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
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