Re: Astronomy and Space
Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 7:18 am
Another day in the Universe
https://www.onthenatureofthings.net/forum/
https://www.onthenatureofthings.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=69
Doc wrote:Heracleum Persicum wrote:.
NYT : India Sends Orbiter to Mars, On a Shoestring
NEW DELHI — An Indian spacecraft affectionately nicknamed MOM reached Mars orbit on Wednesday, beating India’s Asian rivals to the Red Planet and outdoing the Americans, the Soviets and the Europeans in doing so on a maiden voyage and a shoestring budget.
An ebullient Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on hand at the Indian Space Research Organization’s command center in Bangalore for the early-morning event and hailed it “as a shining symbol of what we are capable of as a nation.”
“The odds were stacked against us,” Mr. Modi, wearing a red Nehru vest, said in a televised news conference. “When you are trying to do something that has not been attempted before, it is a leap into the unknown. And space is indeed the biggest unknown out there.”
Children across India were asked to come to school by 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, well before the usual starting time, to watch the historic event on state television.
The Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, was intended mostly to prove that India could succeed in such a highly technical endeavor — and to beat China. As Mr. Modi and others have noted, India’s trip to Mars, at a price of $74 million, cost less than the Hollywood movie “Gravity.” NASA’s almost simultaneous — and far more complex — mission to Mars cost $671 million.
$ 74 million cost India to go to Mars
Well, folks , that a sign of things coming .. America must become competitive with India .. no reason whatsoever an American
NASA engineer making $ 150K a yr when same engineer making $ 15K a yr in India .. 1:10 wage disparity correlates with $74:$671 cost of mars mission for India/USA
Sobering situation, Doc, Monster
Let's see what our in-house scientist says, CS you have the mike
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Why should this be a sobering situation for the US AZ ?
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Not so fast . . .Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun.
The researchers, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, discovered the planet's existence through mathematical modeling and computer simulations but have not yet observed the object directly.
"This would be a real ninth planet," says Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy. "There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third. It's a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that's still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting."
http://hyperallergic.com/242079/11000-p ... on-flickr/When the Apollo astronauts traveled beyond the atmosphere and to the moon in the 1960s and ’70s, they carried Hasselblad cameras to document the NASA missions. The Project Apollo Archive launched last month and has released over 11,000 of these photographs into the public domain via Flickr, including almost every Apollo lunar mission film shot in its unprocessed form.
Interesting. I have always been taught that the universe is infinite. 10 times bigger than infinite is a tough concept for me to grasp.
That is a somewhat poorly written misleading headline. The galaxy count was increased by about 10 in the observable universe, i.e., the universe with the time-like part of our light cone [SR].Simple Minded wrote:Interesting. I have always been taught that the universe is infinite. 10 times bigger than infinite is a tough concept for me to grasp.
Sounds like the ontological argument.
Similar to climate "scientist" pecker measuring, he who discovers the biggest universe must be the best astronomer..... and should get the most funding. right?
The observable Universe contains about two trillion galaxies — more than ten times as many as previously estimated, according to the first significant revision of the count in two decades
That was also my interpretation, my wiseass response aside. The hyper-specialized areas of study always remind me of religion. So few bother to access original data, or have access to original data, that most look to them as the high priests or the keepers of the truth/latest knowledge.Typhoon wrote:
That is a somewhat poorly written misleading headline. The galaxy count was increased by about 10 in the observable universe, i.e., the universe with the time-like part of our light cone [SR].
Nature |Universe has ten times more galaxies than researchers thought
The observable Universe contains about two trillion galaxies — more than ten times as many as previously estimated, according to the first significant revision of the count in two decades
There is a movement in science towards more open access to data.Simple Minded wrote:That was also my interpretation, my wiseass response aside. The hyper-specialized areas of study always remind me of religion. So few bother to access original data, or have access to original data, that most look to them as the high priests or the keepers of the truth/latest knowledge.Typhoon wrote:
That is a somewhat poorly written misleading headline. The galaxy count was increased by about 10 in the observable universe, i.e., the universe with the time-like part of our light cone [SR].
Nature |Universe has ten times more galaxies than researchers thought
The observable Universe contains about two trillion galaxies — more than ten times as many as previously estimated, according to the first significant revision of the count in two decades
I would speculate that it depends on where. There are a number of ongoing searches, with discoveries, for planets, with most interest in planets that would support life as we understand it. Also ongoing searches for signals from spaces that would suggest the existence of other intelligent life.Simple Minded wrote:While working with some NRAO scientists I found it interesting that they would discuss anything except the possibility of ET life. Electro magnetic radiation, X-rays, gamma rays, radio waves, Doppler Shifts, etc. they could speak for hours. Possibility of ET's, they got quiet.
Any speculation about ET's would cast doubt on the seriousness of their science.
Typhoon wrote:In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.
Siegel | Star Trek's Warp Drive Might Become A Reality
Given that the sun will eventually become a red giant and incinerate the earth,
this is a long term project worth working on.
For the curious:
arXiv | The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity