Science addicts here?....

[ElrondHubbard]

lol

Spirituality/religion/whatever we wish to label it, can muddy the waters. But, muddy water isn't always a bad thing.

'Twas muddy water that killed the frozen colt!



Muddy Waters, on the other hand, well he's a hoochie coochie man!

[Wayne Evans]

lol Spirituality/religion/whatever we wish to label it, can muddy the waters. But, muddy water isn't always a bad thing.

Chuckle.....well, to the hippo and the elephant there's nothing finer.

Back to it.....

[whatevergirl]

Chuckle.....well, to the hippo and the elephant there's nothing finer.

Back to it.....

lol Oh, I was metaphorically speaking.


I found this to be interesting. Surprising, even.


********************/starts-with-a-ban...t-543b7523b54f

[Wayne Evans]

lol Oh, I was metaphorically speaking.

I know...I was just adding some levity....I'm not serious all the time.

Yes....SOL is not the cosmic speed limit according to the latest theoretical physics.
That has been discussed on one of the current Science Channel episodes.
I don't recall if it was How The Universe Works or Space's Deepest Secrets.

Imagination stimulating candy for the inquisitive minds.

Carry on....

[ElrondHubbard]

lol Oh, I was metaphorically speaking.


I found this to be interesting. Surprising, even.


********************/starts-with-a-ban...t-543b7523b54f

That's a great article, and it makes perfect sense. Only charged particles can be accelerated to such tremendous energies, because neutral particles don't interact with the magnetic fields. Yet charged particles can't maintain such energies, because they're interacting with more magnetic fields and charged particles, which costs them energy to do so.

And it does mention the risks of traveling at extremely high velocities. I've seen estimates of a fusion powered spacecraft being able to achieve about 10% of the speed of light. It would be nice to be able to get to Alpha Centauri in 45 years, but at that speed, a single grain of cosmic dust would hit you with about 4 times the energy of a .50 caliber machine gun bullet. And you'd be impacting multiple grains per second if your starship has any size worth riding in.

If humanity ever does populate the galaxy, it's going to do so very slowly. The generational starship is an old science fiction idea, but it's a lot more likely to be possible than is any kind of high-speed transport.

[Wayne Evans]

If humanity ever does populate the galaxy, it's going to do so very slowly. The generational starship is an old science fiction idea, but it's a lot more likely to be possible than is any kind of high-speed transport.

I agree.

Plus, space treats humans very badly....our bodies do not like or react well to being OFF of Mother Earth for a few reasons.
Artificial gravity on the ship would be an imperative even if interstellar travel were achievable at all.

Traveling outside our galaxy I don't see in any sort of future.
Assuming artificial gravity was designed and reliably implemented I can see one of Jupiter's moons or maybe one of Saturn's to be a far more realistic option should it be necessary for our survival as a species.

Something else has always been enigmatic to me.
Being as how we perceive the world around because of reflected light energy, how could one possibly see where one is or where one going if one is traveling faster than the photons can travel to our eyes....I sure don't know.
I might be missing something on that curiosity.

On spread with you too....do carry on.

[steffo99]

Just thinking to myself for a second...maybe sending tiny nano tech modules at high speeds in all directions would be a way to explore better. Thinking it's not taking as much energy or cost to accelerate and use these...then link up to them with a sort of advanced VR headset, in real time by quantum entanglement tech, and experience the destinations as if one was there.

Das it mane.

[Wayne Evans]

Just thinking to myself for a second...maybe sending tiny nano tech modules at high speeds in all directions would be a way to explore better. Thinking it's not taking as much energy or cost to accelerate and use these...then link up to them with a sort of advanced VR headset, in real time by quantum entanglement tech, and experience the destinations as if one was there. Das it mane.

That concept has also been discussed on one of the Science Channel programs.

The idea of an 'advanced VR headset' with the ability of being able to monitor them in real time (considering the quantum entanglement theory) with such unfathomable distances?.....there's a real conundrum for us.
I'll have to give that 'quantum entanglement' thing more thought.

Carry on....a good weekend to all.

[ElrondHubbard]

I agree.

Plus, space treats humans very badly....our bodies do not like or react well to being OFF of Mother Earth for a few reasons.
Artificial gravity on the ship would be an imperative even if interstellar travel were achievable at all.

Traveling outside our galaxy I don't see in any sort of future.
Assuming artificial gravity was designed and reliably implemented I can see one of Jupiter's moons or maybe one of Saturn's to be a far more realistic option should it be necessary for our survival as a species.

Something else has always been enigmatic to me.
Being as how we perceive the world around because of reflected light energy, how could one possibly see where one is or where one going if one is traveling faster than the photons can travel to our eyes....I sure don't know.
I might be missing something on that curiosity.

On spread with you too....do carry on.

I agree there, too. I think if humanity has any future beyond Earth, ultimately it will be in the Oort Clouds, the systems of comets that seem to surround the outer regions of star systems. These small icy bodies contain all the raw materials necessary for life and industry, and they actually have them in greater abundance and better accessibility than do the rare and well-hidden ore bodies on Earth. Assuming (and this is an optimistic assumption) that we someday develop the means to build relatively efficient and compact fusion power plants, we will be able to travel to the outer solar system at reasonable velocities, and set up mining, manufacturing, and habitation stations around these objects. Once you're there, you have the advantage of shallow gravity wells and very low orbital velocities -- the journey from one comet to the next might be lengthy, but it won't be energetically demanding.

As long as we're willing to trade speed for patience, our descendants will have no trouble colonizing the outer regions of our own system, and from there, the hop to the Oort Clouds of nearby stars is, again, lengthy, but not challenging from an energy standpoint. The amount of new technology we'd need to acquire to make this work is not all that far beyond the technology we're already working on. The most challenging part will be the fusion. The other stuff, including biotechnology and life-extending genetic adjustments, already seem to be in the pipeline.

Once a civilization is adapted to exploiting those objects, there isn't much practical benefit remaining in the energetically demanding, deep gravity wells of big inner planets like Earth. It's too much work to get in and out of the vicinity, and too much work to mine the raw materials. The comets will be easier in both aspects.

And, in realizing that the Oort Clouds and not the planets are where the money really is, we've just resolved Fermi's Paradox!

[Wayne Evans]

I agree there, too. I think if humanity has any future beyond Earth, ultimately it will be in the Oort Clouds, the systems of comets that seem to surround the outer regions of star systems. And, in realizing that the Oort Clouds and not the planets are where the money really is, we've just resolved Fermi's Paradox!

Chuckle....ahhhh, I can sleep now.

The Oort Cloud is a far away dude though.....4 billion big ones or so.
Traveling at around 1 million miles a day (IE: Voyager 1) it would take about 300 years.....wowsers.
Got to get the velocities up via the solar sails or whatever else their working on up and running.

As you eluded to patience over long periods of time is the game of our species survival guide.

Back to it....

[whatevergirl]

That's a great article, and it makes perfect sense. Only charged particles can be accelerated to such tremendous energies, because neutral particles don't interact with the magnetic fields. Yet charged particles can't maintain such energies, because they're interacting with more magnetic fields and charged particles, which costs them energy to do so.

And it does mention the risks of traveling at extremely high velocities. I've seen estimates of a fusion powered spacecraft being able to achieve about 10% of the speed of light. It would be nice to be able to get to Alpha Centauri in 45 years, but at that speed, a single grain of cosmic dust would hit you with about 4 times the energy of a .50 caliber machine gun bullet. And you'd be impacting multiple grains per second if your starship has any size worth riding in.

If humanity ever does populate the galaxy, it's going to do so very slowly. The generational starship is an old science fiction idea, but it's a lot more likely to be possible than is any kind of high-speed transport.

True, and considering it would take too long (over 70,000 years? lol) to get to the next closest (livable) planet to earth, I don't see colonization in the future. Unless we run out of resources, not sure it would ever make sense to evacuate earth for any prolonged period of time. (even if we had the means to do so)

[ElrondHubbard]

True, and considering it would take too long (over 70,000 years? lol) to get to the next closest (livable) planet to earth, I don't see colonization in the future. Unless we run out of resources, not sure it would ever make sense to evacuate earth for any prolonged period of time. (even if we had the means to do so)

Yep. Even if we were to develop the ability to live elsewhere, the number of people leaving Earth for other worlds would be such a miniscule percentage of the population that it would make no difference to life on Earth. Regardless of whether we get a viable population on Mars, we're still going to have to treat Earth like the precious and fragile treasure that it is, not like the dump that we're turning it into.

[steffo99]

Or if we ruin the environment, we could crispr in some extremophile genes to survive the harsh conditions? Love solving these problems. Science is easy.

[Wayne Evans]

Love solving these problems. Science is easy.

Howdy steffo....

Well...if that's the case I'm really a dumb mo'fo.

Shvt....I don't know any good xenomorphs that I'd be willing to gene splice with.

A good weekend to all....imbibe safely.

Carry on....

[whatevergirl]

[whatevergirl]

Speaking of our planet, happy Earth Day!

[ElrondHubbard]

Speaking of our planet, happy Earth Day!

Still looks pretty good for 4.6 billion years old.

[whatevergirl]

Still looks pretty good for 4.6 billion years old.

Yea, I think people lose sight of the fact that we earthlings, are resilient, as well. Although, we are capable of destroying the planet.

[Reliance012]

Addict checking in. All science interests me, but I’m particularly fond of evolutionary biology and infectious disease.

[Karl_Hungus]

Still looks pretty good for 4.6 billion years old.

Doesn't look a day over 4.5 billion years.

[ElrondHubbard]

Doesn't look a day over 4.5 billion years.

It's those essential oils, man.

[ElrondHubbard]

Addict checking in. All science interests me, but I’m particularly fond of evolutionary biology and infectious disease.

I'm fond of evolutionary biology, but I try to avoid infectious disease like the plague!

[Wayne Evans]

Howdy....

Looks like Jupiter will be viewable this month even with binoculars.
I have binoculars but don't know if I'll be lucky enough to see it.
I'm not far enough from the ******t city lights and we've been getting an on shore flow lately.

Those of you away from the city or desert dwellers may get an interesting view.
A pic would be cool....

https://cosmicpursuits.com/2126/guid...lanet-jupiter/

Hope all are doing well....carry on.

[ElrondHubbard]

Howdy....

Looks like Jupiter will be viewable this month even with binoculars.
I have binoculars but don't know if I'll be lucky enough to see it.
I'm not far enough from the ******t city lights and we've been getting an on shore flow lately.

Those of you away from the city or desert dwellers may get an interesting view.
A pic would be cool....

https://cosmicpursuits.com/2126/guid...lanet-jupiter/

Hope all are doing well....carry on.

Actually, Jupiter's moons are nearly always visible with binoculars. They're pretty bright -- if they weren't so close to Jupiter's glare they'd be naked-eye objects. Even in city landscapes you should be able to see them with a cheap pair of binos.

Clouds, on the other hand...

[Wayne Evans]

Actually, Jupiter's moons are nearly always visible with binoculars. They're pretty bright -- if they weren't so close to Jupiter's glare they'd be naked-eye objects. Even in city landscapes you should be able to see them with a cheap pair of binos.
Clouds, on the other hand...

I have the bino's and hope your right.....if the onshore flow stays south I'll be happy.
You should should get a good clear view.
I haven't seen that beautiful swath of the MW galaxy in the night sky since....hmmm....since...oh, when I visited an old band mate back in 1994!

On spread or contributing....

[Cantplankwell]

I have a nice "stellarvue" 80mm wide field scope outfitted with 2" EPs its mounted on a GEM with GOTO, its more for wide field viewing (or astro-photography) but you can view the planets at low magnification nicely.

Problem is I rarely make it past 9:30pm before Im gone to bed these days. Best time of the year to do a bit of backyard astronomy is March/April and Sept/Oct. This year it was unseasonably cloudy cold and wet...no stars were seen. Now the bugs are out in full force and the "seeing" will start to deteriorate during the summer.

Definitely something I want to spend more time doing someday when I have less responsibilities and more time.

[steffo99]

[ElrondHubbard]

All he needs is a nice warm bath and a little love.

[Karl_Hungus]

All he needs is a nice warm bath and a little love.

Do you think you can teach an 18000 year old dog new tricks?

[Wayne Evans]

]

Hey steffster....

Cool find and thanks for posting.

On spread with all contributors.

Carry on....