Kingdom of the Dragon Pt II
The attention drawn to this site and to GM=tc^3 has been enormous. Another paper is due to be published soon, two years in the making. It will have corroborating evidence from a surprising source that c has been changing, even at low redshifts.
We're at the entrance to Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Memorial. In the distance is TAIPEI 101, the world's tallest building! The top of the spire is 508 m high. There is a huge mall at the base, a great place to spend a hot Summer day. Speaking of hot spots, Taipei has citywide free Wi Fi. A lot of Americans and Europeans don't even know that this exists.
No person (or nation) should rest on her laurels, or someone else will reach higher. Much of my time is spent studying worlds closer to home.
Today's Cassini photo is of the shepherd moon Prometheus. This Saturn moon is potato-shaped with dimensions 145 x 85 x 62 km. Prometheus has the lowest estimated density of any object in the solar system, just 0.27 grams per cc. That's barely 1/4 the density of liquid water. Even if this moon is made of shaved ice, it must be very loosely packed.
The most surprising thing about Prometheus is that it exists at all inside the Roche Limit. This boundary was thought to mark a radius within which liquid objects would be torn apart by tidal forces. Prometheus orbits at 90% of the Roche Limit, inside the Rings! It is surprising that an object with less density than liquid should exist inside the Roche Limit, within which liquid objects should not exist at all. The moon's surface gravity is only 1/77 that of Earth. What is holding Prometheus together?
Look closely at the photo. You will see a narrow stream of materiel passing between F Ring and Prometheus. Instead of falling in a random blizzard, we have ice particles narrowly aligned with Prometheus' major axis. This small moon must have a magnetic field, causing ionised particles to follow field lines. How can shaved ice have a magnetic field?
TOMORROW we'll reach the top of that tower.