Search found 14 matches

by GaryR
Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:03 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: A Jet from Galaxy M87 (2011 Aug 28)
Replies: 18
Views: 3415

Re: APOD: A Jet from Galaxy M87 (2011 Aug 28)

Apart from the jet, I notice that the light from M87 is granulated. The granules are slightly smaller than the individual globular clusters are. Is the granular appearance due to star clusters in M87? That seems strange to me, and indeed, I should think that it would be a great discovery to find th...
by GaryR
Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:54 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Global Warming Predictions (2009 April 21)
Replies: 621
Views: 67952

Re: 2009 April 21 - global warming

snip... Paul Keim, an expert on infectious bacteria at Northern Arizona University, said that work by Dr. Achtman and Dr. Krause had shown that the Black Death “ was really a series of epidemics coming out of China and sweeping across the susceptible ecological situation ” created by the culture of...
by GaryR
Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:35 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Kepler 16b: A Planet with Two Suns (2011 Sep 20)
Replies: 21
Views: 9838

Re: APOD: Kepler 16b: A Planet with Two Suns (2011 Sep 20)

Sorry, but Kepler 16b is pretty dull for us very curious non-astronomers. Why not rename it "Tatooine"? You could try suggesting it to the IAU (International Astronomical Union), the governing body for naming celestial objects? They might adopt it, unless it is copyrighted by George Lucas...
by GaryR
Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:45 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Dry Ice Pits on Mars (2011 Sep 26)
Replies: 60
Views: 6804

Re: APOD: Dry Ice Pits on Mars (2011 Sep 26)

I have to agree with you about the Nuclear Power and clean energy. The only real problem with Nuclear power is how the spent fuel rods are stored and cooled. Currently they are placed in spent fuel ponds that are kept cool by continually pumping water through them that is pumped by power produced o...
by GaryR
Tue Nov 23, 2010 2:18 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: A Massive Star in NGC 6357 (2010 Nov 21)
Replies: 29
Views: 12936

Re: APOD: A Massive Star in NGC 6357 (2010 Nov 21)

Similarly, in today's APOD, it could be that the colliding stellar winds create the strong emission nebula between the cluster and the star inside a cavity of gas and dust. Ann Huh? I thought it was the intense ultraviolet light from the massive stars that causes the emission nebula. Stellar wind j...
by GaryR
Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:56 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Coreshine from a Dark Cloud (2010 Sep 30)
Replies: 13
Views: 2867

Re: APOD: Coreshine from a Dark Cloud (2010 Sep 30)

The article that Art posted gives me an opportunity to ask a question that I have been pondering for some times. It is well known that stars are formed inside gas and dust clouds and planets are formed within the accretion disks around the newly formed stars. However, is it also possible that planet...
by GaryR
Thu May 13, 2010 12:05 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Herschel Crater on Mimas of Saturn (2010 May 11)
Replies: 22
Views: 6686

Re: APOD: Herschel Crater on Mimas of Saturn (2010 May 11)

This is a moon made of water ice... I am always puzzled how it is possible that there could be such a concentration of some chemical compound, in this case water ice, that would condensed into a large body composing mostly of that chemical compound. I would think that following a supernova, most el...
by GaryR
Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:01 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Phobos from Mars Express (2010 Mar 17)
Replies: 53
Views: 24004

Re: APOD: Phobos from Mars Express (2010 Mar 17)

wonderboy, If Phobos is as cracked up as that (all that it is cracked up to be!), what is holding it together? The tidal forces would still be acting on it, so why hasn't it spread out into a 'string of pearls"? OK, maybe it made a close approach to the Chandresekar limit at one time, and near...
by GaryR
Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:25 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: An Unusually Smooth Surface on... (2010 Feb 17)
Replies: 19
Views: 3873

Re: APOD: An Unusually Smooth Surface on... (2010 Feb 17)

Ergo: in 4 or 5 billion years the barycenter may well be located above the surface of the Earth and The Moon will cease to be " a moon ." Well, in 4 or 5 billion years, the Earth and the Moon will be either vaporized or burned to crisp by the Sun in its red giant stage. So the matter will...
by GaryR
Mon Jan 18, 2010 3:44 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: Atlantis to Orbit (2010 Jan 17)
Replies: 14
Views: 2768

Re: Atlantis to Orbit (2010 Jan 17)

Redbone wrote: ... unlike the billions of dollars wasted on the global warming hoax.
At the risk of starting another round of arguments on global warming, why do you think it is a hoax? Something to do with you not wanting to change your way of life by using less energy derived from fossil fuel?

Gary
by GaryR
Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:40 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula (2009 Dec 29)
Replies: 9
Views: 3555

Re: Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula (2009 Dec 29)

Thanks to everyone for all the help. :P http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Rigel_sun_comparision.png Computer generated image of Rigel compared to the Sun (to scale) :?: How was the diameter of Rigel measured at 800 ly distance? Anyway, your computer-generated image makes the Sun lo...
by GaryR
Tue Dec 22, 2009 3:10 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: Star Cluster R136 Bursts Out (2009 Dec 21)
Replies: 3
Views: 2185

Re: Star Cluster R136 Bursts Out (2009 Dec 21)

I recall that during the 1950s, when I was a teenager interested in all things astronomical, that astronomers once thought that 30 Doradus was a single massive star.

Gary R
by GaryR
Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:47 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: APOD: NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe (2009 Nov 21)
Replies: 39
Views: 4727

Re: Silver Dollar Galaxy NGC 253 (2009 Nov 21)

Science gave us abortion, and said it was good, after all we are either all atheists or fools. Now we see the most fervent opposition to abortion comes from those that have experienced it. Sometimes the soul, truth rears its ugly head at the wrong time. You are bringing religion or moralities to th...
by GaryR
Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:59 am
Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
Topic: Galaxy Merger (2009 November 9 APOD)
Replies: 7
Views: 1549

Re: Galaxy Merger (2009 November 9 APOD)

Will the stars and other matter in the tidal tails be falling back into the merged galaxy or will they be dispersed into the intergalactic space?

Gary