Science Stuff

[KambahOne]

M Theory is crazy interesting. What I find most interesting with M Theory and other String Theories is that recent research suggest that they aren't entirely compatible with dark energy. Which means that either we are wrong about dark energy's effects on the Universe, or string theory is fundamentally flawed.

They're currently building new telescopes to test this. If string theory is correct then the Universe we see expanding faster and faster should actually be slowing down. So they're trying to test if the expansion by cosmic field is actually happening faster.

There is some conjecture to this theory though and it has divided the string theorists. The main problem with it is that if it's true and what we know about dark energy is wrong, then the Universe never should have reached the stage it's currently at.

I know hey, the more you dig into this theory the more questions it raises. Quantifying Dark Energy and Dark Matter is key to many of these theories imo. It's the common factor that we can't yet factor into these theories as we don't know it's application or purpose in the make up of the universe.

I think I read the LHC is currently being re-engineered to look for Dark Matter so maybe when that fires back up we'll make some headway down this rabbit hole.

 

[Hacky McAxe]

I know hey, the more you dig into this theory the more questions it raises. Quantifying Dark Energy and Dark Matter is key to many of these theories imo. It's the common factor that we can't yet factor into these theories as we don't know it's application or purpose in the make up of the universe.

I think I read the LHC is currently being re-engineered to look for Dark Matter so maybe when that fires back up we'll make some headway down this rabbit hole.

Yeah, they have been carrying out upgrades on the LHC. They will have it up and running again next year then it will run for 3 years. After that they're taking it offline to carry out a high luminosity upgrade. The high luminosity upgrade will be up and running at the end of 2027 and will hopefully be strong enough for us to detect dark matter or dark energy.

Interesting thing about the LHC, it was only built after the US Large Hadron Collider (or Superconducting Super Collider as they called it) failed to get up and running. The original US project was going to have a higher luminosity than the LHC and would have been over 3 times the size of the LHC. The project started around the early 80s and started construction until it was eventually cancelled in 1993 'cause it was costing too much and the US was struggling.

Funny side story to it. As a last ditch effort to get the SSC up and running, President George Bush Snr met with the Prime Minister of Japan at the dinner to discuss Japan potentially funding part of the project and making it a joint venture. The deal fell through at the dinner when George Bush threw up on the Prime Minister of Japan.

 

[KambahOne]

And the Scientific breakthrough for 2019 was (drumroll) Darkness made Visible - https://vis.sciencemag.org/breakthrough2019/

Massive, ubiquitous, and in some cases as big as our Solar System, black holes hide in plain sight. The effect of their gravity on objects around them and, lately, the gravitational waves emitted when they collide reveal their presence. But no one had ever seen one directly—until April. That’s when an international team of radio astronomers released a startling close-up image of a black hole’s “shadow,” showing a dark heart surrounded by a ring of light created by photons zipping around it. Heino Falcke of Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a member of the team that produced the image, said the first glimpse felt like “looking at the gates of hell.” That evocative image is Science’s 2019 Breakthrough of the Year.

For astronomers, the image is a validation of decades of work theorizing about esoteric objects they couldn’t see. “I’m still kind of stunned,” says astrophysicist Roger Blandford of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. “I don’t think any of us imagined the iconic image that was produced.” In fact, until recently few astronomers imagined such an image was even possible. Black holes are very small by cosmic standards and by definition emit no light. When they grow to gargantuan masses, as happens in the centers of galaxies, the swirling mayhem of gas, dust, and stars stirred up by their extreme gravity creates an additional barrier.

 

[KambahOne]

I tried to understand Quantum Mechanics and read a lot of books by Professor Paul Davies.

Could never get my head around this let alone string theory.

Am reading "The Grand Design" by Hawking and Mlodinow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Design_(book)

Good read, tries to explain some of the fundamentals but is still heady reading.

 

[Squash the Berries!]

And the Scientific breakthrough for 2019 was (drumroll) Darkness made Visible - https://vis.sciencemag.org/breakthrough2019/

Massive, ubiquitous, and in some cases as big as our Solar System, black holes hide in plain sight. The effect of their gravity on objects around them and, lately, the gravitational waves emitted when they collide reveal their presence. But no one had ever seen one directly—until April. That’s when an international team of radio astronomers released a startling close-up image of a black hole’s “shadow,” showing a dark heart surrounded by a ring of light created by photons zipping around it. Heino Falcke of Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a member of the team that produced the image, said the first glimpse felt like “looking at the gates of hell.” That evocative image is Science’s 2019 Breakthrough of the Year.

For astronomers, the image is a validation of decades of work theorizing about esoteric objects they couldn’t see. “I’m still kind of stunned,” says astrophysicist Roger Blandford of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. “I don’t think any of us imagined the iconic image that was produced.” In fact, until recently few astronomers imagined such an image was even possible. Black holes are very small by cosmic standards and by definition emit no light. When they grow to gargantuan masses, as happens in the centers of galaxies, the swirling mayhem of gas, dust, and stars stirred up by their extreme gravity creates an additional barrier.

Remember seeing this and saying at the time to anyone who would listen have you seen the picture of the black hole, freaking amazing, no one seemed as excited as I was though.

 

[Hacky McAxe]

And the Scientific breakthrough for 2019 was (drumroll) Darkness made Visible - https://vis.sciencemag.org/breakthrough2019/

Massive, ubiquitous, and in some cases as big as our Solar System, black holes hide in plain sight. The effect of their gravity on objects around them and, lately, the gravitational waves emitted when they collide reveal their presence. But no one had ever seen one directly—until April. That’s when an international team of radio astronomers released a startling close-up image of a black hole’s “shadow,” showing a dark heart surrounded by a ring of light created by photons zipping around it. Heino Falcke of Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a member of the team that produced the image, said the first glimpse felt like “looking at the gates of hell.” That evocative image is Science’s 2019 Breakthrough of the Year.

For astronomers, the image is a validation of decades of work theorizing about esoteric objects they couldn’t see. “I’m still kind of stunned,” says astrophysicist Roger Blandford of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. “I don’t think any of us imagined the iconic image that was produced.” In fact, until recently few astronomers imagined such an image was even possible. Black holes are very small by cosmic standards and by definition emit no light. When they grow to gargantuan masses, as happens in the centers of galaxies, the swirling mayhem of gas, dust, and stars stirred up by their extreme gravity creates an additional barrier.

Veritasium gave a very good explanation of the black hole image

 

[Squash the Berries!]

Veritasium gave a very good explanation of the black hole image

He was spot on with his prediction.

“You could see the back of your head”!

 

[KambahOne]

Possible life in Saturn's moon Titan - https://phys.org/news/2019-07-habitability-titan-ocean.html

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is a hotbed of organic molecules, harboring a soup of complex hydrocarbons similar to that thought to have existed over four billion years ago on the primordial Earth. Titan's surface, however, is in a deep freeze at –179 degrees Celsius (–290 degrees Fahrenheit, or 94 kelvin). Life as we know it cannot exist on the moon's frigid surface.

Deep underground, however, is a different matter. Gravity measurements made during fly-bys by NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed that Titan contains an ocean beneath its ice shell, and within this ocean, conditions are potentially suitable for life.
__

I remember when they landed the Huygens Probe on Titan back in 2005 as part of the Cassini mission and it detected Acetylene in the atmosphere and liquid methane on the surface. One of the papers on the mission stated Acetylene is a by-product of Methane and it theorized that some chemical or organic reaction was occurring to create the Acetylene from the methane. Huygens Probe - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/mission/spacecraft/huygens-probe/

If it is organic, imagine finding a Methane based life form on Titan? Even a single celled microbe living off the Methane converting it to Acetylene would change our understanding of life immeasurably.

 

[Nano]

Possible life in Saturn's moon Titan - https://phys.org/news/2019-07-habitability-titan-ocean.html

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is a hotbed of organic molecules, harboring a soup of complex hydrocarbons similar to that thought to have existed over four billion years ago on the primordial Earth. Titan's surface, however, is in a deep freeze at –179 degrees Celsius (–290 degrees Fahrenheit, or 94 kelvin). Life as we know it cannot exist on the moon's frigid surface.

Deep underground, however, is a different matter. Gravity measurements made during fly-bys by NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed that Titan contains an ocean beneath its ice shell, and within this ocean, conditions are potentially suitable for life.
__

I remember when they landed the Huygens Probe on Titan back in 2005 as part of the Cassini mission and it detected Acetylene in the atmosphere and liquid methane on the surface. One of the papers on the mission stated Acetylene is a by-product of Methane and it theorized that some chemical or organic reaction was occurring to create the Acetylene from the methane. Huygens Probe - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/mission/spacecraft/huygens-probe/

If it is organic, imagine finding a Methane based life form on Titan? Even a single celled microbe living off the Methane converting it to Acetylene would change our understanding of life immeasurably.

Speaking of methane, one of my mates is methane based life form and probably produces much more hydrocarbons if needed lmao

 

[Nano]

Thanks I understand now its so easy to follow.

No worries man, there is also a quantum explanation for gravity but thats where it starts to get murky and unclear lol

 

[Squash the Berries!]

Interesting video that deals with the expansion of the universe and Pluto.

Sad situation.

 

[KambahOne]

Interesting video that deals with the expansion of the universe and Pluto.

Sad situation.

That is sickening watching her eat.

But it reminded me of an article I read back in 2012 on how Astronomers had measured the Hubble Constant with more precision and revealed that our Universe is expanding at 74.3 kilometers per second per megaparsec (a megaparsec is a sphere about 3 million light years across). Article - https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20121003.html

I emailed the author and asked the question, Given that 74.3 kilometers is tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of 3 million light years (it's probably about 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001) is that 1 the distance that the atoms in your body are moving apart from one another every second? Answer - yes, everything is stretching apart but not at any rates we can see or notice. A little part of my mind blew up about then.

 

[Squash the Berries!]

That is sickening watching her eat.

But it reminded me of an article I read back in 2012 on how Astronomers had measured the Hubble Constant with more precision and revealed that our Universe is expanding at 74.3 kilometers per second per megaparsec (a megaparsec is a sphere about 3 million light years across). Article - https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20121003.html

I emailed the author and asked the question, Given that 74.3 kilometers is tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of 3 million light years (it's probably about 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001) is that 1 the distance that the atoms in your body are moving apart from one another every second? Answer - yes, everything is stretching apart but not at any rates we can see or notice. A little part of my mind blew up about then.

I use that next time my wife says stop drinking beer its making you fat.

 

[KambahOne]

We're going back to the Moon and then Mars - https://www.space.com/house-bill-nasa-moon-landing-2028.html

NASA should aim to put boots on the moon in 2028, not 2024, and achieve this goal explicitly to aid human Mars exploration in the 2030s, according to an authorization bill that was introduced Friday (Jan. 24) by the leadership of the House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology.

Other major items on the bill's wish list include extending International Space Station (ISS) operations beyond 2024 to 2028; allowing NASA's proposed Gateway space station to be built in one of a variety of locations in Earth-moon space, not just lunar orbit; and launching the Artemis human moon lander in one piece instead of in multiple segments for assembly in space, as NASA proposes to do now.

The bill — designated HR 5666 and introduced by Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Okla., chair of the committee's space subcommittee — stresses that a moon landing in 2028 should be put in the context of a larger moon-to-Mars program. This Red Planet program would put humans in Mars orbit by 2033, followed by surface missions. HR 5666 also calls for more flexibility in Gateway's location, opening up such possibilities as Earth-moon Lagrangian points (gravitationally stable locations between the two worlds). The small space station should "serve as a testbed for the systems and operational techniques" for Mars missions, the proposed bill states.

Giddyup!!

 

[Hacky McAxe]

A very decent explanation of the basics of climate change

 

[Squash the Berries!]

Possible life in Saturn's moon Titan - https://phys.org/news/2019-07-habitability-titan-ocean.html

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is a hotbed of organic molecules, harboring a soup of complex hydrocarbons similar to that thought to have existed over four billion years ago on the primordial Earth. Titan's surface, however, is in a deep freeze at –179 degrees Celsius (–290 degrees Fahrenheit, or 94 kelvin). Life as we know it cannot exist on the moon's frigid surface.

Deep underground, however, is a different matter. Gravity measurements made during fly-bys by NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed that Titan contains an ocean beneath its ice shell, and within this ocean, conditions are potentially suitable for life.
__

I remember when they landed the Huygens Probe on Titan back in 2005 as part of the Cassini mission and it detected Acetylene in the atmosphere and liquid methane on the surface. One of the papers on the mission stated Acetylene is a by-product of Methane and it theorized that some chemical or organic reaction was occurring to create the Acetylene from the methane. Huygens Probe - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/mission/spacecraft/huygens-probe/

If it is organic, imagine finding a Methane based life form on Titan? Even a single celled microbe living off the Methane converting it to Acetylene would change our understanding of life immeasurably.

Can’t wait to hear the response from religious corporations/organisations etc when life is found somewhere other than earth.

 

[Hacky McAxe]

Can’t wait to hear the response from religious corporations/organisations etc when life is found somewhere other than earth.

We had this discussion a while back. The way Indiandog put it from a religious point of view was, "I believe there may be alien life out there, but not intelligent life". The stance being that any life forms would be like animals on earth. Put there purely for humans.

 

[KambahOne]

Can’t wait to hear the response from religious corporations/organisations etc when life is found somewhere other than earth.

Me either as it will smash a major foundation stone of all religions.

 

[KambahOne]

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...t-be-ready-to-explode-into-a-giant-supernova/

Betelgeuse is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, but it’s fainter than it’s been in nearly a century, dimming by a factor of two since just October. Its aggressive dimming is a familiar pattern for stars that enter their last phase of life before they explode into a supernova—leading many scientists to believe Betelgeuse is about to go supernova as well.

Betelgeuse forms part of the Orion constellation, see below, and is one of the brightest stars in our night sky.

If it goes supernova, the light could last for months and we will see it during daylight hours. And Betelgeuse features in that post by Wahesh (#68) showing the various sizes of stars in our galaxy.

Problem is we're talking galactic timetable here so it could be centuries before it explodes or it could be tomorrow.

Update - https://www.news.com.au/technology/...t/news-story/9733b12631163ebbb190fb0b2987d726

A star roughly 1400 times bigger than the sun had astronomers concerned it was set to explode at the end of last year when it began dimming, but there is a far more mundane explanation. Dust.

 

[Squash the Berries!]

We had this discussion a while back. The way Indiandog put it from a religious point of view was, "I believe there may be alien life out there, but not intelligent life". The stance being that any life forms would be like animals on earth. Put there purely for humans.

Unfortunately Indiandog was gone by the time I started posting but a convenient answer but apparently According to the Talmud, God spends his night flying throughout 18,000 worlds. Jewish texts might need to rethink 18,000.