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[microtubule]

Newly Discovered Earth-like Planet Could be Habitable

I was excited about the curiosity rover sending back pictures but this would be like Mars to the power of 1000.

Don't know if you guys watched "Pandorum" but it was worth watching just for the ending alone.

 

[Chittagong]

Humanity needs to hit the gym if we are to move to a planet with seven times the mass of Earth

 

[Extollere]

Thought this was really cool, and I didn't see it posted. Considered making a thread for it (be my guest if you like), but I figured I'd just post it here instead.

http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

Very nice little interactive that visualizes 100,000 of our nearest stars, and their scale in the galaxy. After the intro hit the tour button at the top left corner.

 

[hylje]

Thought this was really cool, and I didn't see it posted. Considered making a thread for it (be my guest if you like), but I figured I'd just post it here instead.

http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

Very nice little interactive that visualizes 100,000 of our nearest stars, and their scale in the galaxy. After the intro hit the tour button at the top left corner.

One of the best things I've seen in the net. Make thread, it's worthy.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

One of the best things I've seen in the net. Make thread, it's worthy.

It is pretty great.

 

[Dice]

Fuck, now even earth is coming out in HD.

Humanity needs to hit the gym if we are to move to a planet with seven times the mass of Earth

We'll be cyborgs by time we ever get out that far en masse.

 

[microtubule]

Bad Astronomy has a new blog on Slate.com

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy.html

Is This the Most Distant Object Ever Seen?

The object in question—called MACS0647-JD—is the red blob in the inset. If the calculations hold out, that gloppy looking thing may be at the mind-crushing distance of almost 13.3 billion light years. The light we see from it started on its way when the universe itself was only 420 million years old.

 

[jerry113]

Does that thing even exist anymore, 13.3 billion years later....

 

[microtubule]

Maybe something else took its place after all of this time or maybe it's wandering...heh

A Wandering “Homeless” Planet is Spotted in Deep Space

 

[teruterubozu]

Sun Unleashes Monster Prominence

Double Trouble - The Sun erupted with two prominence eruptions, one after the other over a four-hour period on Nov. 16, 2012, between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m. EST. The red-glowing looped material is plasma, a hot gas made of electrically charged hydrogen and helium. The prominence plasma flows along a tangled and twisted structure of magnetic fields generated by the sun’s internal dynamo. An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma.

The action was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. The expanding particle clouds heading into space do not appear to be Earth-directed.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News111612-dblprom.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz0ed9-VDvQ

We're all going to fry.

 

[AAequal]

$12.8 billion budget approved for European Space Agency
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49920862/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.ULCZemetbAk

I'm glad they got close for what they hoped even with all the economics problems in europe. Hopefully HEP people will get the same treatment.

 

[Prez]

Maybe something else took its place after all of this time or maybe it's wandering...heh

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/sci...ing-homeless-planet-is-spotted-in-deep-space/

Maybe it's a death star instead of a planet.

 

[FACE]

$12.8 billion budget approved for European Space Agency
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49920862/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.ULCZemetbAk

I'm glad they got closed for what they hoped even with all the economics problems in europe. Hopefully HEP people will get the same treatment.

Nice

 

[Partial Gamification]

NASA Technology Days, a three-day public technology showcase, will take place at the Cleveland Public Auditorium and Conference Center Nov. 28-30. The space technology showcase will bring together stakeholders from industry, academia and the U.S. government to engage in strategy development, partnership building and methods of fostering technology transfer and innovation.

NASA Tech Days attendees will get a comprehensive overview of the agency's technology programs for space science, exploration and aeronautics, and discover innovative and advanced technologies that are stimulating the economy and sustaining our nation's global competitiveness. NASA's Tech Days are free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, visit:

USTREAM videos archived, Day 1

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

^Thanks for sharing.

 

[Goodacre0081]

“Oddball” Galaxy Contains the Biggest Black Hole Yet

Located 220 million light-years away in the constellation Perseus, NGC 1277 is a lenticular galaxy only a tenth the size of the Milky Way. But somehow it contains the most massive black hole ever discovered, comprising a staggering 14% of the galaxy’s entire mass.

 

[dalin80]

While not strictly about space travel just yet this could be an important step-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20510112

First part of the skylon reaction engine test (SABRE), the engine in principal would allow a large aircraft to take off as normal from a standard run way, fly up to an altitude where the limit of a air breathing engine is reached and then switch to a hybrid rocket from the same unit.

A lot of the press (which in fairness hasn't been much) has been more focusing on the fast travel times but space travel is an important part of the project.

We could have already been long past this stage now if it wasn't for a long and glorious list of screw-ups by the UK gov sabotaging every high tech effort,

invent jet engine- Dont trust it, carry on using propellers instead.
design sound breaking jet- Sell tech and designs to the US for Bell to use for a pack of pringles.
invent scramjet- get scared by long scary words and top secret act the lot of it.
Find out about HOTOL project- top secret act so much of it it cant get private funding, act surprised by the lack of private funding. cancel the whole project.
Find out about Skylon project- Generally just get in the way.


ESA are taking quite an interest now and it looks like for once the UK gov isn't trying to shoot what's left of its aviation and science 'industry' in the throat so maybe we may finally have a project that will actually get somewhere. Time will tell, mass space flights by 2050?

 

[Log4Girlz]

“Oddball” Galaxy Contains the Biggest Black Hole Yet

Goddamn

 

[Insane Metal]

Damn, that black hole is huge. Insane stuff

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

“Oddball” Galaxy Contains the Biggest Black Hole Yet

Reality defies imagination.

 

[FACE]

 

[RankoSD]

Cassini is still snapping pictures, Saturn’s north pole vortex from 2 days ago:









Click for higher res.

For the size comparison, you can put two Earths in that hexagon.

 

[Maklershed]

I always pictured the event horizon as a layer in space about a foot wide for some reason but based on that picture it looks like it could be at least as wide as the orbit of Earth. Insane.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

Cassini is still snapping pictures, Saturn’s north pole vortex from 2 days ago:









Click for higher res.

For the size comparison, you can put two Earths in that hexagon.

Gorgeous. I've always marveled at the geometry displayed here. Would love to see this with my own eyes...

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

While not strictly about space travel just yet this could be an important step-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20510112

First part of the skylon reaction engine test (SABRE), the engine in principal would allow a large aircraft to take off as normal from a standard run way, fly up to an altitude where the limit of a air breathing engine is reached and then switch to a hybrid rocket from the same unit.

A lot of the press (which in fairness hasn't been much) has been more focusing on the fast travel times but space travel is an important part of the project.

We could have already been long past this stage now if it wasn't for a long and glorious list of screw-ups by the UK gov sabotaging every high tech effort,

invent jet engine- Dont trust it, carry on using propellers instead.
design sound breaking jet- Sell tech and designs to the US for Bell to use for a pack of pringles.
invent scramjet- get scared by long scary words and top secret act the lot of it.
Find out about HOTOL project- top secret act so much of it it cant get private funding, act surprised by the lack of private funding. cancel the whole project.
Find out about Skylon project- Generally just get in the way.


ESA are taking quite an interest now and it looks like for once the UK gov isn't trying to shoot what's left of its aviation and science 'industry' in the throat so maybe we may finally have a project that will actually get somewhere. Time will tell, mass space flights by 2050?

BBC 4 Documentary "Three Rocketteers" - All about SKYLON and it's long development. It was on a few weeks ago, very interesting.

 

[lilbaby Jesus]

Well guess I know where I want to go ice-skating. Water Ice discovered on Mercury!
www.space.com/18687-water-ice-mercury-messager-discovery.html

 

[BruiserBear]

Black Holes are the most fascinating things in the universe to me. I would love to know exactly how they work.

 

[fanboi]

"possible organic materials"

Life?

 

[Gr1mLock]

Well I've gotten my weekly dose of 'fuck the universe is huge and weird'.

 

[lilbaby Jesus]

Yea that freaking black hole has been warping my mind all day.

 

[Joates]

I always pictured the event horizon as a layer in space about a foot wide for some reason but based on that picture it looks like it could be at least as wide as the orbit of Earth. Insane.

The event horizon is just the spot where there's no coming back. It doesn't have any thickness to my knowledge.

 

[Tawpgun]

"possible organic materials"

Life?

Organic materials just means carbon compounds outside of CO2. Or something.

 

[Gorgon]

"possible organic materials"

Life?

No. Organics can be formed abiotically.

 

[derFeef]

Cassini is still snapping pictures, Saturn’s north pole vortex from 2 days ago:






Click for higher res.

For the size comparison, you can put two Earths in that hexagon.

Don't look at that picture for too long oO

 

[Maklershed]

The event horizon is just the spot where there's no coming back. It doesn't have any thickness to my knowledge.

I thought the event horizon of a blackhole was thought to be a 'skin'. Or am I thinking of something else?

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

I thought the event horizon of a blackhole was thought to be a 'skin'. Or am I thinking of something else?

It's just an invisible border/circumference around the black hole in which gravity becomes too strong for anything to escape. It’s not an actual, tangible ‘thing.’ Basically it's just the limit of approximation something can approach a blackhole and still be able to not get sucked in.

 

[Maklershed]

Well whatdya know. I wonder where I got the skin concept from.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

Well whatdya know. I wonder where I got the skin concept from.

I've no idea. I'm actually confused by your concept lol.

 

[Escape Goat]

What happens when you shove a star into a black hole half its size? Does it grow? How does it grow if so?

 

[TheOMan]

What happens when you shove a star into a black hole half its size? Does it grow? How does it grow if so?

The black hole will grow in mass...typically by the mass of the star it consumed if I remember correctly.

 

[Escape Goat]

The black hole will grow in mass...typically by the mass of the star it consumed if I remember correctly.

but what exactly is growing?

 

[lilbaby Jesus]

but what exactly is growing?

The actual size of space that is the black hole. Lol

 

[Tk0n]

but what exactly is growing?

A black hole isnt a "hole". Its a supermassive object, so heavy that it bends space around itself. When swallowing a star, it just gets bigger and heavier.

 

[Takuya]

but what exactly is growing?

It's not actually a hole... Just think of a black hole as a super-humongous-giant star that doesn't emit any visible light (since light cannot escape its gravity). So like any object you add mass onto, it gets more massive, and grows.

 

[pestul]

Don't look at that picture for too long oO

Shit you're right. It's MOVING.

 

[Escape Goat]

A black hole isnt a "hole". Its a supermassive object, so heavy that it bends space around itself. When swallowing a star, it just gets bigger and heavier.

I'm having a hard time picturing what the physical nature of the black hole is. I have no frame of reference for such an object.

 

[Canis lupus]

Is it possible to go faster than the speed of light?

 

[FACE]

Is it possible to go faster than the speed of light?

Based on our current understanding of physics: No.

 

[Outlaw]

I'm having a hard time picturing what the physical nature of the black hole is. I have no frame of reference for such an object.

Something like this:

 

[Insane Metal]

Haha, that's even more fucked up. Many people have the understanding of what space time is, but can't actually explain it. Like me.

Edit

I remember that on Stephen Hawking's the Universe (episode 2 I think) there's a moment where he says that close to a big black hole, space time is so distorted that you can actually 'travel' around it for 1 year, for example, but outside that zone, time might have gone by 100x faster. So you'll be 1 year older, but everything outside will be 100 years older.