no matter how important it was for him to prove the author of the Ceres article wrong. He would be able to do that any time, but helping Armour with anything was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Wait until my fellow science teachers hear this, they probably wouldn’t even believe me.
"Sure, Mr. Armour. It would be an honor to help in whatever way I can."
"Thank you for understanding. And please, call me James."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For an ordinary person to track the comet's progress, a lot of research would have to be completed before an attempt to use the telescope. Armour was able to overcome this barrier though, as he had a password to get into every NASA related database on their mainframe. Much of the information – while not fully classified – was not readily available to the public. Once Armour's password was typed into the computer, a whole new world had opened up to Earl, who was able to find all of the information he needed within a few clicks of a mouse.
A comet-tracking computer program pinpointed the exact spot in the sky where Comet Clement was now supposed to be, simply by entering the original coordinates along with its projected speed and path of trajectory. All of the information in the NASA database was sure to make finding the exact whereabouts of the comet a relatively simple process.
With the new coordinates of Comet Clement supposed current location in space now calculated by the computer, all that was needed was a few more clicks on the keyboard. The telescope then attempted to focus on the two and a half-kilometer comet. When the view of this part of space appeared on the computer screen, it did not take long to figure out the validity of the Russian report.
"There you have it," Earl said. "Absolutely nothing. The Russians must have been on to something."
Armour had been hoping the comet would appear on screen, so he would be able to dismiss the information from this strange, out of place form. Simplicity was not meant to be though, and any hope Armour had of going home and being asleep at a decent hour now seemed to be dashed.
The two men worked throughout most of the night, the second part of their search not progressing quite as easily as the first. The Russian information provided only the starting point and the new angle of trajectory for Comet Clement. The missing piece of information required to locate Clement in the night sky was the speed at which the comet was traveling. This was usually determined by the discoverer of a comet, as measuring how far a comet traveled by tracking it in space over the matter of several hours allowed a calculation of approximate speed.
If a plane flew from Los Angeles and traveled east for four years, where would it be now? This was impossible to figure out unless the exact speed of the plane was known.
Earl started off by trying to use the previously recorded speed of the comet before it collided with the black hole, but the results came up empty. After deciding that the comet had been slung out of the gravitational field of the black hole, they determined its speed had more likely increased than decreased.
Originally calculated to be traveling at a speed of thousands of miles per hour, any guess as to how much the speed had increased made a dramatic difference in the final distance the comet had traveled. For over six hours, the two men worked on trying to find the comet, using different numbers to calculate where it might possibly now be.
"This comet is going to be almost impossible to find, isn't it?" Armour asked at four in the morning, after being awake for nearly 24 hours straight. His fatigue was really beginning to grow extreme and he was sure that when he felt like this, he
"Sure, Mr. Armour. It would be an honor to help in whatever way I can."
"Thank you for understanding. And please, call me James."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For an ordinary person to track the comet's progress, a lot of research would have to be completed before an attempt to use the telescope. Armour was able to overcome this barrier though, as he had a password to get into every NASA related database on their mainframe. Much of the information – while not fully classified – was not readily available to the public. Once Armour's password was typed into the computer, a whole new world had opened up to Earl, who was able to find all of the information he needed within a few clicks of a mouse.
A comet-tracking computer program pinpointed the exact spot in the sky where Comet Clement was now supposed to be, simply by entering the original coordinates along with its projected speed and path of trajectory. All of the information in the NASA database was sure to make finding the exact whereabouts of the comet a relatively simple process.
With the new coordinates of Comet Clement supposed current location in space now calculated by the computer, all that was needed was a few more clicks on the keyboard. The telescope then attempted to focus on the two and a half-kilometer comet. When the view of this part of space appeared on the computer screen, it did not take long to figure out the validity of the Russian report.
"There you have it," Earl said. "Absolutely nothing. The Russians must have been on to something."
Armour had been hoping the comet would appear on screen, so he would be able to dismiss the information from this strange, out of place form. Simplicity was not meant to be though, and any hope Armour had of going home and being asleep at a decent hour now seemed to be dashed.
The two men worked throughout most of the night, the second part of their search not progressing quite as easily as the first. The Russian information provided only the starting point and the new angle of trajectory for Comet Clement. The missing piece of information required to locate Clement in the night sky was the speed at which the comet was traveling. This was usually determined by the discoverer of a comet, as measuring how far a comet traveled by tracking it in space over the matter of several hours allowed a calculation of approximate speed.
If a plane flew from Los Angeles and traveled east for four years, where would it be now? This was impossible to figure out unless the exact speed of the plane was known.
Earl started off by trying to use the previously recorded speed of the comet before it collided with the black hole, but the results came up empty. After deciding that the comet had been slung out of the gravitational field of the black hole, they determined its speed had more likely increased than decreased.
Originally calculated to be traveling at a speed of thousands of miles per hour, any guess as to how much the speed had increased made a dramatic difference in the final distance the comet had traveled. For over six hours, the two men worked on trying to find the comet, using different numbers to calculate where it might possibly now be.
"This comet is going to be almost impossible to find, isn't it?" Armour asked at four in the morning, after being awake for nearly 24 hours straight. His fatigue was really beginning to grow extreme and he was sure that when he felt like this, he
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