Job interview
Editor’s desk, Daily Sun
Are you here for the job interview?
I had a good reporter once
Haven’t seen him in weeks
You said take some time off Joe
A few days Sparks
Not a few weeks
What have you got for me?
Nothing yet
I’m on something
But it stalled
So you want your old job back?
Funny Joe
I’ll work on other leads for now
See if it breaks forward
Seriously, where have you been?
Working for the government
Top secret, need to know only
I could tell you, yada-yada
Ok don’t tell me
But get me some print
Something I can run
You know
Like a reporter does?
I’m on it boss
(Randall passes a handwritten note
Seriously Joe, I can’t say anything
right now
It’s all active)
Yeah yeah
(Joe winks at Randall)
Are you still here?
Why are you still here?
22001
Coordinates 2
Daniel’s lab - MIT
These are coordinate sets Phillip
Let me see?
Ignore the fifteen digit groupings
Write the four coordinate groups
As degrees minutes and seconds
Place the second set below the first
Like this
55 30 00 64 52 48
124 30 00 244 52 48
Take the first DMS column
Add Degrees 55 + 124 = 179
Add Minutes 30 + 30 = 1 degree
Together they total 180 degrees
Take the second DMS column
Subtract Degrees 244 - 64 = 180
Minutes and seconds cancel
Because they’re the same
The difference is 180 degrees
The first column numbers
Never exceed 180 degrees
And they’re supplementary angles
One number in the second column
Always exceeds 180 degrees
They’re back azimuths
Try it with a different set
86 41 02 51 26 02
93 18 58 231 26 02
Add degrees 86 + 93 = 179
Add minutes 41 + 18 = 59
Add seconds 2 + 58 = 1 minute
The total is always 180 degrees
Now subtract 231 - 51 = 180
Minutes and seconds cancel out
The difference is always 180
I see
(Phillip pauses to review the work)
Excellent work Tenison
Do you want to complete it
Or would you allow me to?
(Tenison pauses)
I’m not sure what you’re asking
What’s unique
About the complementary angles?
(Tenison’s mind races
Complementary angles?
Subtract supplementary from 90
To get complementary, yes!
Then they’re the same
No, one’s negative
They’re opposite
Yes, that’s it!)
Ok
Assuming supplementary angles
Extend south from the polar zenith
To extract the complimentary angles
You subtract each from 90 degrees
Converting them to north/south
They’ll be equal but opposite angles
Continue
Back azimuth plus opposite latitude
Makes the coordinates antipodal
They’re opposite points on Earth
Excellent again Tenison
Well done
We haven’t established Earth yet
But they are certainly
Opposite points on a sphere
Your comprehension is impressive
Where did you learn it?
Actually Phillip
I learned it from you
22002
Circles great and small
In a perfect sphere
an imaginary plane (a flat surface)
that cuts through
the exact center of the sphere
will split the sphere
into two equal halves
If you set the flat side
of one of these halves on a plane
and trace it’s outline
you will draw a circle
and that circle will be
the largest possible circle
that you can draw
from that half-sphere
The largest possible circle
is called a great circle
If you shave any amount
off the flat side of the half-sphere
and retrace it
you will draw a smaller circle
because it will no longer be
a half-sphere
A great circle of a sphere
must share its center
with the center of the sphere
A sphere may contain
an infinite number of great circles
in any orientation
Any circle on a sphere
that does not share its center
with the center of the sphere
is a small circle
A sphere may contain
an infinite number of small circles
in any orientation
If a straight line splits a circle
into two identical halves
the points where the line
crosses the circle
are opposite points of the circle
They are called
antipodal points of a circle
and they are 180 degrees apart
If a 90 degree angle
is placed at any point
on the edge of a circle
the points where its two sides
intersect with the circle
will be antipodal
a line drawn between the points
will split the circle
into two equal halves
Antipodal points on a sphere
are 180 degrees apart
on any great circle
that contains the points
If two or more great circles
share two points
the line through the points
is the common axis
or pole of those great circles
The north and south pole
of the Earth
are antipodal points
that share great circles
called meridians
Half of each meridian
passing from north to south pole
is called a geographic meridian
or a line of longitude
The great circle
perpendicular to the polar axis
that splits the northern hemisphere
from the southern hemisphere
is called the equatorial plane
or the equator
It's the only great circle
perpendicular to that axis
Small circles perpendicular to
and sharing their center with
the north-south axis
are called circles of latitude
or parallels because
they run parallel to the equator
and they are commonly identified
by their angular distance
north or south from the equator
Two final considerations
The Earth is not a perfect sphere
Its equatorial great circle is larger
than any of the meridians
The shortest distance
between any two points
on the surface of a sphere
is the great circle path
containing the two points
This is why flight paths
often cross over the Arctic
rather than following
parallels of the equator
22003
Editor’s cut 22003
Circles great and small is an
academic glimpse into latitude and
longitude and more importantly
opposing force vectors.
As will soon be clear
all of the data relates to complex
force vectors and balance.
22003ec
Prime meridian
Zero longitude
the imaginary north-south line
we today call the prime meridian
was designated by
an international conference
held in Washington, D.C. in 1884
as the meridian
passing through the center
of the transit instrument
at the Observatory
of Greenwich in England
The observatory was moved
to Hailsham, East Sussex
during the 1950s
but the original site
was preserved as the location
for zero longitude
For years the zero longitude
was considered to run
through El Hierro island
the westernmost of the
Canary Islands
Nicknamed Isla Del Meridiano
It lies about 17°(degrees)
40’ (minutes) west of
the Greenwich meridian
El Hierro island spans
more than a quarter of a degree
from about 17.88°W to 18.16°W
and for a long time was considered
the end of the known world
by Europeans
While the Spaniards chose
El Hierro in their territories
the Portuguese chose
the Madeira Islands in theirs
Pedro Reinel
drew the first prime meridian
on a sailing chart in 1506
Madeira island spans
from 16.39°W to 17.16°W
the chart showed the meridian
off the west coast
perhaps a quarter degree
22004
I see China, Rothells
Haley?
It says eight and ten zeros
And then 8300
But it’s not 8300 Rothells
It’s China
You were right about the colors
And I can see format
But I can’t define it yet
Tell you what
Write the number down
So we can come back to it
It might help you remember
I already did Rothells
800000000008300
See?
Haley
How do you see China from that?
I just do
Bad things
Happened in China Rothells
22005
Plan meeting
MIT - Daniel’s lab
Phillip leads the discussion
Tenison has identified
A coordinates format
We believe the coordinates
To be Earth related
The coordinate system is unique
In that latitude is expressed
From 0 to 180 degrees
And longitude from 0 to 360
And like the color files
The numerical data files
Have preambles containing
A probable serial number
Located in the message header
It’s followed by these constants
000000 2975445 3153445
And this means something
We think
The constants could provide
A zero longitude reference
And two reference offsets
They fit DMS coordinate format
And exceed 180 degrees
So they aren’t latitudes
That is assuming
They’re actually coordinates
So our task people
Is to identify the zero reference
It’s key to solving our puzzle
Perhaps it’s Ortelius
Lydia?
Abraham Ortelius
He’s the man who created
The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
The “Theatre of the World” atlas
Around the year 1570
Old maps in that day
Used 360 degrees for longitude
Instead of 180 east and west
He used the Ferro meridian
In the Canary Islands
I believe
That’s a good place to start
Anyone else have any ideas?
Haley’s got good insight Phillip
She sensed China
From some of our data
But how do we connect it?
Exactly Daniel
We need a search plan
And Tenison
We can’t work in the dark
We need online access
I can get anything else Phillip
But not online access
We’re in an operations blackout
We have to define our request
And pass it through the liaison
I will ask but don’t expect it
22006
Plan review
Phillip continues
Let’s talk about the coordinate sets
So everyone understands them
A set contains six groups
In a specific order
Groups one through three
Latitude longitude and 15 digits
Groups four through six
Latitude longitude and 15 digits
We don’t have enough information
On the 15 digits yet
So for now we’ll focus
On understanding the coordinates
Latitudes and longitudes
Are in DMS format
That’s degrees minutes and seconds
360 degrees in a circle
60 minutes in a degree
60 seconds in a minute
The latitudes are supplementary
They add up to 180 degrees
This makes it easy to identify sets
The longitudes are different
Subtract the smaller from the larger
And you get 180 degrees
Even easier than latitude because
The last five numbers are the same
You’ll see this all over
If you haven’t caught it already
Since we can’t go online
The first logical step
Is to check the standards
Using Greenwich and Ferro Island
For zero meridians
So we’ll send out some test sets
If they come back positive
They might explain
What the 15 digit groups mean
If they come back negative
We have a lot of work to do
We’ll copy sets into Excel by hand
For transport and manipulation
So we can sort in different ways
Excel is good for that
Copying by hand is tedious
Errors will kill us
So we work as teams for now
Tenison and I
Have prepared some assumptions
To narrow our search
We’ll limit the search
To the following data only
Latitudes from 80 to 100 degrees
These should represent the equator
Latitudes less than ten degrees
They should fall in the Arctic
Latitudes greater than 170 degrees
Should be in the Antarctic
Longitudes from 355 to 5 degrees
Will help us find the zero meridian
The first set of coordinates
Is antipodal to the second set
They’re opposite points on a sphere
We believe opposite points on Earth
To determine that
We’ve chosen the equator
For its unique pattern
If you follow the equator east
From New Guinea
Located at 135 degrees east
To the Galapagos Islands
Located at 92 degrees west
You travel about 8000 miles
That’s nautical miles
But more importantly
You span 133 degrees of ocean
Without finding much there
And that’s what we’ll look for
In the data
Most equatorial coordinates
Should fall within the 227 degrees
That includes South America
Africa and New Guinea
This should get us close
Within two degrees we hope
That’s about 120 nautical miles
Then we look for the latitudes
To hit something
If they do multiple points should
And we’ll have our zero longitude
Daniel and Haley Lydia and Liamsi
Look for these numbers in your files
Ten coordinate sets for each team
Tenison and I will prepare samples
22007
Haley do you have
The China number?
We need the whole set
Yes Rothells
I have it right here
Latitude1
553000
Longitude1
645248
15 digits1
117900000008443
Latitude2
1243000
Longitude2
2445248
China
800000000008300
(Haley smiles)
But it’s not in the search criteria
It’s ok
We’ll just turn in an extra set
Can I have a copy please?
This is your copy Rothells
I wrote it for you
That’s perfect thank you
You’re welcome
(Haley smiles)
(Daniel notices
Lydia’s smile and wink)
22008
We have to convert it
Ok Tenison here’s the plan
See what you think
Thirty coordinate sets each
In two sample groups
First group
Raw data for Greenwich mean
Second group
Raw plus 17 degrees 40 minutes
To cover the difference
Between Ferro and Greenwich
It’s a good plan Phillip
I also think it will raise questions
And add errors and attention
You’re right it should be decimal
And east-west by north-south
(Phillip sighs)
We have to convert it
What if we went online
In my math lab?
It would breach security
Nothing’s allowed to leave this lab
Except by liaison
That would be Don’s answer Phillip
Sorry
You don’t have secret orders
To kill us if this turns bad do you?
I really can’t say Phillip
(Tenison laughs)
Just kidding
I’m not that kind of specialist
Besides
Don has other people for that
22009
Coordinate test sets
Ok Tenison
For our thirty samples how about
Five north and five south latitudes
Plus five zero longitudes
That gives us fifteen
And fifteen more for the equator
That makes thirty samples
Start with raw data for Greenwich
Then we’ll copy the Greenwich set
Adjust it for Ferro Island
And we’re ready to go
Am I missing anything?
Phillip?
Yes Daniel?
Here’s our ten samples
Plus an extra one
It’s not on the search list
But can we check it please?
Yeah Daniel
Sure
Thirty-one now Tenison
It all sounds good Phillip
I’ve started the conversions
It won’t take long to finish
How long do you think
Until the results come back?
They’ll be back fast Phillip
A few hours
If we send them out today
They should be back by morning
22010
A moment Lydia?
Yes Danny?
What do you think of Haley?
Rothells?
Yes there’s that and
I’m feeling drawn to her
That’s legal Danny
She picked you right off
Definitely some fondness there
She seems laser focused on data
I can’t put my finger on it
There’s something else about her
And you’re not focused Danny?
Look, she challenged you
It ruffled your feathers a little
And you’re not used to that
So you’re intrigued
That’s natural
And she’s a bit of an odd duck
So you’re a pair of odd ducks
Keep this in mind Rothells
She’s just a girl and you’re just a boy
Do the math you’ll be alright
It’s ok to be attracted
Thanks Lydia
You’re welcome Danny
22011