Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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buksida
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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Earth May Be a 1-in-700-Quintillion Kind of Place
A new study suggests that there are around 700 quintillion planets in the universe, but only one like Earth. It’s a revelation that’s both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

Astrophysicist Erik Zackrisson from Uppsala University in Sweden arrived at this staggering figure — a 7 followed by 20 zeros — with the aid of a computer model that simulated the universe’s evolution following the Big Bang. Zackrisson’s model combined information about known exoplanets with our understanding of the early universe and the laws of physics to recreate the past 13.8 billion years.

Zackrisson found that Earth appears to have been dealt a fairly lucky hand. In a galaxy like the Milky Way, for example, most of the planets Zackrisson’s model generated looked very different than Earth — they were larger, older and very unlikely to support life. The study can be found on the preprint server arXiv, and has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-bri ... -of-place/
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

Post by Siani »

Lasers could hide Earth from aliens – or tell them we’re here!
Shining a laser into space could cloak the Earth from prying alien eyes – or broadcast our presence.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/20 ... were-here/
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

Post by STEVE G »

On the subject of lasers, they're still being used to measure the precise distance between the earth and the moon using reflectors put there over 40 years ago:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronom ... eflectors/
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Here’s the massive amount of fuel it takes to launch a rocket into space — measured in elephants

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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

Post by Khundon1975 »

^ No wonder it takes so much fuel, if they have it loaded up with all those heffalumps. :wink:
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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Bit late in the day, but have only just read/heard about this....

Transit of Mercury

"A ‘Transit of Mercury’ happens when the Solar System’s innermost planet comes directly between the Sun and the Earth at an angle which allows it to be seen in silhouette.

During the transit, Mercury can be viewed from Earth as a small black dot sliding slowly across the face of the Sun.

The transit happens on May 9 and Britain is one of the best places in the world to view the alignment.

The whole transit will also be visible from, South America and eastern North America and partially visible everywhere else except Australia and far eastern Asia."


Not too sure I'll be seeing it as it's currently peeing it down....... :roll:

Full article and details: - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016 ... ont-of-su/
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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Here he goes, in a bloody hurry as well:

Mercury makes rare transit across sun's face

http://www.bangkokpost.com/vdo/world/96 ... -suns-face

Tiny Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, sailed across the face of the sun on Monday in a celestial event that occurs about once every decade as Earth and its smaller neighbouring planet align in space. (Reuters video)
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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"Why the discovery of Earth-like planets could spell doom for humanity
Billions of Earth-size planets"

http://qz.com/681059/why-the-discovery- ... -humanity/
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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"NASA Discovers a New 'Star Wars'-esque 'Tatooine Planet'

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Luke gazes at the setting…suns (Lucasfilm)

With all due respect to Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Rey, Finn and their Force-wielding Jedi brethren, no one ever accused the Star Wars franchise of being scientifically accurate. Yet a recent discovery by NASA again proves that, at least in one regard, George Lucas’s sci-fi fantasy was rooted in out-there reality.

On June 13, NASA announced that, via the Kepler Space Telescope, it had identified a new planet, dubbed Kepler-1647b, that exists around a double-star system. In other words, this planet boasts two suns, just like Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine – whose name has come to be synonymous with such intergalactic worlds. ..."

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/nasa-disco ... 16431.html
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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Sun gives longest daytime on Tuesday

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... f-the-year

Anybody afraid of the dark should love this coming Tuesday as people on earth will see the sun in the sky for longer than any day of the year.

The National Astronomical Reseach Institute confirmed on Saturday that the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere will fall on Tuesday in Thailand.

People in Bangkok will see the sun for 13 hours and 56 minutes (assuming it's not raining), while the duration will vary slightly in other parts of the country, said Saran Poshyachinda, the institute's deputy director.

The sun will rise on 5.51am and set at 6.47pm on that day, meaning it will be over Thailand four minutes short of 14 hours.

Mr Saran said the summer solstice occurs when the sun rises on the horizon at the farthest northeastern point and sets on the other extreme end in the west.
........................................................
And for those who feel the need, tonight(Monday), is a full moon, rising at 18.02.

http://www.timeanddate.com/moon/phases/thailand/bangkok
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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It may take 1500 years to meet E.T.
It is a timeless story seen in many science-fiction movies where aliens come to Earth in one of two forms; benevolent and helpful, or malevolent and destructive. The idea that the human race will meet our galactic neighbors soon is ingrained into the entertainment industry, but researchers say it may take a little longer than previously expected.

In a new paper and upcoming presentation at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting Thursday June 16th, Cornell University researchers have paired the Fermi Paradox and Mediocrity Principle into a new equation describing how hearing from aliens may not be possible for another 1500 years.

“We haven’t heard from aliens yet, as space is a big place -- but that doesn’t mean no one is out there,” said Cornell student at Cornell University Evan Solomonides ‘19 in a press release.

The Fermi Paradox states that in the Milky Way galaxy there exist billions of stars that have the probability of having Earth-like planets, but still no aliens have visited, let alone contacted us. The Mediocrity Principle states that as life exists on Earth, we are not unique and there must be life on other Earth-like planets.

For the past 80 years, Earth has been sending out radio signals into space traveling at the speed of light. This means that every star within an 80 light-year bubble around Earth has received a radio transmission from the human race; this is about 8,531 stars and 3,555 Earth-like planets while the Milky Way has a total of about 200 billion stars.

“Even our mundane, typical spiral galaxy -- not exceptionally large compared to other galaxies -- is vast beyond imagination,” said Solomonides in the press release.

Combining these two equations into one conclude that the human race will not meet any galactic neighbors for at least another 1500 years. This is the date when our radio transmissions have reached about half of the stars in the Milky Way.

“This is not to say that we must be reached by then or else we are, in fact, alone. We simply claim that it is somewhat unlikely that we will not hear anything before that time,” Solomonides said in the press release.

As unlikely as it may be, as the first evidence for chiral molecules, an essential building block of life, have been found in interstellar clouds, the idea of interacting with alien life could be edging closer with every new discovery.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/06/i ... to-meet-et
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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The Next Space Race: Farming Solar Power in the Cosmos

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/next-space-r ... 05217.html
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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Only time will tell - absolutely amazing...... hope it happens!! :thumb:

"The US space agency (Nasa) says its Juno probe is on course to go into orbit around the Planet Jupiter.
The satellite is described as healthy and ready for what scientists concede will be a risky manoeuvre.
Juno has to execute a precise rocket firing to slow itself sufficiently to get captured by the giant world's gravity.
If it succeeds, researchers should get their best ever view of what lies beneath Jupiter's stormy clouds."


Full Story: - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36700048

:cheers: :cheers:
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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Nasa's Juno spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1 ... nd-jupiter

PASEDENA, California, AFP - Nasa celebrated a key triumph on Tuesday as its US$1.1 billion Juno spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Jupiter on a mission to probe the origin of the solar system

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California erupted in cheers as the solar observatory successfully slid into its aimed-for orbit around the biggest planet in our cosmic neighborhood at 11.53 pm (10.53am Wdnesday Bangkok time).

"We are in it," hollered Scott Bolton, Nasa's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
"You are the best team ever," he told his colleagues at mission control. "You just did the hardest thing Nasa has ever done."

Juno launched five years ago from Cape Canaveral, Florida and has traveled 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion kilometres) since then.
The spacecraft was traveling at a speed of more than 130,000 miles per hour (209,200 kilometres per hour) when it fired its engines to slow down enough to be captured into Jupiter's orbit.
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread

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^ Have been watching coverage this morning - quite incredible! :thumb: :bow:
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