#Astronomy: "The Hammer of God" (Arthur C. Clarke)

The Hammer of God - Arthur C. Clarke - Roger Trimer Translation - Publisher Siciliano - Sao Paulo, 1995 - 3rd Edition, 1996

Page 67 - THE HAMMER OF GOD

"In 1772, the French mathematician Lagrange found that the gravitational fields of the Sun and Jupiter could be combined to produce a very interesting phenomenon.

On the orbit of Jupiter, 60 degrees ahead and 60 degrees backward, there are two points of stability. A celestial body placed in any two points keep the same distance from the Sun and Jupiter, forming an immense equilateral triangle.

"No one knew of the existence of asteroids as Lagrange lived, and he probably never imagined that his theory would arrive at a practical demonstration. It took more than 100 years, that Achilles was discovered in the wake of Jupiter, 60 degrees. A year later found to Patroclus, not far away, and then Hector, but this point 60 degrees ahead of Jupiter. Today we know more than ten thousand of these asteroids, so called because the former are named after the heroes of the War of Troy

The Trojans left over, 11,500 are below will appear more, with 100 meters long, drifting forward and backward, up and down within a radius of 30 degrees ...

Saturn is the main culprit, its gravitational field disturbs the delicate combination of Sun-Jupiter

"Occasionally one of them is torn from its place by the gravitational fields together, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, drifting toward the Sun, and collides with the Earth or Mars ...

"There are stray asteroids reaching Neptune, all of them a potential danger ...



Page 86 - THE HAMMER OF GOD -

"In 1632, Pope Urban VII, made a terrible mistake, he allowed his friend Galileo was convicted of teaching what we now know is a fundamental truth: that the earth revolves around the sun ..

The church apologized to Galileo in 1992, but was a blow to his wisdom worthy ...



Page 140 - THE HAMMER OF GOD -

3 / 4 of the earth is covered with water, probably an impact occurs at sea.

There will be time to evacuate the smaller islands, before they are swept away by waves of miles high?

Falling on land, there is no hope in a radius of hundreds of kilometers. All would be instantly vaporized. All buildings in the mainland would be overthrown by the shock wave.

The bunkers caving in, the living envy the dead.

The smoke blackens the sky for months, perhaps years.

Most of the vegetation does not survive, the lack of sun and rain saturated nitric acid produced when the fireball blew megatons of oxygen and nitrogen from the lower atmosphere.

The Earth will be uninhabitable for decades, and the only security is found in space.



Page 145 - THE HAMMER OF GOD -

"Who could imagine that the religious fanatics want to destroy the Earth?


"... Always waited for the moment that would be caught and taken to heaven ...


Page 162 - THE HAMMER OF GOD

"We do not want to cause unnecessary alarm, while there are still questions.

The behavior of active comets is unpredictable ...

"Maybe we can draw some lessons from the history of the comet Swift-Tuttle, discovered by two American astronomers in 1862. He was lost for more than a century ... its orbit had changed by the effect of the jet closer to the Sun ..

"When it was rediscovered by a Japanese amateur astronomer, in 1992, and its new trajectory was calculated, caused a general alarm.

"The Swift-Tuttle have a high probability of hitting Earth on Aug. 14, 2126.

"The episode caused a sensation at the time, but today is almost forgotten.

When the comet circled the Sun in 1992, its jets activated by the sun once again changed its course, now a safe orbit.

"It will secure a considerable distance from Earth in 2126, and we can admire him as a spectacle in the sky safe.

"Not always we will have a favorable sequence of events ...

"Although the genealogy of the discoverer is still unknown (the charge usually falls on the Irish), the 'Murphy's Law' is one of the most famous in all that is related to the planning:" If anything can go wrong, will " .


Personal observations Rui Santos de Souza:

The great Arthur Clarke, in a few strokes of a fantastic present ...


RUI SANTOS DE SOUZA
Brazil, Curitiba, July 31, 2011 - 19h: 42