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. . . Control cybercasting? ___ In-car satellite-navigation ___ In-car satellite-radio directory
. . . Satellite broadcasting ___ Satellite imagery
CRTC's New Media Master Plan: http://www.globetechnology.com/site/specials/crtc/archive/crtcdead.html CRTC dead, Internet suspected Editorial The Globe and Mail Nov 26, 1998. . . .
The notion that technology can be both banal and revolutionizing keeps coming to mind as the CRTC conducts hearings this week on what we commonly call the Internet, and what they call "the new media."
To begin with, who would have guessed that an information exchange network originally set up so that military researchers in the U.S. could keep the Pentagon party lines open in the event of a nuclear war would one day send a shudder through a Canadian cultural regulator?
And who would have thought that the Internet could one day kill that same regulator? For while the CRTC thinks it is examining what it should do vis-à-vis the Internet, the real issue may be what the Internet will do about the CRTC. Will the ability of people to sit at a computer in their home and access the collected works of Shakespeare, www.sexfest, umpteen hundred television channels, . . . and radio stations in Benin simply render all national media watchdogs obsolete?
The truth is that some technologies are intrinsically easy to regulate. When there is a limited amount of radio or television bandwidth to broadcast over, someone must decide who gets on and who doesn't. When, again as with both radio and television, the area over which a broadcast is made is local, then an agency like the CRTC can have some faith its regulatory decision has weight.
The Internet isn't like that. It has no regulatory handles. It is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. And its bandwidth is infinite: There is always room for one more channel. People decide where they want to go on it, and what they want to use. In this it is more like thought than anything else, and as thought is often quite subversive.
To be fair, the CRTC says that it merely wants to look at issues relating to the Internet. It is not immediately proposing to regulate it. And to be fair again, it is fundamentally concerned about the availability of Canadian content and programming on the Net.
But the method by which the CRTC has always ensured Canadian content is fraught with potential abuse. And it makes no sense in the new media environment. Would the CRTC put in place a system that required Canadians to watch http://www.somecanadianweatherchannnel.ca, and only that, if they want to find out about conditions in Saskatoon?
Clearly any move like this is both wrong and impractical.
What is workable, not to mention long-standing practice, is reasonable financial assistance ensuring that Canadian content -- . . . -- is available . . . We favour that approach, but add a caveat. Ultimately, Canadians have to support Canadian content. State-supported Web and entertainment sites that no one goes to aren't Canadian culture, just a cultural boondoggle.
Having said this, in the larger sense the CRTC's relationship to the new media is clear. Stay away. Acknowledge you can't control it. And also acknowledge that if its advent means one day you will wither and die, then wither and die it is.
i Spy Martini CRTC net regulation, good or evil: http://www.pytlik.com/martini/netreg.html NOTE: The issue covered in this article was concluded in the spring of 1999. See the comment at the end of the column. . . .
It seems that Canada's broadcasting regulatory body, the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) is proposing to regulate Canadian content on the Internet.
. . . CRTC . . . develops and enforces regulations regarding the content of broadcasting in Canada. Created in 1968, its purpose was honorable. With the country overshadowed by the influence of its southern cousin the United States of America, the idea was to ensure that Canadian artists received sufficient airtime to get noticed. The problem was not with the objective of the regulation, but with its implementation. For decades the CRTC has stifled Canadian broadcasters as it became ever more invasive.
The regulation was quickly expanded to cover television media. Many American shows are unavailable on Canadian stations or cable distributors because the amount of Canadian content must reach a specific percentage. As a result, Canadians are forced to watch some sub-standard material simply because it's Canadian in origin. At the same time, they are restricted from watching what they might choose to watch simply because it isn't Canadian content. Politically incorrect views are prohibited, while pornography** is allowed to be broadcast to the general public on free television with few restrictions -- provided that it's Canadian content. [**WRP: I disagree with the implied idea that government should restrict so-called pornography. There should be no restriction. Otherwise, what does freedom mean? Don't people know how to use channel changers or the off switch?]
Before long the regulation was expanded further. The CRTC had their hooks in the system now and were not about to let things end here. Next on the block was religious freedom. Canadian broadcasters are not allowed to broadcast religious content unless it meets CRTC guidelines. Let me assure you that not much meets their guidelines. In order to be acceptable to the CRTC, stations must broadcast a wide variety of religious viewpoints. As far as I know, only two exceptions have been made. In other words, all viewpoints must be treated as equal, even if they're complete opposites. Pluralism was now regulated. We are well on our way to George Orwell's thought-controlled society of "1984."
At the end of the 1999, another CRTC victory will touch the lives of Canadians. A heavy tax will be applied to the purchase of every CD-R disc and blank audio cassette to protect the loss of income for Canadian musicians from piracy. Never mind that CD piracy is a minor problem in Canada. Never mind that most CD-Rs are sold for data storage, not music. Never mind that there are no provisions in place to be reimbursed for data recording purposes. Never mind that much of any potential piracy would involve American and not Canadian music. Furthermore, the regulation is structured in such a way that it does little for those artists who are most likely to be hurt by piracy. Small artists--those without a major recording label behind them whose work is more likely to be stolen--will receive the smallest portion of any funds collected.
Now the organization has set its sights on the Internet. Naturally, one of the primary arguments used is that we must protect children from pornography. An honorable goal, to be sure. But the CRTC does not ban pornography in broadcast media, so this appears an empty promise. And a close look at the proposal is chilling. Another goal is to regulate Canadian content. On the Internet! In other words, this regulation would ultimately limit the number of links on Canadian web sites which point to sites outside the country! How they would do that is unclear, but let me assure you that if this goes through they will find a way. Another objective already mentioned is the desire to keep Canadian companies from advertising on US or other international web sites.
If you think management of this kind of regulation is impossible, think again. It has already happened in numerous countries, including China***. All ISPs in China were shut down about a year ago and allowed to reopen only after their access lines were diverted through government 'thought control' centers. All Internet access in China is now closely monitored and those sites not on the approved list are restricted. [***WRP: Do Canadians really want to take lessons from Communist China on how to stifle freedom? Too many do, apparently!]
The most serious issue here is the concept of giving control of Canadian Internet access and usage to the CRTC. Once this bureacracy driven by politics and Machevillian control has its hands on the Internet switch, all content will be regulated. Thought will effectively be snuffed out unless it meets CRTC approval. All of the current regulations which so hamper the broadcast world would be applied to Internet usage. Web site service providers will be required to apply for regulatory approval. They will have to regularly submit details of site content to the CRTC. They will be required to police such arcane aspects as how much of the web site content is "Canadian" or how much is of a religious nature. They would have to count links to outside sources and shut down any site which doesn't meet regulatory guidelines. Individual web sites which contain controversial or religious content will have to receive CRTC approval -- and that approval will not come unless they support the pluralistic guidelines of the CRTC.
Even email will not escape the clutches of an organization bent on this kind of cultural control.
And what of pornography? What I find most amazing is that the CRTC has openly allowed pornography in Canadian broadcast media. Many cable stations are allowed to broadcast pornographic content during prime time viewing hours. Nudity and graphic sexual scenes are permissible. How could this bureacracy allow pornography in broadcast media and not on web sites? Clearly their own objective is either a fabrication used to reduce opposition to the proposal, or it's a clever deception aimed at hiding the real purpose of this regulation.
If you are concerned about this proposal, speak up now. Write to your local newspaper. Contact your political representatives. A web site has been established for Internet discussion. It will accept forum postings until November 22, when oral discussions begin. The site is located at http://www.newmedia-forum.net. Make your opinion heard or you will have no grounds for complaint if this Orwellian proposal descends like an iron curtain upon Canadian freedom of speech.
The CRTC announced their final decision on this issue in the spring of 1999 following months of Internet polling and public forum hearings across the country. There will be no attempt to regulate the Internet in Canada. Spy applauds the decision, but wonders how much this ridiculous effort cost the taxpayers of Canada.
Cable companies that deliver channels to your home via the trusty analog box may soon own many of those channels as well – a move critics fear could push independent broadcasters higher up the already overcrowded dial and limit the amount of choice consumers have when picking their cable packages.
It could also put the digital revolution, with its promise of a 500-channel universe and loads of interactive gizmos, on hold.
The cable industry has asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the federal broadcast regulator, to allow cable companies – including Rogers, Corus/Shaw, Cogeco and Quebec's Vidéotron – to buy majority or outright ownership in as many as 25 specialty channels in the analog system.
These services – including Showcase, HGTV, Bravo!, Space, History Television, Life Network and TMN – are owned by independent broadcasters Alliance Atlantis, CHUM and Astral. . . .
CAFFII is an organization of people who are concerned with the growing infringement on the free transfer of Information and Ideas via all forms of media. We are also starting a new section of the site devoted to energy. As the lobby power of the the various multi billion dollar super corporate entities grows, Canadian's rights, and the rights of all peoples of the world are being stolen from underneath us. Stolen by a system of Campaign contributions, patronage and in some cases out right Libelously or Criminal Activity.
CANADIANS PLEASE WAKE UP RCMP's abuse of power has to be STOPED: http://www.canadians.freeservers.com/ The RCMP has made us criminals for watching Tv of our choice.
Wake up ! All Canadians who love to watch TV of your choice, and all the satellite dealers - RCMP says that we are all Criminals, BULL I say!!!!!! We are not criminals !!!! it is OK to watch whatever you like, there have been judgments that say it is legal to watch any satellite programming that is not sold in this country even with a test or pirate card. There also has been only one case where the judge found that US satellites were not legal in Canada …. so why should we care what one judge has to say, when the RCMP thinks that all the other judgments were of no value.
If a person comes from the middle east and would like to watch TV programming with contents that have connotation about their religion and culture, which does not have a legal distributor in Canada, but can be easily obtained from the Grey market, WHY should that be illegal???? It is ones RIGHT to watch what one wants. . . .
Canadian people would welcome to pay legal channels to enable them to watch TV programming of their choice, but unfortunately we in Canada do not have a legal distribution for US programming and this encourages the GREY market and the piracy. CRTC will not a let US distributor to sell legally in Canada on the ground that the programming does not have enough Canadian content. Where is issue of Canadian content when it comes to radio, internet, news papers magazine, libraries, food products, clothing, etc.? . . .
It has links.
DIRECTV 31 Commercial-Free, CD-Quality Audio Channels from Music Choice!: http://www.directv.com/programming/programmingpages/0,1093,85,00..html
DSS Surround Sound from Space: http://www.cybertheater.com/Tech_Reports/DSS_Audio/dss_audio.html The Digital Satellite System: Surround Sound from Space. . . . The focus of this article is the quality of DSS surround sound for Home Theater. As much as I would like to spend equal time discussing the video side of DSS quality, that will have to wait for another article. . . . Very detailed.
Which Direct TV access card is right for you: http://www.1st-free-satellite-tv.com/free-satellite-tv/1265-direct-tv-access-card.html
Audio Ideas Guide A-V News Bell ExpressVu Takes Aim at Grey- and Black-Market Dealers: http://www.audio-ideas.com/articles/expressvu.html
. . . Ted Edmonds, president of Tedsat, says he's not going to give up easily. "We plan to fight this lawsuit vigorously, provided we can afford to," he said. Edmonds says his initial legal bills, which cover a brief hearing in early September as well as preparatory work for the case, already amount to $10,000.
He views himself is something of a freedom fighter, doing battle with the Bell colossus and Canada's cultural establishment. "We sell whatever programming people want," he told AIG Online. "If someone wants ESPN and the Disney Channel, and asks if they can get it if they pay for it, they're not breaking the law. Last week, we had a customer who bought a U.S. system because it has 19 religious channels he wanted to watch.** He asked, 'can I be arrested for having this?' It'll be a sad day for freedom of choice if I lose this case. I believe people should be able to watch what they want, on TV or the Internet, or listen to short-wave radio.
[**Is the CRTC going to control what religious channels one wants to watch, or by what means one does so? I hope not!]
Re Forum The CRTC screwed up satellite TV, now they want to screwup the Internet: http://www.newmedia-forum.net/forum/forum00025.html . . . try to prevent monopolistic players (like Rogers Communications) from extending their monopolies into new areas like internet service provision. . . .
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting Homepage: http://www.friendscb.org/default.htm Friends is a Canada-wide voluntary organization supported by 55,000 households whose mission is to defend and enhance the quality and quantity of Canadian programming in the Canadian audio-visual system.
Robert's Satellite WWW Page Links to Satellite-Electronic Hobby resources: http://www.nmia.com/~roberts/tvrolink.html
TechnoFILE reviews Canada's Digital Satellite Services: http://www.technofile.com/articles/dss.html
If you’re expecting HBO, ESPN, and the cornucopia available from US/"grey market" systems, forget it. Except for the smattering of American "superstations," and the additional Canadian offerings (Like CITY TV: hey, more Toronto!), what you get looks suspiciously like cable, from TSN, TNN and Bravo! to TLC, Teletoon, Space, and Speedvision.
It’s partially a "rights" issue (broadcast, not human!), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s also those wonderful CRTC folk wanting to dole out the signals as they see fit.
Whatever the reason, you can’t necessarily get what you want.
This may change somewhat this fall when both companies up their antes. They’re being pretty secretive about what will be offered (besides pay-per-view), so we may only get more Canadian stuff. I’ll let you know what’s up in a follow-up article.
What I’d like to see offered is everything that’s available anywhere – you want it, you pay for it, you get it. That’s freedom of choice! . . .
Support Satellite Association of Canada: http://www.legal-rights.org/Documents/caffiisuit.html Legal-Rights.org Satellite Organization. . . . this is information from a CAFFII Press Release posted on their site as of today, 6 Nov 99. It virtually mirrors what we have been stating for quite some time now. TTRK!!
Legal-Rights help with Satellite Law and charges or lawsuit's: http://www.legal-rights.org/ Legal-Rights.org Satellite Organization. This site has very many useful links. Turn on your sound system and click on When the law is the enemy, near the top left, or click on the following URL:
Flash intro test for new Legal-Rights.org site: http://www.legal-rights.org/tamflash.html When the law is the enemy.
GREAT NEWS!! The despised Norsat ruling, which has long been considered a ruling made without any understanding of the law, has finally been DEBUNKED and effectively overturned in meaning by the CanAm ruling of the Honourable Mr. Justice Brenner of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The new ruling, Canada's most current, in which Mr. Justice Brenner clearly states that "Based on the evidence before me and counsel's submissions on this interlocutory application I conclude that the words in s. 9.1(c) are neither ambiguous nor can they be said to contradict other provisions in the Act. The offence in that section that was created by the language Parliament chose to use was the offence of stealing encrypted signals from distributors in Canada. In my view, if Parliament had intended in that section to make it an offence in Canada to decode foreign encrypted transmissions originating outside Canada as contended by the plaintiff, it would have said so. In s. 9.1(c) Parliament could have used language prohibiting the unauthorized decoding of all or any subscription programming in Canada. This, it chose not to do.
This is of course the reading and understanding that most Canadian satellite dealers and reasonable Canadians have always accepted and is the TRUE MEANING of the RC Act. The RCMP and Industry Canada's rediculous assertions concerning this law are fully debunked and discredited here. I certainly hope that Bell ExpressVu have the "cajones" to go to appeal on this as I am confident they will lose again. This is a complete and well reasoned judgement with excellent and logical reasons stated, and would unlikely be overturned. . . .
TTRK (me) is currently in court and for the first time in over a year, is being heard by an attentive Justice who seems quite intent on hearing all the evidence which IS coming out. After a full year of being battered, pilloried and badly treated by the RCMP (who seem to show a lot of bad faith and an agenda that doesn't much fit) its good to feel that you are getting a fair hearing on the TRUTH of the facts and not on an interpretation that any intelligent person, on an ordinary reading, can see is ridiculous. It seems that there is now the intelligence of a seemingly very wise judge brought to bear, rather than a silly RCMP position that makes little sense to anyone. . . .
Remember that Can-Am Satellite, in Maple Ridge B.C. won against Bell ExpressVu's Anton Piller injunction. Its JUST THE START of things to come.
Robert's Satellite WWW Page Links to Satellite-Electronic Hobby resources: http://www.nmia.com/~roberts/tvrolink.html
Building a Black Hole With OpenGL: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2000/09/15/blackhole.html 3-D computer simulated black holes fashioned from Silicon Graphics API, OpenGL, and intended for scientific and artistic delight.
Can you see your house from this Soviet spy satellite? (I can see mine!) terraserver.com: http://www.terraserver.com/. If not, try Area 51 or the Skydome in Toronto!
CBS News Satellite Image Of Area 51 Sun, 30 Apr 2000 175928 EDT: http://cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,185117-412,00.shtml Pix Of Secret U.S. Military Base. High-resolution Russian spy satellite images of the super-secret U.S. test flight center at Groom Lake, Nev. -- known as Area 51 -- are available to the public for the first time. Images and commentary.
Central Intelligence Agency - Other Links: http://www.cia.gov/cia/other_links/other.html
CORONA Satellite Photography: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/hyper/guide/disp
US Geological Survey: Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs Fact Sheet 090-96 (February 1998): http://mac.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs09096.html More than 800,000 high-resolution photos taken between 1959 through 1972.
Index of -pub-data-DCLASS: Samples of Recently Declassified Satellite Imagery: http://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/DCLASS/ at
US Geological Survey's EROS Data Center: EROS home page: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/eros-home.html
Cyberplanet Satellite Images: http://www.cyberplanet.ch/Satellite/ Today's Satellite Images.
'Death Spiral' Around a Black Hole Yields Tantalizing Evidence of an Event Horizon: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/2001/03/pr.html Astronomers consider this observation the first direct evidence ever obtained of black holes. The Hubble site has a neat animation of the process.
Digitalglobe.com Your Planet Online ©: http://www.digitalglobe.com/
EarthWatch Weather On Demand-U. S. Infrared 3D Satellite Image: http://www.earthwatch.com/SKYWATCH/IRUS3D.html
Heavens-Above: http://www.heavens-above.com/ Much of the great amount of hardware circling the earth is visible, even to naked eyes, if you know where to look. The Heavens Above site uses data from the German Space Operations Center and generates, in real time, charts of visible orbital objects you can find in the night sky above you, customized for your location and time zone. Enter your location manually if you know your latitude and longitude, or do so using a database of over two million worldwide locations. Graphics tell you when and where to look for many satellites, space stations, and space shuttles. This site is similar to the NASA's J-Track site, but is more user-friendly and useful. See also:
. . . J-Track Satellite Tracking: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/ From NASA, it also selects satellites, such as those for weather, search and rescue, and amateur radio. The originators of the J-Track Satellite Tracking page allow that they created the site so that "you could quickly and easily keep track of your favorite orbiting objects". It is well worth a visit, offering a number of Java applets that put you at the console of your own mini-Mission Control. J-Track itself plots the ground track of selected satellites. The site offers preconfigured suites of satellites (weather sats, spacecraft, search and rescue sats, and amateur radio sats), but, if you wish, you can come up with your own suite of birds to watch. Tracking is real time, which may require a bit of synchronization (check the "synch clock" button under configuration options), but, once you're set, it's simple to see what satellites may be passing overhead. Also check out J-Pass, a program that allows you to plot the overhead transit of specific satellites (if, say, you want to view the Mir space station as it passes through your skies) and J-Track 3-D. While the site's authors advise that J-Pass 3-D may give poky machines the horrors, it ran superbly on a 100 MHz Power PC. The 3-D version of J-Pass shows the swarm of satellites currently in orbit and allows you to zoom in/out, rotate the perspective, and view the orbit and ground track of any of the satellites. Once again, excellent stuff from NASA.
How far is it -- and where am I?
How Far is It** : http://www.indo.com/distance/ This service uses data from the US Census and a supplementary list of cities around the world to find the latitude and longitude of two places, and then calculates the distance between them (as the crow flies). It also provides a map showing the two places, . . . and driving distance . . . This service requires one to specify the names of the cities. But, what if a city is not known to that service?
[ ** That site has a parent site: World Atlas, Distances, how far is it between here and there: http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/howfar.htm.]
Many sites offer to give one the great-circle distance between points on the earth's surface. Those that allow one to pick the names of two cities usually all revert back to that same site at How far is it. Others will give the distance between two points given their exact latitude and longitude. What we need is to combine the two.
One site that finds distances between coordinates, and in some cases, using city names, is the following:
Surface distance between points of Latitude and Longitude: http://www.vsv.slu.se/johnb/java/lat-long.htm
It is suggested that, for even less common place names, one do a search for a country-specific atlas or gazeteer from which one could obtain the latitude and longitudes to then serve as input to the How far is it service. One might also try searching under phrases containing terms such as Country Files or Facts about. See, for example: . . .
. . . Latitude and Longitude: http://geography.about.com/cs/latitudelongitude/
. . . Graphic Map's, World Atlas (World Maps): http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/imageg.htm
. . . View Above Earth: http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/vlatlon.html The Latitude, Longitude, and Map width are shown in boxes. One can modify these, click on Update, and be presented with a new view, or modify the value of Map width and zoom in and out.
HubbleSite: http://hubble.stsci.edu/ Here's your chance to leave the ground for a while . . . and see what Hubble sees.
Hubble Space Telescope -- What's New: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/whats-new.html
Images - darksky.org: http://www.darksky.org/ida/sat.html Satellite Images of Earth at Night. Variety of 'zoooms' , places, and detail.
NASA Homepage: http://www.nasa.gov
NASA Neurolab Web Tom Jones (A-stronaut) - Aurora and Airglow: http://neurolab.jsc.nasa.gov/jones.htm Some of the most beautiful and breathtaking sights I've seen from the Space Shuttle were encountered while viewing the Earth at night. With a darkened cockpit, astronauts can gaze silently on lights produced by the upper reaches of the atmosphere: the aurora and airglow. Awesome!
The Nine Planets: http://www.anu.edu.au/Physics/nineplanets/nineplanets.html Overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of each of the planets and moons in our solar system. Each page has text and images, some have sounds and movies; most provide references to additional information.
ORBIMAGE: http://www.orbimage.com/ High-resolution (1 m) images of earth from satellites.
Satellite image of earth, showing temperatures: http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/comp/latest_cmoll.gif Gives a world view of ice, water and air temperature, and cloud height. Apparently from U. of Wisconsin, Madison. A marvellous image!
See the new International Space Station from the ground. Lots of satellites are visible on clear nights. They look like bright, fast-moving stars. They're easy to find, too, thanks to the Satellite Sighting Information page at NASA's huge Website. The page lists cities around the world. Click on yours, or the one nearest to you, and you'll learn when and where to look to see the station and the space shuttle pass overhead. NASA's site is one of the largest, best maintained, and most informative on the Net. You can see cool pictures of the surface of Mars, or the Sun in ultraviolet light, or learn about the history and future of manned spaceflight. Click here for NASA's Satellite Sighting Information page: . . .
. . . Human Space Flight (HSF) - Realtime Data: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/SightingData/sighting_index.html
Solar System Simulator: http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ A NASA/JPL/Caltech spyglass on the cosmos. . . . have the simulator create a color image of your favorite planet or satellite! Trekkies and other SF addicts will love this place, but that's no reason to avoid it. One thing we have to say about our neck of the galaxy - the scenery is breathtaking. Check out Io, Jupiter's moon, as seen from the Galileo spacecraft, or as seen from its neighbor, Europa. The level of detail can surprise you at times; we half expected to see a monolith warning us to stay away from Europa. Should you choose to visit, be forewarned: you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. But after your first few looks, you won't be resisting anyway. You'll be anticipating. Kill that clock in your taskbar and free up a few bytes of RAM - you won't be paying attention to it anyway.
SPACE.com space news, games, entertainment, science fiction: http://www.space.com/ Includes NASA TV news, videos, images.
Space Imaging - The Visual Information Company: http://www.spaceimaging.com/
Two new planetary systems discovered: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/01/10/planet.systems.reut/index.html The star HD 168443, 123 light-years away, has two giant planets orbiting it, one of them at least 17 times the mass of Jupiter. That's so big that it poses problems for the current theory of planet formation. The other star, Gliese 876, 12 light-years from Earth, has a pair of giant planets locked in harmonic orbit. See also:
. . . Extrasolar Planet Search: http://exoplanets.org/ Has details about all the extrasolar planets discovered so far.
View of Earth at night from space station: Awesome!
__ Small image: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg
__ Small and large images, with text details:
____ APOD 2000 November 27 - Earth at Night: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html
__ Large image: Nasa's Earthlights: http://www.cojoweb.com/earthlights.html
Where and when can you see The International Space Station? http://www.webhart.net/hila/camp/iss.html
Go Home. ___ Go up to Space-satellites directory.
You can e-mail me at waynerp@sympatico.ca
