13-09-2008 The 1973 All-Ireland Hurling Final (Article 154)

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Simon Kenny
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Location: Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland

13-09-2008 The 1973 All-Ireland Hurling Final (Article 154)

Post by Simon Kenny » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:59 pm

So Who Is Watching The 1973 All- Ireland Hurling Final? (Article 154)

As you know Limerick beat Kilkenny in the Final that year. It is now just over 35 years ago. Since radio and television signals are electromagnetic waves, the same as light waves, the distance that the television broadcast of the match will have travelled is about 35 light years into space. A light year is the distance that light, including radio waves, travelling at 300,000 Km/s will have travelled in one year.

Epsilon Eridani b at 10.5 light years distance is the nearest star to us, which is known to have a planet orbiting it. However, that planet is unlikely to harbour life, as it is a large Jupiter type planet. These planets are referred to as exoplanets (short for extrasolar planets). The first verified exoplanet, orbiting the star 51 Pegasi, was discovered by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz in 1995. The planet is called 51 b Pegasi. Many exoplanets orbit much closer around their parent star than any planet in our own Solar System orbits around the Sun.

With the advent of greater accuracy of measurements and new techniques, the number of discoveries has grown rapidly in recent times. To date there are over 250 ‘suns’ identified as having planets orbiting them; some would appear to have only a single planet while others have multiple planets. There is a region around each sun known as the habitable zone, which is considered as potentially favourable for a planet to sustain life as we know it on Earth. Of course the planet itself must also have the right conditions e.g. water must be present, an atmosphere and protection from harmful radiation.

It is estimated that our galaxy contains more than 200 billion suns, therefore the possibility of finding a planet with similar conditions to Earth are reasonably good. If suitable planets do exist, within that 35 light years distance, there is a potential problem with receiving ‘live’ television from RTE. Electromagnetic waves obey what is called the inverse square law, which simply means that if the distance between your television set and the source of the electromagnetic waves (e.g. RTE transmitter) is doubled (x 2) the signal strength will be reduced by a quarter at that distance. Likewise, if the distance is tripled (x 3), the signal strength will be only one ninth the strength. Quadrupling the distance will reduce the signal to one sixteenth of its original strength. As the signal weakens rapidly with distance, there is another problem. Background electromagnetic noise generated by stars, nova, supernova, quasars, pulsars, other galaxies etc. will overwhelm the weakening television broadcast. The frequency bandwidth is also a major factor. In fact, if the calculations are done, a television broadcast, using technology, as we know it today, will not be received outside our solar system!

So if you have a recording of that momentous occasion, hang on to it, as our galactic neighbours may want to see it.

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