Physics and astronomy thread (2 Viewers)

[msommer]

Falcon Heavy engine test complete

Now triple that and we are off to Mars

 

[Galileo]

First extra-galactic planets detected!  Only 3.8 billion light years away!  

 

[Galileo]

When physics, pop culture, and social media collide...  

 

[msommer]

More on the cigar shaped visitor

 

[joffer]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/improved-hubble-yardstick-gives-fresh-evidence-for-new-physics-in-the-universe

pretty cool article about ongoing attempts to calculate the Hubble constant.  really interesting that they have been able to increase the distance at which they can use the parallax method with Cepheids and the 1a supernova.

 

[roarlions]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/an-amateur-astronomer-testing-a-new-camera-happens-to-catch-a-supernova-as-its-being-born/ar-BBJs2nc

Amateur astronomer photographs supernova as it's being born!

 

[Galileo]

Send your name to the Sun!  Apply to participate in Operation "Hot Ticket".   Alright...seems a little gimmicky and without much purpose, but what the hell.  The Parker Solar Probe, designed to explore the solar corona, will be carrying a memory card in its payload and NASA would be happy to include your name on that memory card.  Apply here to join the mission

Maybe William Shatner can talk you into it.

 

[RC94]

Send your name to the Sun!  Apply to participate in Operation "Hot Ticket".   Alright...seems a little gimmicky and without much purpose, but what the hell.  The Parker Solar Probe, designed to explore the solar corona, will be carrying a memory card in its payload and NASA would be happy to include your name on that memory card.  Apply here to join the mission

Maybe William Shatner can talk you into it.

Are they allowed to do that?  I thought North Korea colonized the sun.  I'm not giving my name and personal info to North Korea.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Are they allowed to do that?  I thought North Korea colonized the sun.  I'm not giving my name and personal info to North Korea.

They already have it.

 

[Galileo]

NASA twins study confirms genetic changes from time spent in space.  

 

[badmojo1006]

Oumuama asteroid likely came from a double star system

 

[Gawain]

Falcon Heavy engine test complete

Now triple that and we are off to Mars

Falcon Heavy sounds like one of the eschatological scenarios in WarGames.

Right next to Gabon Surprise.

 

[msommer]

NASA twins study confirms genetic changes from time spent in space.  

They have clarified the wording now to be changes in genetic expression, not changes to the genes themselves

 

[The Duff Man]

NASA twins study confirms genetic changes from time spent in space.  

How long do I need to spend in space to get powers like the Fantastic 4. 

And can I pick which power I get.....

 

[The Duff Man]

They have clarified the wording now to be changes in genetic expression, not changes to the genes themselves

Doh!  Guess it is back to my Dr Doom plan.....need to read up on witchcraft. 

 

[badmojo1006]

NASA finds way to activate long dormant thrusters on voyager 1

37 years dormant! Code was originally written in Assembler 

 

[Galileo]

NASA finds way to activate long dormant thrusters on voyager 1

37 years dormant! Code was originally written in Assembler 

Pretty amazing...but this happened a few months ago

 

[El Floppo]

Pretty amazing...but this happened a few months ago

It's so far away, the news is only just now getting to us!

 

[Galileo]

It's so far away, the news is only just now getting to us!

Huh?  Communication happens at the speed of light...we're talking hours, not months.

This article from NASA is dated Dec 1, 2017   

On Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017, Voyager engineers fired up the four TCM thrusters for the first time in 37 years and tested their ability to orient the spacecraft using 10-millisecond pulses. The team waited eagerly as the test results traveled through space, taking 19 hours and 35 minutes to reach an antenna in Goldstone, California, that is part of NASA's Deep Space Network.

Lo and behold, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, they learned the TCM thrusters worked perfectly -- and just as well as the attitude control thrusters.

Here is the Voyager Mission Status page for those interested.

 

[El Floppo]

Huh?  Communication happens at the speed of light...we're talking hours, not months.

 

[GregR]

Huh?  Communication happens at the speed of light...we're talking hours, not months.

Galileo =  :whoosh:

 

[Galileo]

James Webb pushed back again...  :(

 

[Mjolnirs]

NASA finds way to activate long dormant thrusters on voyager 1

37 years dormant! Code was originally written in Assembler 

One of my favorite classes in college.

 

[MrJimiT]

One of my favorite classes in college.

I cannot echo the same sentiment here....however I still have my Assembler text book on one of my book shelves.  

 

[Galileo]

Venus has closest conjunction with Uranus tonight since 2003.  Go ahead...make an ### joke.  You know you want to.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Out of control Chinese space station crash landing this weekend

Hopefully, just burns up in several pieces as it re-enters the atmosphere.

 

[RC94]

Galaxy with almost no dark matter and no black hole:  https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/weird-galaxy-has-astronomers-rethinking-key-theory-ncna862071

 

[chet]

Can a spaceship outrun a light beam?

Section I: Basic Analysis

Can a spaceship outrun a light beam? The answer usually given is “no,” because every physics student is taught that the speed of light is the maximum allowed speed, and that no solid object can ever reach the speed of light.

However, the correct answer is “yes.” A spaceship can theoretically outrun a light beam, even though the spaceship must always be moving at less than light speed.

Analysis to follow if there's interest.

 

[joffer]

Can a spaceship outrun a light beam?

Analysis to follow if there's interest.

posters generally cite their sources.

 

[chet]

posters generally cite their sources.

How a Spaceship Can Outrun a Light Beam — Stanley Sramek

 

[El Floppo]

ongoing data/image collecting from Rosetta... freaking love this one.

 

[El Floppo]

oh right... per scientists over the last week, uranus smells like rotten eggs.

looking at you @jamny

 

[badmojo1006]

Hubble telescope shows two distant galaxies colliding

 

[Galileo]

oh right... per scientists over the last week, uranus smells like rotten eggs.

looking at you @jamny

http://www.iflscience.com/space/study-reveals-uranus-smells-of-farts/all/

If you truly want to know what Uranus smells like, be aware that hydrogen sulfide only smells of rotten eggs at concentrations of about 3-5 parts per million. Above 30, it actually smells sweet although it has been described as sickeningly sweet and at that dosage causes fatigue, loss of appetite, and dizziness.

This explains a lot about my farts...

 

[Galileo]

Hubble telescope shows two distant galaxies colliding

pfft...child's play.  ALMA has picked up on a 14 galaxy merger!!!!  Alright, so the picture isn't as visually stunning, but still...

 

[El Floppo]

pfft...child's play.  ALMA has picked up on a 14 galaxy merger!!!!  Alright, so the picture isn't as visually stunning, but still...

Uranus smells like rotten eggs. 

 

[Phil Elliott]

Hubble telescope shows two distant galaxies colliding

About 80 million lightyears from Earth, two galaxies are slowly but chaotically crashing into each other.

The full collision of spiral galaxy NGC 2207 and its smaller counterpart IC 2163 will last another several million years, but it's well underway already.

With the light being 80 million light years old, its probably run its course, even if it had another several million years to go.

 

[RC94]

Vast new and detailed star map of the Milky Way

 

[msommer]

Space Diamonds Originate on Lost Proto Planet

 

[RC94]

There may be several super-massive black holes in our galaxy and other galaxies

 

[badmojo1006]

First Time two cubesats have gone interplanetary

If these two work, will revolutionize how we gather information

 

[Galileo]

World's fastest water heater...from room temperature liquid to 100,000 degree Celsius plasma in 75 femtoseconds  (move the decimal 15 places to the left for those of you who have forgotten your metric prefixes).  The coolest part (pun intended) is that although it is in a plasma state, it retains the density of liquid water since the phase transition happens so fast that molecules don't have time to move significantly far apart.

 

[El Floppo]

Thought the bump was for the drones going to Mars on the next mission in 2020.

That water might be a bit hot for my shower, I'll pass.

 

[El Floppo]

First Time two cubesats have gone interplanetary

If these two work, will revolutionize how we gather information

1st pic from Wall-E cubesat from 1mil KM... earth and moon.  

 

[El Floppo]

The EM "Impossible Drive" thing... might actually be impossible after all.    

TLDR; So, they got it to produce thrust, but, when they turned down the power and pointed it in a different direction, they still got the same thrust. So maybe what's happening is a part of the test device itself interacting with the Earth's magnetic field? 

Plus you'd have to build a microwave safe spaceship.

 

[RC94]

We need to build a spaceship that utilizes Bistromathics.  Not only is it microwave safe, but it can also travel vast interstellar distances.

 

[Galileo]

The EM "Impossible Drive" thing... might actually be impossible after all.    

TLDR; So, they got it to produce thrust, but, when they turned down the power and pointed it in a different direction, they still got the same thrust. So maybe what's happening is a part of the test device itself interacting with the Earth's magnetic field? 

This, my friends, is the beauty of the scientific process.

 

[El Floppo]

This, my friends, is the beauty of the scientific process.

but I really REALLY believe in this. erego, it's real and happening.

speaking of bs...

ever wonder about the bathroom on the ISS? I didn't until now. 

"Urinating's relatively easy," Whitson says.

For that, astronauts use a funnel equipped with a fan that suctions their pee away,so it doesn't float off. (See the yellow cone on the top right side of this toilet photo? That's where the urine goes.)

Then it takes about eight days for the liquid to become drinking water again for the astronauts.

But Whitson says that if you have to do more than just urinate, things aren't so simple.

"Number two… is more challenging because you're trying to hit a pretty small target," she said.

ISS residents go to the bathroom into a little plate-sized hole on top of that silver can, using the fan to vacuum-suck the excrement away. After the astronauts are done, the poop gets sealed up in a plastic bag, to await the next space trash day.

"After it starts getting full," Whitson said with a grimace, "you have to put a rubber glove on and pack it down."

Every once in a while, the whole process goes awry, or the toilet malfunctions, and the astronauts have to catch a floating turd.

But eventually, all that waste gets blasted off on a cargo ship that's jam-packed with ISS trash, and sent on a burning suicide mission towards Earth's atmosphere.

"We send 'em on a trajectory that will purposely burn up," Whitson said.

As for the urine, about 80 to 85 percent of that gets recycled into drinking water, and the rest becomes briney waste.

"We want a closed loop system, which means we have to recycle all our water," Whitson said. Perhaps that will be the next home improvement project onboard the ISS.

 

[The Gator]

Every once in a while, the whole process goes awry, or the toilet malfunctions, and the astronauts have to catch a floating turd.

karius could never be an astronaut  

 

[El Floppo]

karius could never be an astronaut  

et tu, puddlian?