[PLUG-TALK] DBS eclipse (was) Re: Eclipse and "Supermoon"

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 11:11 AM, Keith Lofstrom <keithl at gate.kl-ic.com> wrote:
> Besides, the TV direct broadcast satellites will also get
> eclipsed, so there won't be anything on the boob tube anyway. :-)
>

On Sat, May 05, 2012 at 11:17:57AM -0700, Bill Barry wrote:
> I would not be fun for the moon to get close enough to eclipse
> broadcast satellites.

Correction: ... TV direct broadcast satellites will also BE IN
ECLIPSE, ...

Satellites are solar powered, and the moon will shadow them, too.
IIRC, they don't have nearly the battery capacity to broadcast at
full power during half an hour of low illumination.  OTOH, since
they orbit in the equatorial rather than the ecliptic plane, the
ones directly south of us will be east and south of totality
during our eclipse.  Their eclipse times will not correspond
exactly to our ground eclipse.  They are also in earth eclipse
near midnight in the spring and fall, when most viewers are
asleep and don't notice.

Don't tell the TV addicts, though.  They are superstitious and
easily frightened, so they might might sacrifice a grammar Nazi
(with obsidian knives on top of the Rose Garden) to appease the
Network Gods and get their 500 channels back.

Keith

P.S.  Still, if the moon was orbiting at 38,500 km (close enough
to pass below GEO) instead of 385,000 km, the tides would be
100x higher.  We would have to move to high ground, but the 
surfing would be fantastic.  Juicy waves, dude!  :-)

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs