Starship Asterisk*

Thanks for posting this bug. I'll set about addressing it shortly, but I would ask you to please be patient as phpBB3 works quite differently than phpBB2, in many ways. If anyone reading this has experience with phpBB3, knows what's likely happening, and can suggest how to fix it, please send me a p...

makc wrote:why all NSL threads were killed?

The Night Sky Live project has entered a new phase, and the material in the posts in the various NSL sections/threads is now of just historical interest ... it should be visible to registered users, but is no longer open to new material.

Hello All, Last Aug. I mentioned this but didn't post the link, d'oh. Does anyone have a link to the results of this workshop? http://www.astro.unipd.it/omega08/ Any info or interest would be gregariously welcomed! If you follow the links on that page, you'll find that the various authors have unti...

Ken G, a regular poster in the BAUT forum, recently wrote the following (extract, emphasis added; source ): Let me just tell you [another BAUT member] that you keep stumbling over a fundamental misconception about what science is for . I don't blame you for this misconception, it is reinforced const...

[...] Science is telling me that the universe has a beginning and will die a frozen death but again not sure about the death part. My point is that science sees the universe as start and finish. We know what the BBT tells us about the beginning... What does science tell us about the dark energy, ex...

(?) Seems like a topic for the Café ... though at first glance my guess is it has no 'legs' at all ... because (for starters) I can't see how it could be made to square with the quite unambiguous results from a classic experiment such as the two-slit experiment (especially versions done with 'one p...

Not far off topic - Light - it is suggested that light travels in waves, is composed of 'particles' (photos) and according to something I read probably in Scientific American more light passes through a small diameter hole than can be explained by the holes size. What if the 'ray' or 'beam' of ligh...

[...] The scientific flaw? Among the many mind-twisting things in quantum mechanics (QM) is that 'individual objects may lose their identity' (or 'certain things cannot have an individual identity, period'). Of course, this is 'just' a limitation of the human mind when it comes to trying to interpr...

I like to think of creation as bringing in being that what was not. Whether by the BB or by God or whatever. True I believe in a Divine Being; but, I believe the tools He uses are what you Science Nerds are discovering. The BB (accepted theory) being one of them. Evolution being another. Who is to ...

OK, I lied; one more for today ... I've just re-read this thread from the beginning, and I see that neufer, Sputnick, and orin stepanek posted to it before it was split from the original (Discuss an APOD) thread and moved here ("Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:44 pm"). These three folk have also not p...

to discuss the nature of modern astrophysics and cosmology as science, and within this huge topic to see if there is a strong case that can be made that (most) modern astronomical observations are 'theory-free' what (for you) is a 'theory-free' observation, in modern astronomy? I don't know where y...

..., isn't there a logical flaw in your comment? Yes my comment is not logical. Because that’s the way I think (or is my nature). Why MUST the observable universe have been created (or, if you prefer, have a creation event)? The short answer... no logical reason except it fits my perception. Longer...

Still not a wash… black holes are stars but we don’t fully understand the physics. Aye ... but my original comment excluded black holes (" the 'stars' ( in various APODs ) may be 'other Suns' " - bold added)! :P Deliberately!! :o :shock: I would love it if science were able to address cre...

[...] what (for you) is a 'theory-free' observation, in modern astronomy? I don't know where you draw the line on "modern", but even with regular old fashioned observational astronomy I think there's no such thing as 'theory-free' observation. (emphasis added) This is what I'd like to con...

Taking some earlier posts ... [...] 2. Very little. I see the pictures aesthetically… as works of art... both from the author of the APOD and the Author of the APOD subject. To clarify, if I may ... the 'stars' (in various APODs) may be 'other Suns', or they may be something else entirely, it's pre...

... The scientists haven't found all the answers yet , but yet the religious nuts insist that what the scientists know so far proves they are wrong, like for example the gaps in fossil records. Gary Hi Gary, I think from reading your comment that you may be calling me a religious nut… if so, I am o...

Snippets don't do justice to some of the actual subtleties of Popperian falsificationism Agreed. I felt lucky to find the quotes I did to put with the links. Sometimes I can't find a representative quote at all. The quotes I used were meant, of course, to tempt the interested reader to check out th...

It is my responsibility as an interested "consumer" to be discerning. It's a big internet, and it's very easy to set up a website! A few hours searching will uncover an astonishing range of 'alternative' views, some of which are quite explicit in their claims that cosmology cannot be scie...

Another older post ... ... perceptions of modern astrophysics and cosmology as science are quite interesting to me. This concept is out of line, I think, with my not seeing belief as pertinent to fact. I mean that astrophysics and cosmology, strictly speaking, are science, and that "perception&...

Philosophy of Science Karl Popper contended that the central question in the philosophy of science was distinguishing science from non-science. Early attempts by the logical positivists grounded science in observation while non-science (e.g. metaphysics) was non-observational and hence nonsense. Po...

How to go about working out if NGC 7331 is (truly) distorted/"warped" (and if so, how) vs whether it's some kind of optical illusion? What do y'all think of this approach? Start with a study of thousands of carefully compiled images of ('spiral') galaxies. Conclude that they have the follo...

Applying (Newton's) theory of gravity to observations of Uranus produced inconsistencies; not one but hundreds of observations 'contradicted' the Newtonian theory, ergo it was 'proven wrong'. You, dear reader, know the rest, don't you? Applying (Newton's) theory of gravity to observations of Mercur...

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36161/description/Milky_Ways_black_hole_seen_in_new_detail ScienceNews Milky Way's black hole seen in new detail By Ron Cowen September 27th, 2008; Vol.174 #7 A closer look at a unique feature in the galaxy’s center suggests outlines of the black hole’s ev...

OK, I lied; one more for today ... I've just re-read this thread from the beginning, and I see that neufer, Sputnick, and orin stepanek posted to it before it was split from the original (Discuss an APOD) thread and moved here ("Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:44 pm"). These three folk have also not po...

Last comment on an older post, for today. The relationship between "reality" and (scientific) theory is an interesting one. As it's come up in this thread, let me ask all readers some simple questions, if I may. I'll consider those questions in a moment, but first, a comment on the above. ...