Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:13:10 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

No. It induces a wobble in the larger object. That's how NASA, Ames
and JPL do those extra solar planet searches with the Spitzer X-Ray and
Hubble telescopes - they look for the star wobble and aim for where the
planet should be based on the arc of the wobble.

The barycenter is the barycenter - the center of mass of any system of
objects.

I understand your point if taking a distant view from outer space.

At close range however the moon is revolving around the earth, and the
earth is spinning on its axis. That says to me that the geographic
position of the barycenter is constantly shifting with respect to the
earth's surface.

Hmmmm - I guess you could put it that way in terms of geography. You
could also say that the Earth is spinning around the barycenter.

For example, it you had two bodies on the same plane orbiting each
other, the barycenter is located in space between the two - it doesn't
move as long as the masses are balanced by the mechanical motion.

Or take another case. Say you have a large rotating body around which a
smaller, but massive body rotates. The barycenter is just above the
surface of the larger body. The barycenter never changes position - it
is the balance point, but the structure below it changes.

Good God, I haven't worked with these concepts in ages. I have a
headache. :)

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:42:23 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

Good God, I haven't worked with these concepts in ages. I have a
headache. :)

Sorry I made your head spin.

But wait, it was already spinning...

No sympathy here. I've been reading Isaac Asimov's "Asimov on
Physics" in my spare time. It is an incredibly lucid and readable
account of some very esoteric concepts. Published in 1976 but
available used on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Asimov-Physics.../dp/0380418487

Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:42:23 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

Good God, I haven't worked with these concepts in ages. I have a
headache. :)

Sorry I made your head spin.

But wait, it was already spinning...

No sympathy here. I've been reading Isaac Asimov's "Asimov on
Physics" in my spare time. It is an incredibly lucid and readable
account of some very esoteric concepts. Published in 1976 but
available used on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Asimov-Physics.../dp/0380418487

It's in my library - autographed no less. :)

Did I ever tell you the story of how I met him?

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:07:10 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

http://www.amazon.com/Asimov-Physics.../dp/0380418487

It's in my library - autographed no less. :)

Did I ever tell you the story of how I met him?

No, please do, one of my childhood heros just to show how geeked up I
was.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:07:10 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

http://www.amazon.com/Asimov-Physics.../dp/0380418487
It's in my library - autographed no less. :)

Did I ever tell you the story of how I met him?

No, please do, one of my childhood heros just to show how geeked up I
was.

Just to set the scene:

My Father was a good friend of Clifford Simak who he met through his
work at Hearst newspapers. At one time, he almost went with Simak to the
Minneapolis Tribune, but stayed in Milwaukee.

Anyway, we had moved east when the two newspapers merged in Milwaukee.
One day, when I was a junior in highschool, big time scifi geek, I came
home after baseball practice and there sitting in the living room with
some beer and munchies is my Dad, Clifford Simak and Issac Asimov. They
were both in town for some writing symposium at Boston University.

For probably the only time in my life, I was speechless. :) Two of my
scifi heros sitting right in my livingroom. One I already knew and had
talked to before, but man, THAT'S ISSAC ASIMOV!! :)

And I must add that he was very gracious and made me very comfortable as
I was obviously awed. And he spent some time talking to me about the
books and completely floored me when he asked about my interests, my
boat, sports...it was incredible.

Unfortunately, I had to leave for an AAU game and was only home to get
my uniform and grab a sandwich. And I also have a letter he wrote me
replying to a question I had about the Foundation series - framed.

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 16:17:08 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

For probably the only time in my life, I was speechless. :) Two of my
scifi heros sitting right in my livingroom. One I already knew and had
talked to before, but man, THAT'S ISSAC ASIMOV!! :)

Very cool.

Unfortunately he never had any compelling reason to visit my old home
town in the snowbelt of upstate NY. :-)