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This experiment
is being performed at the time, date and location shown utilizing an interferometer
with two equal length beams of 12", placed at right angles to each other.
The north-south beam is a reference beam denoted as X, the other, denoted
as Y, is aimed east to the horizon. The apparatus is locked down
and does not rotate; utilizing the earth's rotation instead.
Due east is always the aiming direction.
During March,
the orbital progress of the earth and moon around the sun is in line with
the Cygnus-Orion axis.
On this axis,
the apparatus will measure motion based upon two motions: that of
the sun's motion of 150 miles/sec (m/s) towards Cygnus (away from Orion)
and the earth's orbit around the sun at 18.5 m/s. During other months,
this condition is not true.
Both beams
of light are projected slightly offset (normal in achieving interference
fringes) with the X beam stationed to the right of the Y beam, which is
rechecked at the conclusion of each run.
A fringe count
rate is determined by dividing the number of fringes observed passing a
screen marker by the duration of the run.
The moving
fringes represent the change of phase between the two beams of light derived
from a single green laser, not the motion of the apparatus through the
ether, though such phase variation is directly attributable to this motion.
The movement
of the fringes may be either in the direction of the X beam spot, or the
Y beam spot, depending upon which way the apparatus is moving in relation
to the Y beam, as experimentally determined.
In the event
the apparatus is moving in the same direction of the first leg of the beam
of light along the Y axis before it strikes the front surface mirror which
sends it back towards the beam splitter cube, the fringes will move towards
the projected spot of the Y beam.
Conversely,
if the apparatus is moving the opposite direction through the ether, the
fringes will move towards the projected spot of the X beam.
Consequently,
observations performed near midday, where, where east is towards Cygnus,
because of the earth's rotation, the fringes will move towards the Y beam
spot, whereas near midnight, they will move in the opposite direction towards
the X beam spot: Cygnus in the direction west, thus opposite the
directed laser light along the first leg.
Keep in mind
that the earth's orbit component is also maximum at noonday and at midnight,
at this near the vernal equinox, and though quite small at 18.5 m/s compared
to the galactic rotation component, somewhere around 150 m/s, the remain
additive.
As convention
in this study, galactic spin as viewed from the galactic north pole is
clockwise, and considered to be positive motion, in contrast to the earth's
counterclockwise orbital and rotational spins, both considered as negative
in this accord. All poles, be they galactic, solar or earth are aligned
the same, though somewhat tilted to each other.
The earth's
rotation at this sites latitude is -0.138 m/s; contributing very
little to these results. However, earth orbital data should be included
in these calculations: (150+18.5) m/s for daytime observations and
(150-18.5) m/s for nocturnal observations.
Greater accuracy
may be achieved by using 1/10 wave optics (I used only 1/4 wave throughout)
and by doing vector addition of all motion components utilizing trig cosine
function, which might or should include the sun's motion towards Vega,
and declination and overall galactic motion of our galaxy relative to the
known, observable universe.
By doing so,
an excellent and no doubt useful expression for null rest for luminiferous
ether might be achieved.
For now, with
the assimilation of a bit more data, a recognizable pattern should emerge
showing a greater fringe rate for observations taken where the Y beam is
parallel to the Orion-Cygnus axis, with a consistent correspondence between
the direction of fringe travel and the apparatus' directed motion through
the ether.