Astrophysics and Cosmology - Discuss the Universe here

[Camazotz Automat]

It is clear that we are just an advanced breed of primates on a minor planet orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. But, ever since the dawn of civilization, people have craved for an understanding of the underlying order of the world. There ought to be something very special about the boundary conditions of the universe. And what can be more special than that there is no boundary. And there should be no boundary to human endeavor. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. While there is life, there is hope.
- Stephen Hawking

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

Just an interesting tidbit for all you hip youngsters who want to be in the know.    CERN's  Large Hadron Collider was restarted Sunday after a two year retrofit to increase its energy output from eight TeV to 14 TeV.  I guess scientists don't get Easter off.

[zeebo]

Newly-found gravitationally-lensed galaxy ring as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. 

"Astronomers have discovered that a distant galaxyâ€"seen from Earth with the aid of a gravitational lensâ€"appears like a cosmic ring, thanks to the highest resolution images ever taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) [...] Discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory, SDP.81 is an active star-forming galaxy nearly 12 billion light-years away, seen at a time when the Universe was only 15 percent of its current age. It is being lensed by a massive foreground galaxy that is a comparatively nearby 4 billion light-years away. [...] Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive galaxy or cluster of galaxies bends the light emitted from a more distant galaxy, forming a highly magnified, though much distorted image. In this particular case, the galaxy known as SDP.81 and an intervening galaxy line up so perfectly that the light from the more distant one forms a nearly complete circle as seen from Earth."

[Camazotz Automat]

Just an interesting tidbit for all you hip youngsters who want to be in the know.    CERN's  Large Hadron Collider was restarted Sunday after a two year retrofit to increase its energy output from eight TeV to 14 TeV.  I guess scientists don't get Easter off.

There is a joke here somewhere about dying subatomic particles like Easter eggs, but it escapes me.

[chinaclipper]

(I just wonder what the original atomic particles are doing, that they have to have subs??)

[area51drone]

Newly-found gravitationally-lensed galaxy ring as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. 

And to think that there are undoubtedly planets in this galaxy that are 12 billion years old.   If even one of them harbored intelligent life...   

My son keeps talking to me about the sun and how it's going to "gobble up the earth" and we go over scenarios about leaving this planet and where we would go.   Just to imagine humanity a single billion years from now is such a mind fuck.

[zeebo]

...Just to imagine humanity a single billion years from now is such a mind fuck.

I've wondered before, given our time scale of life, what is the longest stretch of time which can be conceptualized?  I'd argue maybe around 10-100 thousand years.  I would think even a million years is way beyond what can really be imagined and a billiion is just crazy. 

But it gets crazier than that, when you look at the proposed far future of the cosmos, where a paltry billion years is just a blink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

I've wondered before, given our time scale of life, what is the longest stretch of time which can be conceptualized?  I'd argue maybe around 10-100 thousand years.  I would think even a million years is way beyond what can really be imagined and a billiion is just crazy. 

But it gets crazier than that, when you look at the proposed far future of the cosmos, where a paltry billion years is just a blink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

My belief is that we can't truly conceptualize anything outside of our personal experience.   We can imagine things, but usually because we've experienced elements of the thing we're imagining.  I don't think any of us can truly understand anything much beyond our own lifespan and the number of generations we have witnessed, which is why I think so many people have difficulty with concepts like evolution.  What is counterintuitive at our level of existence becomes normal and mundane on a broader scale.  I would liken it to a child who has never seen anyone grow up to become an adult, but just has to take her parents' word for it.

[inuk2600]

I've wondered before, given our time scale of life, what is the longest stretch of time which can be conceptualized?  I'd argue maybe around 10-100 thousand years.  I would think even a million years is way beyond what can really be imagined and a billiion is just crazy. 

But it gets crazier than that, when you look at the proposed far future of the cosmos, where a paltry billion years is just a blink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

Fascinating timeline. The distant future is bizarre even with the most conservative physics. At 100 quintillion years the cold dead earth finally shatters across the face of the cold dead sun. That collision, probably the only event producing any visible light within many billions of years.
It's terrifying to think how long the universe goes on in total darkness.

[area51drone]

It's terrifying to think how long the universe goes on in total darkness.

Yeah, but by then Jesus will have come back.

[onan]

Yeah, but by then Jesus will have come back.

Will he bring batteries?

[area51drone]

Will he bring batteries?

I hear he's got one of those staffs with a light on top.  Maybe like Gandalf or something.

[inuk2600]

Yeah, but by then Jesus will have come back.

Lol, Does the clockwork of the universe continue after he grabs us all up?

[wr250]

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/04/nasa-may-have-accidentally-developed-a-warp-drive/

link says it all

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/04/nasa-may-have-accidentally-developed-a-warp-drive/

link says it all

Intriguing, but I haven't been able to find anything about this on more mainstream or official sites.  NASASpaceFlight.com (which apparently is the source used for this article) is saying they are following it, so will wait to see what they have to say without having to wade through their hundred page thread about it.

[area51drone]

Intriguing, but I haven't been able to find anything about this on more mainstream or official sites.  NASASpaceFlight.com (which apparently is the source used for this article) is saying they are following it, so will wait to see what they have to say without having to wade through their hundred page thread about it.

Well it's certainly interesting, we can only hope that in our lifetimes this will be achieved.  If we really don't have alien technology trapped away in some military base, then things like this are our only shot.   

*wishing I was born 100 years from now

[Catsmile]

One of the most ambitious experiments in the history of astronomy:
the Hubble Space Telescope.

From a $1.5 Billion zero to discovery hero. The Hubble Telescope has been making ground breaking discoveries & doing research for a quarter century. This is it's story for the last 25 years.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/invisible-universe.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzXPui4dYbk

[Agent : Orange]

Hey everyone, nice to see this thread is still around!! It's been so long since I have bounced around this place...

My plan was to skype into the last gabcast but sadly my Dad was readmitted to hospital yet again on that exact day so needless to say I missed the show. Between dealing with that ongoing saga and my work I have not had time for much else online. But I'm proud to say I have had my first solo-authored paper accepted by a well-known journal in March and I am still grinding on (for now).

Hope everyone is doing well and the skies remain clear.

... and before I get off on a rant let me say its my opinion this EM-drive and Alcubierre business that's being tossed about online (say, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3063082/Has-Nasa-built-WARP-DRIVE-Engineers-claim-tested-impossible-engine-travel-faster-speed-light.html or http://io9.com/new-test-suggests-nasas-impossible-em-drive-will-work-1701188933), along with any other system that claims to break classical conservation of momentum is really most likely bunk. If I were forced to bet I will say that these effects will go the way of OPERAs faster than light neutrinos before long.
But - of course - that lack of vision may be why I'm not working at NASA right now! Meanwhile I'll be keeping my fingers crossed even if the outcome doesn't look great.

[Agent : Orange]

Newly-found gravitationally-lensed galaxy ring as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. 

"Astronomers have discovered that a distant galaxyâ€"seen from Earth with the aid of a gravitational lensâ€"appears like a cosmic ring, thanks to the highest resolution images ever taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) [...] Discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory, SDP.81 is an active star-forming galaxy nearly 12 billion light-years away, seen at a time when the Universe was only 15 percent of its current age. It is being lensed by a massive foreground galaxy that is a comparatively nearby 4 billion light-years away. [...] Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive galaxy or cluster of galaxies bends the light emitted from a more distant galaxy, forming a highly magnified, though much distorted image. In this particular case, the galaxy known as SDP.81 and an intervening galaxy line up so perfectly that the light from the more distant one forms a nearly complete circle as seen from Earth."

*gush*

This paper ( http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.08720 ) does a jaw-dropping job modeling the total lens mass distribution and also the source light distribution. Amazing.

[Agent : Orange]

Also.... is ... is that Fort Rock on the tab for this site now?

It just takes a few months for the place to go to the scorpions...

[Agent : Orange]

"Astronomers unveil the farthest galaxy"

http://news.yale.edu/2015/05/05/astronomers-unveil-farthest-galaxy

[area51drone]

I'm sorry to hear your Dad's in the hospital, but when the hell are you ever going to answer my questions!?!  :-)  Glad to have you back and posting.   And congrats on the paper.  If you want to PM it to me, I'd love to read it.

[aldousburbank]

Interesting musings on our potential for faster-than-light-travel, or not.

http://earthsky.org/space/faster-than-light-travel-are-we-there-yet

[zeebo]

Closest exoplanet ever directly imaged, this super-Jupiter orbits a star only 40 light years away.

http://io9.com/a-remarkable-direct-image-of-a-nearby-super-jupiter-1703626225

[zeebo]

Interesting musings on our potential for faster-than-light-travel, or not.

http://earthsky.org/space/faster-than-light-travel-are-we-there-yet

Cool article Aldous.  Looks like the Alcubierre drive is still the best theoretical hope out there.  As I recall though one problem with it, if you could somehow make one, is the extreme tidal forces around the bubble would heat up the ship to something like a thousand times the surface of the sun ... so better bring along your sunscreen, it's gonna get toasty in there.   

[Agent : Orange]

A brief blurb about a new formation channel for Wolf Rayet stars.

http://phys.org/news/2015-05-hubble-one-of-a-kind-star-nicknamed-nasty.html

Maybe of interest because Art and Michio Kaku captured our collective imaginations with the discussion of WR104 on the first DM show?

[Camazotz Automat]

I wish there were hundreds of battery powered solar re-chargeable rovers/crawlers all over our moon and that they could be remotely controlled from Earth by citizens who purchased a subscription from NASA.

In lieu of this, I demand that Art construct a large sandbox behind the new studio and that it be stocked with several little wi-fi controlled crab bots crawling and digging around, accessible to paying members.

It's obvious we are never going to colonize the moon.

But we could colonize a sandbox behind Art Bell's studio, digging in the sand under a desert moon.

Welcome ... to ... The Arena.

"Okay, I'm shutting the sandbox router down, folks. Crab 7 dug its way out and ran up the road, chasing a neighbor's kid. I know a bellgab member is responsible. This is why we can't have anything nice. I'm serious, Paul. Pull the plug on the sandbox for tonight 'til we catch the rogue crab. This is Art Bell and you're listening to Midnight in the Desert."

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

I wish there were hundreds of battery powered solar re-chargeable rovers/crawlers all over our moon and that they could be remotely controlled from Earth by citizens who purchased a subscription from NASA.

In lieu of this, I demand that Art construct a large sandbox behind the new studio and that it be stocked with several little wi-fi controlled crab bots crawling and digging around, accessible to paying members.

It's obvious we are never going to colonize the moon.

But we could colonize a sandbox behind Art Bell's studio, digging in the sand under a desert moon.

Welcome ... to ... The Arena.

"Okay, I'm shutting the sandbox router down, folks. Crab 7 dug its way out and ran up the road, chasing a neighbor's kid. I know a bellgab member is responsible. This is why we can't have anything nice. I'm serious, Paul. Pull the plug on the sandbox for tonight 'til we catch the rogue crab. This is Art Bell and you're listening to Midnight in the Desert."

This could be the prelude to Art's grey goo.

[zeebo]

New Horizons is closing in on Pluto.  Closest flyby is on July 14.  Cool times, especially if any discoveries made are mentioned by Art the following week. 

http://www.space.com/29499-pluto-photos-new-horizons-spacecraft.html

[zeebo]

NASA releases info on instruments which will be aboard mid-2020's mission to Europa.  (Some interesting stuff, but doesn't look like any cool ice-burrowing probes will be amongst them.)

"The Europa probe â€" which is scheduled to launch in the early to mid-2020s â€" will carry supersharp cameras, a heat detector, ice-penetrating radar and a variety of other gear that will shed light on the satellite's surface composition and the nature of its salty subsurface sea, among other things, NASA officials said."

http://www.space.com/29487-nasa-europa-mission-science.html