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Meanwhile the New Horizons probe continues through the Kuiper Belt, and has sent back more images: https://astronomynow.com/2017/01/22/...elt-encounter/. It seems as if it is made up of several objects, perhaps having a moon of its own. We should get more information on this in the New Year.
Yes, DW. Astronauts deserve a holiday, too. But have you had a look at the Pentagon program? It was in the Brazilian news these days. Rather intriguing that such a lot of money is spent on the investigation of ovnis. Is this just paranoia or have they found something important?
We are getting weird ET announcements from the Pentagon, like this one: https://www.space.com/39147-navy-pil...sightings.html. Sure it is old, but that doesn't matter.
Well, on the video it looks like a bug.
Some of these links get deformed on Opera, I don´t know why. I have to change the browser to be able to view them.
Piercing the mystery of the cosmic origins of gold
"Where does gold, the precious metal coveted by mortals through the ages, come from? How, where and when was it produced? Last August, a single astrophysical observation finally gave us the key to answer these questions. The results of this research were published on October 16, 2017."
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-12-pierci...-gold.html#jCp
This was an interesting post, Danik.
https://www.space.com/39104-saturn-m...ast-photo.html
Information on the moon of Saturn, Rhea. It seems to have a microscopic atmosphere of oxygen.
"Rhea has an oxygen atmosphere that is about 5 trillion times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. Some scientists propose that the oxygen atmosphere is caused by the icy surface getting exposure to radiation from Saturn's magnetosphere, according to the statement."
"Rhea is the second largest moon in orbit around Saturn, at about 949 miles (1,527 kilometers) across, and was one of the four moons spotted in 1672 by astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Initially named "Saturn V," the moon was later renamed in 1847 to Rhea, the goddess wife of Cronos in Greek mythology. Cronos, in Roman mythology, was known as Saturn."
Clearly, NASA don't release all their information at once.
Yes, I noticed that too.
The Milky Way Galaxy will end when it merges with a smaller galaxy, a violent union. See this: https://www.space.com/39158-galaxy-c...oto-video.html. Or perhaps this will only be preparatory to an even more violent galactic union. Who knows. Interesting to see what happens to galaxies that we learn from Hubble...
https://www.universetoday.com/138088...islands-stars/. Perhaps this is the way it will happen. We will never know, as this will be in the completely unknown future.
From galaxies to one planet:
https://astronomynow.com/2017/12/21/...en-neighbours/
I thought this theory, unlike the big bang theory, is interesting, not to mention also being testable.
"The assumption has generally been that Mars formed near Earth from the same building blocks, but that conjecture raises a big question: why are the two planets so different in composition? Mars contains different, lighter, silicates than Earth, more akin to those found in meteorites. In an attempt to explain why the elements and isotopes on Mars differ widely from those on Earth, researchers from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom ran simulations to gain insights into the Red Planet’s movement within the Solar System."
https://astronomynow.com/2017/12/21/...en-neighbours/
Yes it is, DW. Another thing that one learns from several articles we posted is that not only the composition and/ or the atmosphere of several neighbor planets are different they are also wholly unexpected if one uses the composition of the earth as a parameter.
I thought this assumption interesting too:
Oldest fossils ever found suggest life in the universe is common
"In a study published December 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists confirmed that the oldest fossils ever discovered — found in a nearly 3.5-billion-year-old rock from western Australia — contain 11 complex microbes that are members of five distinct species.
The findings not only suggest that life on our planet originated some 4 billion years ago, but also help support the increasingly widespread theory that life in the universe is much more common than we previously thought."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/1...sil-ever-found
This may well be true!
Another interesting post on earthsky.org
They suggest other explanations, but to copy them all out would be a bit much.
http://earthsky.org/space/winking-st...uming-planets?
A team of U.S. astronomers said on December 21, 2017 that they’ve found evidence suggesting the strange, unpredictable dimming episodes of the star RZ Piscium might be caused by vast orbiting clouds of gas and dust, the remains of one or more destroyed planets. This star is located about 550 light-years away, in the direction to the constellation Pisces the Fish. Its erratic dimming episodes can last as long as two days, during which time the star becomes as much as 10 times fainter. Kristina Punzi – a doctoral student at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York and lead author of a paper about this star published in the peer-reviewed Astronomical Journal, said in a statement:
Our observations show there are massive blobs of dust and gas that occasionally block the star’s light and are probably spiraling into it. Although there could be other explanations, we suggest this material may have been produced by the break-up of massive orbiting bodies near the star.
The evidence for the dust is pretty clear. RZ Piscium produces far more energy at infrared wavelengths than emitted by stars like our sun, indicating a disk of warm dust surrounding the star. In fact, said the statement from these astronomers:
Interesting post, DW. The dimming episodes perhaps explain the "twinkling stars".
I thought this one of interest too:
Enormous bubbles observed on the surface of a red giant
"The Sun’s surface is speckled with roughly two million convective cells (imagine boiling water), each about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) across. Though the Sun’s pockmarks – more scientifically known as granulation patterns – have been well-studied over the years, never before have astronomers observed the convective cells of another star.
You guessed it: until now.
For the first time, astronomers using the PIONIER instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope have directly observed the surface activity of another star. Unsurprisingly, the star is giant; a cool red giant to be precise. "
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/1...of-a-red-giant
https://www.universetoday.com/138122...ve-black-hole/
EarthSky published the same today: http://earthsky.org/space/filament-i...lack-hole-sgra.
No-one is sure what the significance of this is.
I wonder if Oumuamua will be captured by the sun (our star) or if it will just disappear from Earth and if so where will it be heading for. It is altogether a mysterious object, very long and made entirely of rock, no ice, which when approaching the sun melts ice and leaves a trail of water vapour. It travels very fast, too.
I suspect that Oumuamua is just a fragment of a bigger heavenly body. I don´t know if it will yeld any important information.
Just a funny intermezzo: Barbie 21C
American Girl's New NASA-Advised Doll is Aspiring Astronaut
" An 11-year-old aspiring astronaut who dreams of being the first person to go to Mars is blasting off as American Girl's 2018 Girl of the Year.
Launching for sale on Monday (Jan. 1), "Luciana Vega" is the latest addition to the popular 18-inch-tall (46 centimeters) doll line aimed at inspiring young girls' sense of spirit and strength of character.
"Luciana is a role model for today's girls, empowering them to defy stereotypes, and embrace risks that will teach them about failure and success as they chart their own course in life, whatever the goal," Katy Dickson, president of American Girl, said in a statement. "For us, it's all about building girls of strong character." [Meet Luciana Vega, American Girl's Aspiring Astronaut (Photos)]"
https://www.space.com/39229-american...naut-doll.html
The children who are lining up to join the Mars expedition have no idea why they are letting themselves in for. Even many of the adults don't.
Oumuamua is more like a planet than an icy comet, comets lose a bit of their ice every time they come close enough to a star to start melting.
You are quite right, DW. My idea was to make you and other readers laugh, but viewed as propaganda, this toy is rather serious.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamwoven
Watch this female astronaut success story. The propaganda is of one of the biggest Brazilian bank concerns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m2NZkXqUHY
Text: Imagination is the first step for a child to be what it wants to be. Read this to a child.
Sure. Maybe a piece that got detached of a planet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamwoven
The full moons in 2018:
Full Moon Names 2018: From Wolf Moons to Cold Moons
"Each year since 2004, Space.com has provided a listing of full moon names that date back to a few centuries ago, when Native Americans occupied the region that's now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes of long ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred.
There were some variations in these moon names, but in general, the same ones were used by the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. European settlers who arrived in those areas followed their own customs and created some of their own names. Because the lunar ("synodic") month is roughly 29.5 days long on average, the dates of these full moons shift from year to year."
https://www.space.com/39238-full-moon-names.html
https://astronomynow.com/2017/01/22/...elt-encounter/
The Kuiper Belt is surprisingly wide. New Horizons is continuing out beyond Pluto and has been doing so after flying past it in 2015. We now know more about Pluto than we did before, when it was just a dot in the sky. The Kuiper Belt is the first of two regions of space. The other, much larger is the Oort Cloud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud, as yet unvisited. But an object in the Kuiper Belt is the second target for New Horizons, designated as 2014 MU69.
It is now thought to be comprised of a number of smaller objects, including perhaps moons. We know that Pluto is also accompanied by another planet, Eris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet), with its own moon, and further out still, Makemake - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makemake.
But we now think that 2014 MU69 consists of several objects, so it will be interesting to learn more. It will take another year to reach even at the fast speed that New Horizons travels at.
Eris and Makemake, two interesting dwarf planets.
That is an important scientific step:
Astronauts Identify Mystery Microbes in Space for the 1st Time
"NASA astronauts successfully sequenced the DNA of microbes found aboard the International Space Station, marking the first time unknown organisms were sequenced and identified entirely in space.
Previously, microbes had to be sent to Earth for analysis, and this new sequencing marks an important step in diagnosing astronaut illnesses and, someday, identifying any DNA-based life found on other planets, NASA officials said in a statement. Researchers back on Earth have now verified the microbe identifications are correct, marking the experiment a success."
https://www.space.com/39254-astronau...-in-space.html
https://astronomynow.com/2017/01/22/...elt-encounter/
The Kuiper Belt is surprisingly wide. New Horizons is continuing out beyond Pluto and has been doing so after flying past it in 2015. We now know more about Pluto than we did before, when it was just a dot in the sky. The Kuiper Belt is the first of two regions of space. The other, much larger is the Oort Cloud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud, as yet unvisited. But an object in the Kuiper Belt is the second target for New Horizons, designated as 2014 MU69.
It is now thought to be comprised of a number of smaller objects, including perhaps moons. We know that Pluto is also accompanied by another planet, Eris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet), with its own moon, and further out still, Makemake - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makemake.
But we now think that 2014 MU69 consists of several objects, so it will be interesting to learn more. It will take another year to reach even at the fast speed that New Horizons travels at.
Thi post explains the concept of https://www.universetoday.com/138141...ensing-method/
Yes, I read it, but I became interested in the two dwarfs planets that accompany Pluto, Eris and Makemake. I wonder what impact all these discoveries will have on astrology, as it is entirely based on the solar system as it was known some decades ago.
You mean astronomy, not astrology...
No, I mean astrology. Astrology, as we know it today, is wholly based on what we know about the solar system.
Just to start 2018 a list of the astronomical celestial event for 2018:
http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astr...ndar-2018.html
https://www.universetoday.com/138197...-surface-moon/
"It would be no exaggeration to say that we live in an age of renewed space exploration. In particular, the Moon has become the focal point of increasing attention in recent years. In addition to President Trump’s recent directive to NASA to return to the Moon, many other space agencies and private aerospace companies are planning their own missions to the lunar surface.
A good example is the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), otherwise known as the Chang’e Program. Named in honor of the ancient Chinese lunar goddess, this program has sent two orbiters and one lander to the Moon already. And later this year, the Chang’e 4 mission will begin departing for the far side of the Moon, where it will study the local geology and test the effects of lunar gravity on insects and plants.
The mission will consist of a relay orbiter being launched aboard a Long March 5 rocket in June of 2018. This relay will assume orbit around the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrange Point, followed by the launch of the lander and rover about six months later. In addition to an advanced suite of instruments for studying the lunar surface, the lander will also be carrying an aluminum alloy container filled with seeds and insects."
Just wondering at the meaning of it.Quote:
President Trump’s recent directive to NASA to return to the Moon
No-one has been there since the US sent a mission there in the 1960s. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing.
Yes, I know. That´s why I am wondering at they taking up the project at this moment.
The Cold War, especially as China is active at the moon. Also, the plan to go jointly with Russia was quickly abandoned by Trump. So it is back to the 1950s.