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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 2003)
Page 7 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 27, 2003 (Continued from page 6) Today is an important day for astronomers and other people interested in the planet Mars. Earth and Mars will only be 34,646,000 miles apart. That might not seem like a close encounter, but it will make Mars appear bigger and brighter than it has for many years. Scien- tists are debating whether it was 57,538 BC or 57,537 when Mars was this close the last time. They do agree that in 2,287 AD, Mars will be 43,000 miles closer than today. How- ever, that is a long wait and so it will be best to check it out now. Presuma- bly the gravitational pull of Jupiter is making the orbit of Mars more eccentric or elliptical. This is a gradual proc- ess and Mars won’t disap- pear overnight. It will be visible in the South West- ern part of the sky after 9:30 p.m. and will be at its highest point about 12:30 a.m. It’s supposed to be red but it’s closer to yellow or pale orange, and is the brightest object in the sky other than the moon. After tonight Mars will continue to arise earlier each evening but will gradually become smaller and less bright. There are some good scientific reasons why this is all happening now. Mars and Earth are both revolv- ing around the Sun in slightly elliptical orbits. Mars is farther out, has a longer orbit, and travels at a slower speed. Therefore Earth catches and passes Mars about every two years and 50 days. This passing period, when they both are on the same side of the Sun, is when Mars will appear the brightest. When this pass- ing period is at the end of August, Mars is at perihe- lion, this is the point of its orbit when it’s closest to the Sun. When the earth catches and passes Mars, it creates another astronomical tidbit which is really an optical illusion. Both planets are traveling counter- clockwise around the Sun, as viewed from above the North Pole. When the Earth passes Mars it makes it seem as though Mars is traveling backward for awhile, called retrograde motion. It’s like passing another car on the freeway, which makes the slower car seem to go backward when seen from the faster car. A viewer in a space traffic helicopter would not see retrograde motion but simply a faster blue planet passing another slightly red one. Mars is now in retro- grade motion and that is why it’s rising earlier each evening. This is only temporary until Earth gets far enough in front to make the appar- ent motion stop, then it will return back to moving slowly toward the east, which is its usual motion. The revolution of the planets brings up another scientific concept. What keeps them in orbit? The Sun’s gravity is pulling all the planets toward the Sun. The planet stays in orbit because its speed creates centrifugal force, like mud being thrown off a spin- ning tire. The centrifugal force has to exactly equal the gravitational pull of the Sun. If it is too fast, the planet would be thrown into space, too slow and it would be pulled into the Sun. Mercury, closest to the Sun, has to be the fast- est and each planet out- ward until Pluto, which has the slowest speed of all planets. Mars will be an excit- ing planet to be visited by humans in the future. It has seasons and an atmos- phere, mostly carbon diox- ide, but some nitrogen, oxygen and even water vapor. The temperature is cold, but like Antarctica, is not too cold to prevent life as we know it. Hopefully, some day soon, humans will be able to walk on the surface of Mars. Tiger tours, classes offered Wildland Tiger Trax Endangered Animal Sanc- tuary, 28893 Redwood Hwy. in Cave Junction, will offer free tours on Wednesday, Aug. 27, for area community groups and associations. Wildland Tiger Trax also offers a series of con- tinuing trainings and classes: *Art classes with wild- life artists - Big Cat Art, Wildlife Art Techniques. *Endangered Animal Handler’s Training - Lev- els 1, 2 and 3. *Children’s Tiger and Wildlife Education Pro- gram - In coordination with local schools. For more information phone 592-6085. 124 S. Redwood Hwy. 592-2892 Open 5 to 9 p.m. Restaurant parking in rear PAINTING THE TOWN -- David Holmes helps give a much needed face-lift with a fresh coat of paint to the outside of Bi-Rite Auto Parts located in the former Ivy Theatre in Downtown Cave Junction. (Photo by Britt Fairchild) ODA moves to prevent sudden oak death The Oregon Dept. of Agriculture (ODA) is tak- ing regulatory action to help detect imported nurs- ery stock that may be in- fected with sudden oak death. An emergency rule adopted by ODA requires all recipients of tree and shrub nursery stock im- ported into Oregon from any out-of-state source to notify the department for possible inspection of the plants. The new requirement comes following three separate instances of in- fected nursery stock enter- ing the state this year. ODA officials say the action is needed to protect Oregon’s important and vibrant nursery industry from sudden oak death. The emergency rule went into effect on Sun- day, Aug. 17 and requires nurseries and retailers to contact ODA no later than two days following arrival of shipment of out-of-state tree and shrub nursery stock. Notification must in- clude plant species, quanti- ties, source and recipients contact information. Copies of regular ship- ping documents, such as loads lists, are encouraged. ODA will contact nurseries within one busi- ness day following notifi- cation if the tree and shrub nursery stock needs to be held for inspection. Recipi- ents are not obligated to hold the imported plants for inspection unless con- tacted directly by an ODA inspector. However, the imported tree and shrub nursery stock must not be sold or distributed to untraceable buyers, such as final con- sumers, for one business day after notifying ODA. ODA officials empha- size that the previous intro- ductions of infected nurs- ery stock came from out- of-state nurseries and were not part of an established infestation of sudden oak death in Oregon. The emergency rule is designed to locate any new introductions before in- fected plants reach con- sumers or other nurseries. start school. This year some are even needing help with new shoes, socks, and underwear. Anyone wanting to make donations to this cause would be greatly appreci- ated. The Legion sent $532 worth of coupons to Japan and is saving pull tabs from cans to help with costs for dialysis patients. Again this month the members sent afghans, men’s clothing, suitcases and shaving bags to Rose- burg Veterans Hospital. Seven more afghans were taken to Portland Veterans Hospital. The Legion is still looking for new members. Waldo Mining District The Waldo Mining District will meet on Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Josephine County Bldg. in downtown Cave Junction. Items on the agenda include a recent lawsuit filed by the Siskiyou Pro- ject and other current min- ing issues. Except for an occasional heart attack I feel as young as I ever did. - Robert Benchley - Employment decline ‘typical’ Payroll employment in Josephine County fell by a seasonably typical 830 jobs in July, mostly as a result of a loss of 970 jobs in local government educa- tion. Josephine County’s unemployment rate was essentially unchanged from the prior month, at 8.6 percent. The unemployment rate is also little changed from 2002, when it stood at 8.5 percent. Total non- farm payroll employment has increased by 210 jobs since last July. Construction employ- ment rose by 30 in July and now stands at 30 jobs below the year-ago num- ber. Josephine County’s manufacturing sector, which has seen employ- ment in its wood product manufacturing component fall by 23 percent over the past year (-200), has man- aged to show a very slight over-the-year increase of 10 jobs. Wholesale trade em- ployment, while un- changed over the past month, has added 70 jobs over the past year. Retail trade employ- ment has been increasing steadily over the year in Josephine County. Gains in July totaled 70 in this sector, including an in- crease of 20 in food and beverage stores. Over the year, employment in retail trade is up by over 300 jobs, a gain of nearly 90 percent. Transportation, ware- housing, and utility em- ployment fell by 30 over the month, and has also declined by 40 over the past year. Employment in finan- cial activities has shown growth both over the month (+30), and over the past year (+90). Josephine County health care and social as- sistance employment fell by 100 jobs over the month, and is down by the same amount over the past 12 months. Leisure and hospitality employment increased by 60 over the month and has added 30 jobs during the past 12 months. Government employ- ment is down by 60 over the past year, with losses noted in federal govern- ment (-50) and state gov- ernment (-40). Local gov- ernment employment has increased by 30 jobs over the past year. (541) 476-2127 Subscribe to the ‘I.V. News’ (541) 592-2541 (R)
