Starship Asterisk*

WMAP Resolves the Universe (APOD 2005 Sep 15)

Universe Measured: We're 156 Billion Light-years Wide! (Space.com 2004 May 24)

You can discuss vacuum energy and almost anything related to cosmology in The Asterisk Cafe.

Amazing, they are estimating only a 1 in 75 chance of 2007 WD5 impact with Mars on Jan 30, 2008.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2007-152
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/podc ... -20071221/

I think One more resource and Unusual Silica Rich Soil Discovered on Mars, Dec 18/07 can be combined. I think they are both referring to http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071218.html.

Oil? I know that you were kidding, but isn't oil nothing more than decomposed ancient carbon-based plants? No, go back to school, that "theory" was proven wrong way back in 1957. Abiogenic petroleum origin theory is the minority opinion, especially in the West. Most oil exploration is bas...

Silica, silicon dioxide , forms with the exposure of silicon to oxygen and heat. Dissolved silicon in ground water is vented through hot springs and volcanic vents, combines with oxygen in the surrounding air or seawater forming silica. Silica is not soluble in water, so it precipitates out causing ...

I was just wondering about what you exactly need to go screw thing for the space station or other black theo ortbiter.... You need to be a bad cop? my friend tell me no at first, you need a interesting doctorat in orther to be so tired of learning than when you find yourself in the cold having to s...

craterchains wrote:

CC, a word of caution. Maybe you shouldn't roll your eyes at god. He may be the old testament god, who lacks a sense of humor and is extremely prone to violence.

Any 2D point on the surface of a sphere can be considered the center of the 2D "plane" that is the surface. Similarly, any 3D point on the 3D "surface" of a 4D universe can be considered the center. This is the standard model of the Universe. Thanks, Chris! I had to not think ab...

... It's likely in the center of the entire Universe, as well, since- in three dimensions- any point in the Universe can be considered the center. OK, Chris, I bite. I have to admit I appreciate your observations and explanations, sometimes I can even see where they're going before you get there. M...

Chris Peterson wrote:Of course, in a very real sense, the Earth likely is in the center of the Universe. It's just not unique in that respect.

Yes, it would have to be the center of the observable universe since our observations are made from here.

It has also served to bring to light, the shear numbers of ignorant people that there are in the world. (and might serve to identify them) Evident in the Flat Earth Society, and Moon Landing Hoaxers Are you trying to say the earth isn't flat? :shock: I suppose next you'll tell me that earth isn't t...

PassionateBomba wrote:Cutting to the chase, can you tell us what those 100s of billions of $$$TAX$$$ has benefited humanity?

Tang

Chris Peterson wrote:The Universe is a bright, colorful, and exciting place!

or perhaps endo- meaning inside - endoscopic

FieryIce wrote:I see an order and pattern in the chaos, which leads to the only possible conclusion, intelligent design.

Care to explain? I don't think I've ever seen evidence for intelligent design.

The picture I get from information gleened from many discussions in The Asterisk Cafe and Discuss an APOD is that there is no center or edge to the universe. Using your bubble analogy, the universe is the skin of the bubble, not the volume enclosed by the bubble. The size of the universe is in part ...

mr_halstead wrote:OK perhaps I'm just a moron... wouldn't the "earthrise" once a month due to the phases of the moon?

I think that would be sunrise. My understanding is that since the same face of the moon is always facing earth, the earth would always appear at the same location in the moon's sky.

I think requiring the APOD subject and date would help instead of just the date or today's APOD when posting. For instance today post of Nov. 20 doesn't tell the viewer that the post is about Earthrise from the Moon. Consequently there is another post about Earthrise. :? Orin As Orin says, two Eart...

Does the earth-rise picture not look a little odd? The foreground shadows indicate a light source on the left, bit the indistinct limb on the earth in the background indicates the light source is on the right... In both the foreground and background, it appears to me the light source is behind and ...

True. But, we had such threads in past with no apparent need for any cross-reference listings. Yes, there have been multi-apod/single topic before. There are at least three ways to handle them: provide a xref per nereid, combine them all in a single thread as above, or just ignore it and leave it t...

.... (other content skipped) .... New thread: Comet Holmes threads It's a bit of an experiment; after a day or so I'll move it to the Discuss an APOD section. Perhaps I'll make it a sticky, for as long as the linked threads remain popular; perhaps I'll repeat for other, multi-APOD/single topics, in...

From Lance McVay's website http://sacredartichoke.com/coppermine/d ... m=8&pos=14 the photo was added to his collection on October 4, 2007. I don't know if this is when the photo was taken or not. Were there any visible comets in the scope of the picture on this date?

Ok, I'm curious. What are the two bright "stars" on the right edge on the moon? (About 2:00 and 3:30) Noel?

BTW - Great picture!

tkmoore1958 wrote:Exactly what I've wondered. I wonder if someone has made a Java applet that could make a mini-planetarium of your computer screen, where your point of view is the center of a cluster?

You might try A Star Cluster in Motion (APOD 20020730)

ablebodieman rules violations in Tunguska explosion and Was Tunguska a meteor or a comet?

Those two topics could also be merged with Tunguska event photograph (APOD 14 November)

Could we also merge all of the recent Comet Holmes threads even though they deal with multiple apods.