Anders Sandberg wrote:
> "Ross A. Finlayson" <raf@tiki-lounge.com> writes:
>
> > Also, on Mercury, as it doesn't spin as it revolves around the Sun but points
> > towards it, half of Mercury is always pointed towards the Sun and the other half
> > dark, like Earth's Moon. So, human industrial and settlement activities could be
> > started on the borders of the dark and light halves to take advantage of the
> > properties of both halves.
>
> Actually, this is not true. This was how people believed Mercury
> rotated before 1962, when radar observations showed it is a 3:2
> resonance between its orbit and rotation. It rotates three times in
> two Mercury years.
>
News to me! Is its orbit declined or is it perpendicular to the plane, I would wonder.
>
> > It would be nice to have globes of the planets like there are globes of the
> > Earth, actual physical globes that you can set on your desk. There are probably
> > maps to put on the walls.
>
> I grew up with old National Geographic Moon and Mars maps above my
> bed. I have seen such globes in interviews with NASA people and
> astronomers; it would be fun to have one but I guess they are not mass
> produced. I know some sites where you can download at least some
> surfaces for use in computer graphics (for instance,
> http://www.btinternet.com/~consty/render/maps.htm).
>
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
> asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
> GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
I have seen some and have copies of some maps.
Ross
-- Ross Andrew Finlayson Finlayson Consulting Ross at Tiki-Lounge: http://www.tiki-lounge.com/~raf/ "The best mathematician in the world is Maplev in Ontario." - Pertti L.
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