Tuesday 22 March 2005

(53311) Deucalion, backup support that allows to restore a system after a catastrophic failure

(5331) Deucalion is a classical Kuiper belt object discovered in April of 1999 and named in June of 2003. It has a perihelion of 41.3 AU and an aphelion of 47.1 AU. It has an inclination of 0.4º. It has a diameter of about 210 km.


Deucalion, who reigned over the region of Phthia, had been forewarned of the flood by his father, Prometheus. Deucalion was to build an ark and provision it carefully, so that when the waters receded after nine days, he and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, were the one surviving pair of humans. Their ark touched solid ground. Once the deluge was over and the couple had given thanks to Zeus, Deucalion consulted an oracle of Themis about how to repopulate the earth. He was told to cover your head and throw the bones of your mother behind your shoulder. Deucalion and Pyrrha understood that "mother" is Gaia, the mother of all living things, and the "bones" to be rocks. They threw the rocks behind their shoulders and the stones formed people. Pyrrha's became women; Deucalion's became men.


 (53311) Deucalion is related with backup support that allows to restore a system after a catastrophic failure, like in the movie "Titan A.E." (2000), were a new planet is created with nuclear technology and the species repopulated by stored samples of DNA; after the Earth was destroyed by the Drej, an alien specie. 

This theme got relevance in "The Ring" (1998), one of the first Japanese terror movies, because those who made a copy of the VHS tape after watching it, did not die.

(7066) Nessus, physical action guided by 'high artificial intelligence'

(7066) Nessus is a centaur discovered in April of 1993. It reached the perihelion in January of 1992. It was oficially named is April of 1997.

The orbit is located between the zone of orbital piercing from Saturn toward Uranus, and the Kuiper belt. It has a perihelion of 11.78 AU and an aphelion of 37.16 AU. The semimajor axis is at 24.47 AU. It has an orbital period of 121 years. It has an inclination of 15.6º. It has a diameter of about 60 km.

Orbital resonance:
15:11 with Neptune (99.8%)
9:13 with Uranus (99.7%)
-
7:3 with Varuna (99.9%)



Integration of scientist and spy

According to dynamical systems theory, all centaurs are chaotic, but (7066) Nessus has one of the lowest Lyapunov exponent, because Saturn and the Kuiper belt are both limit cycle attractors, and the differences are only between the personal-material and the transpersonal-spiritual dimensions.

By the time of the discovery of (7066) Nessus, a few years after the end of the cold war (1990-1991), began a collaboration project between scientists (Saturn) and spies (Kuiper belt), as the military satellites began to be used partially for scientific purposes [MEDEA, Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis], like studying nature and ecosystems. They are antagonistic, because science requires the publication of the sources for replication of the investigation, something not allowed by the clandestinely of spies. At that time, also started the TV series "X-Files" (1992), where Fox Malder and Dana Scully, from the scientific police, are the investigators of the X-Files (unsolved cases, usually involving paranormal phenomena) and many times they come to meet with the CIA matters.

(7066) Nessus also bring about a collaboration of astrónomers and astrologers in the official naming of astronomical centaurs. (7066) Nessus was the first centaur to be named this way. ("The Naming", Zane B. Stein)


Military activity

(7066) Nessus combines the 'high artificial intelligence' of the Kuiper belt with the 'physical intelligence' of Saturn. This combination is typical of activities were physical action requires complex thinking processes, especially the strategic teamwork coordination, like the cyborg Motoko Kusanagui as the especial forces in the movie "Ghost in the Shell" (1995).
  

(7066) Nessus' drastic actions are performed with firmness, like the crushing crystal in the movie "Perdita Durango" (1997).