I hope they succeed and Didi doesn´t fall on our heads. I don´t know if this huma messing around with the universe, which still is somewhat timid if you take into account its dimension, might start to influence the movement of the celestial bodies.
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I hope they succeed and Didi doesn´t fall on our heads. I don´t know if this huma messing around with the universe, which still is somewhat timid if you take into account its dimension, might start to influence the movement of the celestial bodies.
I doubt that, but you never know.
I thought it was remarkable that some asteroids have their own moon and their own rings! And that some are made of sold nickel and solid iron:
"The more that planetary astronomers study asteroids, they more they’re realizing just how varied and different they can be. Some, like 16 Psyche are made of solid nickel and iron, while others are made of rock. Some asteroids have been found with moons, rings, and some icy objects really blur the line between comet and asteroid. In order to truly understand their nature, it would take dozens or maybe hundreds of individual missions on the scale of Rosetta or New Horizons."
About the constitution of our own planet:
https://www.space.com/38235-earth-el...et-formed.html
The most interesting facts from this piece has to be the next exploration of Mars in 2018, to probe the planet's deep interior.
I subscribed to Popular Astronomy] for a year and am re-reading it again. I am impressed by the large amount of material in it. I will select particularly interesting articles from the occasional more in-depth articles. The first will be about the moons of Mars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Mars
I don't buy the suggestion that Earth has one moon, so Mars must have two! Nor that the Gulliver's Travels just guessed the detailed information he provides about these two moons. More likely that the ancient astronomers knew from their own observations.
Phobos, Mars' larger moon, is slowly spiralling inwards towards the planet, estimated to disintegrate within the next 30-50 million years. Phobos has the inner orbit, Deimos is further out. There is a tremendous strain on Phobos. We know that our own Moon affects tides and Phobos is covered in fractures and has a large crater (Stickney Crater).
I agree with you. As it isn´t known that writers Like Swift and Voltaire conducted any astronomical research of their own, they must needs have been influenced by the information of th period and a bit by their own imagination.
Now we know that the universe is cluttered with bigger and smaller objects, they probably are going to find a lot of asteroids between Mars and its moons.
In March-April 2016 Popular Astronomy(p.18) published an article on the search for extraterrestrial life. Quoting Sir Arthur C Clarke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke): "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying".
Links to further reading:
The best link is, I think, the first one, as it poses some interesting dilemmas:
https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html
The other two I include here pose the usual dilemmas:
https://www.space.com/25325-fermi-paradox.html
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermis_paradox
This website looks at the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI): https://seti.org
There are some peculiar phenomena on our doorstep, one of which was identified by the Hubble Space Telescope:
https://www.universetoday.com/137278...asteroid-belt/.
This is a binary asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Interesting LINK;Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamwoven
"There’s something called The Kardashev Scale, which helps us group intelligent civilizations into three broad categories by the amount of energy they use:
A Type I Civilization has the ability to use all of the energy on their planet. We’re not quite a Type I Civilization, but we’re close (Carl Sagan created a formula for this scale which puts us at a Type 0.7 Civilization).
A Type II Civilization can harness all of the energy of their host star. Our feeble Type I brains can hardly imagine how someone would do this, but we’ve tried our best, imagining things like a Dyson Sphere.
A Type III Civilization blows the other two away, accessing power comparable to that of the entire Milky Way galaxy.
...
That said, given that my normal outlook is that humanity is a lonely orphan on a tiny rock in the middle of a desolate universe, the humbling fact that we’re probably not as smart as we think we are, and the possibility that a lot of what we’re sure about might be wrong, sounds wonderful. It opens the door just a crack that maybe, just maybe, there might be more to the story than we realize."
https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html
Some of it´s unusual features:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamwoven
"Using the Hubble telescope, the team first observed 288P in September 2016, when it was making its closest approach to Earth. The images they took revealed that this object was not a single asteroid, but two asteroids of similar size and mass that orbit each other at a distance of about 100 km. Beyond that, the team also noted some ongoing activity in the binary system that was unexpected.
As Jessica Agarwal explained in a Hubble press statement, this makes 288P the first known binary asteroid that is also classified as a main-belt comet. “We detected strong indications of the sublimation of water ice due to the increased solar heating – similar to how the tail of a comet is created,” she said. In addition to being a pleasant surprise, these findings are also highly significant when it comes to the study of the Solar System."
Thanks, Danik, those were two interesting responses.
"Highest-energy cosmic rays have extragalactic origin
A 50-year-old debate has at last been settled: the highest-energy cosmic rays do not originate in our own galaxy but in galaxies located tens or even hundreds of millions of light-years away."
https://astronomynow.com/2017/09/26/...lactic-origin/
Your astronomy Now post is intriguing. But can we "read" what the high energy rays are communicating, if anything at all? I must subscribe to Astronomy Now! (Done).
Not yet, if they are comunicating anything at all. What also called my atention is that the observatory, in this case, is Argentinian.
"By comparing the arrival times of particles at the different detectors it is possible to determine where the cosmic ray particle that produced the air shower came from.
This discovery clearly indicates an extragalactic origin for these cosmic rays, since there is a probability of only one in five million that the pattern observed in the sky is due to chance. However, the study has not yet succeeded in locating the sources precisely. This is because the region where cosmic rays are brightest covers a large part of the sky, where the number of galaxies is relatively high. In addition, our galaxy’s magnetic field deflects the paths of these charged particles, making it more difficult to locate their sources."
The last issue of Popular Astronomy that I have (Jan-Feb 2017) has a lead article on Proxima b, asking if life could exist there. Proxima Centauri is the closest stellar neighbour to our Sun, and is a red dwarf star. Proxima b is an inner planet so may be made of rock and is in the so-called "habitable zone" of its star. we do not know whether Proxima b has water on its surface, nor if it has the ability to sustain an atmosphere. But the new Spitzer Space Telescope that came into service in 2016 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitzer_Space_Telescope - should be able to tell us more.
Two links about the Mars colonization project:
https://www.space.com/38315-spacex-m...fr-images.html
Elon Musk Wants Giant SpaceX Spaceship to Fly People to Mars by 2024
"SpaceX aims to launch its first cargo mission to Mars in 2022 and send people toward the Red Planet just two years after that."
https://www.space.com/38313-elon-mus...mars-2024.html
Deep Space Gateway: https://www.universetoday.com/137320...space-gateway/
There is a new enthusiasm for this internationally, led by the USA and Russia (NASA and Roscosmos jointly) and separately by China and India. The idea is to provide for a deep space gateway from which to explore the solar system.
I suppose it will have to be a joint venture between countries, because of the demanded technology and the expenses that arise from such a project and I think that is positive. Also there is the political aspect to consider.
I forgot to add Japan to the countries interested in the moon as a potential base. All have satellites going round the moon. Yes, the collaboration is necessary and, as you say, there is the political aspect to consider.
The country with the most advanced plans is clearly China. The new China mission - Chang'e3 - planned is is to have a rover/lander on board. Russia has invested most in the International Space Station and is picking sites for a moon base. So the political angle in the NASA-Roscosmos alliance is necessary if they want to be first to locate a site and begin the moon-base. This will in any case be permanently staffed by astronauts, once built. A new space-race is in then offing, though that is probably a few years away.
Yes. Once it startes it will be a race won by the powerfull countries with the most financial and technological resources. The age of the great discoveries will be reedited in its spacial version.
Meanwhile in Brazil:
"Cuts imperil Brazil’s stake in astronomy observatories
This is a very serious situation,” said Bruno Castilho, director of the National Astrophysics Laboratory in Itajubá, Brazil. His budget also was halved this year. Current reserves don’t even cover water and electricity bills, he says, let alone Brazil’s participation in the Gemini Observatory—twin optical and infrared telescopes in Chile and Hawaii—and the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope in Chile. If Castilho can’t find at least another 4 million reais ($1.25 million) by the end of the year, he says, Brazilian astronomers will lose access to those facilities. The prognosis is grim, he says: “We don’t have anywhere else to cut.”
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/...eril-brazil-s-
stake-astronomy-observatories
:bawling::bawling::bawling:
I forgot to add Japan to the countries interested in the moon as a potential base. All have satellites going round the moon. Yes, the collaboration is necessary and, as you say, there is the political aspect to consider.
The country with the most advanced plans is clearly China. The new China mission - Chang'e3 - planned is is to have a rover/lander on board. Russia has invested most in the International Space Station and is picking sites for a moon base. So the political angle in the NASA-Roscosmos alliance is necessary if they want to be first to locate a site and begin the moon-base. This will in any case be permanently staffed by astronauts, once built. A new space-race is in then offing, though that is probably a few years away.
I've been struggling to understand the dark energy debate. Gravitational waves (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave) and Black holes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole) are clearly connected. Black holes form as a result. As I see it, this means that black holes function as a sort of rubbish bin that can dispose of matter (like stars at the end of their lives when they become red dwarf stars?).
I'm not at home at this level of debate (though we all probably feel the same way) but perhaps we will learn more as time goes on.
See also https://astronomynow.com/2017/09/18/...energy-debate/.
Interesting links, DW.Quote:
=Dreamwoven;1343353]I've been struggling to understand the dark energy debate. Gravitational waves (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_wave) and Black holes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole) are clearly connected. Black holes form as a result. As I see it, this means that black holes function as a sort of rubbish bin that can dispose of matter (like stars at the end of their lives when they become red dwarf stars?).
Neither are the astronomers themselves it seems:Quote:
I'm not at home at this level of debate (though we all probably feel the same way) but perhaps we will learn more as time goes on.
"Dark energy is usually assumed to form roughly 70% of the present material content of the universe. However, this mysterious quantity is essentially a place-holder for unknown physics."
https://astronomynow.com/2017/09/18/...energy-debate/
"LIGO AND VIRGO OBSERVATORIES DETECT BLACK HOLES COLLIDING
'With this first joint detection by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, we have taken one step further into the gravitational-wave cosmos,' he said. 'Virgo brings a powerful new capability to detect and better locate gravitational-wave sources, one that will undoubtedly lead to exciting and unanticipated results in the future.'
The study of gravitational waves is a testament to the growing capability of the world’s science teams and the science of interferometry. For decades, the existence of gravitational waves was merely a theory; and by the turn of the century, all attempts to detect them had yielded nothing. But in just the past eighteen months, multiple detections have been made, and dozens more are expected in the coming years.
What’s more, thanks to the new global network and the improved instruments and methods, these events are sure to tell us volumes about our Universe and the physics that govern it."
https://www.universetoday.com/137319...les-colliding/
Yes, indeed!
Plans for the advance base camp for Mars: https://www.universetoday.com/137361...ase-camp-mars/
I understand the hurry in getting astronauts landed on Mars, but I think they have to be very carefull about the atmospheric and subsistence conditions. If I were an astronaut I certainly wouldn´t be satisfied just with iced water. I would want at least a fast food facility.
I think the idea is to set up an advance camp on the moon, so all supplies would be there for further shipment to Mars. I can't imagine that they would have to live on iced water.
This is a shot from the ISS of the moon and planets seen in the sky: http://earthsky.org/space/video-iss-...ising-sep-2017
Lovely rising!
And look who has won the Nobel prize in physics:
Quote:
Nobel prize in physics awarded for discovery of gravitational waves
£825,000 prize awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne for their work on Ligo experiment which was able to detect ripples in the fabric of spacetime
https://www.theguardian.com/science/...nal-waves-ligo
Yes, but they released the news to Nobel just before the meeting. There is a lot of tactics involved. Like choosing your team of people and if possible having Oxbridge academics on the team.
But all that aside its nice to see astronomy winning the Nobel Prize...
I quite agree that the choices for the Nobel prize are anything but neutral and unbiased.
But, anyway, the inclusion of astronomers is significant.
Popular Astronomy Nov/Dec 2016, "Citizen Science" p. 15
Alice Sheppard has been involved with citizen science for 9 years, first running the Galaxy Zoo discussions (https://www.galaxyzoo.org) now working at University College, London) Extreme Citizen Science Department.
Jenny McCormick (Farm Cove Observatory) http://www.farmcoveobs.co.nz has a 14-inch telescope and uses it to carry out microlensing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravit...l_microlensing
Sadly, living in a forested part of Sweden the amount of clear sky I can see from our house is very limited. I do have 7x50 mm binoculars but the best I can do is to observe the moon when it is in the east.
It is still better, DW, than living in a metropolis full of sky scraper where you forget there is a sky with moon and stars (and a lot of asteroids) in it.
I would conclude that citizen science is making a major contribution to knowledge about space and the many worlds to be discovered in it. Perhaps this is just a phase of space exploration, but it is notable how much citizen science is being conducted out there. For further information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Hunters.
Interesting link, DW.
About planet nine again:
"The super-Earth that came home for dinner
Date:
October 4, 2017
Source:
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Summary:
It might be lingering bashfully on the icy outer edges of our solar system, hiding in the dark, but subtly pulling strings behind the scenes: stretching out the orbits of distant bodies, perhaps even tilting the entire solar system to one side. It is a possible "Planet Nine" -- a world perhaps 10 times the mass of Earth and 20 times farther from the sun than Neptune."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...1004144511.htm
Planet 9 is an interesting discovery. Look forward to its confirmation.
Space Junk: (a case of citizen science), Alice Sheppard published a piece in Popular Astronomy (Jan-Feb 2017 p.17).
See also: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/s...al_debris.html
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris