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MUSIC: RIGHT THURR by Chingy
A “Party” is coming together with a group of 4 GRAD STUDENTS in their mid 20s, DANIEL, NISHA, OLIVER, WIN and their PROFESSOR from Michigan State, PROFESSOR RANDALL MINDY, 50s, Midwestern, bearded, not so ambitious since he got tenure.
RANDALL
This is nuts!! This is so crazy...
NISHA
I’ve got a hard cider and a bag of
Crossbone Crunch!
WIN
It’s a party.
RANDALL
I’m just so, so thrilled for you
Kate.
(raises a glass)
To “Comet Dibiasky.” Right? Cheers!
Randall is transfixed by the pictures.
RANDALL (CONT'D)
It’s got to be an Oort cloud comet
just based on where you saw it.
Probably the last time it got this
close to the sun was long before
human civilization. Look at the arc
on that thing. My god that’s
amazing.
NISHA
How would we find out the comet’s
velocity and orbit Professor Mindy?
RANDALL
What a great question. I haven’t
done orbital dynamics since Grad
school. The question is, “What
would Carl Sagan do?” He would take
it back to first principles.
Randall wheels over a white board. He begins to draw the XYZ Axis from FIGURE 1.
Daniel hands him a battered textbook.
RANDALL (CONT'D)
The topocentric vector is rho...
Kate, what are the initial
coordinates?
Kate is on her laptop.
KATE
21....24...13...
Quick time dashes as Randall writes more and more equations
RANDALL
This is fun, huh guys?
KATE RANDALL (CONT'D)
67... Wow, now you’re got me
pumped.
WIN RANDALL (CONT'D) Uh, Doctor Mindy, how many All right, um-- This is a terms do you have to good approximation according calculate to induce the FNG to Marsden eighty-five. function?
RANDALL (CONT'D)
Now that we have the comets orbit.
We will check the ephemeris. And
that will give us the distance
between the comet and earth.
Randall continues to map out the results on the white board.
KATE
Why does the ephemeris keep getting
lower and lower?
Randall writes the last part of FIGURE 2.
And then finally...he writes “O.OO”
His hand is frozen with the marker in it in front of the board.
KATE (CONT'D)
Professor Mindy?
(beat)
Professor Mindy?
Randall quickly erases the “0.00”
RANDALL
You know what guys? Let’s, uh, call
it a night, huh?
WIN
But what’s the relative position?
RANDALL
I can’t figure it out, guys. Not
tonight, sorry.
DANIEL
You know what, I’m beat.
NISHA
Me too.
DANIEL
Kate this was amazing.
The Grad students shuffle off. Randall hasn’t taken his eyes off the board.
RANDALL
Hey Kate?...you stay.
QUOTE AGAINST BLACK:
“I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers.” - Jack Handey