Show
Date: August 24, 2005
Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line
GOING SOLO
AND
THE MARS HOAX
Greetings and welcome to The Deep column
and the deepest radio show on Earth. The Deep is the science
talk radio program that takes you from the depths of the ocean
to the farthest reaches of the universe. This week on The Deep,
aired at 6:00 this evening on K-57, we’ll talk about some
of the most extreme sailors in the world; those that go it alone.
Then we’ll talk about your e-mail and then we’ll
take some expedition calls. We hope to have someone call from
hurricane-devastated New Orleans. We’ll also have some
science news updates and we’ll be taking your phone calls.
Tune in tonight and join host Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick and
our expedition coordinator Peter Melyan for the latest in scientific
news! Then log on to www.thedeepradioshow.com for more information
on all the latest and deepest news!
| GOING IT ALONE |
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We are always interested in extremes on The Deep and this
week we’ll talk to some astounding women. Everyone
knows that Josiah Slocum was the first man to sail around
the world solo, but can anyone name the first woman. Names
like Kay Cotte, Naomi James, Karen Thordike and Pat Henry
should be household names too, but they aren’t. Most
of us would have trouble sailing around Guam alone. |
What kind of woman would sail around the world alone?Trials
and tribulations endured by these amazing women have
included dismasting, capsizing, hunger and lack of sleep
for days. But they do endure. Ellen MacArthur of Great
Britain holds the record for the fastest solo circumnavigation.
She returned to her starting point in 71days 14hrs 18mins
33secs, which is definitely less than Around the World
in 80 Days!
Dame Ellen MacArthur
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Our guest on The Deep tonight will be Pat Henry,
the oldest woman to sail solo around the world. She took a little
longer to do it than Ellen MacArthur; she was at sea for eight
years, from 1989 to 1997.
Pat Henry endured gale-force winds, high seas, equipment and
navigation failures, and the constant, frightful prospect of
nighttime collision with enormous cargo ships. She once went
168 hours without sleep because of the heavy ship traffic and
the risk of collision.
Solo sailing is dear to the heart of our host
Jim Sullivan. Inspired by his late Grandfather, Donald ‘Sully’
Sullivan, who was the original designer of the first production
V-8 engine for Ford Motors, Jim spent a portion of his life
as a competitive motorcycle and car racer
After working as a cinematographer, photographer
and owner of his own advertising agency, Jim returned to his
roots and launched his own effort to circumnavigate the world.
After sailing 12,000 miles and visiting five countries,
Ocean Friends, the Expedition, was halted by a super typhoon
in April 2002. Jim has made his home on Guam ever since. So,
join us tonight on The Deep as two long-time sailors swap yarns.
THE MARS HOAX
Last week, in an exclusive scoop, this column presented the
first pictures taken from the summit of Husband Hill. I found
the raw footage of the dust devils on the Mars rover website
(marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov) without realizing it was taken from
the peak. You saw it in this column first!
Mars and the Spirit rover are certainly in the
news, but Mars has probably also been in your personal mailbox.
How many of you got that astounding e-mail from a friend or
relative saying that Mars was about to make history? “Mars
closer than it’s been in 60,000 years,” it said.
And “Mars will look as large as the full Moon to the naked
eye.” Ah, now you remember!
Of course, we haven’t seen much of the
sky lately with all the clouds, but you’d think a full
Moon-sized Mars would be hard to miss. Well, you haven’t
seen it because it doesn’t look quite that big. And you’re
a little late for that “closer than it’s been in
60,000 years” bit too. Mars actually was closer than it’s
been in several thousand years but it happened two years ago,
in August of 2003. I guess old e-mails never die; they just
make the inbox circuit permanently.
And you really need to think carefully about
that ‘full Moon’ part. Our Moon is not a small object.
It’s over 2,000 miles across. Mars is almost exactly twice
as big as the Moon and for it to be the size of the full Moon
in Earth’s skies; it would have to be no more than 500,000
miles away (Luna, our Moon is roughly 250,000 miles away). Even
the Mars hoax e-mail says that Mars will be about 30 MILLION
miles away. Sorry folks, no full moon Mars, ever!
But Mars is spectacular and it’s easy to find. Just go
outside around 5:30 a.m. on any clear morning and look straight
up. You’ll see a bright red ‘star’. That’s
not a star. That’s the planet Mars.
And don’t forget to look for Jupiter and
Venus growing ever closer together in the western evening sky.
Just look for the two brightest ‘stars’ in the sky
above where the Sun disappeared. Venus is the brighter one and
they’ll reach their closest point of approach tomorrow
and Friday night (1 and 2 September). Enjoy!
Whether we’re learning about solo sailing on the ocean
or learning about the sky, The Deep, hosted by Jim Sullivan
with Pam Eastlick and Peter Melyan is the place to be on K-57
tonight at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!
