Starship Asterisk*

Hello All,

Nice to see some of the "old Guard" still kickin' around. I can see I've a lot of catching up to do.

Hello All,

When I saw this image my first thought was whether or not the spectral association of the elements of a main subject also affected the appearance of stars (and Galaxies?) within the surrounding field. I thought that it must be so and was then verified here. Thanks.

Hello Old-Bill, Yes, I was thinking the same thing at first. I mean after all, until we got our guys up there, who knew. Also, like so many other things about equipment in space, it was probably meant fo one-time use. My guess is it was to be used to cut the tether on the brick in case of some emerg...

Hrllo All,

The brick, of course, is to chock the wheels on an incline. I'm more curious about the chian saw atop the machine.

Hello Beta and makc, Thank you both for your comments. At 185,999.9 MPH it would be a real bear to gain that .1 MPH, eh? Beta, the self propulsion idea was not mine initially but my comment about the solid fuel gaining mass only refered to the assumption that there would be solid fuel left over in o...

Hello Beta When, say, a candle burns, it just gets smaller and smaller until it's gone (in the ideal case). Internal pressure and "collapsing in on itself" have nothing to do with it. A caseless solid-fuel rocket with no payload works the same way. True, but your candle will never accelera...

Hello Ann, Interesting inquiry. Since mass is a function of density vs. volume one would maybe benefit by setting a criteria for the nature of the object. In other words, is this object accelerating under it's own power or not. If it is then the argument is valid but still opens the door to my usual...

Hello Beta,

Oh yes, I'm sure there is and thank you for replying.

Hello bystander,

As an example of a plausable dynamic if the Earth's iron core were to spin in a direction opposite that of Earth's mantle and crust one would think that the Planet's magnetic field would increase by orders of magnitude. Ya think?

Hello All, An object in motion approaching a Black Hole event horizon...mass increases, time slows. An object in motion approaching the Speed of Light............mass increases, time slows. From the frame of an outside observer. Other than each object accelerating or just being in motion, have I mis...

Hello Beta

Beta wrote:By that reasoning the Sun must be much colder than the gas cloud from which it formed.

Yes.

Hello wonderboy, No. We were put here to do what we've been engineered to do. Live on a planet that will support us long enough for us to turn it into an environment that will best support the life form that created us. An environment that has air polluted enough to kill us off, water polluted enoug...

Hello hstarbuck, Chris, and alte-ego,

Good stuff!............... I mean it, too.

Hello wonderboy, why religion is so prominent here. The fact that you chose the word "why" says much about what you think the truthful reason is, why these institutional mores exist and are allowed to continue in this day and age. It is the promoted-and-thus-never-learned history lesson. T...

Hello Chris, Thank you. One of the chief benefits of being a member of this fine Forum is getting reasonable answers to things that some one (like ME) have had on their minds for years. Joining was one of the good things I have done for myself. And besides, back in Nov. '09 when I composed that post...

Hello All, One of the most remarkable owls is the Great Grey of the Northern climes around and along the Arctic Circle. It's flying range is some 1,500 miles! This species needs to consume the equivalent of one third of it's body weight daily. At first I thought it was an enormous amount of food, ho...

Hello All,

WRT the Earth/Moon senario I can suppose that this is out?

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... on#p112121

Hello rtstevenson, You are correct, this thread did devolve somewhat. However, the subject of Gravity can by it's own nature be murky. Gravity is difficult to resolve with the the other basic forces in the Universe and so my "thoughts" were trying to do just that-explain Gravity as perhaps...

Hello again makc, Yes, the double-slit experiment is something that has had me thinking for several years now and, since taking up B&W photography years back, the polarization of light has been thrown into the mix in my thoughts! For instance, I always purchase polarized sunglasses so as to take...

Hello makc, I guess the LHC has based it's entire reason for being on the info built up over the eons that particles do indeed exist, to which I totally agree and who wouldn't. But, alas, Gravity is an entirely different matter (no pun intended of course) to which some scientist believe that the gra...

Hello hstarbuck, All matter has mass>>all mass has gravity>>Does all gravity have mass? The short answer is no. There are, of course, definitions for Gravity that on the surface seem plausible enough in telling us what it is but, truth be told, all that gets described are the effects of gravity, whe...

Hello Chris, Thanks and yes, duly noted. I forgot about Occam. As for "getting regions going" (I know semantics can be a problem) I still prefer the term falling especially where BH's are concerned as in energy/matter aquiring a near perfect state of rest. Just one example of less dense hi...

Hello Chris, Did I miss something? My quote in your post didn't seem to be reflected in your response as I was proposing the idea that the "Dark Flow", which is to me also an inappropriate term, was not being caused by an unseen attraction but iterated the idea of conditions already existi...

Hello Chris (been a while eh?) and wonderboy (now I understand the moniker), Just my 2 cent's: Typically in physics there is the phenomenon of fluid states, whether liquid or gas or vapor, to strive for equilibrium. This primarily occurs as a result of pressure gradients such as weather, steam syste...

Hello alter-ego,

This is of course not on topic but FYI the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and all variations is my particular nut to crack- been at it for 2yrs. now. BTW King's Gambit is sparky, gutsy, and you're right....FUN!!