ψ_Two news caught my attention_ψ

Israel tests SMS missile alerts as Iran chatter grows

AFP – 1 hr 1 min ago

Israel on Sunday began testing an SMS system for warning the public of an imminent missile attack as chatter over a possible strike on Iran dominated the Israeli press headlines.

As testing began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had chalked up "a significant improvement" in its home front defence capabilities, mentioning its highly-vaunted anti-missile systems such as Iron Dome and Arrow 2.

"There has been a significant improvement in our level of defence capacity on the home front: with Iron Dome, with the Arrow, in terms of protection and shelters, in advanced warning systems and in other areas," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

"But all the threats which are directed towards the Israeli home front are dwarved by another threat -- different in both its scope and its essence. And so I repeat: Iran must never be allowed to get nuclear weapons."

With front page stories in two papers suggesting Tehran had made progress towards the manufacture and assembly of a nuclear warhead, Israel's Home Front Command began final tests of the SMS warning system which is expected to be operational by September.

"The Home Front Command will today start conducting nationwide testing of the 'Personal Message' alert system, which will end on Thursday," said a statement indicating that SMS texts in Hebrew, Arabic, English and Russian would be sent to subscribers on Israel's three main networks: Cellcom, Pelephone and Orange.

The idea is that the SMS system could be used to warn the population of an imminent missile attack by Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah militia if Israel strikes Tehran's nuclear facilities which it believes is a front for developing a bomb.

In recent days, talk of a possible strike on Iran has dominated the headlines, largely coming from unsourced officials quoting intelligence reports, none of which it was possible to verify.

"Iran has made progress toward nuclear warhead," was the headline in the Haaretz newspaper.

"The Iranians greatest progress recently is in the manufacture and assembly of a nuclear warhead," the paper said, quoting the official who was drawing his information from an intelligence report which an Israeli newspaper said was recently presented to US President Barack Obama.

Although US officials declined to comment on the report, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barakreferred to it directly last week, saying it "brings the American assessment much much closer to ours" and makes the Iranian issue "a bit more urgent."

"Not prepared for war" was the headline in Yediot Aharonot, which questioned Israel's readiness to both mount a decisive military strike and to cope back home with the expected fallout.

"Will those preparations be enough to deal a crushing blow to Iran's nuclear facilities and allow Israel to cope with the repercussions of such an attack?" it said. "It is not at all clear that that is the case."

It quoted statistics saying 700,000 civilians did not have bomb shelters, only half of Israel's population of 7.8 million people had gas masks, and that work to fortify 70 percent of the country's hospitals would not be completed until 2015.

Although Israel charges that its arch foe Iran is driving for a nuclear bomb, the US intelligence services say only that they suspect it is seeking a weapons capability but that no decision has been taken on actually making one.

Israel is widely suspected to have the region's sole, if undeclared, nuclear arsenal.

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Thank for letting all of us be to live  

1. Before the sun rises over North America on Monday (Aug. 13),Venus will shine just below and to the left of the thin waning crescent moon in the eastern sky. 

   If you watch for a while you may notice the moon creeping closer toward Venus as they fade from view in the brightening sky, weather is permitting.

   But if you follow Venus and the moon into the sunlight with binoculars or a telescope, or pick them up later in the day, you may be able to see the moon actually cover Venus in what astronomers call an "occultation."

   The view from out west

   The occultation of Venus by the moon will be visible from much of North America. The farther west you are, the better the view. [August's Major Night Sky Events (Sky Map Gallery)]

   Along the U.S. Pacific Coast, the moon will stand about halfway up in the southwest sky when it passes in front of Venus between roughly 1:05 and 1:45 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. When Venus emerges between 2:20 and 2:50 p.m. PDT, the moon will be about one-third up from the west-southwest horizon. 

   In contrast, along the Atlantic Seaboard, the moon will be very low — less than 5 degrees above the west-northwest horizon — when Venus vanishes between 4:35 and 4:55 p.m. EDT. The reappearance will occur after the moon has set. Five degrees of the sky is about half the width of your closed fist at the end of an outstretched arm.

   Draw a line from Caribou, Maine to Huntington, West Virginia, and then down to Vermilion Bay in Louisiana. Anyplace to the right of that line will miss out on the reappearance since the moon will have already set.

   For a map showing the region of visibility of this “Venus eclipse” as well as Universal Times of its disappearance and reappearance for over 700 cities, click here. The list not only includes places in North America, but Eastern Asia where the occultation will take place before sunrise — a spectacular sight indeed!

   Seeking out the moon

   Before the occultation however, give yourself plenty of time to find the moon because its low surface brightness against thenight sky may make it hard to see. Finding the moon in the daytime may be easy or difficult depending on the clarity of the air. If the sky is clear and blue with little or no haze you should have little problem, but a hazy sky will make the search problematic.

   Although Venus appears much smaller (1/75th as large as the moon), it has a much higher surface brightness and may be easier to spot in a bright sky. 

   If your sky is clear, make a clenched fist and hold it out at arm’s length.  Both the moon and Venus, will be lower than the sun in the sky. Scan that region of the sky about 4 1/2 fists to the lower right of the sun.  If you spot the moon, point a binocular or small telescope at it, focus carefully and you should see Venus nearby.

   Telescopes allow the best view

   Perhaps the most satisfying way of enjoying this spectacle will be to watch in a telescope at very low power so that the images of the moon and Venus are both distinct and complete. In contrast to the moon’s delicate crescent shape, Venus will appear half illuminated. The sunlit portions of both objects will, of course, be facing the same direction toward the sun.

   Viewed behind the eyepiece of a telescope, Venus will not disappear suddenly but will take about 25 seconds to fade out, since it’s not a pinpoint of light like a star but it has an appreciable angular size. The cratered, 16 percent sunlit lunar crescent will drift eastward toward the brilliant sunlit portion of Venus’ disk. The moon’s rough edge will bite into Venus and rapidly devour it. 

   Then, just a little over an hour later it will reappear, literally from “out of the blue” from behind the moon’s opposite, unseen limb, again taking about 25 seconds to swell back to full brightness.  

   When the planet emerges, it will first come suddenly into view against the blue sky as a starlike point that quickly enlarges into its “half moon” phase. Those who are blessed with very sharp eyes might possibly watch the entire event with no optical aid at all, although most people will need at least binoculars to watch for the moon pass in front of Venus.

   And on the following morning, at the break of dawn, note how the moon has shifted well below and to the left of Venus in the eastern sky. 

   Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo Venus, the moon, Jupiter or any other night sky event, that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send images and comments (including name and location) to managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

   Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.

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