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#101 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » New Discoveries #5 - Deep space, galactic, solar system, etc. » 2007-01-11 10:06:03
"Like powdered snow"
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Dust_ … w_999.html
Nearby red dwarf has a dust disc which is like powdered snow.
They're speculating the grains are microscopic "dirty snowballs" -- a mix of ice and rock.
--Cindy
#102 Re: Not So Free Chat » Pocketful of Espionage? [Spy Coins] » 2007-01-11 09:39:04
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/11/spy.co … index.html
Is Canada deliberately involved?
Oooooo...this is Bondworthy. 
#103 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » New Discoveries #5 - Deep space, galactic, solar system, etc. » 2007-01-10 15:48:01
"Peekaboo" galaxy yields clues?
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 … alaxy.html
Newly discovered; is elliptical. Is aprox 1 billion light years distant. It's as yet unnamed (might remain that way), contains several hundred globular star clusters -- each of which contain several hundreds of thousands of stars.
They theorize globular star clusters provide the bulk needed to form elliptical galaxies. How much bulk is required? They're hoping studying this galaxy will provide insights on the evolution and formation of galaxies.
#104 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » New Discoveries #5 - Deep space, galactic, solar system, etc. » 2007-01-09 17:33:02
#105 Re: Not So Free Chat » Books You've Just Read? » 2007-01-09 16:43:30
I've been enjoying Star Wars novels since October.
Read Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader then Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. Am currently reading Labyrinth of Evil (immediately predates "Revenge of the Sith").
One of these authors is in the preliminaries of penning a novel about Darth Sidious' mentor, Plagueis. Will check it out upon publication (slated for early 2008, last I knew).
And no, Rik, I've not yet read Red/Green/Blue Mars!
Basically I dislike fiction. But these Star Wars novels are "fun" to get lost in.
Will also mention that a friend of ours looks a lot like this fellow:
http://www.br-online.de/kultur-szene/th … gregor.jpg
Just darken the hair and they're nearly twins.
#106 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Singularity - Black Holes, Gamma Rays, Magnetars, etc » 2007-01-09 15:15:07
Triple black hole discovered
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0701...old_triple.html
Is being called "unprecedented." Finding quasars any time is extremely rare...let alone 3 of them together. They're separated from each other by between only 100,000 to 150,000 light years (roughly the width of our Galaxy). Observation made by European Space Observatory's VLT & Keck in Hawaii.
The quasars are estimated to be 10.5 billion years old.
Also mentions that because space was smaller, galaxies collided more frequently back then.
#107 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » New Discoveries #5 - Deep space, galactic, solar system, etc. » 2007-01-09 14:30:32
Toppled Pillars
An interesting item from the astronomy presses:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 … llars.html
The famed "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula are -- thanks to new wavelength data from Spitzer -- believed to have been toppled by the blast from a nearby supernova. The supernova occurred roughly 6,000 years ago (in another place they estimate 6,000 to 9,000 years). The Pillars are 7,000 light years distant so humans have roughly another 1,000 years to see them.
They believe the 1995 Hubble pic shows the pillars just before the destructive supernova winds hit them.
20 stars in the vicinity are deemed ripe for supernova.
Just another reminder that we're looking back in time...and what other changes might have occurred out there that we cannot yet detect?
--Cindy
#108 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » New Discoveries #5 - Deep space, galactic, solar system, etc. » 2007-01-09 08:06:35
Gas Giants Jump Into Planet Formation Early
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jan 09, 2007
Gas-giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn form soon after their stars do, according to new research. Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show that gas giants either form within the first 10 million years of a sun-like star's life, or not at all. The study offers new evidence that gas-giant planets must form early in a star's history. The lifespan of sun-like stars is about 10 billion years.
8)
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Gas_Gian..._Early_999.html
#109 Re: Unmanned probes » Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) » 2007-01-06 06:12:29
Spirit Rests During Dust Storm
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jan 04, 2007
A sudden dust storm cut short Spirit's investigation of a volcanic rock and kicked enough dust into the Martian atmosphere to drive solar power levels to an all-time low. Spirit's team of scientists and engineers decided to move the rover to a spot where the solar panels would be tilted toward the sun to increase the amount of electrical power available.
--from spacedaily.com
Also:
Again with ripples in a crater's bottom which look like water waves.
MER team making plans for 4th year. Amazing. 
#110 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » NASA wants YOU (Lunar meteor strike study) » 2007-01-05 09:10:37
NASA WANTS YOU: NASA astronomers have spent the last year watching meteoroids hit the Moon and explode. Now they're about to release software that would allow amateur astronomers do the same thing. The goal is to create a worldwide network of "lunar meteor" observers.
I'd love to participate in this. But can't, don't have the means. 
[URL=http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/03jan_lunargeminids.htm]Full story[/URL]
All that from spaceweather.com
--Cindy
#111 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Can of Worms (Secularists vs Religious Right) » 2007-01-05 08:24:23
[URL=http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070104/ts_csm/catheist_1]Atheists & agnostics challenge U.S. "religious right"[/URL]
What - a - mess. 
For some time, the religious right has decried "secular humanism," a philosophy that rejects the supernatural or spiritual as a basis for moral decisionmaking. But now, nonbelievers are vigorously fighting back.
Only a small percentage of Americans admit to being nontheists (between 2 and 9 percent, depending on the poll), but that equates to many millions.
atheists and other nontheists are challenging the growing religious influence in government and public life.
Which is fine by me. Separation of church from state always. We recently had a flap about a Muslim senator-elect wanting to be sworn in on a Quran. A Christian senator opposed this [what about freedom of religion?]. Yesterday the Muslim senator [from Minnesota] was sworn in on Thomas Jefferson's Quran, loaned by a museum.
I think we should stop "swearing in" on ANY religious text, period. Otherwise it's violation of separation of church from state.
"I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural, wherever and whenever they have been or will be invented," declares Dr. Dawkins, the famed Oxford professor who wrote "The Selfish Gene."
Whatever. You cannot prove there isn't a God, nor that my spirituality isn't real.
Criticism of Dawkins & extreme critics by other scientists/secularists:
These offerings are so intolerant of religion of any kind - liberal, moderate, or fundamentalist - that some scientists and secularists have critiqued their peers for oversimplification and for a secular fundamentalism.
"They undermine their own case by writing in a language that suffers from many things they say are true of believers - intolerance, disrespect, extremism," says Alan Wolfe, a professor of religion at Boston College, who is a secularist and author of several books on American religious perspectives.
Interesting and disturbing. If people who claim to be objective and rational become emotionally charged...
While critics point out that religion is a genuine reflection of people's experience and will always exist, Mr. Harris suggests it could be equated with slavery, which once was widely acceptable, but eventually was looked upon with horror.
It's slavery if it's enforced onto others, which should never be. But if I willingly embrace spirituality that's my business. And I have no desire to "push it" onto others.
Many nontheists don't share this militant perspective, but have decided that keeping silent in religious America no longer makes sense. They are astonished that a majority of Americans question evolution and support teaching intelligent design in the science classroom.
Since it's causing this much trouble, perhaps we should keep both out of the classroom? But that'd be impossible, considering the fossil record, dinosaur remains, etc. I can't understand how it MUST be "either/or." God created the universe via evolution -- why is that so unpalatable a concept?
They are distressed over polls that show that at least half of Americans are unwilling to vote for an atheist despite the Constitution's requirement that there be no religious test for public office.
I understand that concern. It's bigotry to NOT vote for someone just because they're an atheist or agnostic. I'd vote for the person if I thought he/she were the best person for the job.
And they contend that in recent years, Congress has passed bills and the president has issued executive orders that have privileged religion in inappropriate and unconstitutional ways
Agreed.
"In some parts of the country, children are ostracized if someone finds out their families are atheists," says Lori Lipman Brown, SCA director.
That's true, and it's tragic. Some people are afraid to admit they're anything but the dominant religion.
"We need to educate the public that people who don't have a god belief can be good neighbors and friends and moral and ethical people."
Yep.
RRS now has some 20,000 people on message boards, with about 5,000 actively engaged in debunking religious claims, passing out fliers, and placing DVDs in churches.
Okay, now I have a problem with these people. They're proselytizing. Handing out fliers? Placing DVDs where they're likely NOT wanted? They're trying to impose their beliefs (or non-beliefs)...proselytizing.
Yet one critic, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, calls for a truce: "We've suffered enough from religious intolerance that the last thing the world needs is irreligious intolerance."
Indeed!
This is precisely why separation of church from state should be vigilantly guarded and KEPT separate: Because people can't agree to disagree, much less leave each other alone. 
I'm a bit amazed that Dawkins & Co are resorting to desperate tactics including proselytizing. :?
--Cindy
p.s.: The pendulum swings. These atheists/agnostics/secularists seem to be forgetting that. The U.S. had a sharp upswing in religious expression in the mid-1970s, which soon decreased. Then came the New Age '80s. Currently we're in a war so more people are religious. Methinks Dawkins and his friends are overreacting. 5 years from now the religious temperament in the nation could be very different, decreased/diminished.
#112 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Hot Comet (McNaught) » 2007-01-04 07:54:53
Interesting. This critter will pass Sol by only 0.17 AU (much closer than Mercury), might "flare" in brightness.
Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is plunging toward the Sun. It won't hit, but at closest approach on Jan. 13th it will be only 0.17 AU away--much closer than Mercury (0.38 AU). When the hot comet emerges later this month it could be brighter than a 1st-magnitude star. Or not. No one knows what will happen.
Meanwhile, you can see the comet with your own eyes
"This morning (Jan. 3rd) the comet was faintly visible to the naked eye before sunrise at an altitude of 4 degrees (the sun was 10 degrees below the horizon)," reports photographer Haakon Dahle of Fjellhamar, Norway. "The photo," he says, "resembles the view through binoculars."
Soon, the comet will be too close to the Sun to see--unless you're SOHO.
Nope. Last time I checked, I'm not SOHO.
From Jan. 11th to 15th, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory will monitor the comet-Sun encounter using its onboard coronagraph. A date of note is Jan. 14th when Comet McNaught passes less than a degree from the planet Mercury. Join SOHO for a ringside seat.
[All info courtesy Spaceweather.com]
--Cindy
#113 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Singularity - Black Holes, Gamma Rays, Magnetars, etc » 2007-01-03 14:16:06
[URL=http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070103/sc_space/scientistsspotblackholeinunlikelyplace]Black hole found within a globular cluster[/URL]
What puzzles me most is how they discovered this in a globular cluster which is in another galaxy [which is 50 million light years away]?? :? Globular clusters aren't extremely huge. It'd be enough of a discovery if this GC resided within our Milky Way Galaxy. Whatever.
Anyway, the black hole is 10 times more massive than Sol. They've theorized that gravitational interaction among black holes within a cluster would result in most, if not all, being kicked out. Theorize that BH's sink to the cluster's center and then pair up with either a star or another BH. If with a star, it "can" remain. If with a BH, one or both will end up being ejected.
This one is thought to be paired with a star.
8) Cool.
--Cindy
#114 Re: Unmanned probes » Cassini-Huygens - NASA/ESA Saturn orbiter & Titan lander » 2006-12-15 09:51:57
Enceladus mystery solved? Link:
[URL=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21466]Could tiny moon's geyser be due to clathrate??[/URL]
Never heard of clathrate before, but given all the known facts...it makes sense. Would explain the "Tiger Stripes" too.
#115 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Heliopolis *2* - ...Sun, Solar Science Cont'd... » 2006-12-08 13:51:20
That's SOME energy ripple. Ka-POW!
#116 Re: Water on Mars » NASA says liquid water on Mars NOW! » 2006-12-07 06:31:05
I was excited about the news flash too.
And then a friend of mine pointed out elsewhere:
There's no easy way to break this to you guys, so I might as well 'fess up and get it over with.
I thought we were more or less at this point of understanding about water on Mars already.
I'd long since assumed from all the photos published since 2001 that water occasionally escaped from subterranean aquifers on Mars. It seemed obvious and I honestly didn't realize there was any serious doubt about it.
Did you? .. Really? :?
Yeah. Good point. :-\
#117 Re: Unmanned probes » DSN in trouble » 2006-12-06 15:11:53
Future dimming for Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico's giant telescope as budget cuts loom
At the world's largest radio telescope, astronomers searching for asteroids on a collision course with Earth are bracing for a more worldly threat: The steepest budget cuts and first layoffs since the observatory opened in 1963.
Managers are warning staff and outside astronomers to prepare for a leaner future, with fewer research projects and less telescope time available as they finish a costly repainting job amid a looming cut in U.S. government funding.
Arecibo is already scrimping to repaint the telescope, a $5 million project that officials say must be done now to prevent the steel from corroding in the humid air of northwestern Puerto Rico.
The facility, which was built by the U.S. Air Force, will borrow the money and pay it back over the next three years by cutting 25 percent from its astronomy budget, Brown said.
Twenty to 30 positions will be lost, including some science and support staff, as well as about a quarter of the approximately 100 astronomy research projects done annually at the center. The telescope's annual operating time will be reduced by 1,000 hours, he said.
Yep, just now read that elsewhere (didn't see your post until now).
However -- the good news is the U.S. funding Arecibo loses (likely entirely by this decade's end) will go to fund the international radio telescope being built in the Atacama Desert of Chile, which is slated to begin operations in 2011. That RT will be the largest yet.
Arecibo is 43 years old.
A pity we can't finance both. Well, we could -- except Pres. Bush hasn't been so great with our money. :-\ The funding can only go 1 place though, and I'd rather it go to the new radio 'scope.
It's all they can do to muster up the funds to repaint Arecibo (prevention of steel corrosion in the high humidity).
#118 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Singularity - Black Holes, Gamma Rays, Magnetars, etc » 2006-12-06 14:35:15
[URL=http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Telescope_Sees_Black_Hole_Munch_On_A_Star_999.html]{{Gulp!}} From 1st bite to nearing final swallow: Black hole devouring star[/URL]
Is the 1st time astronomers are able to "watch" the process.
For some reason the article is repeated in the text. ::shrugs::
Anyway, they're keeping tabs on the final vestiges of the devoured star's fading light.
A giant black hole has been caught red-handed dipping into a cosmic cookie jar of stars by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. This is the first time astronomers have seen the whole process of a black hole eating a star, from its first to nearly final bites. "This type of event is very rare, so we are lucky to study the entire process from beginning to end..."
Bon appetit, monsieur black hole.
#119 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Dizzy...I'm so dizzy my head is spinning » 2006-12-02 08:38:02
[URL=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061202.html]like a whirlpool it never ends -- and it's this pic making me spin[/URL]
It's definitely one of the more striking "star trails" photos I've seen. Mountain peak really set it off. South celestial pole. Seeing this reminded me of that cute '60s song "Dizzy" ... one of my favorites.
Taken atop the world's highest active volcano.
--Cindy
p.s.: Looks like you could dash right up to that mountain peak and leap into the center of the star trails -- and wind up going through a time portal or something.
#120 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Singularity - Black Holes, Gamma Rays, Magnetars, etc » 2006-12-02 08:35:20
[URL=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21331]Black hole discovered which spins 950+ times per second[/URL]
:shock: :?
Incomprehensible. 950+ times per second.
How can anything spin that fast?
Wow. The frame dragging around that black hole is precessing at a sizable fraction of the speed of light. This should affect the centrifugal force in its neighborhood. There may even be a region outside its event horizon where the net centrifugal force is downward.
Cool. 8)
That is...groovy. 8) Yeah, I'm really diggin' these vibes. 
#121 Re: Human missions » Big Dumb Boosters revisited » 2006-12-01 12:55:47
I don't think it's nice to call them big DUMB boosters.
--Cindy
#122 Re: Unmanned probes » Mars Global Surveyor Not Responding » 2006-11-30 07:33:32
A remote possibility to look for MGS may come in FEB. 2007 as the Rosetta probe does another flyby of Mars, this of course if the ESA does do so....
But the key word in this is flyby. I don't recall specifics as to how close to Mars Rosetta will come, but ... a flyby likely won't reveal much if anything; likely nothing. Would depend on a number of incredibly lucky coincidences (relative distances, MGS position to that of Rosetta's, MGS being a tiny probe)...
Hopefully I'll be surprised. Not trying to sound cynical, but I'm not expecting Rosetta to be able to help out. Likely it'll be "like searching for a needle in a haystack" and a flyby course can't be altered...or won't be, just for MGS's sake.
#123 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Singularity - Black Holes, Gamma Rays, Magnetars, etc » 2006-11-30 07:25:29
[URL=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21331]Black hole discovered which spins 950+ times per second[/URL]
:shock: :?
Incomprehensible. 950+ times per second.
How can anything spin that fast?
#124 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » 2000 y/o astronomy calculator » 2006-11-29 17:42:10
Scientists unravel mystery of ancient Greek machine: Discovered in 1900
Speculation it was built in 65 BC. Others date it between 100 and 150 BC. Wow.
Can replicate Moon's orbit.
Can calculate positions of Sol, Moon, Mercury and Venus for ANY date. Speculation seems near to confirmed that it can also do this for Mars, Saturn and Jupiter's positions.
Nothing comparable to this machine would be built for another 1000 years. A person quoted in the article says it's more valuable than the Mona Lisa. Yeah, I'd say.
#125 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Mars, Jupiter, Mercury: Convergence » 2006-11-29 07:24:58
PLANETARY ALIGNMENT: Mark your calendar. On Dec. 8th though 11th, the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars will converge, forming a tight triangle in the early-morning sky. All three planets will fit together in the field of view of ordinary binoculars. Don't miss it!
All that courtesy spaceweather.com
Chances are I won't see much of this; chain of mountains in the way.