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Space: The Final Frontier

E

EGM92

Member
Quick question for all you space fanatics/physicists. I'm looking at some of the largest objects in our galaxy, mainly giant stars. Would it be at all possible get an object the size of the star VY Canis Majoris and it not be a giant ball of molting... whatever it's made of?
 
I

ImNotLikeThem

Member
EGM92 said:
Quick question for all you space fanatics/physicists. I'm looking at some of the largest objects in our galaxy, mainly giant stars. Would it be at all possible get an object the size of the star VY Canis Majoris and it not be a giant ball of molting... whatever it's made of?
Click to expand...
Well for one, its "molten", and two no. It's not even molten, it's more like plasma with a dense solid core.

If I get what you're asking, you want to know if something can be that size and be like, a planet or something solid and able to be landed on? The reason why is that anything that gets to a certain mass generally is no longer able to overcome its own gravity and the immense pressure heats up the core to the point where it melts and vaporizes the molecules into the "star" form. I'm sure someone can explain this a lot more thoroughly though.

A planet can't generally be a whole lot bigger than Jupiter or it will start fusion in the core and become a star.
 
T

Twig

Banned
I thought the intense pressure KEPT things from melting.

e.g., Earth's core.

Or is there a point where it wraps back around?
 
R

Reno7728

Member
Well as an object gets so massive, the pressure cause the particles inside to vibrate so fast and heat up so much, that the particles fuse together, causing the radiation force to keep the star stable and keep it so massive. However this only happens if the object originally came from a 'collapsing' hydrogen nebula.

So jupiter is essentially a 'cold star' (a touch below a brown dwarf), and i don't think a 'solid' (as in earth or mars) could get so huge or it might collapse on itself.
 
C

CabbageRed

Member
EGM92 said:
Quick question for all you space fanatics/physicists. I'm looking at some of the largest objects in our galaxy, mainly giant stars. Would it be at all possible get an object the size of the star VY Canis Majoris and it not be a giant ball of molting... whatever it's made of?
Click to expand...

(Not-a-physicist answer) I don't see how. For it to retain that size, there would have to be an enormous mass supporting it, and its own gravity would result in fusion or a black hole (depending on its composition).
 
E

Extollere

Sucks at poetry
CabbageRed said:
(Not-a-physicist answer) I don't see how. For it to retain that size, there would have to be an enormous mass supporting it, and its own gravity would result in fusion or a black hole (depending on its composition).
Click to expand...

Also I think it might be kind of hard for it to accrete to that size. Planets are made out of recycled star junk. I can't imagine a planet becoming bigger than a star, even if it were made out of debris of many different explosions.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
EGM92 said:
Quick question for all you space fanatics/physicists. I'm looking at some of the largest objects in our galaxy, mainly giant stars. Would it be at all possible get an object the size of the star VY Canis Majoris and it not be a giant ball of molting... whatever it's made of?
Click to expand...

Purely theoretical, and realistic variations would not be a single structure but it's probably the biggest (Realistic) idea ever conceived.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
 
C

ckohler

Member
201px-Logo_STS-129.jpg


Shuttle launch today! Less than an hour and a half to go.

STS-129 and space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to take off for the ISS at 2:29 PM EST.

Wikipedia said:
STS-129 will focus on staging spare components outside the station. The 11-day flight is scheduled to include at least three spacewalks. The payload bay will carry two large ExPRESS Logistics Carriers holding two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly, a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm, a spare trailing umbilical system for the Mobile Transporter, and a high-pressure gas tank. This will be the first flight of an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier. The completion of this mission will leave five space shuttle flights remaining until the end of the program.

NASA is holding its first-ever live Shuttle launch tweetup with 100 members of the general public at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Click to expand...

Launch preparations are now live on Nasa TV:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
 
Q

qcf x2

Member
Scrow said:
Martian landscapes
Click to expand...

Great pictures, Mars is too gangsta to not have sustained life at some point! And smh @ the comments on the link. Everyone is so obsessed over their quarrels that they can't realize their agreements.
 
O

Orgun

Member
I love shots like this.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1527.html
The Brightness of the Sun

The bright sun greets the International Space Station in this Nov. 22 image, taken from the Russian section of the orbital outpost and photographed by the STS-129 crew. The 11-day STS-129 mission installed a number of station upgrades and prepared the station for the installation of Node 3, which is slated for another mission.

Image Credit: NASA
Click to expand...

406566main_image_1527_800-600.jpg
 
R

Reno7728

Member
Every time i read this thread get slightly depressed at all these awesome things I will never experience we will probably never understand in my lifetime.

I just home by some freak occurrence i become extremely rich and can buy a ticket on a private flight
 
E

Extollere

Sucks at poetry
Look at all those stars!! I wish they could take pictures of planets, and of the Earth with the background stars in full clarity :( They should really take two pictures with different composures, and make a composite.
 
V

Veidt

Blasphemer who refuses to accept bagged milk as his personal savior
I want more of Carl Sagan saying those beautiful things.

Anyone know where I can find them? Is there an audiobook of him reading a book?
Anything!
 
E

Extollere

Sucks at poetry
Jibril said:
I want more of Carl Sagan saying those beautiful things.

Anyone know where I can find them? Is there an audiobook of him reading a book?
Anything!
Click to expand...

Yes there is an audiobook version of Pale Blue Dot out there somewhere, you might be able to find it online for purchase somewhere. If you haven't heard the Pale Blue Dot segment it's worth hearing. It almost brings a tear to my eye :< (Beaker sad face)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g
 
F

FirewalkR

Member
Not sure if this was posted elsewhere, perhaps another thread, but because it is SO AWESOME it deserves to be posted a lot so here goes:

STS-129 Space Shuttle Ascent Highlights. The site is a bit slow, but it seems they replaced the streaming version with a smaller file, probably been getting a few too many hits lol. There's a link to download the original 300+MB file.

Youtube version, slightly trimmed to fit the 10 min limit. The uploader (who works at NASA) is trying to get them to upload the complete version through official channels, I believe.

My favorite parts are the SRB separation from the point of the view of the SRB cams (pointing upward), which show the shuttle going away in powered flight after separation, looking like a scene from a movie lol, and the launch views rotated by 90 degrees, that give a really cool sense of acceleration.

As for the SRB point of view mentioned, you can watch the one from the left SRB which is not shown in the above video, right here. Watch from 2m10s forward, separation is a few seconds later. The video accompanies the left SRB all the way down to the water. The separation from this point of view is now my favorite shuttle launch view. Amazing. :D
 
M

McNei1y

Member
I love this thread. I never get the chance to see a great, clear night. This thread delivers awesome pictures and such for that.

Tonight, though, I just went outside when all the lights were dim and just looked up for about 20 minutes. The sky was really clear. Nothing great but I could definitely see a large amount of stars and it was the first time in awhile I've done that since my neighborhood has a lot of light pollution. Its just amazing seeing all of those 'stars' and knowing they have their own 'system' and what not. I wish I was knowledgeable in where I could locate our planets and what constellation belongs to what star and stuff.

Shits crazy
 
T

ToxicAdam

Member
Debris from a Russian Cosmos satellite is headed toward the International Space Station, posing a potential threat to the manned platform, NASA said Tuesday.

NASA said it has little data on the object, but has determined that it's closest time of approach to the ISS would be 1:19 pm EST. The space agency only detected the debris earlier in the day, leaving no time for the ISS crew to perform what's known as a Debris Avoidance Maneuver.

Path Intelligence installs sensors in high traffic areas. Those sensors detect cell phones and can use that data to examine traffic patterns and behavior, which can be viewed & analyzed in real time."Due to the late notification, a Debris Avoidance Maneuver is not possible," NASA said in a statement. The agency provided no further details about the situation.
Click to expand...

...
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Awesome pictures of the shuttle and Mars.

I watched this lecture yesterday: Lecture 21 - Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe and the Big Rip

http://oyc.yale.edu/astronomy/front...-astrophysics/content/sessions/lecture21.html

Class begins with a review of the mysterious nature of dark matter, which accounts for three quarters of the universe. Different models of the universe are graphed. The nature, frequency, and duration of supernovae are then addressed. Professor Bailyn presents data from the Supernova Cosmology Project and pictures of supernovae taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The discovery of dark energy is revisited and the density of dark energy is calculated. The Big Rip is presented as an alternative hypothesis for the fate of the universe.
Click to expand...
 
C

CurlySaysX

Banned
Hey Ya'll
Quick stupid question if anyone cares to answer.

If I were to go into space and bottled the 'air' with a filter, what would that air be made of?
For example, if i were to do the same on planet earth the contents of that bottle would contain nitrogen, oxygen, co2, helium etc...
 
D

demosthenes

Member
CurlySaysX said:
Hey Ya'll
Quick stupid question if anyone cares to answer.

If I were to go into space and bottled the 'air' with a filter, what would that air be made of?
For example, if i were to do the same on planet earth the contents of that bottle would contain nitrogen, oxygen, co2, helium etc...
Click to expand...

Pretty sure if you did it long enough it would be trace amounts of hydrogen and helium. If you did it long enough you would probably get random other elements. While the universe is a vacuum to us, it is not completely empty.

Throwing in something new: 1 in 1000 supernova are a hypernova
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblo...violent-object-in-the-universe-confirmed.html
 
K

kkaabboomm

Member
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34279630/ns/technology_and_science-space/

While NASA frets over a looming hiatus in its ability to launch people into space, a commercial company is poised to unveil the first spaceship for private passenger travel.

The formal presentation of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is scheduled for Monday afternoon in California's Mojave Desert, the home base of legendary designer Burt Rutan and his team at Scaled Composites.

"Suborbital flights is the area where commercial human spaceflight will start," said Bretton Alexander, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation trade association.

Customers buying tickets to ride on SpaceShipTwo will be hauled up in the spaceship on a carrier craft and released. At that point the spaceship's rocket engines will ignite to propel the crew 65 miles high, from which vantage point, passengers will be able to see the curvature of the Earth against the backdrop of space.

The microgravity environment will last for about six minutes, during which time passengers will be able to unbuckle their seat belts and float around the cabin. The entire flight, from takeoff to landing, is expected to last about 2.5 hours. The price? A cool $200,000.

Modeled after 2004 spaceship
The ship is modeled after a Rutan-built prototype named SpaceShipOne, which made three flights into suborbital space in 2004 to clinch a $10 million prize for the first — and so far only — private piloted spaceflights. Virgin chief Richard Branson hired Rutan upon the successful conclusion of the Ansari X Prize competition to build a fleet of spaceships to take paying passengers beyond Earth's atmosphere.

The debut of the private spaceship comes as NASA prepares to retire its three space shuttles. The agency has been working on a replacement capsule-style spaceship that can travel to the moon and other destinations in the solar system, in addition to reaching the International Space Station, which orbits 220 miles above Earth.

The new Orion capsules, however, are not expected to become operational until 2015 at the earliest. An advisory team appointed by President Obama to review the program came up with alternatives for the United States' human space program, including turning over astronaut transport to the space station to private industry.

It's a big leap from suborbital to orbital space, but that has not been a deterrent for several firms, including Space Exploration Technologies, backed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, and Blue Origins, a project of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. NASA is expected to announce as early as next week the winner or winners of a $50 million commercial human spaceflight study grant.

So far, 300 takers
Virgin has no immediate plans to move into orbital travel. The company says about 300 people have put down deposits totaling $40 million for rides on SpaceShipTwo.

Test flights of the new ship are scheduled to being next year. Passenger travel will follow in 2011 or 2012.

Paramont to the success of the venture is safety.

"We in the industry bear the burden of being as safe as we can reasonably achieve so that the industry is not unfairly tagged with a reputation of recklessness," said Jeff Greason, co-founder and chief executive of XCOR Aerospace, which is developing a suborbital spaceship called Lynx.

"The important thing is by the time these craft enter into service, they have worked out as many possible issues during design and flight testing so that they can fly with a reasonable level of safety," Greason said.
Click to expand...

spaceshiptwo's unveiling is monday. i'm pumped.
 
A

Askani

Member
I didn't think this really justified it's own thread, so I'm putting it in here.

Season 1 of "When We Left Earth" is free on Amazon.com right now (US people only). This is the Video on Demand version.

1) Click the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Q4HZBG/?tag=neogaf0e-20
2) Click the "Buy Season 1 with 1 Click $11.94" button.
3) Enter Promo code "BLASTOFF"
4) Price is $11.94 with $11.94 credit.

It's then added to your Amazon Video Library.

::::: EDIT ::::: :::::

Forgot to mention, the code is good through 12/31.
 
L

Lucky Forward

Member
t1larg.jpg


Victoria Principal to go into space
Former "Dallas" star Victoria Principal has signed up to take a ride in the world's first commercial passenger spacecraft, the VSS Enterprise, which was unveiled Monday in the Mojave Desert by space pioneers Sir Richard Branson and Burt Rutan.

"Going into space fulfills many desires I have of seeing the planet, going fast, going someplace very few people have been -- and hopefully coming back down!" Principal told PEOPLE.

The actress, who is also a skin-care magnate and an amateur race car driver, says space travel has always been her fantasy. She wrote a TV movie script 30 years ago about the first female astronaut, before there even was such a thing, and two of her favorite movies are "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Right Stuff."

At $200,000 per ticket, the Enterprise is the world's most expensive day trip. The two-pilot, six-passenger craft will be carried to the edge of space by a carrier plane, much like the space shuttle. Passengers will see the curvature of the planet and experience weightlessness.

Virgin Galactic, a company within Branson's Virgin Group, hopes to begin testing the craft early next year, with the first flights to begin in 2011.

Principal, 59, says she's frustrated that the first passengers will be chosen randomly, since she was the third person to buy a ticket -- and the first woman to sign up.

"I'm a passenger in something that is pioneering," Principal said. "This will become to our great-grandchildren what Wilbur and Orville Wright were to you and me."
Click to expand...
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
iapetus_hemispheres.jpg


Why is Saturn’s moon Iapetus so freaking weird?

Well, everything about Saturn and its moons is weird. But the 1500 km (900 mile) wide moon Iapetus may win the prize for the most bizarro. It has a weird equator-ringing ridge that may have formed when the moon solidified and shrank. It’s walnut shaped! It’s got several whopping huge impact basins on it.

But the really odd thing is that the two hemispheres of the moon are so wildly different in color:
Click to expand...

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/

More at link with more scientific talk about the color variations.
 
P

Peronthious

Member
Askani said:
I didn't think this really justified it's own thread, so I'm putting it in here.

Season 1 of "When We Left Earth" is free on Amazon.com right now (US people only). This is the Video on Demand version.

1) Click the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Q4HZBG/?tag=neogaf0e-20
2) Click the "Buy Season 1 with 1 Click $11.94" button.
3) Enter Promo code "BLASTOFF"
4) Price is $11.94 with $11.94 credit.

It's then added to your Amazon Video Library.

::::: EDIT ::::: :::::

Forgot to mention, the code is good through 12/31.
Click to expand...

Make sure you add the gift code before you click the 'Buy Season with 1 Click' button, otherwise it won't be applied and you're out $11.94.
 
D

duderon

rollin' in the gutter
qpj911.jpg


The back looks much more inspiring than the front. It's hard to believe that the general public may be traveling in (sub-orbital) space in a short amount of time. Incredible stuff.
 
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