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The Science Behind the Sci-fi; Because Aiko wasn't there first^_^
Topic Started: Jan 17 2008, 10:04 PM (1,599 Views)
+Aiko+
Roffel House!

There's been a lot of fascinating things happening recently, so here's a summary of the latest three things. Once again, this is taken from www.spaceweather.com. You should all have this bookmarked by now!

Hot Jupiter
Imagine fitting a planet the size of Jupiter deep inside the orbit of Mercury and having it circle the sun once every three dizzying days. Such a bizarre solar system does exist 1100 light years from Earth, in the constellation Lyra. The name of the G-type star is GSC 2634-1087; the name of the planet is HAT-P-5b, christened for the Hungarian-based HAT team of astronomers who discovered it in Oct. 2007.

It makes you wonder, what else is out there?


Martian Ice?
NASA's Phoenix lander is on a mission to find ice in the martian arctic. Mission accomplished? Without even digging into the ground, Phoenix may have already spotted a slab of ice directly underfoot.

This contrast-enhanced image was taken on May 29th by Phoenix's Robotic Arm Camera (RAC). Mission scientists believe the exhaust from Phoenix's descent engine has blown off a layer of topsoil to reveal a portion of frozen water beneath.

On the other hand, it could be a rock. "We'll test the two possibilities by getting more data, including color data, from the robotic arm camera," says Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, a co-investigator for Phoenix's arm. "If the hard features are ice, they should become brighter [in the days ahead] because atmospheric water vapor will collect as new frost on the ice." (Update: Evidence is mounting that the features beneath Phoenix are truly ice: more.)


Hot Pursuit
Space shuttle Discovery, which left Earth on Saturday, is now in hot pursuit of the International Space Station. The two spacecraft are racing around Earth in tandem as Discovery aims for docking with the ISS on Monday, June 2nd, at 1:54 pm EDT. Sky watchers should be alert for two bright lights gliding among the stars. The ISS appears first, followed a minute later by the shuttle.

WORLD-WIDE TIMETABLES FOR FLY-BYS

The above tool is fantastic. I was able to show an entire campground the International Space Station when it flew overhead last week for three consecutive nights. I even got a free cookout out of it. Happy Spacing!
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+CEMP+
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Clockwork Master

I think I remember one of my Industrial Electronics Teachers saying, "I wish the power cables for our technology were wireless; then we wouldn't have to have so much trouble in plugging them in. Of course, I'm very doubtful that won't happen for a while."

Intel appears to making his wish comes true
"I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams is something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death."
— Monty Oum
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+Aiko+
Roffel House!

This is an interesting article about a huge atom smasher being developed. They hope to find The God Particle, evidence of the big bang, the existence of more than the 3 dimensions we can perceive, and possibly create microscopic black holes.

Link
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~The Boss~
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Native Son

Yet another step closer to the future.

Quote:
 
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A new space race is officially under way, and this one should have the sci-fi geeks salivating.

The project is a "space elevator," and some experts now believe that the concept is well within the bounds of possibility -- maybe even within our lifetimes.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/10/02/space.elevator/index.html

Posted Image
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+Aiko+
Roffel House!

THIS HAPPENED TODAY!

SPACEWEATHER.COM
 
ASTEROID IMPACT: If predictions were correct, asteroid 2008 TC3 hit Earth this morning (Oct. 7th at 0246 UT), exploding in the atmosphere over northern Sudan like a kiloton of TNT and creating a fireball as bright as a full Moon. Most of the 3-meter-wide asteroid would have vaporized in the atmosphere with only small pieces possibly reaching the ground as meteorites.

The following potentially confirming report comes from Jacob Kuiper, General Aviation meteorologist at the National Weather Service in the Netherlands: "Half an hour before the predicted impact of asteroid 2008 TC3, I informed an official of Air-France-KLM at Amsterdam airport about the possibility that crews of their airliners in the vicinity of impact would have a chance to see a fireball. And it was a success! I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction. Projected on an infrared satellite-image of Meteosat-7 of 0300 UTC, I have indicated the position of the plane (+) and the predicted impact area in Sudan (0)."

2008 TC3 was discovered on Oct. 6th by astronomers using the Mt. Lemmon telescope in Arizona as part of the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey for near-Earth objects. Asteroids the size of 2008 TC3 hit Earth every few months, but this is the first time one has been discovered before it hit.
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+Aiko+
Roffel House!

Here is a video of the space shuttle Endeavor's latest launch. The radio lingo is translated as well. Pretty awesome footage. I highly recommend watching this.
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~TobiasBrahms~
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Phantasmagoria
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I'm aware that I'm a little behind, but Aiko, a while back you posted something in here about a Tricorder from a NASA page... So I had to share something that's been around for something like ten years

I give you The Mark I Tricorder

It was featured in one of those anniversary commemorative magazines for Star Trek for the 25th or 30th I can't remember, have to find my copy and check, but it's been here for a while, one has to wonder how much they've progressed in the technology...
Posted Image
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+Aiko+
Roffel House!

spaceweather.com
 
SHUTTLE SIGHTINGS: It's not everyday that an airplane flies by with a spaceship sitting on its roof. That's just what happened, however, yesterday in Texas (LINK).

Pictured above is space shuttle Endeavour getting a piggy-back ride atop a specially modified 747 jumbo jet. "The pair gaining altitude in our north Texas skies was a stunning sight," says photographer Tom King of Watauga, Texas. Endeavour is traveling in this fashion because of bad weather on Nov. 30th. That's when storms over Florida forced the shuttle to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California. To get back to the Kennedy Space Center, Endeavour must now rely on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

"Only nine shuttle missions remain," notes King. "This could be the last time Texans and many others across the country see a shuttle in person." After an overnight stop at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, the carrier aircraft with Endeavour perched on top is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility around 2 p.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 12th. Readers, if you live in the area, keep your eyes peeled for this.


Also:

spaceweather.com
 
GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: The annual Geminid meteor shower peaks on Dec. 13th and Dec. 14th when Earth passes through a stream of debris from extinct comet 3200 Phaethon. Bright moonlight will reduce the number of visible meteors from the usual 100/hr to only 20/hr or so. That's still a nice show. For best results, watch the sky starting 10 pm local time on Saturday night (Dec 13th) until dawn on Sunday morning (Dec. 14th).


spaceweather.com
 
BIGGEST FULL MOON OF THE YEAR: Tonight's full Moon is the biggest of the year, as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than lesser Moons earlier in 2008. An astronomer would say this is a "perigee Moon" because it occurs at perigee, the side of the Moon's elliptical orbit closest to Earth. Go outside tonight and soak up some moonlight. There's plenty of it: full story.

Last night's 99% full Moon was already impressive: "Boy... the Moon was very bright and BIG!" says Ron Hodges of Midland, Texas. "Watching it through my scope was actually exciting."
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~beflexor~
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I just _____ in the _____.

That reminds me, I've been wanting to post something here myself.

Some of you may already be aware of this. My dad wasn't though, and he's the total science nut of the family, so it weirded me out that this was a new thing to him.

I give you the Uncanney Valley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

I think this might be an interesting concept with GIs and holograms and androids and whatnot that we might want to consider in our RPs. The more I thought about it the more I realized that Squirt's body in the physical world falls into the Valley.
Someone made the mistake of letting me publish a book, check Dusted Here!
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+Aiko+
Roffel House!

spaceweather.com
 
NEW ENGLAND FIREBALL: On Dec. 29th, around 9:30 pm EST, a blue-green fireball 100+ times brighter than Venus soared over New England and exploded colorfully in mid-air. Onlookers saw the flash from at least nine US states: eye-witness reports.

Dan Linek of North Bay Shore, New York, was one of the eye witnesses. Combining his own observations with those of others, he created a hand-drawn map of sightings and the probable location of the fireball when it exploded: LINK

If any fragments reached the ground, they might have landed in the western half of Linek's trapezoid. (The meteor was traveling east to west.)

Believe it or not, meteors like this are not rare--they are just rarely seen. Fireballs a hundred times brighter than Venus streak over some part of Earth once every day or so. The vast majority are never noticed. About 70% streak over uninhabited ocean. Half appear during the day, invisible in sunny skies. Many are missed simply because they occur in the middle of the night when sky watchers are asleep. The New England fireball stands out because it hit a densely populated area only a few hours after sunset. It was bound to be seen.

No one can predict where the next fireball will appear, so keep looking up!


So, did anybody see it? I didn't and I'm kicking myself in the rear! I was inside watching TV!
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