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[Amir0x]

Fuck that supernova is cool

 

[cjdunn]

Astronomers discover planet made of diamond

(Reuters) - Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.

The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.

 

[Teknoman]

Wow...that would be a sight to see. I mean, probably not as clear as a refined diamond, but still.

 

[Treo360]

A new supernova has been detected. Check it out.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...ernova-update/

Just got an 5 inch Tele and Irene is coming to fuck things up. :/

 

[Melchiah]

A new supernova has been detected. Check it out.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...ernova-update/

The link doesn't work.

 

[Naked Snake]

Looking at URANUS!

 

[Melchiah]

Looking at URANUS!

Uranus my ass.

 

[Escape Goat]

Looking at URANUS!

no urs

 

[Teknoman]

This might be of interest:

Space Engine OT

"a free space simulation software that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, starting from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies. Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data, while regions uncharted by human astronomy are generated procedurally. Millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, countless planets!"

Examples from screenshots i've taken via fraps:

Had no idea Jupiter had a faint set of rings.

Also search for Mass Effect - Uncharted Worlds. Listening to that while looking through the universe makes it that much better. Mouse scroll wheel controls the speed at which you travel manually. Orbits,atmospheric clouds, and rings are animated (you have to get pretty close though).

 

[Blue Ninja]

Also search for Mass Effect - Uncharted Worlds. Listening to that while looking through the universe makes it that much better. Mouse scroll wheel controls the speed at which you travel manually. Orbits,atmospheric clouds, and rings are animated (you have to get pretty close though).

Another good one is New Worlds from the ME2 soundtrack.

I'm going to check that program out. Looks too awesome.

 

[Teknoman]

Just make sure to set LOD to 1. Any more than that isnt really that noticeable apparently, and makes the program more prone to crashing. Oh and thanks for the track name on ME2, couldnt think of that version's name.

 

[xelios]

This might be of interest:

Space Engine OT

Also search for Mass Effect - Uncharted Worlds. Listening to that while looking through the universe makes it that much better.

It's a cool program even with the random generation. Eve Online tracks are my favorite for exploring space to.


Theme of the Universe
It's Full of Stars
Below the Asteroids
Borderlines

etc.

Some of them take a minute or two to develop, but the feeling of being alone in the vastness of space ultimately hits you at one point or another.

 

[Kaako]

New one:

The Sagan Series (part 7) - The Long Astronomical Perspective

I freaking love these.

 

[Hootie]

New one:

The Sagan Series (part 7) - The Long Astronomical Perspective

I freaking love these.

The first one is still by far my favorite, but yeah this is an awesome series of videos.

 

[Naked Snake]

New one:

The Sagan Series (part 7) - The Long Astronomical Perspective

I freaking love these.

Carl Sagan Tribute Series is produced much more often (up to Part 20 so far), and it's superlative:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?anno...ature=iv&user=callumCGLP#g/c/73E5E40315EA40FE

 

[Izayoi]

Woah at that footage of Uranus. Amazing what an amateur photographer can do these days.

Thanks a ton for the Space Engine link as well, holy shit.

 

[leroidys]

Can you guys recommend me any movies on youtube/netflix/hulu whatever on space/physics/nature of the universe? I'm looking to watch some recent stuff to get my mind blown'd. Preferably something in depth, not just "OMG STRNG THEERY IS CRAZAY" platitudes.

 

[Vinrau]

This is a really good lecture from 2009 "A Universe From Nothing".

 

[leroidys]

This is a really good lecture from 2009 "A Universe From Nothing".

Thank you

 

[Escape Goat]

Here is a pic from the probe Juno which is 6 million miles away. It spun around and took a picture of Earth. Juno is set to get super close, closer than any probe before, to study Jupiter and to try to determine Jupiter's origin.

 

[Naked Snake]

From this video I learned that the Earth's:

Rotation speed = 456.1 m/s
Orbital speed = 29.783 km/s

Why do both seem relatively very slow to me? If I had to intuitively guess the speeds I'd have came up with much larger numbers. Feels strange, caveman brain fail.

 

[Hootie]

Just like every other picture of earth from millions of miles away, its a great way of humbling the human race. While I think we are an incredible product of nature, we don't mean shit to the rest of the Universe.

Yet.

 

[GTP_Daverytimes]

Just like every other picture of earth from millions of miles away, its a great way of humbling the human race. While I think we are an incredible product of nature, we don't mean shit to the rest of the Universe.

Yet.

We will never mean shit. The best we can do in the next 500 million years is send someone outside of our galaxy.

 

[Hootie]

We will never mean shit. The best we can do in the next 500 million years is send someone outside of our galaxy.

I think humanity can start doing some big things in 500 million years, just look what we've done in the past couple of millenia. I have no expertise on the subject but I'd like to think that once we've colonized and begin harvesting resources on a large scale from our solar system and are able to travel to/colonize other systems it'll all be downhill from there. Getting to that point, however, is the quandary we find ourselves in now.

I suppose technically we will never mean shit just because that's the nature of the Universe as we assume it empirically is (that being without reason or purpose), but from a human standpoint I think we can eventually earn our right to exist in the Universe, which we certainly haven't done yet.

And there are also many other variables. The supposed "singularity", biological immortality, fusion power, using antimatter as fuel etc. are all possible game changers in the long run. Whether any of them come to fruition is up in the air at this point, but again I'd like to think that we won't fuck things up too bad.

 

[Naked Snake]

Even if we "don't fuck things up too bad", the universe could kill us without warning before we ever reach Type 2 status.

 

[Hootie]

Even if we "don't fuck things up too bad", the universe could kill us without warning before we ever reach Type 2 status.

Well, that's why we need to be doing this stuff faster than we are right now. If we had our priorities straight just think of where we could be.

The longer we stay idle on Earth, the higher the chance of one of those freak event happening. If we are able to survive long enough to colonize multiple star systems, the long term survival of humanity will be much much higher.

 

[Prez]

I have a question: why do stars look like this from a certain distance?

What causes those 4 dense beams of light that make a cross shape?

 

[Ranvier]

I think humanity can start doing some big things in 500 million years.
And there are also many other variables. The supposed "singularity", biological immortality, fusion power, using antimatter as fuel etc. are all possible game changers in the long run.

While I really hope this is the case and despite how much I wish these things could happen in our lifetime, do you guys think we are reaching a plateau as far as technology goes? Sure we have been increasing relatively in terms of our tech but we are still bound by the laws of physics and there are certain things that can't be overcome.

Take energy storage as an example, while we have gotten slightly better batteries over the years this still remains a problem. Its not that we can't think of better ways to store energy but rather, we are limited by the chemistry of it.

When thinking about traveling light-years and colonizing other planets it seems to me that there are some barriers we will never break now matter how old our species gets to be.

The idea of us being forever stuck on our little rock in this quiet little corner of the galaxy is quite depressing to me.

 

[xelios]

If we are able to survive long enough to colonize multiple star systems, the long term survival of humanity will be much much higher.

I believe it will never happen regardless of how long we survive. It's just fantasy in my opinion, no matter how nice it sounds.

I do believe there are many other life forms in the universe though.

 

[Escape Goat]

not just stars but light. People have the starburst effect with night vision a lot of the time. I guess it has to do with the way our eyes capture light.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Well, that's why we need to be doing this stuff faster than we are right now. If we had our priorities straight just think of where we could be.

The longer we stay idle on Earth, the higher the chance of one of those freak event happening. If we are able to survive long enough to colonize multiple star systems, the long term survival of humanity will be much much higher.

There is no real motivation to do this. We are selfish and we think only within our lifespan. Some of us do not even think of leaving things better for our children.

I'm afraid we will never find any real motivation to set a priority towards this. Unless we start mining the Moon, Venus and Mars for profit and greed 500 years from now.

Or maybe religion dies out in 200 years and we start having a global culture of Science?

 

[Prez]

Or maybe religion dies out in 200 years and we start having a global culture of Science?

Ugh that would be quite awful. Let's just stick with actual culture and art.

 

[Hootie]

Damnit you people are so pessimistic.

Maybe I'm just thinking too optimistically. I dunno. Like I said, I have no expertise on the subject so it's all just wild speculation on my part.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

I have a question: why do stars look like this from a certain distance?

What causes those 4 dense beams of light that make a cross shape?

http://spacetelescope.org/about/faq/

Why do stars have a cross-shaped distortion in most Hubble images? Why do galaxies not?
The cross shape visible on bright objects (such as stars) in Hubble images is a form of distortion that is visible in all telescopes that use a mirror rather than a lens to focus light rays. The crosses, known as diffraction spikes, are caused by the light’s path being disturbed slightly as it passes by the cross-shaped struts that support the telescope’s secondary mirror.

It is only noticeable for bright objects where a lot of light is concentrated on one spot, such as stars. Darker, more spread-out objects like nebulae or galaxies do not show visible levels of this distortion.

 

[Izayoi]

Damnit you people are so pessimistic.

Maybe I'm just thinking too optimistically. I dunno. Like I said, I have no expertise on the subject so it's all just wild speculation on my part.

Chances are extremely high that we will kill ourselves off long before we even leave our solar system.

I really doubt that the human race will ever colonize anything off-world.

 

[derFeef]

I have a question: why do stars look like this from a certain distance?

http://i.imgur.com/ZsXjQ.jpg

What causes those 4 dense beams of light that make a cross shape?

With a newton telescope you get this strokes because the second (smaller) mirror is placed in the middle of a cross-shaped mount. The light brakes at that and you are getting that effect on the pictures or when viewing. With a refractor (lenses) for example, you are not getting that effect.

 

[Maklershed]

I thought this was cool .. pictures of the lunar landing equipment and rover tracks left on the moon from the 60s

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14813043

 

[Darkgran]

Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini robotic orbiter. High Res picture at link.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technol...ps-unbelievable-picture-saturn-144133480.html

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini robotic orbiter. High Res picture at link.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technol...ps-unbelievable-picture-saturn-144133480.html

That's odd to see this in a brand new article, but regardless this has always been one of my favorite photographs of all time. This was my desktop for probably 2 years.

It's worth mentioning that the bright dot nestled in the rings is Earth.

 

[Naked Snake]

I remember the first time I saw that photo of Saturn in one of my friend's copies of National Geographic. For a long time I had a very hard time believing it was real. Looks computer generated.

Majestic.

 

[Izayoi]

I thought this was cool .. pictures of the lunar landing equipment and rover tracks left on the moon from the 60s

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14813043

BUT THE MOON LANDINGS WERE FAKED, DIDN'T YOU KNOW?

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad300/Darkgran/mw-630-saturn-cassini.jpg[img]

Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini robotic orbiter. High Res picture at link.

[url="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/nasa-cassini-orbiter-snaps-unbelievable-picture-saturn-144133480.html"]http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...144133480.html[/url][/quote]
Gorgeous. One of my favorite space pictures of all time.

 

[Maklershed]

Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini robotic orbiter. High Res picture at link.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technol...ps-unbelievable-picture-saturn-144133480.html

Wow just amazing how small we are. And just think how different it would be to live on a planet like that. Even airplanes couldn't cut it for travel. It would take days and weeks to get anywhere by jet.

 

[fanboi]

Cool!

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/212586/20110912/50-new-planets-super-earths.htm

Fifty new planets, including 16 "Super Earths" have been discovered, which means there are now officially more than 600 alien planets in the universe.

The scientists who made the discovery used the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the European Southern Observatory's location in La Silla, Chile.

HARPS is also known in the ESO as "The Planet Hunter."

"Among these are many rocky planets not much heavier than the Earth," the ESO said on its Web site, referring to the 16 so-called "Super Earths." "One of them in particular seems to orbit in the habitable zone around its star."

Scientists anticipate the number will become higher after planet-candidates are confirmed to be planets. There are more than 1,200 candidates that were discovered by NASA's Kepler space observatory in California, SPACE.com reported.

"The next big milestone should be 1,000," chief scientist of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California Wesley Traub told SPACE.com. "We are learning that there are so many planets out there, and many stars have multiple planets around then, that it's just a question of time until we get to that 1,000 mark of confirmed planets."

 

[a176]

 

[Log4Girlz]

I fucking want a space telescope. If I were Bill Gates I would have bought like two James Webb telescopes.

 

[leroidys]

So, no discussion of the new NASA launch system? Or has this been known about for a while?

 

[PjotrStroganov]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1109/ngc3521_gabany901.jpg[img][/QUOTE]

All those "stars" surrounding that galaxie are galaxies in themselves.

 

[Prez]

Cool!

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/212586/20110912/50-new-planets-super-earths.htm

So there's a good chance there are many planets with a size close to earth? I'd think that planets of that size are impossible to locate, so that's why only Super Earths are discovered?

 

[Hootie]

Good news, Space-GAF!!

Senate allows continued funding for the James Webb Space Telescope set to launch in 2018

 

[Clevinger]

Good news, Space-GAF!!

Senate allows continued funding for the James Webb Space Telescope set to launch in 2018

The Senate has “saved” JWST? Hang on a sec, folks…

To sum it up, he basically says that we still have a ways to go before we're in the clear. And with this shitty senate/congress, I'm not celebrating until it's a done deal.