Tales of the Heliosphere

The universe is a large place full of really big objects. Some people like to see some significance in humanity's small size in comparison. Whoever posted the really cool video showing the sizes of planets and stars on Youtube seems to think so. (Here.) After showing larger and larger images of planets and stars and then comparing them to the enormously larger size of the universe, the video ends with the statement, "No, you are not the center of the universe."

Well, yes. But does the universe even have a center?

I have to say, I don't quite understand the need of some people to diminish the significance of humanity. The fact that we're small and not located in the center of the universe means nothing really. Stars might be big but they're just giant flaming balls of gas. Big deal. The universe might be enormous but it's mostly large expanses of space. Again, big deal.

It is cool to think about how truly large the universe is and how truly beautiful it can be. Does the universe know how big it is or how beautiful? Do stars? It's doubtful. But we know. And that makes all the difference.

-tdr

Labels: Aesthetics, Astronomy, Humanism, Planets, Religion

What-if speculation is at the heart of science fiction. For instance, look at this 1613 map of the moon drawn by English astronomer, Thomas Harriot. (Credit Lord Egremont and the Royal Astronomical Society here.) The Moon looks like it has Earth-like features. What if it did? What if our closest neighbor in space were a planet similar to ours, with breathable atmosphere, an ocean, a continent and islands? What difference would that have made to our history?

-tdr

Labels: Astronomy, Science Fiction, Society

A new paper by a trio of scientists concludes that although mini black holes created by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe could survive for longer than previous estimates, they pose no threat to Earth.

"We conclude that ... the growth of black holes to catastrophic size does not seem possible. Nonetheless, it remains true that the expected decay times are much longer (and possibly ≫ 1 sec) than is typically predicted by other models ..." (PDF here, p. 7.)

According to the paper,

"After the black holes are created at the LHC they can, depending on the value of Mc [their critical mass], live long enough in the RS scenario to escape into the atmosphere or into the Earth. They can grow in mass and therefore in horizon radius by absorbing anything which comes within their capture radii. There are two basic mechanisms by which the black holes in general might accrete: one due to their collisions with the atomic and sub-atomic particles they encounter as they sweep through matter, and one due to the gravitational force the black holes exert on surrounding matter once they come to rest." (PDF, p. 3.)

Makes sense so far. Mini black holes grow in size by eating through matter or pulling matter into themselves. The question is, could a wild mini black hole created at the LHC last long enough and accumulate enough mass to come to rest inside Earth and just keep growing. The authors conclude that wouldn't happen because the black holes would never grow beyond microscopic size before they decay or pass through the Earth. (PDF, pp. 5-6.)

So, the Earth is safe but the paper doesn't say what would happen if one of these wild black holes happened to pass through a human being, or whether it could happen. If it could, and if it did, it would surely suck.

-tdr

Labels: Astronomy, Science

One of the most appreciated but unremarked benefits of Earth's space programs are the beautiful photographs. For instance, this one of Mars: The smiley face crater is Galle. Or this one of Saturn's moon Dione: Or this photo of Saturn taken by the Cassini probe: You won't see that from Earth.

Two days ago the Boston Globe published a set of photographs taken in near Earth orbit of the International Space Station. (Here.) The images are striking.

It's a cliche to refer to the blackness or darkness of space. So, it's interesting to see how bright space appears in the photographs. Presumably, even in the darkness of space, it's going to be bright outside when your orbit takes you to the day side of the Earth. What with the sun being just 93 million miles away and all and no atmosphere to speak of to diffuse the sunlight.

Anyway, go to the link and enjoy.

-tdr

Republished once to correct premature publication.

Labels: Aesthetics, Astronomy, Saturn, Space Exploration

The Bad Astronomer has been taking issue with John McCain's references to Barack Obama's earmark request for "the overhead projector" at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. (Here.)

The Bad Astronomer is right that astronomy is really cool. And McCain's use of the term "overhead projector" doesn't come close to describing the complex piece of machinery used by the planetarium. Also funding the Adler Planetarium is worthy as is replacing its projector. But all that doesn't mean the funds have to come from an earmark in the federal budget. It will benefit Chicago if the planetarium's projector gets replaced. But it's no great loss to the country that the Adler Planetarium didn't actually get the federal money that Obama tried to steer his hometown's way.

Chicago is a big and world-class city. Or so I've heard from all the Chicagoans living here in San Diego. Even accounting for the ex-pats here in sunny Southern California, Chicago has lots of people still living there, many of them quite wealthy. There are many business there, some of them quite big. Better the people who live in the area, and the people who use the planetarium, pay to replace the projector than the federal taxpayer.

McCain has a point about the problem with federal budget earmarks. There are millions of projects in the United States worthy of funding. The federal government can't fund them all. The earmarks process results in funds going to those projects supported by politicians and their powerful friends. It's only happenstance that the project is worthwhile.

So, the Bad Astronomer does a public service by including a link on his latest post for sending private donations to the Adler Planetarium. Think of your donation as a private earmark. This is something I'm sure McCain himself would endorse.

In that same spirit, here's a link to San Diego's Air and Space Museum and here's one to San Diego's Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and here's another. Both museums in San Diego promote science, astronomy included, technology, and space and air flight. Both are worthy of your private earmarks.

-tdr

Labels: America, Astronomy, Elections, Politics, Scienceism

Are there intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe? All we know for sure is that intelligent life exists here on Earth. We have no evidence that life of any kind even exists elsewhere. Zip, zero, nada. That doesn't stop scientists from trying to listen for messages from aliens. (Here.)

Now a scientist has created a mathematical model that purports to show that alien intelligent life is unlikely to exist. (Here.) All this without any evidence one way or the other.

It's interesting to think about whether there are intelligent aliens in the universe but it's entirely speculative given we have only one example to work from. There's really no way to know one way or the other the odds of life elsewhere much less intelligent life. Personally, I'm perfectly fine with the possibility that we are alone. Given the vast distances between stars we might as well be alone. What's more interesting to me is thinking about how humans will move ourselves off this planet and claim the entire solar system as our home.

-tdr

Labels: Astrobiology, Astronomy

The SETI@home project is looking for more volunteers to hook their desktops into the SETI network and process data obtained from the Arecibo radio telescope.

"'The next generation SETI@home is 500 times more powerful then anything anyone has done before,' said project chief scientist Dan Werthimer. 'That means we are 500 times more likely to find ET than with the original SETI@home.'" (Here.)

Assuming, that is, ET is out there. If not, 500 times zero is still zero.

-tdr

Labels: Astronomy

The Bad Astronomer has compiled his annual list of best astronomy pictures and posted the results at his blog. He writes:

"Astronomy is arguably the most beautiful of the sciences. I’m biased, of course, but it’s nearly impossible to gaze upon a picture of a galaxy, a moon, a nebula, and not see in it something compellingly artistic. Sometimes it’s the color, sometimes the shape, and sometimes it’s the knowledge that we can understand the subject of the picture itself.

"Science doesn’t take away from the beauty of nature. It enhances it, multiplies it."

To which, I can only say, "amen."

Go to BadAstronomy.com to view his compilation of beautiful photos taken of creation in 2007. (Here.)

My favorite is his number 5, the photo of Jupiter's moons, Io and Europa, taken by the New Horizons Pluto Probe in March 2007. The photo is below, courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute. (Here.)

-tdr

Labels: Aesthetics, Astronomy

Eris is an icy dwarf planet that isn't a real planet because a convention of scientists decreed it so. Although Eris is a dwarf we now know it's more massive than Pluto. It's actually about as massive as all the asteroids combined. Here's some more interesting information about Eris the planet that's not a planet. It's round, it's got an atmosphere albeit a frozen one, it's own tiny moon, and a rocky surface. It also revolves around the Sun not around something else. So, it's not a moon. (Here.) That sounds a lot like a planet to me.

-tdr

Technorati: astronomy, planets.

Labels: Astronomy, Planets, Scienceism

In our perennial search for a space exploration sales pitch one justification never gets discussed. The space program produces some beautiful art. Check out this NASA webpage of Mars photos (here) for a sampling of the beauty out there that the space program brings home to us. And then look at this Hubble website (here), and Cassini's photo gallery of Saturn (here) for more. We live in a beautiful universe.

-tdr

Technorati: NASA, astronomy, space, art.

Labels: Aesthetics, Astronomy, Hubble, Mars, NASA, Saturn

A story in Aviation Week, floats an apparent trial balloon about the fate of the Hubble. The next Hubble servicing mission might be the last one.

"Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute that manages use of the Hubble, told a Capitol Hill breakfast May 11 that one more servicing mission may be all scientists will want to give Hubble. 'This telescope is 17 years old,' he told a session organized by the Maryland Space Business Roundtable and the California Space Authority. 'It's done an amazing job. But there are other great things we need to do.'" (Here.)

I've advocated scrapping the Hubble for over two years now. (Here.) Rather than spending the money, time, and energy trying to keep Hubble going past its "use by" date, we should have been focused on building a replacement. (Here.) But space scientists pushed back hard when plans surfaced to scrap Hubble. The telescope is their baby and they weren't going to let it be abandoned. It will be interesting to see how high this trial balloon flies before space scientists begin to take aim.

But as NASA's Colleen Hartman aptly puts it in the Aviation Week story, "'At some point you are going to come the point where getting a new car is the right thing to do.'" Makes perfect sense to me. (Here.)

-tdr

Technorati: Hubble, astronomy, NASA.

Labels: Astronomy, Hubble, NASA

The Pluto-bound New Horizons probe did its only flyby of a planet in February when it passed by Jupiter. The probe's instruments gathered data on Jupiter's Little Red Spot, the Jovian Rings, and some mysterious troughs on Europa.

The probe did twice as many observations of Jupiter than are planned for the flyby of Pluto in 2015. (Here.) That may be appropriate. After all, Jupiter is the only planet in the Solar System that New Horizons will fly by. Thanks to the collective wisdum (excuse me, "wisdom") of Earth's astronomers Pluto has been demoted from planet.

For more on NASA's New Horizons mission to fly by the non-planet Pluto and its moon Charon visit the official website here.

-tdr

Technorati: NASA, astronomy, Jupiter, Pluto, New Horizons.

Labels: Astronomy, Jupiter, NASA, Pluto