The Official Space and Astronomy Thread v. Well, this is weird.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

That's pretty damn cool!! Would love to see a rocket launch but the closest thing we have in Sweden is Esrange but as far as I know there's no close viewing area and it's also ruffly 1800km from me. 

[Chino]

NICE!

[Kotowboy]

https://open.spotify.com/track/0YY5KekpTtjPno6SffKWN3

   Slightly Relevant.

Best Scene in Interstellar for me.

[Phoenix87x]

"we are the mayflies of the universe"

Neil degrase tyson

I've been looking for a long time for an elegant way to express human being's super limited lifespan in the grand, almost infinite seeming lifespan of the universe, and that quote nails it.

[rumborak]

Well that was frustrating. SpaceX launch was scrubbed two minutes before launch. Was sitting on the bleacher section, everything looked perfect ... meh.
EDIT: Because the USAF radar was down. Wtf.

[Chino]

Yeah. I was watching it via webcast. Bummer. Are you going to get to go tomorrow?

[Fiery Winds]

Well that was frustrating. SpaceX launch was scrubbed two minutes before launch. Was sitting on the bleacher section, everything looked perfect ... meh.
EDIT: Because the USAF radar was down. Wtf.

That's a bummer. Does your schedule allow you to go tomorrow for the rescheduled launch?

[rumborak]

I would have to drive for three hours through the night after it to get to where my work actually sent me. I don't think I want to do that, not in an area I don't know. Also, only a 40% chance of favorable conditions. Meaning, not only is it likely that launch is scrubbed too, but I would have to drive through rain in the night (that's the forecast here at least).

This was actually my second attempt to see a live rocket launch (first was in '93), and both were scrubbed. Two strikes and you're out, at least for me. I had the hardest time finding any statistics about percentage of scrubbed launches, but I overheard a conversation in the waiting line today that the chances are heavily stacked against you. And today was as perfect as you can get, and the whole thing was nixed because the US Air Force found out a few minutes beforehand that their radar was down.

In fact, I only now remember that a year back or so I tried to watch a launch, and that one was scrubbed too. (And I think the one after too)

[rumborak]

Scrub number 4 today. Makes me feel a lot better actually, it seems you have to be insanely lucky to see a launch.

[Implode]

I guess I was really lucky then. I saw a shuttle launch when I was very young.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

[rumborak]

I guess I was really lucky then. I saw a shuttle launch when I was very young.

I think if you want to make sure you see one, you kinda have to look for a launch that a) has several windows in short succession and b) the windows aren't instantaneous. The problem with the launch attempts this week were that if everything didn't work at the precise minute, they had to scrub it.

[Kotowboy]

If a wormhole did in fact exist - would it indeed be a sphere as seen in Interstellar ? Or was that one a sphere because it was placed there by higher dimensional beings who operate on more dimensions than we can comprehend ?

[Chino]

If a wormhole did in fact exist - would it indeed be a sphere as seen in Interstellar ? Or was that one a sphere because it was placed there by higher dimensional beings who operate on more dimensions than we can comprehend ?

It's a sphere because a blackhole is a hole in three dimensions. How that works, I am not really sure 

[Chino]

29,000 miles out and counting!

https://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/02/26/nasa-dawn-spacecraft-releases-images-showing-another-bright-spot-on-ceres/

[BlackInk]

If a wormhole did in fact exist - would it indeed be a sphere as seen in Interstellar ? Or was that one a sphere because it was placed there by higher dimensional beings who operate on more dimensions than we can comprehend ?

It's a sphere because a blackhole is a hole in three dimensions. How that works, I am not really sure 

The warping a black hole causes on the surrounding space-time is based on gravity. Gravity works in all directions. So just like massive celestial bodies, like planets and suns, naturally becomming spheres, so would the effects of wormholes or black holes. A bit of a simplification perhaps, but those are the rules of gravity and it's effect on space and time in the universe.

[adace]

Sounds like this would completely revolutionize biology if it was actually found on Titan. I really hope NASA goes through with that submarine probe mission so we can find out.
https://phys.org/news/2015-02-life-saturn-moon-titan.html

[Kotowboy]

The best thing about the Gargantua black hole from Interstellar design is - it wasn't "fictionalised" too much for the film.

It was based on actual equations and findings.

It would actually be that epic if you saw it for real.

dayum nature you cray

etc.. etc..

[Kotowboy]

If a wormhole did in fact exist - would it indeed be a sphere as seen in Interstellar ? Or was that one a sphere because it was placed there by higher dimensional beings who operate on more dimensions than we can comprehend ?

It's a sphere because a blackhole is a hole in three dimensions. How that works, I am not really sure 

I watched a really early episode of The Next Generation the other day and in that episode was a spherical wormhole so the theory must have been there.

[BlackInk]

It would actually be that epic if you saw it for real.

That would be really epic, but since I think black holes are among the scariest things in the universe, I think I'd rather go without seeing it..

Plus, Gargantua looked to be in the process of devouring a star, but if it wasn't, it would just be completely black, and one could enter it without even knowing it and it'd be too late. That's pretty scary.

[Fiery Winds]

https://phys.org/news/2015-02-life-saturn-moon-titan.html

Really creative research!

[Azyiu]

I always thought it was Europa not Titan that could potentially harbor life... oh wait, guess I read too much Arthur C. Clarke's novels, lol! 

[BlackInk]

Well europa is full of ice and potentially liquid water further below.

[Chino]

I can't read that article at work, so I might be saying what it's saying.

Both are strong contenders for harboring life. I think Europa has a slight edge in most scientists' eyes simply because it has (we think) an ocean of water beneath the ice. Titan, however, still has liquid oceans, they just happen to be methane. There are seasons and weather that are contantly mixing things up and keeping the environment fresh. Titan is also subject to tidal forces just like Europa. There is a lot of heat inside titan, and if there is water toward the core, life could exist. Life on Titan would require a new type of life that would probably not be carbon based. I know sceintists have recently been able design or imagine methane based cells that could divide.

[BlackInk]

I'm not a non-believer when it comes to life in the universe other than earth, but I do think that it's a bit over-optimistic to expect to find it here in our solar system.

[Fiery Winds]

I can't read that article at work, so I might be saying what it's saying.

Both are strong contenders for harboring life. I think Europa has a slight edge in most scientists' eyes simply because it has (we think) an ocean of water beneath the ice. Titan, however, still has liquid oceans, they just happen to be methane. There are seasons and weather that are contantly mixing things up and keeping the environment fresh. Titan is also subject to tidal forces just like Europa. There is a lot of heat inside titan, and if there is water toward the core, life could exist. Life on Titan would require a new type of life that would probably not be carbon based. I know sceintists have recently been able design or imagine methane based cells that could divide.

  You sir, are well-informed.

[Chino]

I'm not a non-believer when it comes to life in the universe other than earth, but I do think that it's a bit over-optimistic to expect to find it here in our solar system.

But the same could be said here on Earth. Even up to just a decade or two ago, no one could have imagined life 7.5 miles under water, we thought the pressures would be far too great. No one could have imagined life living in the Atacama Desert, but it's under most rocks we turn over. We have found life forms that live in solid ice their entire lives. They secrete a natural antifreeze that keeps them living in pockets of water. 3.5 billion years ago, we had no plants, and virtually no oxygen in the atmosphere. Lifeforms converted sulfur into energy before photosynthesis became the popular favorite. We've had bacteria survive launch, months exposed in outter space, and reetnry without dying.

My point is, life will exist anywhere. If it means survival, and as long as there is enough time, DNA will find a solution to surviving any environment. As far as we could tell, Mars was near identical to Earth millions of years ago, I'd be shocked if Mars never saw life. When you look at the extremes that life on Earth can survive in, the rest of the solar system becomes more than possible.

[Azyiu]

My point is, life will exist anywhere. If it means survival, and as long as there is enough time, DNA will find a solution to surviving any environment. As far as we could tell, Mars was near identical to Earth millions of years ago, I'd be shocked if Mars never saw life. When you look at the extremes that life on Earth can survive in, the rest of the solar system becomes more than possible.

Well said. Actually besides Mars, Venus was more like Earth millions of years ago, before its own green house effect ruined everything. 

[Chino]

Truth. Completely forgot about Venus. It's also very possible that life took hold there and has since gone below the surface to get away from the violence on the surface. Who knows though, it's possible that life evolved to survive on the surface. It's a shame Venus is so hostile. I don't think we've had a probe (and there's only been a few) survive for more than 45 minutes or so on the surface.

[Azyiu]

I believe the Russian Venera 13 was the one survived the "longest" on Venus... for a grand total of 57 minutes or so...

A image from Venus and it was taken by one of the Russian probes.

[Sacul]

Just... . It's truly another world.

Have you heard this about the Mars One project? Apparently, there's a lot of things media doesn't say about the project, like it has no money, it's partners are no longer supporting it, and the finalists are not only being scammed, but thus far, they have zero training, and the interview process is awfully poor. Honestly, I thought this was going to be the next big thing, but this makes me worry about the poor participants, and the image it leaves of NASA and space science in the public.

[BlobVanDam]

Just... . It's truly another world.

Have you heard this about the Mars One project? Apparently, there's a lot of things media doesn't say about the project, like it has no money, it's partners are no longer supporting it, and the finalists are not only being scammed, but thus far, they have zero training, and the interview process is awfully poor. Honestly, I thought this was going to be the next big thing, but this makes me worry about the poor participants, and the image it leaves of NASA and space science in the public.

Unfortunately none of this surprises me. While I'd hoped they'd get somewhere, I kinda knew they wouldn't.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Just... . It's truly another world.

Have you heard this about the Mars One project? Apparently, there's a lot of things media doesn't say about the project, like it has no money, it's partners are no longer supporting it, and the finalists are not only being scammed, but thus far, they have zero training, and the interview process is awfully poor. Honestly, I thought this was going to be the next big thing, but this makes me worry about the poor participants, and the image it leaves of NASA and space science in the public.

Don't think NASA will be affected by that very much, lots of people had doubts about Mars One including NASA.

[rumborak]

I'm stunned people actually donated to Mars One. Space exploration is a slow and incremental process; one step at a time. Not "lol, going to Mars, brb."

[Implode]

That picture has to be fake.