Axial rotation measurement anomaly *Update on pg 21 - Problem Solved*

Will someone please answer this or has it already been discussed?

Then why didn't you wait until you could confirm that before posting otherwise? Seeing as that's the most logical explanation, it's kinda odd for you to post a dramatic finding on something that hasn't even been verified...

When was the last time you checked the measurement and it was correct?

If Polaris actually IS 6 arcminutes off, then you could roughly guesstimate how the time it took.

Assuming that Polaris is off by 6 degrees - what does that mean for us here on Earth in Layman's terms?

Thanks

Last time I checked was January, but something like this would not be able to remain hidden for long before amateurs would either find it and mention it, or entire astronomy neighborhoods get wiped out. Last I checked the guys at Arizona sky village and chiefland astronomy village didn't all suddenly drop dead.

Last time I checked was January, but something like this would not be able to remain hidden for long before amateurs would either find it and mention it, or entire astronomy neighborhoods get wiped out. Last I checked the guys at Arizona sky village and chiefland astronomy village didn't all suddenly drop dead.

Not making a video. Somethings not adding up on the axial rotation measurement (and you all thought I was a "shill" - I'm honest, even when it's very likely nothing at all). Tonight I took a shortcut and just used my SLR with telephoto lens on a tripod rather than hauling out the whole telescope. I also only had a few minutes of a gap between clouds and then it was clouded up completely. But something about this picture I took isn't adding up...
[link to i319.photobucket.com]
I'm consistently coming back to a distance of about 35 arcminutes for Polaris from the north celestial pole. That ain't right. It should be just shy of 41 arcminutes. Now, I've never calibrated this lens astrometrically before tonight, but I used the Polaris image itself as well as an earlier image I shot a few months back and they both resulted in about the same image scale of about 8.2 arcseconds per pixel at the resolution I'm using for analysis. Maybe I screwed my math up somewhere along the way, I'm running on very little sleep and I need to get some now if I'm every going to.

For the sake of sanity in the thread and so that people don't start killing themselves before I can solve this mystery, I've never tried to use my SLR camera by itself for this particular measurement before (I've always used my telescopes with the SLR catching the light at prime focus) and the 300mm telephoto lens I have is rather heavy. I'm thinking something settled or flexed on my camera tripod over the 8 minute exposure, causing the star trails to be artificially shifted by about 6 arcminutes (and for what it's worth, that's a small angle, one fifth the diameter of the moon's disc, it's not something Bubba in his trailer is going to notice just by casually looking and comparing by eye to a mountain range).

The telescopes I normally use are much beefier and sturdier. I'll repeat the measurement telescopically tomorrow. If telescopic measurement confirms it... I'll probably take a sniper bullet in the head because there's no way that kind of change could be kept secret without a mass assassination of every person like me.

Love the thread because I don't understand what the hell it's about - but sounds smart and doomtastic. But...could you dumb it down for me? What are the implications of this anomaly?

it means that winter is going to be a little late

Then why didn't you wait until you could confirm that before posting otherwise? Seeing as that's the most logical explanation, it's kinda odd for you to post a dramatic finding on something that hasn't even been verified...

Don't know if this relevant, but if the measurement of 6 arcminutes corresponds to a surface movement of around 9 meters, then could this be attributed as being a Chandler Wobble? I'm no scientist but have just Googled "earth wobble effects" and wiki came up with that.
Check it out.

Don't know if this relevant, but if the measurement of 6 arcminutes corresponds to a surface movement of around 9 meters, then could this be attributed as being a Chandler Wobble? I'm no scientist but have just Googled "earth wobble effects" and wiki came up with that.
Check it out.

it means that winter is going to be a little late

Hello Dr. Astro

You keep mentioning in a joking way that if this info is true you could end up dead. Why? Whay does all this mean? I have been going through all your posts so far but I don't see what the big deal is? Can you explain what this all means if your numbers are accurate?

Thanks

Love the thread because I don't understand what the hell it's about - but sounds smart and doomtastic. But...could you dumb it down for me? What are the implications of this anomaly?

So if the Earth has a Major Wobble it would be a true statement that there Will be times when your measurements will seem normal and at other times they will not.

So if the Earth has a Major Wobble it would be a true statement that there Will be times when your measurements will seem normal and at other times they will not.