Science addicts here?....

[mtpockets]

On Wednesday, you can see two of the brightest planets in the night sky come together.

If you're looking toward the west after sunset, you'll be able to see two bright "stars" in the sky: Those are actually Jupiter and Venus, and they've been getting closer and closer every night.

"It is an apparent close approach from our perspective, as the planets are in fact hundreds of millions of kilometres apart," said Paul Delaney, professor emeritus with York University's department of physics and astronomy.

"Nonetheless, winter sky watchers will have noticed the steady approach of these planets over the last several weeks. It peaks on March 1

[Wayne Evans]

Hey Wayne Dude and brother explorers. Great freaking time to be alive as the Universe reveals more hidden mysteries! While seemingly creating more questions! Speaking on insignificance and whatnot, I'm certainly glad not to be an insect!

Hey CW....

Agreed.....I regret that I probably won't be above dirt when they find first one-celled life on another orb out there.

Well....speaking of insects, if you were a dragonfly 300 million years ago you would be the fastest flying insect with a 2' wing span!
Ahh....the good ole' days.

Hope all is well.....

[steffo99]

Makes me wonder even more if we are really that smart or just good at imitating each other? Fun take here.

[ChazWood]

Hey CW....

Agreed.....I regret that I probably won't be above dirt when they find first one-celled life on another orb out there.

Well....speaking of insects, if you were a dragonfly 300 million years ago you would be the fastest flying insect with a 2' wing span!
Ahh....the good ole' days.

Hope all is well.....

haha! I forgot aboot dragonflies when I made my hasty declaration. Every time I see one they capture and hold my attention, typically till they abruptly fly off, possibly to a spilled soda party - who knows!

Figured you'd enjoy this, Wayne.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/...ronomy/673274/

Makes me wonder even more if we are really that smart or just good at imitating each other? Fun take here.

Insightful! Here's something I found interesting to ponder, Amigo:



My take is that intelligence is often overrated.

[Wayne Evans]

haha! I forgot aboot dragonflies when I made my hasty declaration. Every time I see one they capture and hold my attention, typically till they abruptly fly off, possibly to a spilled soda party - who knows! Figured you'd enjoy this, Wayne.

Buenos dias todos...

Absolutely!....checking them out now.
Thanks.

Dragonflies are very captivating to watch with their stunning colors.
There size was allowed by ancient oxygen levels back then (about 35%).
Now....it's abut 25% + -

Carry on....

[OldFartTom]

Give or take 5 minutes .. 5 hours from now

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65061818

Let's hope no untracked accompanying debris makes a surprise appearance

[steffo99]

Bruce Willis is to frail to send up there this time so hoping those projections are correct.

[OldFartTom]

Bruce Willis is to frail to send up there this time so hoping those projections are correct.

Passed by... Bruce wasn't needed. Thankfully...

[steffo99]

Passed by... Bruce wasn't needed. Thankfully...

We got lucky. Such events should remind ppl how quickly things can change though (but probably won't).

[OldFartTom]

Jump to 37 minutes in and watch from there

https://youtube.com/live/0-bnaq9BKio

[Bodhy]

Science lover, so much so that I went to the PhD level with it. I like integrating fields of science and science that happens at disciplinary boundaries, it's much more interesting.


My favourite fields are cognitive science/neuroscience, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, astrobiology/origin of life research, cosmology, and my GOAT field is complexity/chaos theory and non-linear systems.

[Wayne Evans]

Jump to 37 minutes in and watch from there

Mornin' OFT....
Got it....will watch now.

Thanks for chiming in....have some greenz.

A good weekend to all....

[OldFartTom]

Jump to 37 minutes in and watch from there

https://youtube.com/live/0-bnaq9BKio

The same link/content has been edited, so 14 minutes is now about where to start watching

[mtpockets]

Waters may be flowing on the surface of a colossal planet that lies about 120 light-years from Earth, according to new evidence uncovered by the James Webb Space Telescope.


The investigation with the space-based observatory, one of the most advanced astronomy instruments in operation, revealed that the exoplanet K2-18b may have some key features of a planet that could support bodies of water — and life.

Closely orbiting the cool dwarf star K2-18, the exoplanet lies within the star’s habitable, or Goldilocks, zone and is 8.6 times as massive as Earth. An analysis of Webb’s observations found the planet has abundant methane and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere.

The presence of these carbon-bearing molecules, along with a scarcity of ammonia, could indicate an atmosphere rich with hydrogen that surrounds an ocean world, according to a NASA news release.




https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/world...2T22%3A23%3A36

[Wayne Evans]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/world...2T22%3A23%3A36

Mornin' MTP....

Holy shvt...."8.6 times as massive as Earth"!
Given the force of surface gravity any life forms (beyond one-celled) would have a far different morphology than us humans.
IE: not necessarily bilaterally symmetrical.
With the atmospheric info there could be extremophiles lurking on that orb.

Thanks, on spread and heading to the link.

[OldFartTom]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66893661

The dust sample from the asteroid has been successfully recovered.

Although not described in this article, the spot where the probe "landed" on the asteroid was selected by Brian May (the former Queen guitarist, and respected astrophysicist). Not exactly relevant, but a weird "did you know?" factoid for you

[mtpockets]

factoid for you

[OldFartTom]

Maybe that's why Musk is so keen to go there?

[weiss1967]

Mornin' MTP....

Holy shvt...."8.6 times as massive as Earth"!
Given the force of surface gravity any life forms (beyond one-celled) would have a far different morphology than us humans.

the relationship between planet mass and force of gravity on its surface is not linear. Planet radius plays a role, which, in its turn, depend on density of material the planet is composed of. The planet with mass of 8.9 mass of Earth could have force of gravity like 2g for example.

[mtpockets]

[mtpockets]

The supermoon will rise between Thursday night and Friday morning. It will reach peak illumination at 5:58 a.m. EDT Friday,

[mtpockets]

The supermoon will rise between Thursday night and Friday morning. It will reach peak illumination at 5:58 a.m. EDT Friday,

Here's a shot of the Harvest Moon taken as it was nearing its peak this morning... Not an award winning shot but honestly, considering that my attempt at the Blood moon was a total flop, this is a personal best for me because I suck and my photography skills leave a lot to be desired LMAO.

Have a great day all you Nerds and Turds. It's time for this old boy to get the Kayak wet and do a little Kayaking under the moonlight and then watch the sunrise. Rough Life but someone has to do it

[steffo99]

Very nice picture , pockets. What kind of lens did you use for this? I still haven't tried anything with the moon nor any astro stuff. Maybe one day, seems very cool.

[Wayne Evans]

the relationship between planet mass and force of gravity on its surface is not linear. Planet radius plays a role, which, in its turn, depend on density of material the planet is composed of. The planet with mass of 8.9 mass of Earth could have force of gravity like 2g for example.

Howdy Weiss, MT & Steffo....

Good points....thanks for chiming in.

A good day to all.

[mtpockets]

Very nice picture , pockets. What kind of lens did you use for this? I still haven't tried anything with the moon nor any astro stuff. Maybe one day, seems very cool.

Hey ya Steffo, I have no idea what lens, it's whatever that comes with the Nikon Coolpix P510. I would look but I left the camera in the boat.

When I say I suck at photography, I am not exaggerating. I am a full Auto focus, point and shoot guy.. Zoom is the only feature I use.. Ha Ha

We get a lot of Northern Lights here, I am going to try and capture them at some point. I am usually in the fart sack by the time they are peaking. But I am going to make a better effort to get a shot of them in the near future.

[steffo99]

Interesting research into what certain neanderthal genes actually do (if you have them.) Would be fun to test if they process even more of this info and research so one could test and get a detailed breakdown of how the genes you specifically have inherited from them actually affect you.

Some stuff from the vid:

If you had a certain neanderthal gene, there was a 60% increase in the risk of being hospitalized from covid, and people with a denisovan gene (barely any Europeans, but 81% of ppl in tibet), then you can adapt better and make more red blood cells at high altitude.

[mtpockets]

Beaver moon tomorrow, it's snowing now so no shot of it tonight, hoping for it to clear up enough to get a glimpse of it tomorrow night.

[Wayne Evans]

Interesting research into what certain neanderthal genes actually do (if you have them.) Would be fun to test if they process even more of this info and research so one could test and get a detailed breakdown of how the genes you specifically have inherited from them actually affect you.
If you had a certain neanderthal gene, there was a 60% increase in the risk of being hospitalized from covid, and people with a denisovan gene (barely any Europeans, but 81% of ppl in tibet), then you can adapt better and make more red blood cells at high altitude.

Hey steffster....

Cool video and yes....it's quite "interesting".
The Neanderthals were concentrated in northern Europe and did inter-breed with with emerging modern humans during that time.
Of course, maybe sadly in sense, lead to their extinction.

Great stuff.

I'm on spread with all you jive turkeys.....thanks for keeping the subject alive & kicking.

Carry on.

[Wayne Evans]

Beaver moon tomorrow, it's snowing now so no shot of it tonight, hoping for it to clear up enough to get a glimpse of it tomorrow night.

Howdy MTP....

Yep....cloud cover for us and 2" (I know, pathetic amount) of snow still cover our turf.

Back to it.

[mtpockets]

Visible around the world, they can be seen with the naked eye, though check the weather where you are as it will affect visibility.


In perfect conditions, viewers may spot 100 to 120 meteors per hour.


Nasa calls the Geminids one of the year's "best and most reliable annual meteor showers".
Meteor showers are typically caused by a comet, but the Geminids are celestial debris left behind by a rocky asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon.


Meteors occur when the Earth passes through trails of debris from comets or asteroids. As that debris hits our planet's atmosphere, it burns up and creates spectacular streaks of light.
The name Geminids comes from Gemini, the constellation from which these meteors appear to emerge.


The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, says the Geminids are distinctive because of their colours - they can be white, yellow, green, red and blue. It puts this down to the presence of metals like sodium and calcium, adding that this the same effect that is used to make fireworks colourful.
"This meteor shower is just a beautiful night sky event where many shooting stars seem to come from the same area in the sky," said Dr Minjae Kim, an astronomy and astrophysics research fellow at the University of Warwick.


You can see meteors anywhere in the sky, so it's a good idea to be in a dark open space where you can see the night sky for the best chance of spotting this spectacular show.


While the display of 'shooting stars' is already underway, in the UK the peak of the meteor shower is expected to start around 19:30 GMT on Thursday, 14 December.


Dr Kim suggested downloading a stargazing app to help you know where to look.
"If you can find the Gemini constellation first, it's a piece of cake to see the meteor shower," he says.


Other tips from Dr Kim include giving your eyes time to adjust to to the dark, and taking a friend along - that way you can keep your eyes on different parts of the sky.

Don't worry if you don't manage to see the Geminids during their peak. Although this is when they're at their best, the showers will last until 20 December.