31 Days of Planets: Zombie Planet!

Day 28

Watch out - the planet rises from the dead! Sort of. Well, they like to say it has risen from the dead (maybe) but in reality, the scientists just don't know and can't agree.

Fomalhaut b (okay, okay, so I already wrote about this planet) was thought to be just a cloud of dust. Then someone said, "No! I think there's a planet in there!" So they started looking, searching, gazing into the vast expanse of night - until a third party replied, "Well, there's no heat signature. It's just a dust cloud."

Op. Now it's dead. A dead planet.

Well... then they changed their minds. At least, somebody did. They decided that they were seeing a planetary object embedded in a cloud of dust, instead of just, well, a cloud of dust.

So this planet has come back to life via the aid of red tape and limited scientific equipment. 

Humans are great. So are Zombie Planets. 

In conclusion, Happy Halloween, Fomalhaut b!

Picture made by me. More information, here.

31 Days of Planets: Venus

Day 21

Venus: our sister planet, named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. She is quite similar in size and shape to Earth, but she is surrounded by clouds of sulfuric acid, with a dense atmosphere of largely carbon dioxide. Imagine what that would do to your complexion. You trying to lose weight? Don't go to Venus. The atmospheric pressure on Venus is 92 times that of Earth. She has no carbon cycle, no organic life to absorb biomass, her oceans vaporized, free hydrogen has been swept away into interplanetary space by solar winds... but she does have rocks and volcanoes. 

There is one other thing that Venus has: she looks magnificent when she crosses paths with the sun.

I have a sticker of Venus. It looks like this:

In conclusion, Venus might be the goddess of love and beauty, but she probably won't do much for you.

Pictures from Wikipedia.

31 Days of Planet: Fomalhaut b

Day 20

To be or not to be, that is the question! Or rather, to b or not to b! Because it's anybody's guess: does Fomalhaut b really exist?

Approximately 25 light years away, this exoplanet (in the constellation Piscis Austrinus) remains ... unconfirmed. The real question is: if we found it, why is it unconfirmed?

Scientists inferred the existence based on its influence on the Fomalhaut dust belt which was not centered on a star - thus implying that it must be centered on something else, like a planet. Then they took a picture of it with the Hubble space telescope. 

But something was wrong. It's orbit. Because of the dust disk, the planet's orbit would need to be elliptical, but if this were the case, the dust belt would be disrupted because of the estimated size of the planet. Could there be another planet in the mix?

Ray Jayawardhana argued that the misstep in the planet's orbit suggests that it might not be a planet at all and is pushing to have the exoplanet un-categorized as an exoplanet. 

At very least, we know that something is there. The not-yet-confirmed exoplanet would likely be a similar size to Jupiter, and surrounded by a belt of dust. From Formalhaut b, its star would look about like what the sun looks like from Saturn.

In conclusion, I think it's a planet, so that probably pretty much solves the whole issue.

The end.

Pictures from NASA and this article.

31 Days of Planets: Exoplanets

Day 19

As of this month, 842 extrasolar planets (exoplanets), or planets outside of our solar system, have been identified. The nearest exoplanet is in the Alpha Centauri system. The first published discovery - which was later confirmed - was by Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, and Stephenson Wang in 1988. 1988 was a fantastic year - an amazing and stupendous year!

Exoplanets might look like Jupiter. They might look like Earth. They might look like Venus. They might look like - well any kind of planet that we already know, then possibly something completely different! The universe is so big and there is so much possibility, that I mean, think of it - a pink planet? A polka-dotted planet? A planet with dinosaurs that can fly?!?!

One day we'll get there. Yes, yes we will. Or die trying. We better die trying. We better not die by destroying ourselves. That would be very frustrating.

In conclusion, space, here we come!


Pictures from Hawaii! and discoveryblog and liberalrev.

31 Days of Planets: Earth 2.0

Day 18

Three-ish days ago, scientists announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet in the Alpha-Centaui system- which is made up of 2 sun-like stars and one red dwarf. They call it Bb. This new Earth-sized planet is a bit too close to its star for our comfort, averaging a 1,200 degrees Celsius. Maybe we could dig tunnels and live underground? At any rate, the idea is that if there is one small planet in a solar system, there are likely more small planets. This is exciting, because the likelihood of finding a small planet in the Goldilocks zone is high - and it might support or already have life! 

The other awesome thing about this planet, is that it is only four light years away from Earth. Now granted it would take a while to get there, but astronomically speaking, it's really close. One news article used the phrase "an astronomical stone's throw" which I think is a really intriguing statement which shows the clear concept of our own, tiny concept of distance in contrast with a universe-sized concept of distance.  

Some scientists think that NASA should drop everything and go find it. I say, one step at a time people. I'm all about going to find it, but we haven't even been to the moon in ages! I think that all kinds of astronomers would like doing all sorts of things, and instead of arguing about which things to do, we should just find ways to do more - and cheaper is probably better, so it might be a good idea to start with the solar system first. Besides, for all I know, one the Voyagers will just happen to end up in the Alpha Centauri system before we know it!

Here's a picture. It's not a photograph - don't be deceived!

In conclusion, Earth is not alone in the universe. And neither are we, probably.

For more information, read this article.

Picture from all the news articles.

What is your favourite planet?

The Slow Invasion... is real.

Doctor Who may be predicting the future.

Just this morning, I watched the newest episode  --  about the slow invasion in which small black boxes appeared everywhere: 

Next, Dave and I went to Plum Island.

Plum Island looks more or less like this: 

However, to my dismay, on our way out we saw something that set off all alarm bells...

Black boxes.

And these are not the little paper kind you can print off and make. These are giant wooden boxes that could have real weapons and serious computing abilities...

When these boxes start reproducing, becoming smaller and curiouser, and eventually finding their way into people's homes... then we'll really have something to worry about. 

But we should be find for a while. This doesn't look to be just a slow invasion. More like a reaaalllly reaaaaallly reaallly slow invasion. 

What They Really Found On Mars

NASA's new social media effort, mainly the "7 Minutes of Terror," seemed to work miracles for the general public's interest in space. Based on my own Facebook wall (and my cat's Facebook wall), many, many people who aren't interested in anything that happens outside of about 10ft over their heads, began posting links to information about Mars, links to videos and information, and statuses about how cool space is and Mars is and etc, etc.

I was not surprised, however, (although a bit disappointed) when the excitement died down within 48 hours after the landing. The posts petered out. The likes and comments ceased. A week later, the news posts are even mostly gone (except for the thing with Obama).

I'm a little sad. I had hoped that combining the Curiosity's epic landing with the upcoming election would make space travel and discovery a major topic for the Presidential candidates.

It didn't.

So we're back to the same old grind, with a few new people who are excited about space, and a large number of people ready to jump on the bandwagon if anything interesting happens.

Something interesting did happen, though. Something that no one is talking about. Do you want to know what they don't tell you? Do you want to know what they really found on Mars (besides dirt)? I'll give you a hint. It was the same thing they found on the moon.

Yep. Daleks. We're all going to die. End of the world. Christmas, 2012.

Let's hope the Doctor is ready and waiting.

Why We Should Go to Space, Part 2

Recently, there have been a few things to inspire me. One is this little girl, speaking on behalf of the future to the UN:

The second thing was this quote by President Obama. He said this in 2009:

“Reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation is essential to meeting the challenges of this century."

So my thought is this: let's reaffirm and strengthen America's role as the world's engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation by going to space as much and as often as we can. Let's go to the moon--we did it once, we can do it again (maybe this time we'll find the giant metal aliens that like to pretend to be cars). Let's land on an asteroid and pick up some platinum or palladium or some element we've never seen before. Let's go to Mars and set up a place to live (and hopefully not get infected by an intelligent water virus). Let's go to another planet and find life--micro or macroscopic--let's find that the universe, which seems so huge and empty, is actually teeming with life and possibilities.


And in the meantime, let's find a way to take care of our beautiful Earth.

Pinwheel Galaxy, NASA: 

Pictures of Earth, Pictures of Mars

This is a stock photo. It is Earth in a drop of liquid.

If you zoomed in, and then zoomed in some more, and then kept zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming... you might see something like this:

or this: 

or this:

or this.

This is Mars. It's a photo from NASA.

If you zoomed in, and then zoomed in some more, and kept zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming and zooming... you might see this (which would make any geologist very excited):

or this:

or this:

or this.

Just think: in the next 50 years, we'll be there. Some how, some way, we'll be there. 

The future isn't that far off.

The Internal Metamorphosis of the Doctor

I am working on a project about values* and the implementation thereof in day-to-day life. So, I thought to myself, I wonder what Doctor Who would consider his primary values? What is it that motivates his actions (besides the constant need to save the Earth/his friends/wherever he happens to be/whomever he happens to be with from impending doom, that is)?

Now, the personality of the Doctor has evolved, for sure. I haven't seen every Doctor yet (still working on it), but I'm going to take a stab at guessing the values of the ones I have.

1: Kindness, wisdom, curiosity

3: Intelligence, perseverance, knowledge, exploration

4. Humor, curiosity, exploration

5. Curiosity, intelligence, open-mindedness

That's all I've seen of the first bunch. Now, looking at the three newest Doctors, it is clear that his attitude and intentions have been changing gradually. He started out (as Christopher Eccleston) pissed at everyone and everything, probably because he had just blown up his planet and killed his entire species. David Tennant was a bit irritable in the beginning, but Rose had chilled him out a lot, and he cooled off majorly through the next three seasons. He became more open and willing to acknowledge his feelings (to a point), as opposed to constantly running away from his feelings. Then, when Matt Smith arrived, the Doctor began to work through his feelings of guilt over what happened to Rose and Donna, then Amy and Rory; he goes through extreme bouts of wishing he would never hurt anyone ever again. So, through out the most recent six seasons, I would say the prioritization of his values changes quite a lot.+

9: Problem-solving, resilience, strength, intelligence, assertiveness, conviction, daring, cunning, ferocity, shrewdness

10: Optimism, passion, playfulness, curiosity, intelligence, exploration, discovery, teamwork, persistence, victory

11: Inquisitiveness, perceptiveness, persuasiveness, self-control, watchfulness, adaptability, appreciation, relationships, giving back, patience

Then, of course, is the whole issue of how his companions' values influence, negate, or keep in check the Doctor's... but that's like a whole book's worth of material.

Thoughts? Agreements? Disagreements? Please, share in the comments below.

Following image found here.

*Here is a list of potential values that anyone might have.
+To clarify: I think that his values remain relatively consistent, but which ones have the most influence on his behavior at any given time change radically throughout the series.

It's Sad That These Pictures Still Seem A Little Bit Like Fiction

These are 5 of my favourite, more recent, pictures of the day from NASA.

Enceladus, Saturn's moon.

Colour!!

The Earth sparkles. But not like a vampire. 

Earth is way cooler than modern vampires.

I want to go to space.

The hand of God... or the hand of robot?

Weeping Angels

I think this may be the most terrifying statue I have ever seen, including all of the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who. Although, for all we know, this is a Weeping Angel...

But I mean, take your pick.

(Doctor Who Weeping Angel)

Why We Should Go to Space, Part 1

I am writing a paper about why I believe we should go to space, fund the space program, build up our private space industry, and put the best minds we have to work solving problems of physics, of faster than light travel, and of energy conservation. I will be sharing a compilation of my research as well as bits and pieces of the paper itself as it is written. You are all invited to participate: please comment, email me, Facebook me, share with me your thoughts; all perspectives are welcome.

Here is a gem I found on Yahoo Answers. All errors are depicted as presented on the site. I read this with a mixture of interest, disbelief, awe, and embarrassment for my fellow humans. Enjoy.

The question is as follows:

Is space travel waste time and money?

The best answer:

yes, why look for life out in space when we have people starving to death here on earth!

Other answers:

#1. mineing companys would get fat

#2. Applied research is easy to justify financially, because you have a goal going in that a venture capitalist sees as profitable. A lot of pure research (research done because scientists are curious) doesn't generate profits until centuries later. If not for Ben Franklin's kite experiment, mankind wouldn't have taken the first steps toward understanding electricity (controlled lightning).

#3. i wouldn't say so...that is an experience that few have the chance or the money to experience...i say if you have the time and money...go for it because i think that you would be one of the very few that would be able to say...'hey, i have been out in space...how cool is that?'

#4. No way! It is critical and wonderful. If we stop spending all our money or war and maybe on looking after our planet and space travel...then we might save ourselves from our own destruction.

#5. redirected those dollars could mean our survival.

#6. No. The faster we unravel the wonders of outer space the faster we can Trek it!

#7. no, more money should be spent on it than spending money on junk

#8. No, why?

#9. It's not a waste of time. We find out about other things living out there in the world.

#10. You are on a computer. Thank the space program for many improvements in the things we have in life.

#11. the least thing would be go to space and watch our earth from inside the ship. But its about experience. it can't be measured. The great thing is its available to common man. Raher the question should be do i want this experince and if yes can i afford it. its not about 'HOW MUCH".. this is what i feel...u might feel different..

#12. I don't think so. Humans are curious, its no wonder we are so interested in discovering what is out there! Look at what we have here, imagine what else is out there. No harm in at least trying.

#13. imagine mars if full of oil!!!!

screw you iraq U.S.A U.SA!!! :-P

#14. Some space exploration is good for the sake of knowledge, but most of the manned plans have no use whatsoever, unless you consider tremendous waste of resources a use. Explore using robotics.

#15. yes, because it's so expensive. you could have give your money to the poor and those people who needed it most. You could have devoted your time by making good deeds. traveling in space can olny satisfy your imagination but if you help other people, it would give you joy within.

#16. Wasting time and money is impossible. 

Is someone moves away from Earth, the time that the person flew from would go faster until he or she could not tell the time.

About the money, they won't be lose as their still in the bank or in your houses.

#17. No. The technology we have gotten as a result of space exploration has more than paid for itself. 

As just one example: The Microwave Oven alone (a NASA invention) has saved this country more in electricity than we have ever spent on space travel.

Now let's talk electronics, food storage, solar cells, and metal alloys...

Source(s))

"It's raining soup; grab yourself a bucket" (D. D. Harriman)

http://academicvc.com/about-stephen-fleming/other/go-get-an-asteroid/

#18. Hell no. Expand or die.

How Much is the Universe Worth?

Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently asked this question in a speech: how much would you pay for the universe? He was referring to the recent funding cut that NASA took. He states that if one penny of each tax dollar went to fund NASA, we would surpass our wildest space dreams in a matter of a few decades.

One day, this concept is going to be one of those things that we talk about nostalgically, that people use as writing prompts for historical fiction novels. Right now, we think like this:

Can you imagine living in a country where women don't have the right to vote?

Can you imagine living in a country run by slavery?

Can you imagine living in a country where drinking alcohol was banned?

Can you imagine living in a country with vast tracts of unexplored land?

Can you imagine life without cars, or televisions, or phones, or heaven forbid--electricity?

And 67 seven years from now...

...Can you imagine living in country that wouldn't fund space travel?

And I will be 89 years old, cranky and obnoxious, living in a nursing home that orbits the moon, being interviewed on HoloSkypeOrbital by a 3D replica of my great-nephew who wants to do project on the history of space flight.

"My mother remembers them walking on the moon!" I would screech. "My mother watched the Challenger explode on a black and white TV! They didn't have space travel for real until I was about 52, even though NASA started hiring astronauts when I was only 23! Do I remember life without space travel? Of course I remember! My brain's sharp as a tack--do you even know what a tack is?"

"Let me tell you this, boy," I would interrupt as he sputtered to ask another impertinent question. "There's nothing more torturous than having the technology to do something but having those putrid politicians REFUSE to help do it! We were in an economic recession, them trying to tell women what not to have babies, worldwide religious clashes, the planet dying from carbon fuel poison, just out of a war on terrorists (terrorists are bloody hard to find, remember that, boy) and then politicians took money away from space travel! Can you believe it? Space travel! The only hope the people of the world had--just cut its knees right out from under it."

"What about the Dragon's fire? What about the descent of the Phoenix?" my great-nephew Gary will ask. "Do you remember those?"

"Naming all them spacecraft after mythical beasts won't give them no magical powers," I'll croak. "And of course I remember those! But you know what? Accidents happen. When they were inventing regular flights, with airplanes, you know what? People died. Amelia Earhart? Know who that is?" I'll shake my head. "Schools don't teach anything these days. She disappeared. Forever. Never seen again. More people died in car crashes back then than anything else. And murders! All over the place. But you know what? They still flew planes. They still drove cars. They still had babies. What's a couple of suborbital explosions? Sad, maybe. But they aren't the question."

"What is the question?" 

"The question is this: who are we and who do we want to be? Are we a nation of cowards and small-minded simpletons? Or are we a nation of intelligent visionaries with a backbone of steel and a work ethic of gold? Because that's what it took, Gary. It took intelligence, steel, and gold. Do you believe that?"

"Of course! We have space ships for people and space ships for mining and space ships for protection and space ships for research and we're mining asteroids in the asteroid belt and have a station set up on Mars!" He gets excited and begins to bounce up and down--because that's what kids do when they get excited.

I tap the top of the holo-monitor, the same spot where webcams used to be on a 2D monitor (now the hologram itself is the camera), and exclaim, "Now you tell me something, boy! Can you imagine living in a world trapped on the surface of the planet? In a country with a government who wouldn't fund space travel? Tell me--can you imagine a world without space?"

Top Ten Reasons to Become an Astronaut

NASA just posted a blog titled "Top Ten Reasons to Become an Astronaut". Their top ten reasons are great. But here are my top ten reasons. They are better.

10. You get to eat freeze dried food.

9. You get to go to space.

8. You get to wear a really classy, sexy suit sometimes. You get to be a rocketman!

7. You get to go to space.

6. It's confirmation that you're an intelligent, valuable, and wanted member of society.

5. You get to go to space.

4. You get to ride in or drive the fastest vehicle in the known universe. A ROCKETSHIP.

3. You get to go to space.

2. You get to see the world, FROM SPACE.

And the number 1 reason: 

You get to GO TO FREAKING SPACE.

I realize there are dangers: exploding spaceships, loss of oxygen, aliens attacking your vessel, crazy mutant diseases that sneak into the water supply. But here's the thing: have you ever watched a scifi show? Or read a scifi book? Would any one of the characters in those shows say it wasn't worth all those dangers to go to space?

No. It's worth it. Let's go to space. Everybody.

For your convenience I have links to four different companies with space program job openings. If you're qualified, then by all means: APPLY. Speaking Russian is also a plus.

NASA Job Description 

Virgin Galactic Job Openings

SpaceX Positions

Blue Origin Hot Jobs

Joining the Military might also be an option. But talk to a recruiter. Be smart.

One day, I'll be carried away...

Fission Rockets. Deep Space. Opportunity.

Technology is a weird animal.

Look at some of these recent headlines:

"NASA Rover Spends Winter Probing Inside Red Planet"

"Beijing Releases Air Pollution Data""

"Nike Unveils Wristband that Measures Athletes' Movements"

"Congress Shelves SOPA, PIPA"

"Project Bitfrost: Rockets of the Future?"

"Internet Uprising Shuts Down Piracy Bill"

"1st Private Rocket Launch to Space Station Delayed Until March"

"Rescuers Use Explosives to Open Costa Concordia Wreck"

"Senior Al Queda Figure Killed In Drone Strike"

Talking about it can sound like a foreign language, but technology allows us to do an awfully lot. We can change the structural shape of our faces. We can travel anywhere--to China, to Antarctica, to the top of Mount Everest, to the bottom of the ocean, to space. We can make the blind see and the deaf hear. We can destroy entire cities. We can build entire cities. We can build machines to do our work for us--from calculators, to computers, to oil drills, to remote surgery, to robots, to space probes.

But you know where we've failed? Rockets.

Look at it this way: if you bought a computer last year, it's already old. This form of technology is progressing so rapidly that in the last fifteen years we've gone from giant clonky old things with very limited storage space and processing power to the average consumer having instantaneous access to information and being able to store multiple terabytes of it with their own equipment. The phones we carry around with us everyday have more processing power than a room full of computers did in the 1980s. Playing music in the last twenty years has gone from 8track tapes to regular tapes to CDs to ipods.

But since the Cold War, since we put Buzz Aldridge and Neil Armstrong on the moon, how far has our rocket technology come? To answer this question, let me quote Tabitha Smith, research lead for project Bifrost: "The rockets that sent men to the moon were powered by chemical combustion, which in its most powerful form ignites hydrogen with oxygen. The space shuttle main engine, essentially the state of the art for rocket propulsion, uses the same chemicals." In other words, this technology hasn't progressed very far. This method of propulsion, while it does its job getting us beyond the atmosphere and into the empty space beyond, can't take us very much further.

Rockets are not only used for spaceflight but for war. We use rockets for warheads and rocket sleds, fireworks and ejection seats, satellites and jet packs. So why have we neglected research in this area? Probably because it's expensive.

There are new technologies on the horizon. Currently, scientists are working on Project Bifrost, which is a method of rocket propulsion that uses fission instead of combustion. If this technology succeeds, it would allow scientists to man deep space missions, to go search for and visit all the new planets the Kepler telescope is finding, to explore nebulae and galaxies and to experiment with time by orbiting a black hole.

I want to go to space. But more than that, I want us to go to space. I want humans to spread out and multiply, to occupy other planets, other galaxies, other worlds--to explore the universe.

Here's why:

It's beautiful, it's magnificent, it's breathtaking. It's a risk--one that I hope we are willing to take.