has slowed a
seemingly insignificant amount, it has caused
mountains to rise, earthquakes to occur, volcanoes
to erupt and the Earth's vast mountain ranges to
rise”. Moreover, he believed that the earthquake
that caused the devastating tsunami in south-east
Asia was another “minor” adjustment that the
planet had to make. It has made millions of these
adjustments over its lifetime.

That faraway planet takes almost 165 years to orbit the Sun,
so one season lasts more than 40 years. That means the
current spring continue to brighten the planet for 20 years.
Next in queue was the annular solar eclipse on Jan 15th, 2010
visible from a 300-km-wide track that traverses central Africa,
the Indian Ocean and eastern Asia. A partial eclipse is seen
within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral
shadow, which includes eastern Europe, most of Africa, Asia,
and Indonesia.

The year 2009 has ended but the inquisitiveness brought by it,
among the people has created a new aura in the field of space
technology. There has been much groundwork laid for the
astronomers around the world to use the momentum gained
from IYA 2009 to ensure that the Universe is still ours.
So, keep looking for the new entries in our universe.
Regards
Team spAts On an average day, the difference between atomic
clocks and the Earth's rotation is around 0.002
seconds, or around 1 second every 1.5 years. The
International Earth Rotation and Reference System
Service (IERS) decides the time to introduce a leap second in UTC.
The first leap second was added to atomic clocks in 1972, with the
Leap year is quiet familiar but ever heard of a leap second? most recent leap second being added on December 31, 2008. The
time to do one rotation differs from day to day and from year to

I t is the increase or decrease of one second of time, as

measured by an atomic clock, from the official timekeeping
systems annually. The official time scale is Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC) which is adjusted to the mean solar time
with this addition. The increment serves as an assistant in
year. The Earth was slower than atomic clocks by: 0.16 seconds in
2005; 0.30 seconds in 2006; 0.31 seconds in 2007; and 0.32
seconds in 2008. It was only 0.02 seconds slower in 2001.

Nonetheless, every coin has two faces. Continuing with or without

synchronisation of the atomic clocks with the Earth's rotation. the leap year is still an unresolved issue.

Earth's rotation is a complex phenomenon. There is a great

interference of the gravitational pull of the moon. The Earth and
the Moon is regarded as a double planet system, rather than as a
planet with a satellite. The ratio of moon's mass to that of Earth is
1:81 making it sufficient enough to raise tides on the surface of the
Earth. The water of the ocean bulges out along both ends of an axis
passing through the centers of the Earth and the Moon. The
average tidal bulge closely follows the Moon in its orbit, and the
Earth rotates under this tidal bulge in just over a day. The rotation
drags the position of the tidal bulge ahead of the position directly
under the Moon. As a consequence, there exists a substantial
amount of mass in the bulge that is offset from the line through the
Glossary
Coordinated universal Time (UTC): It is a time standard based on
International Atomic Time (TAI) with leap seconds added at
irregular intervals to compensate for the Earth's slowing rotation.
Mean Solar Time: Mean solar time conceptually is the hour angle
of the fictitious mean Sun, assuming the Earth rotates at a constant
rate.
Atomic Clock: An atomic clock is a type of clock that uses an
atomic resonance frequency standard as its timekeeping element.

5th Edition|The MoonWalk