tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 15 07:29:15 1996
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Re: KLBC:fractions & directions
>Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 10:03:36 -0800
>From: [email protected] (Steve Weaver)
>>>using poS & nIH for left and right of spinward ?
>>
>>Wouldn't trust the magnetic field anyway; the usual definition of
>>north/south in astronomy depends on rotation (most planets rotate): the
>>rotation is clockwise around the south pole.
>In our solar system, we have a planet which rotates anti-clockwise! A
>{yuch} covered {yIH} to the first {jeSwI'} who knows the {jang}. And David
>Sturm... you can't play. I know that you know.
"jang" is a verb, not a noun. :)
Well, of *course* some rotate counter-clockwise... They *all* do---around
their north poles. You mean there's one which rotates counter-clockwise
around its south pole? I thought that was how you *defined* north and
south in general. Then in what sense is that pole its south pole?
Magnetic? Nobody ever said that a planet had to have a magnetic field, or
that it had to be even vaguely aligned with its axis of rotation (or even
pass through its center). See Uranus for an imperfect counterexample.
Alignment with the Sun's north pole? Or its orbital path? Those don't
have to align in any way either (see Uranus some more).
So what *is* the definition, then? Obviously I have it wrong; how is it
defined?
~mark