Universe Today - Latest Comments

Re: Book Review: The Milky Way, An Insider’s Guide

danangel — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:01:35 -0000

What? No giveaway?

I want a copy.

Re: Morpheus Aborts, Then Recovers For a Second Go In Tether Test

Patrick Ahles — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:52:45 -0000

the moon.

Re: Uranus Is Being Chased By Asteroids!

duncan@r-p-m.eu — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:12:27 -0000

It also cannot prove that the Moon formed out of the Earth.
I've looked into this a bit last night and so far we seem to've only positively identified 2 planets and 1 moon their isotope readings.
There's research going on to identify the other rocky planets and even that can turn out to be meaningless since then we've just gotten 4 samples.
It might just very well mean the average distance to the sun :)

Re: Uranus Is Being Chased By Asteroids!

duncan@r-p-m.eu — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:05:54 -0000

Fair enough, the research on hydrogen isotypes is still ongoing and there's a lot of possibilities.
And we should be from the same debris, however the time of planet formation wasnt identical and hopefully that will come forward from the ongoing research :) But its way to soon to decide which theory is fact.

Re: Venus’ Winds Are Mysteriously Speeding Up

muffie1801 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:34:35 -0000

This quote is taken from the ESA Venus Express page which Jason has linked to above.
" In this graph, the white line shows the data derived from manual cloud tracking, and the black line is from digital tracking methods. "

Re: Morpheus Aborts, Then Recovers For a Second Go In Tether Test

Daniel — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:53:07 -0000

I'd rather give this contract to SpaceX. Would be cool to see what they could come up with for a moon lander.

Their grasshopper falcon recovery program is looking great, without a tether!

Re: Book Review: The Milky Way, An Insider’s Guide

Kevin Jardine — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:52:47 -0000

Your parallax link is broken. Anyone interested in reading more on parallax can see the Surveying the Galaxy section here:

http://galaxymap.org/drupal/no...

Re: Morpheus Aborts, Then Recovers For a Second Go In Tether Test

CJSF — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:31:48 -0000

"The vehicle is advertised as big enough to land 1,100 pounds of cargo on the moon if it was placed nearby."

What does that mean, exactly? If what was placed nearby to what?

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

Planemo — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:30:25 -0000

Exactly. Looks so awesome! Whats up with 'orange' hazy colors. Looks like horizontal fading lightning 'sprites' in a way.

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

Jason Major — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:20:43 -0000

Agreed. I believe they are glare artifacts due to the lighting and the fact that the entire image is a mosaic of many smaller ones, each with its own angle of glare.

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

lcrowell — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:57:43 -0000

I don't know what those orange colored wisps are. I suspect they are some artifact of the optics.

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

Planemo — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:43:36 -0000

No God uh? Ok, I cannot prove there is a God in as much as you cannot prove there is NOT a God. Science is catching up either way. Sounds to me Astroraider is playing GOD. "Know it all are you"? To me, the possibilities are there. This cosmos was planted like a mustard seed. By whom? You name 'it' what you want.
A mustard seed is planted and it grows into a tree then spawns/grows leaves and fruits. This cosmos had a start like any seed planted called a "singularity". It expanded/grew/spawned into gases, gravity, strong/weak nuclear, dark energy/matter, stars, blackholes, planets, ... -you get the picture-. Ok GOD Astroraider. What comes first, the seed or the plant? Its an egg and chicken thing. Oh ya, when will I hit the multi-million dollar lottery Astroraider? We all have our perspectives. Have a good day ;-)

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

Kawarthajon — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:39:03 -0000

I agree. These Cassini guys are not just scientists, they truly are artists! Every time I see one of their newest photos, I think it is the most beautiful one I've ever seen, and then they come up with an even more stunning one. Impressive.

On another note, what are those wispy things at the bottom of the photo? Light spikes from the camera, or illuminated dust or somethings else?

Re: Venus’ Winds Are Mysteriously Speeding Up

Jimbob — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:11:04 -0000

With the help of his cohort Obummer and his side kick Obiden of course.

Re: Venus’ Winds Are Mysteriously Speeding Up

art7 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:05:15 -0000

Bush did it

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

Beck45 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:01:34 -0000

Yes an annoyingly written post, surely. But about the pixel thing, no. You'd of course still see things less than 1 pixel in size. Think of the image on the camera sensor. It still charges that pixel just not as much as a larger dot of the same brightness.

Anyway religion tends to come up in general since it's still an extremely prevalent motivator for *everything* in today's world. But being an absurdity, some people, understandably, will be chafed by it.

Re: Black Hole Bonanza! Dozens (Potentially) Found In Andromeda As Another Study Probes X-Rays

lcrowell — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:24:00 -0000

I am of course raising an hypothesis. However, If I am right this mechanism would generate enormous currents of accelerated electrons. These highly Lorentz boosted electrons would then scatter photons in an inverse Compton scattering. This might be the source of the hard X-rays.

Re: NASA Names First Astronaut Class for Deep Space Exploration

Adam Singer — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:59:48 -0000

Now NASA's announced a new class
With many new skills all en masse
They'll take to the stars
For asteroids, Mars
Our hopes they will clearly surpass

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

esmifra — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:14:47 -0000

You know that if it's less then a pixel than you wouldn't see it right?

That idea of yours is preposterous.... And using caps every five words is not regarded as a expression of opinion but as an imposition...

Re: Say Cheese: Cassini to Snap Another “Pale Blue Dot” Picture of Earth

Bridh Amazing Hancock — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:48:56 -0000

A global Clean-Up day on July 18th sounds good, and it will catch on, surely.
How insignificant is Earth! Never! Ah, but only in the perspective of here & now, and not in even the Solar system.

Re: Will Comet ISON Dazzle our Skies? An Expert Weighs In

bombuzal — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:36:14 -0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Re: Uranus Is Being Chased By Asteroids!

Planemo — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:04:20 -0000

Yes, I agree, but up to a point. Are we not in the same solar system? Are we not from the same 'super-nova' debris which spawned our sun and all the gas giants, rocky planets, moons and asteroids? Doesn't the Oort cloud contain trillions of comets with hydrogen isotopes in them? Just a thought and possibility.
;-)

Re: Uranus Is Being Chased By Asteroids!

duncan@r-p-m.eu — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:44:19 -0000

Dont the hydrogen isotopes identify bodies uniquely?and the earths and the moons are the same

Re: Venus’ Winds Are Mysteriously Speeding Up

IVAN3MAN_AT_LARGE — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:52:23 -0000

If Venus' rotation were prograde, its solar day would be:

Let A = Sidereal Period; B = Orbital Period; A × B / (A − B) = Solar Day

∴ 243.0185 × 224.698 / 18.3205 = 2980.583 days*.

However, since Venus' rotation is retrograde, we make the value of "A" negative; thus:

−243.0185 × 224.698 / −467.7165 = 116.75 days*.

*(We are talking 'Earth days' here.)

Re: Will Comet ISON Dazzle our Skies? An Expert Weighs In

Planemo — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:37:41 -0000

There's that Holy Cod Fish again. "God Willing", may your "Cupith Runnith Overith" with Codith Fishith's. Gee, I wonder what Poseiden would say?