This week in Cosmology

[Tao_Equus]

lol,

I think that signature tune could not be confused

On that subject tho it is my understanding that only a small fraction of what we have ever pumped out across the airwaves has the power to to be detectable. And the fraction that does get out you really would need a big receiver pointing dead at us to pick it up.

I think SETI a noble idea but I do believe intelligent life will be so rare that the chances are it will never pick up anything. For the same reason as above. Its like trying to find needle in all the haystacks anywhere anytime. I would love to be wrong tho.

Tao

[flowperson]

Hello all...It has been about a week mates !

For some time now, the search for the origins of the macro universe has concentrated upon trying to devise methods, theoretical and practical, to look into the circumstances which may have existed prior to the "big bang" some 14 billion years ago.

A mysterious "cold spot" has been found in the radiation patterns which persist from that cataclysm so long ago. Perhaps this will lead to a further unraveling if that great mystery. Of course maybe it's something that we don't want to know, or wish we didn't when we do discover it ?

flow....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071026/...erse_defect_dc

[Tao_Equus]

HubbleSite - NewsCenter - 'Dancing with the Stars' Takes on a Whole New Twist (10/30/2007) - Introduction

Pair of mating Galaxies!

Well maybe they are ....who knows

[flowperson]

Tao...I live about a half mile from the strip in Vegas, and on a calm night with my windows open, I can sometimes hear heavy breathing noises in the distance.
Thanks for your post and answer.
Now it all makes sense to me.

flow....

[Tao_Equus]

lol... maybe you just live too close to the chicken ranch?

Mum just been on the fone... she cannot keep a secret or surprise (which has the advantage of bringing extra gifts as she loves to surprise) and she has bought me a 4 1/2" mirror for my xmas. Shame that the light pollution here is really really bad tho. I can still stare at the moon sometimes And that gorgeous girl.........

[flowperson]

Hi Tao...Nahh, how'd you know aboot the "World Famous Chicken Ranch" in Edinburgh ? Oh...it is world famous isn't it ?

I went out there once to drive a customer to his pleasures. Quite a place, but it's 60 miles over the mountains from the strip, so the heavy breathing may have been from parking lots at the T***y bars on the other side of the expressway.

Had one of those 4 1/2 inch reflector scopes when I was a teen ager. Amazing what all you can see away from lights on a clear night. I was even able to take some 35mm pics through the lens of Saturn, Jupiter and moons, etc. Great stuff. Lots of astronomy groups here that go out into the desert for observation parties and such. Some have huge home made instruments up to 16 inchers.

Now that I've got a little more free time I may look into that.

Ta...flow....

[Tao_Equus]

When 17th gave me link to his homepage first thing that comes up is a link to the livecam at the Chicken Ranch Just kidding!! Yeh...was doc. on tv a few years ago about the place. Goes to prove no matter how up-market they try to make "ye oldest profession" its still seedy and depressing.

I will be getting a new car early next year and will be able to take the odd nite out in my sleeping bag. I had a poor refractor as a kid, this will be a huge improvement, but even that old lensed tube gave me a taste for knowing more so I cant knock it. Never been to a "scope party" !! cant imagine them being a riot but life is full of surprises and so I might look into finding the local group.

You should get one... Nevada has BIG skies.

Tao

[wil]

The first time you look through a telescope and see a nebula it is incredible.

Following a comet through the sky...even a fuzz ball... the telescope takes your mind to places you can't imagine...much more than looking at a picture...somehow it brings it closer.

I had a little scope I used for moon watching and planets...no big deal.. One time had it set up in my living room and pointed it at a hotel lobby a quarter mile away...I could make the picture in the lobby of a serene meadow lake with a mountain in the background be full frame...full view.

At night people would chuckle as they saw it pointed at the motel down the street...but when they looked through and saw the lake and flowers and mountains they were incredulous....they would then look at the other end thinking I had some slide hanging there....and then look out the window and back at me...such fun.

[Tao_Equus]

I agree so much that looking at the night sky with your own scope takes you out in a way that is truly profound. Everybody should have one!!

Here is a story that gripped my attention earlier this week. The hunt for extra-solar planets has now shown us a solar system of planets: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/science/space/07planetweb.html?em&ex=1194670800&en=9671413ac0ec230b&ei=5087%0A

And this story not only reveals the source of ultra-high energy cosmic rays but gives us a new method to study black holes.
The Press Association: Black holes clue to cosmic rays

[flowperson]

Okay, everybody say together now...OOOOOOOOHHHHH.....WOWWWW !

flow...


http://www.livescience.com/space/spa...lmes-size.html

[Tao_Equus]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!


This is an old story that seems to have been revived so I'l post it for those who may have missed it before.
Out-of-This-World Hypothesis: Cosmic Forces Control Life on Earth | LiveScience

[flowperson]

Hi...Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.

flow....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7116834.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/sc...e/29venus.html

[bob x]

And gays are from Uranus, and dogs are from Pluto.

[flowperson]

Hmmm...the last time I checked there wasn't anything "gay" about Uranus, and a conspiracy of wealthy and conspiratorial overlords is a "Plutocracy" and not a "dogocracy"

flow....

[Tekto9]

Originally Posted by Tao_Equus

Do you have any opinions on the standard theories? I am fascinated by the anomalies in angular momentum and planetary position and am in the school of thought that thinks the outer planets are drifting farther from the sun.

Tao

Dear friend,

From the Wikipedia article one may read the following:

One problem with this hypothesis is that of angular momentum. With the vast majority of the system's mass accumulating at the center of the rotating cloud, the hypothesis predicts that the vast majority of the system's angular momentum should accumulate there as well. However, the Sun's rotation is far slower than expected, and the planets, despite accounting for less than 1 percent of the system's mass, thus account for more than 90 percent of its angular momentum. (...)

or that

Planets in the "wrong place" are a problem for the solar nebula model. Uranus and Neptune exist in a region where their formation is highly implausible due to the reduced density of the solar nebula and the longer orbital times in their region. Furthermore (...)

or even that

The detailed features of the planets are yet another problem. The solar nebula hypothesis predicts that all planets will form exactly in the ecliptic plane. Instead, the orbits of the classical planets have various (but admittedly small) inclinations with respect to the ecliptic. Furthermore (...)

Meaning: it is well known that current physical constantly patched theories in cosmology, based upon an incomplete (some would even say 'erroneous') standard model and in the delusional four-dimensonal blending of space and time of the theory of relativity (SR/GR), are having trouble to explain the basic mechanics of the solar system and the various current astronomical observations that seem to contradict the orthodox physics assumptions (be it, among other things, the wild imagination of an expanding universe or the popular idea of a big bang)... Yet, those pioneer men and women of Science who during last century made efforts to explore the mystery underlying our physical universe were labeled "crackpots" and saw their careers, reputation and research ruined ... by a rotten dogmatic scientific community born from an ignorant modern society, proudly auto-proclaimed of knowledge, framed by a reducist-materialist ideology: the "fundamaterialists" [to state the similarity of their assumptions in Science with that of the "fundamentalists" in Religion] (Grossman, 2002).

Those few who understand the limitations of current paradigm and look for a different and deeper perspective are regarded as the modern "heretics"; and you may get a brief idea of their achievements through their [heretic] physics works like the following one (some technical understanding of algebraic equations and integral calculus, although not needed to grasp the basic concepts, is an advantage):

Creation: Stars and planets (PDF) & The Angular Momentum of the Solar System (PDF) in The Physics of Creation (2003) by Dr. Harold Aspden, an elderly Electrical engineer and Physicist (currently retired), Ph.D. from Trinity/Cambridge University [1953/4]

Hope this may be helpful unto your own research.

Best, Marco

« The theory is so rigidly held that young scientists dare not openly express their views.
I was warned that if I persisted (in refuting Einstein's theory) I was likely to spoil my career prospects.
The general public is misled into believing that science is a mysterious subject which can be understood by only a few exceptionally gifted mathematicians.
Students are told that the theory must be accepted although they cannot expect to understand it. They are encouraged right at the beginning of their careers to forsake science in favour of dogma.
...the continued acceptance and teaching of relativity hinders the development of a rational extension of electromagnetic theory. »

-- Louis Essen (1908-1997) in 'Relativity and Time Signals'