Starship Asterisk*

Harry, the Andromeda galaxy is about 2x10^19 km away. At least, that's what my physics text book says. And it cost me 150 bucks, so it better be right! Yaarrr! :? The question is: is that the distance from our location in the Milky Way to the nearest part of Andromeda? Or is that the center of our g...

That actually makes sense...since galaxies rotate as if they are much larger than they appear (the "outer" arms rotating as quickly as the central bulge).

You still can't actually slow light down...you can just make it pass through substances that cause it to have long absorption/emission times. The light is still traveling 186,000 m/s in between each particle . It's the minute amount of time in the absorption/emission process that "slows it down...

ckam: if you don't have one, a sky chart for your PC can help...you can filter the Messier/NGC objects that are displayed on your screen by apparent magnitude.


EasySky has a free trial version to play with.

Great explanation Pete, it makes total sense to me ! Do any Mars probes have seismic sensors for Marsquakes ? Is there much seismic activity on Mars? If I remember correctly kovil, I don't believe there is much seismic activity on Mars. The core of the planet is thought to have cooled enough for vo...

Please do not be insulted by my sarcasm Orca. I try to mix in a little "light-hearted" humor with my posts. It's nothing personal I just enjoy a good debate. Thank you for clarifying! 8) If we are to continue down this path of robotics it will delay/stop what we as a species must accompli...

A gold brick in fact! But apparently the Cafe doesn't sell alcoholic beverages...especially anything with Arcturian Mega-Gin!

For those who are curious, here's the official recipe for a pan galactic gargle blaster!

BMAONE23 - agreed. I am particularly interested in more research and experiments on possible materials for radiation shielding. One of the largest barriers to becoming a space faring species is radiation such as cosmic rays. Once we leave the protective magnetic field of the earth, we'll have to fin...

If we are going to continue this conversation, perhaps it should move to the thread Martin started in the Cafe? I could sure use a pan-galactic latte anyway...

Ok Martin, here’s my response. I’ll run through each point. My argument was that the goal of sustainability on Earth is a more pressing and more urgent need than human expansion into space. Along those lines, robotic probes can collect a good amount of data for the cost when compared to human explor...

See, Marvin's already being nicer...he didn't use bold for his responses!

8)

I'd suggest that a new thread is started in the cafe, perhaps with the title: "human exploration of space" or some such thing. Then, as long as we can all take a deep breath and make positive and constructive statements (and perhaps avoid making accusations of affiliations to unpopular pol...

Clearly you are an expert at ignorance. :D My thoughts as well, Fatcity. Martin, if you think that trying to achieve sustainability on the only planet that isn't horribly destructive to life as we know it constitutes "ignorance," well, I am just not sure what to tell you. Here's my impres...

Many robotics missions are planned to take place before a manned mission. A trained geologist can observe and preform a basic analysis in 15 seconds for the same information the present robots are capable of in an hours time plus can maneuver data point to data points exponentially faster. Humans a...

Is it too small an area for an accurate spectral analysis? Why is water a reason to go to Mars? Is it that water makes it more likely that life exists? I think the (potential) discovery of life is a good reason to send unmanned missions until we have discovered enough that manned missions are produc...

And make sure you have a primary AND secondary coffee machine! 8)

Harry, if I may, it seems that there is a pattern to the theories you are drawn to. Infinite universe in something of a steady-state; time that is static regardless of the observer; gravity that is for all intents and purposes instantaneous... It sounds like you, like so many others over the years, ...

Or you can simply copy it before you try posting it -just in case your post time expires. being paranoid: what if the power goes off? Get a battery back up system. That will give you some time to save your data. Then maybe you should use a pen (scratch that) PENCIL and paper for the rough draft, eh...

i can't believe it, i just wrote about 2 hours of stuff about this, my session disconnected, and now everything i wrote is lost........ wonderful (i've left out swear words out of respect but it was hard) Admin, this seriously needs to be fixed, it's not the first time I would use notepad for every...

The Andromeda galaxy is certainly photogenic...always been one of my favorites!

But, it was very entertaining! "Secular gravity." Mwahaha!! :P Of course, "The Onion" is a farse site anyway. Look at the leading story on the homepage : Spaniards Vow To Once Again Decimate Population Of New World MADRID—Seeking to reestablish Spain's global dominance after cent...

I think Einstein is somewhat "worshipped" at this point, RJ. Basically, a hypothetical force introduced by Einstein into GR that had no basis in observation seems to have been realized by an observable force called dark energy. It's neat to think that Einstein "saw it coming," bu...

Richard, I have been a regular viewer of APOD for years and have not seen anything like that posted. I pretty much felt the same way you did. I think most of us are impressed by gigantic machinery of any kind; however, some of us can't maintain a positive outlook if the purpose of the machine has, i...

Yep Harry, that article is indeed Rubbish. Someone needs to read up on GR. As for the model I was describing, it's just some of the 'logical battles' early astronomers wrestled with their limited knowledge of the universe. But, I don't buy into the idea of an infinite universe, or one that somehow c...