When I did tours at the observatory, I liked to give people a timeline on our Sun. It was always so weird to see people react in horror when I told them that it would eventually engulf the Earth in 5 billion years.GaimeGuy said:
Which is why we need to look at space exploration: it's guaranteed that the earth will be engulfed by the sun in ~5 billion years, and will be incapable of supporting life in a fraction of that time.fallout said:When I did tours at the observatory, I liked to give people a timeline on our Sun. It was always so weird to see people react in horror when I told them that it would eventually engulf the Earth in 5 billion years.
DrForester said:New Cassini photo of Saturn's Enceladus
Full size.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ciclops_ir_...516977&Signature=ZV+lna/qwUtaJ6ftCJTWUCAv06s=
kkaabboomm said:this may not be OF space, but it deals with how America currently gets to and from space
http://gizmodo.com/5112331/stunning-zenithal-shot-of-space-shuttle-flying-on-top-of-747
DrForester said:New Cassini photo of Saturn's Enceladus
Full size.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ciclops_ir_...516977&Signature=ZV+lna/qwUtaJ6ftCJTWUCAv06s=
glistenm said:Error on the full size pic. =*(
GaimeGuy said:
DrForester said:New Cassini photo of Saturn's Enceladus
Full size.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ciclops_ir_...516977&Signature=ZV+lna/qwUtaJ6ftCJTWUCAv06s=
DarkJediKnight said:I don't want to age. I really don't. Oh! What I'd do to live 300 years from now.
Amir0x said:I would do terrible, horrible things to live 300 years. I would sell a slice of my "soul", whatever that is, to be able to live even an extra 100 years!
Hootie said:Gives you some perspective on how insignificant we are. Just think, that's a fraction of a fraction of the entire galaxy, and there are billions more galaxies.
comedy bomb said:I wouldn't say we are insignificant. We still don't know if life is the exception or the rule. I'd say a planet full of billions of different plants and animals has to have some universal worth.
This sequence of 12 frames was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft over a span of about 45 minutes on March 12, 2008. In that brief time, Cassini covered almost 40,000 kilometers in its approach to a flyby encounter with Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn. The overexposure and smearing of the images gives a hint of the raw speed involved - 14.4 km/sec (or 32,211 mph). Shortly after this sequence, at its closest, Cassini approached within 52 km (32.3 miles) of the surface of Enceladus.
GaimeGuy said:
25 February 2007
This stunning view, showing portions of the Rosetta spacecraft with Mars in the background, was taken by the Rosetta Lander Imaging System (CIVA) on board Rosetta’s Philae lander just four minutes before the spacecraft reached closest approach to the Red Planet earlier this morning.
It's funny how important perspective is when looking at space images. One of my favourite views of Saturn is under low magnification. You can see this well-defined gas giant, with its superb rings, surrounded by a field of stars.Verdre said:Don't know if it has been posted, but this is one of my favorite space images. Like you're in a spaceship coming into orbit around Mars.
Clouds of glowing hydrogen gas fill this colorful skyscape in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. The wide mosaic spans about 3/4 degree or nearly 1.5 full moons, covering 40 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the the Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted pelt lies at the upper left, bright variable star S Mon immersed in the blue-tinted haze just below the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula at the far right. Of course, the stars of NGC 2264 are also known as the Christmas Tree star cluster. The triangular tree shape traced by the stars appears sideways here, with its apex at the Cone Nebula and its broader base centered near S Mon.
DarkJediKnight said:They even have a formula for the ultimate speed limit, which allows one to cross from one end of the known universe to the other in roughly 11 seconds.
DarkJediKnight said:This is the most comprehensive paper on WARP DRIVES
Published about a year ago and basically outlines the possibility of it working by moving away from general theories of relativity instead by means of Quantum field theory. Interesting read.
They even have a formula for the ultimate speed limit, which allows one to cross from one end of the known universe to the other in roughly 11 seconds. (This is even harder to swallow than the Warp Drive itself).
*boggles immensely*DarkJediKnight said:This is the most comprehensive paper on WARP DRIVES
Published about a year ago and basically outlines the possibility of it working by moving away from general theories of relativity instead by means of Quantum field theory. Interesting read.
They even have a formula for the ultimate speed limit, which allows one to cross from one end of the known universe to the other in roughly 11 seconds. (This is even harder to swallow than the Warp Drive itself).
DarkJediKnight said:This is the most comprehensive paper on WARP DRIVES
Published about a year ago and basically outlines the possibility of it working by moving away from general theories of relativity instead by means of Quantum field theory. Interesting read.
They even have a formula for the ultimate speed limit, which allows one to cross from one end of the known universe to the other in roughly 11 seconds. (This is even harder to swallow than the Warp Drive itself).
Teknoman said:Katamari Reality or Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencea...ntists-plan-to-ignite-tiny-man-made-star.html
It is sciences star experiment: an attempt to create an artificial sun on earth and provide an answer to the worlds impending energy shortage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01212/Ign4_1212414c.jpg[img]
[img]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01212/Ign1_1212408c.jpg[img]
[img]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01212/Ign2_1212409c.jpg[img]
Read the article to understand the pictures.[/QUOTE]
Virtually limitless amounts of energy? Yes plox.
Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory, flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric spiral arms. But small, irregular galaxies form stars too. In fact, as pictured here, dwarf galaxy NGC 1569 is apparently undergoing a burst of star forming activity, thought to have begun over 25 million years ago. The resulting turbulent environment is fed by supernova explosions as the cosmic detonations spew out material and trigger further star formation. Two massive star clusters - youthful counterparts to globular star clusters in our own spiral Milky Way galaxy - are seen left of center in the gorgeous Hubble Space Telescope image. The above picture spans about 8,000 light-years across NGC 1569. A mere 11 million light-years distant, this relatively close starburst galaxy offers astronomers an excellent opportunity to study stellar populations in rapidly evolving galaxies. NGC 1569 lies in the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis.
AndersTheSwede said:
Teknoman said:Katamari Reality or Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencea...ntists-plan-to-ignite-tiny-man-made-star.html
It is science’s star experiment: an attempt to create an artificial sun on earth — and provide an answer to the world’s impending energy shortage.
Read the article to understand the pictures.
There's no place like home. Peering out of the window of the International Space Station (ISS), astronaut Greg Chamitoff takes in the planet on which we were all born. About 350 kilometers up, the ISS is high enough so that the Earth's horizon appears clearly curved. Astronaut Chamitoff's window shows some of Earth's complex clouds, in white, and life giving atmosphere and oceans, in blue. The space station orbits the Earth about once every 90 minutes. It is not difficult for people living below to look back toward the ISS. The ISS can frequently be seen as a bright point of light drifting overhead just after sunset. Telescopes can even resolve the overall structure of the space station. The above image was taken early last month from the ISS's Kibo laboratory.
For most astronomers, that's a pretty tame distance.DarkJediKnight said:Mere 11 million light years away. :lol
Teknoman said:Katamari Reality or Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencea...ntists-plan-to-ignite-tiny-man-made-star.html
It is sciences star experiment: an attempt to create an artificial sun on earth and provide an answer to the worlds impending energy shortage.
TheOMan said:I cannot WAIT until this takes place. Wow!
Hopefully...you know...nothing goes wrong...
If we get fusion down, perhaps a warp drive won't be too far behind...hmmmmmm.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/phx-20090102.htmlSummer turned to autumn for the Phoenix Mars Lander on December 26, 2008. This image, taken on December 21 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the lander during the last waning days of northern hemisphere summer. The image was acquired at 3:31 pm Local Mars Time when the sun was 14-degrees above the horizon. The image is false color, but appears bluish due to atmospheric haze. Frost is not yet apparent here during the middle afternoon. This is the first image targeted to the lander since it ceased activity, and is one of a series of images designed to monitor the Phoenix landing site for changes over time due to atmospheric haze, deposition or removal of dust, or formation of frost as winter approaches.
Hootie said:I'm looking into majoring in astrophysics...I know my head will implode multiple times due to the simple fact that it's astrophysics, but if I somehow make it out of college with a degree, what kind of job(s) can I expect to find/look for?
Other choices are molecular/atomic physics, planetary science, and theoretical physics (suicide.gif)
And if I really can't do any of those, my only other interest is aerospace engineering which surely can't be any easier :lol ....=(
DarkJediKnight said:I don't want to age. I really don't. Oh! What I'd do to live 300 years from now.
Buba Big Guns said:Also, there some real cool ones now like nanotech and mechatronics.