New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

Palomar · 2003-03-04 13:45:14

*Goodbye, Pioneer 10:

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/02/26/pi … obit030226

*European Moon mission:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2818551.stm

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-05 08:26:55

*Population densities (looks like you've got plenty of elbow room in your neck of the woods, Shaun):

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-06 11:08:02

*Octogenarian still going strong:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....oore_dc

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2003-03-06 17:15:51

Thanks Cindy!

That Patrick Moore has always been one of my favourite people - such a typical English eccentric!
But in spite of his unusual appearance and mannerisms, he is undoubtedly an extraordinarily smart guy ... one of those people whose mind works at least 10 times faster than mine ever will, and whom I admire for that reason alone!
Long may he continue to entertain and educate us all.

P.S. I didn't get the connection, in your previous post,
between the population densities and the comet. I must
be missing something here (... yeah, I know .. a brain,
right?!! )

Palomar · 2003-03-07 07:44:25

Thanks Cindy!

That Patrick Moore has always been one of my favourite people - such a typical English eccentric!
But in spite of his unusual appearance and mannerisms, he is undoubtedly an extraordinarily smart guy ...

*I don't recall ever having heard of him before this article.

P.S. I didn't get the connection, in your previous post,
between the population densities and the comet. I must
be missing something here (... yeah, I know .. a brain,
right?!! )

*You know what? I went back and clicked on the link...and now it's showing "Star Trails of Kilimanjaro" -- when in fact it was linked to a map of the Earth's continents, showing population density. It was properly linked to the map when I made the post; I checked the link after posting, like always. It's not you or me...something's goofy at Astropix.

Will try again.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-07 08:03:54

*Posting world population density map once again...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030305.html

If this doesn't work, check out "Astronomy Picture of the Day" via Google, click on Archives; the map was featured on the 5th of March.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-07 08:05:44

*I clicked on the link to world population density map after posting it...it is showing the map. Astropix, don't fail me now!

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2003-03-07 19:04:20

Got it!! Thanks Cindy!

Our town has a population of about 130,000. The nearest town with a comparable population is a 4 hour drive south of here!
There are quite a few smaller towns dotted around all over the place, though.

Palomar · 2003-03-11 12:03:55

*Jumping Jupiter!! 52 moons total! Looks like my solar system wall poster is really outdated now.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....overies

--Cindy

P.S.: Considering how small some of these are, perhaps a different designation should be given to them other than "a moon", as suggested in the article.

Palomar · 2003-03-11 12:11:23

*Well hopefully it WON'T be the last...!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...._launch

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-11 12:29:04

*"Global Extraterrestrial Hunt to Revist Old Signals":

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....signals

Of course I wish them good luck.

A few years ago I was subscribed to a serious SETI mailing list. I joked, "If you come across a signal that says 'Eep, Op, Ork, Ah-Ah,' remember that that means 'I Love You!'"

They didn't think it was too funny. Jet Screamer be damned, I guess. ::shrugs::

--Cindy :laugh:

Shaun Barrett · 2003-03-11 17:39:52

No sense of humour, some people!

Phobos · 2003-03-11 22:57:29

I hope they find something promising when they revisit those signals. The last laugh might be on Cindy when we pick love notes from across the galaxy. It would be mind blowingly awesome to pick up a signal of alien origin. For some reason I've all of a sudden remembered this campy movie about these three teenagers that pick up an alien signal and build their own ship to follow it. Can't remember the title right off, but the aliens don't exactly turn out to be profound beings.

"I ain't going to let no darkies and white folks segregate together in this town."
Eugene Connor, Police Commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama. 1950

So goes the the immortal words of Eugene the genius. :laugh:

Shaun Barrett · 2003-03-12 00:57:22

Phobos writes:-

The last laugh might be on Cindy when we pick love notes from across the galaxy.

Ha ha!! I just thought I'd have a little laugh at that now. If it ever comes to pass, I'll be too busy picking my jaw up off the floor!!

And I remember that movie you mentioned, Phobos. One of the kids propelled himself through a hill inside a bubble-like force field while trying to figure out how to fly the thing they'd built, right? And didn't the aliens look like big comical grubs?
Wait a minute, hold the phone ... wasn't it called "The Explorers"?!

And thanks for acknowledging the abiding intellectual genius of one Eugene Connor ... a genyoowine, original, down-home, brain-in-a-sling, redneck!!
:laugh:

Palomar · 2003-03-12 10:06:34

I hope they find something promising when they revisit those signals. The last laugh might be on Cindy when we pick love notes from across the galaxy.

*And that'd be just fine with me, Phobos. <smile>

An event in radio telescopy from 1977...I remember this (12 years old at the time):

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti … 21205.html

--Cindy

Phobos · 2003-03-12 19:59:05

And I remember that movie you mentioned, Phobos. One of the kids propelled himself through a hill inside a bubble-like force field while trying to figure out how to fly the thing they'd built, right? And didn't the aliens look like big comical grubs?
Wait a minute, hold the phone ... wasn't it called "The Explorers"?!

Yeah that's it! Explorers, haven't seen that film in a very very long time, can barely remember the plot. I don't remember the part about flying through a hill but I do remember them flying inside of a bubble to take them to the alien mothership. I've gotta go to the video rental store and see if they have that movie. LOL, love the part about the grubs.

An event in radio telescopy from 1977...I remember this (12 years old at the time):

Do you run that SETI@Home program? On their website they show what that signal would look like in the screensaver. I used to watch the screensaver in anticipation of that momentous arc that would suddenly appear out of nowhere on my humble pc and usher in a new age of enlightenment for all humanity. I think though that our equipment is too limited at the moment to really pick up "alien chatter" that it isn't meant for the cosmic community. Our radio telescopes would barely be able to pick up Earth's typical transmissions from 50 light years out and not much further (I'm talking powerlevels, not just because we've only been broadcasting for less than a century.) I get a feeling that once we're able to significantly improve our transmitter/reciever technology we'll be able to catch a lot of signals we couldn't before hand. I don't think the problem is so much that the universe is quiet, it's just that our ears are in some serious need of hearing aids.

Palomar · 2003-03-13 09:07:17

Phobos to Shaun: Explorers, haven't seen that film in a very very long time, can barely remember the plot. I don't remember the part about flying through a hill but I do remember them flying inside of a bubble to take them to the alien mothership. I've gotta go to the video rental store and see if they have that movie. LOL, love the part about the grubs.

*Grubs, huh? I guess we won't have to worry about interspecies mating.

Me: An event in radio telescopy from 1977...I remember this (12 years old at the time)

Phobos: Do you run that SETI@Home program?

*No. Actually I haven't been following anything related to SETI for a while now, except for yesterday's post.

Phobos: Our radio telescopes would barely be able to pick up Earth's typical transmissions from 50 light years out and not much further (I'm talking powerlevels, not just because we've only been broadcasting for less than a century.) I get a feeling that once we're able to significantly improve our transmitter/reciever technology we'll be able to catch a lot of signals we couldn't before hand. I don't think the problem is so much that the universe is quiet, it's just that our ears are in some serious need of hearing aids.

*Excellent points, I agree.

On a slightly different note: If I recall correctly, SETI was in danger of being axed for funding by the feds a few years ago (could be wrong on this point). Radio telescopy is in its infancy; it would be terrible to lose it.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-13 15:45:49

*"Incredible Shrinking Planet May Become Liquid Lava World:"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....a_world

*Same story, different (shorter) article:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin....918.DTL

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-13 15:48:47

*"Shadow Moons: The Unknown Subworlds that Might Harbor Life:"

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/s … 008-1.html

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-17 21:31:59

*The beauty of the interplay between destruction and creation was evident in a Discovery Channel television program I watched this evening, originally airing on the Science Channel (which my cable company unfortunately doesn't provide...I'll have to give them a little ring-a-ling on the telephone).

The program was titled "Supermassive Black Holes." If you haven't seen it, here's the run-down (to the best of my ability):

*Every galaxy yet examined for a black hole has been found to have one at its center; apparently every galaxy has one at its center.

*Black holes are proportionate in size to its "host" galaxy.

*Scientists sought to determine the "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" dilemma with regards to black holes and their "host" galaxies. Data to date leans in great favor to the certainty that black holes are formed first; that at the beginning of our universe gasses compressed to such a point, finally collapsing, that black holes formed from them. The gravity from the black holes begins to agitate the gases around them, superheating them (quasars). The black holes suck these gases in, the violence of the "feeding" and superheating of surrounding gases creating stars -- and hence galaxies. [::edit:: The documentary showed this process as a gentle explosion, like the upshoot of a geyser]. Jets of energy from a quasar can extend thousands of light-years into space; this energy pushes surrounding space away from the quasar/emerging galaxy.

*When the superheated gas is consumed from the quasar (which then is gone, of course), the black hole becomes dormant -- but not necessarily permanently dormant; an astronomer in Hawaii believes she has data showing that the black hole at the center of our galaxy has begun "feeding" again, albeit mildly -- gobbling up some stray, nearby gases and that it is nothing for us to be alarmed about; we are approximately 24,000 light years from the black hole.

*I've heard this item before: The Andromeda galaxy -- the galaxy nearest to us -- is moving toward us at 250,000 miles an hour. An astronomer has done extensive calculations: In roughly 3 billion years, Andromeda will collide with our galaxy; its black hole will merge with ours...and Earth and our companions in the Solar System will be toast from the intense radiation, stellar explosions, etc. According to his calculations, we're going out with a bang.

It was a spectacular program; I could watch and soak up stuff like this for hours. If you get a chance, do watch.

--Cindy

dicktice · 2003-03-18 08:47:53

Cindy: Can you think of a better reason for starting now, before it's too late, to escape from Earth? because it'll take that at least that much time to develop the inter-galactic drive.

Palomar · 2003-03-19 08:29:09

*Jupiter's "Great Dark Spot," near its north pole (talk about hellish weather); also discusses Jupiter's Northern Lights (cool!):

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003 … list775611

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-19 08:35:36

Cindy: Can you think of a better reason for starting now, before it's too late, to escape from Earth? because it'll take that at least that much time to develop the inter-galactic drive.

*If the current rate of space travel advancement is any indication, I think humans are doomed to get swallowed up in the Milky Way/Andromeda merger. Of course, I hope not.

Can the human race achieve intergalactic drive in 3 billion years? It's been over 30 years now since we've been to the moon (okay, okay...I'm probably being abit overly cynical).

Not a good track record.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-03-21 13:37:23

*"Mars Today". I visit this site probably once a week. I suppose others here are familiar with the site; I'm posting it for those who are not:

http://www-mgcm.arc.nasa.gov/

--Cindy

Echus_Chasma · 2003-03-21 15:25:55

Star dies in giant gamma ray bursts

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Re: New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

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