http://earthsky.org/earth/letter-sci...mental-dangers
Yes, I agree with this.
http://earthsky.org/earth/letter-sci...mental-dangers
Yes, I agree with this.
I quite agree with you. I am full of mistrust regarding Zuma. I specially disliked this statement:For a top secret exercise this gets a lot of publicity. I was not going to publish this but decided to anyway. Space X is a private company.
"Zuma’s goals are veiled in virtually complete darkness. And as far as the taxpaying public is concerned its ownerless."
This has probably only been made public because it has been called off.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
One excerpt of the letter:
"To prevent widespread misery and catastrophic biodiversity loss, humanity must practice a more environmentally sustainable alternative to business as usual. This prescription was well articulated by the world's leading scientists 25 years ago, but in most respects, we have not heeded their warning. Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory, and time is running out. We must recognize, in our day-to-day lives and in our governing institutions, that Earth with all its life is our only home."
One good reason for this frantic search for an habitable planet.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
I agree, except that the definition of "habitable" is far to wide to be at all useful. Hopefully once the new Spitzer telescope is up and running it will become easier, possible to zoom in to discover temperate zones. What is needed is a planet where humans can move without radiation protection and that has a breathable atmosphere without using oxygen tubes.
But this combination of Earth-like conditions is very hard to find. I don't think any of the new "Earth-like" planets that we have discovered in recent years meet these criteria. So Mars, where you need to wear a space-suite, and protection from radiation, is still the most likely candidate.
I agree with you, DW. Also one must consider the great distance of the exoplanets a distance that is measured in light years. So I think that they either must discover a planet with earth like living conditions, that is near enough to the earth or they must create artificially the means of survival in very different conditions. Both of these possibilities demand time, high financial and technological investments.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
Thanks Danik. This is a quiet period for astronomy posts, but I stay on the lookout for new ones.
Just got a new monthly series of Popular Astronomy posts. This one shows developments in cameras (lighter weight and better quality pictures).
The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
Electronic News Bulletin No. 457 2017 November 19
Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy. The SPA is arguably Britain's liveliest astronomical
society, with members all over the world. We accept subscription
payments online at our secure site and can take credit and debit
cards. You can join or renew via a secure server or just see how
much we have to offer by visiting http://www.popastro.com/
NEXT MARS ROVER WILL HAVE 23 EYES
NASA
When the Mars Pathfinder touched down in 1997, it had five cameras: two
on a mast that popped up from the lander, and three on NASA's first
rover, Sojourner. Since then, camera technology has seen appreciable
improvement. Photo-sensors that were improved by the space programme
have become commercially ubiquitous. Cameras have shrunk in size,
increased in quality and are now carried in every cellphone and laptop.
That same evolution has returned to space. The Mars 2020 mission will
have more 'eyes' than any rover before it -- a grand total of 23, to
create sweeping panoramas, reveal obstacles, study the atmosphere, and
assist instruments. They will provide dramatic views during the rover's
descent to Mars and be the first to capture images of a parachute as it
opens in the atmosphere of another planet. There will even be a camera
inside the rover's body, which will study samples as they are stored and
left on the surface for collection by a future mission. They represent
a steady progression since Pathfinder: after that mission, the Spirit
and Opportunity rovers were designed with 10 cameras each, including on
their landers; Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover has 17. Camera
technology keeps improving; each successive mission is able to utilize
the improvements, with better performance and lower cost. The cameras
on Mars 2020 will include more colour and 3-D imaging than on Curiosity.
On the new rover, the engineering cameras have been upgraded to acquire
high-resolution, 20-megapixel colour images.
Me too.Yes, themes tend to repeat themselves.Originally Posted by Dreamwoven
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
An important development!
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
I found this article on aboriginal observation of stars interesting:
"
How Variable Stars Shine in the Oral Traditions of Aboriginal Australians
Are there any clear records from oral or Indigenous cultures that demonstrate knowledge of variable stars?
Emerging research reveals two Aboriginal traditions from South Australia that show the answer is a clear 'yes.'"
https://www.space.com/38789-variable...raditions.html
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
I had no idea that stars vary in their magnitude, and that the variability follows clear patterns. Very interesting.
I guess that not all stars vary like this, ours, the sun, does not as far as I know? Variability is frequent, like every 4 years. I'm puzzled...
Neither had I.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
"Meet 'Oumuamua! The 1st Interstellar Visitor Ever Seen Gets a Name
We now know what to call the mysterious object from interstellar space that zoomed past Earth last month.
The interloper — the first known interstellar body observed within our own solar system — has been named 'Oumuamua, which means "a messenger from afar arriving first" in Hawaiian, representatives of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced yesterday (Nov. 14).
The IAU also approved an official scientific designation for 'Oumuamua: 1I/2017 U1. This is a first-of-its-kind moniker; the "I" stands for "interstellar." Previously, small objects like 'Oumuamua have received standard comet or asteroid designations, which sport a "C" or "A," respectively, in place of the "I." [Solar System Explained from the Inside Out (Infographic)]"
http://www.online-literature.com/for...nomy&p=1345697
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
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