In case you missed it, Earth's axis has shifted

[Tunny]

It's hardly news that there's a lot of goofy stuff out there on the web, but this one was pretty funny. I came across it while searching for something completely unrelated (I hope I can post links):

http://axischange.wordpress.com/
http://www.divulgence.net/

I'm thinking I should be able to take some *serious* advantage of the twilight rates at the golf course...

Tunny

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I think there was a previous thread on this a few weeks back. But, in any case, just think -- we share this planet with people who, presumably, actually believe this. :boggled:

[Third Eye Open]

haha, yea I remember a friend of mine showed me this. I told him to go outside and look at the stars.

Then he asked what caused all the volcanoes and earthquakes then? A small amount of googling and it was easy to find that the numbers given are average for the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions one should expect in the given time frame.

[Gravy]

Wake me up when we shift to the Axis of Evil.

[Ladewig]

As an engineer for 30 years and many subsequent research projects, I included images and illustrations on how I measured the angle of the sun on Jun 21, 2007

So is this person lying, suffering from a mental illness that creates a delusion that he is an engineer, or something else? The information described in the passage is most assuredly not from someone who understands engineering.

[MattusMaximus]

Wow, the Earth's axis has shifted! And here I thought what I felt last night was gas :eye-poppi

[I Ratant]

Drat! I thought she was really that good!
Only an axis shift though.. Really gots to get the shift out of there.

[Wolfman]

Why are you people always so skeptical?!?

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Why are you people always so skeptical?!?

I'm not even sure skepticism is required. Don't you just require eyes?

[I Ratant]

Imagine the bonanza for the astronomical ephemeris publishing crowd with an axis shift!
Alla them right ascensions and declinations would need to be jiggled, because the books in print would be wrong.
And realigning all those monster telescopes on their equatorial mounts. That's a job all by itself.
And yet, not a peep from the astronomy community. Now there's a close-mouthed buncha conspirators!

[Wolfman]

I'm not even sure skepticism is required. Don't you just require eyes?Sure...if you actually feel the need to verify such claims.

[Babylon Sister]

OMG! This must be what's causing all those earthquakes in Reno!

I bet the USGS knows about this shift and are just trying to cover it up with all that fancy talk about the Tahoe Basin fault lines and the Eastern California Shear Zone. (They are a government agency afterall.)

[hgc]

What's the point? What agenda is served by serving up Earth axis shift fantasies? The motivation for this positively time cubian.

[wollery]

Imagine the bonanza for the astronomical ephemeris publishing crowd with an axis shift!
Alla them right ascensions and declinations would need to be jiggled, because the books in print would be wrong.
And realigning all those monster telescopes on their equatorial mounts. That's a job all by itself.
And yet, not a peep from the astronomy community. Now there's a close-mouthed buncha conspirators!Almost all large telescopes are Alt-Az mounted, mainly because it's stronger, so you just need to reprogram the drive computers, which is actually pretty trivial. It could probably be done in a day.

And we're sticking to that story! :D

[jj]

It's hardly news that there's a lot of goofy stuff out there on the web, but this one was pretty funny. I came across it while searching for something completely unrelated (I hope I can post links):

http://axischange.wordpress.com/
http://www.divulgence.net/

I'm thinking I should be able to take some *serious* advantage of the twilight rates at the golf course...

Tunny

Ok.

Since I don't have a smiley-face of a coocoo clock... I am speechless.

[rjh01]

If the axis of the earth moved in such a way then in winter the sun at midday would not be as high in the sky as before. Also the length of the day would be a lot shorter. In summer the reverse will be true.

Of course a change from 23.5 to 49.5 degrees is not a lot, so this effect may not be noticed by casual observers.

[I Ratant]

Almost all large telescopes are Alt-Az mounted, mainly because it's stronger, so you just need to reprogram the drive computers, which is actually pretty trivial. It could probably be done in a day.

And we're sticking to that story! :D

Yeah, I published an article in Astronomy magazine almost 30 years ago on how to do that.
But Palomar and Hooker, they're kinda locked in. :)

[Loss Leader]

My favorite line is the sub-header:

The earth’s axis has shifted from the 23.5 degree angle to about a 49.5 degree angle to the south.


How the hell can an axis shift southward? Assuming that the axis had shifted to 49.5 degrees, that's relative to the plane of the ecliptic. The north pole would have moved "south" but the south pole would have moved "north." And even that's not true. The north and south poles would not have moved at all relative to each other. They'd both be right where they were - on the axis on which the earth is spinning.

It's just so ... stupid.

[PixyMisa]

If the axis of the earth moved in such a way then in winter the sun at midday would not be as high in the sky as before. Also the length of the day would be a lot shorter. In summer the reverse will be true.

Of course a change from 23.5 to 49.5 degrees is not a lot, so this effect may not be noticed by casual observers.
Except for people in such remote locations as Chicago, Seattle, Paris, or Rome, who would find themselves simultaneously within the tropics and the arctic.

[JQH]

One of the commenters posted a link to a 911 Truth site. Supports a hypothesis I saw advanced on Bad Science that anybody who believes one bit of woo seems inclined to swallow all other woo that crosses their path.

[The Bad Astronomer]

I slammed this one into the non-tilted ground back in October (http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/10/10/tilt/). This was also a topic Seth Shostak and I discussed on Are We Alone as well.

[quarky]

We good use a good shifting.
I thought it was due on 2012?