Starship Asterisk*

How can I install the background program thing - the one that automatically downloads the astronomy picture of the day every day on the computer's background? https://sites.google.com/site/apodwallpaper/ The APOD Wallpaper software automatically updates your Windows desktop wallpaper from the Astro...

i wouldn't click on that link above, it may lead to more horrendous non-poems.. imo.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
My car doesn't work right
So now I'm going to cut it in two

Aquifers Discovered in Drought-Ridden Kenya http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/world/africa/aquifers-discovered-in-drought-ridden-kenya.html?_r=0 Radar Technologies International, the natural resources exploration firm that discovered the aquifers, said that they contained “a minimum reserve of 250 b...

Shiver me timbers! A welcome rapid cool down for MN. http://www.startribune.com/weather/blogs/Paul_Douglas_on_Weather.html http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_images/spark_20.jpg 97f Mon ---> 47f Fri morning -- a 50f degree difference brrrrr No more of this http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_...

I'm trying to get at the survivability rate of HZ planets' atmospheres? What types of destructive forces on a viable atmosphere, would there be, say, on Earth-candidates nearer the inner edge of a habitable zone? Does size matter? Are super Earths more likely to have safe surfaces for life bc of str...

The reason I'm flabbergasted is bc my whole life I was worried about them, they're being mean with insatiable appetites and far flung influence. Now it sounds like they're not nearly as scary as I thought. dang movies :| this object is the opposite of quiet tho' watch 3c321 shoot an irradiated parti...

Thanks. that whole answer blew my mind. And created an accretion disk around my head!

bellicosity wrote: so, if it's such a picky eater, how'd it get so large to begin with???

Did our black hole grow early on with a higher ratio of/more heavier material around? And now in a more mature galaxy, it consumes more light objects?

" I have considered removing it due to photos being posted that have nothing to do with astronomy." Pictures like this are up for A Day, then you get another free one 24 hours later. We are beginning to embark on a new journey where we realize our planet and everything we or nature does to...

Can any chemists here envision a differently composed clear atmosphere that has something akin to our colored flames in it? aka Other types of fire like ours out there? Or are Oxygen "fire"s the only type there is sort of that could happen on the surface of a Earth-like planet? If we had a...

I agree with Owlice wholeheartedly. The first Earthlike planet we really get to examine, should have plenty of Oxygen on it (to be Earth-like). So it shall have fire on it too perhaps? Also if we are to watch AGW closely for our children's sake, we had better understand and monitor the way wildfires...

We probably needed A LOT OF HELP along the way too. I just happen to come across this related article tonight. tried to speed read it, it's very interesting. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/08/symmetry_in_the_universe_physics_says_you_shouldn_t_exist.html Four Reasons Y...

funny, I admit I only read the NASA link above a little bit actually. I noticed NASA is still looking and hasn't made a any big leap of faith yet. That should mean something. When NASA jumps, then we yell Hooray!

Ann wrote:The few golden age sci-fi books about trips to Mars and Venus that I read all promised me that Mars and Venus were going to be full of life, just like the Earth. Why aren't they? Are they te ones that are strange, or is it the Earth that is exceptional? I have come to believe quite strong...

If science is leaning towards life on Earth being seeded by comets and the like... Science is leaning pretty hard against that view. Rather, these kinds of bodies are seen as possibly providing some of the organic ingredients that were incorporated by the first life. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scien...

could there be a type of mirage effect going on? ripples, waves etc that could confuse or muddle our interpretation of the meager data coming in from Voyager?

Ugh oven heat (with high tropical humidity) for 6 days straight :no: http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_images/hot10dogice.jpg ... It was 15F degrees cooler in the deserts of southern California than it was in Minnesota yesterday. http://www.startribune.com/weather/blogs/Paul_Douglas_on_Weather....

<<Possible future uses [for Kepler] ...Another proposal is to modify the software on Kepler to compensate. Instead of the stars being fixed and stable in Kepler's field of view, they will drift. However, software could track this drift and more or less completely recover the mission goals despite b...

What? And miss an opportunity to see
The Great Gazoo!

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/ What Now For The Higgs Boson? Published on Oct 17, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=649iUqrOKuE I visited the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland to find out what is being done now that the Higgs Boson has been discovered. Although its mass has been measured aroun...

The Other Milky Way...
her frustration appears astronomical
I can't resist, it's for his own good...

http://www.startribune.com/weather/blogs/Paul_Douglas_on_Weather.html http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_images/pauldouglas_1376859063_Heat-Expands-East-2_1.gif Shift In The Pattern. The (amazingly) persistent kink in the jet stream that has funneled a parade of Canadian cool fronts south of the...

William Shakespeare stands in front of his own mirror and says; "To thy own self be true."

words to live by

It's fairly well established that if you smile on purpose when your unhappy, you will affect your mood and become less unhappy. If you stand in front of a mirror all grumpy and you smile at yourself and tell yourself good things like "I'm actually good looking and smart, I don't care what other...

The Earth never ceases to amaze me. No matter where or when we look, it's beautiful.