SCIENCE thread!

[Standaman94]

The name speaks for itself.

We are in an age of fantastic scientific discoveries, most of which are only truly beginning to emerge in the last few years. At this exponential rate we could be living in the ideological sci-fi world within the next 20-50 years; Our children, or our childern's children, could very well be the first space-faring generation in a world without cancer or disease.

Anyway, while my specific interests lie in space exploration and material sciences, I'll keep this thread up to date with whatever I can find.

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To start off; The recent discovery of the first "rogue" planet, the brown dwarf CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9



Found by the Canada-France Brown Dwarfs Survey using infrared telescopes, the planet is 400 degrees Celcius, giving it a blue glow on infrared scopes. It is the first of it's kind; an Earth-sized planet without a parent star that isn't in distant space (approx 25-50 Parsecs).

There is a 87% chance that the planet is with the ABDMG, a group of stars and objects moving through space together, which would make the planet a young 50m-120m years old. The planet is a named a brown dwarf because it is thought it is a failed star - one which never initiated a nuclear reaction in its core.

It is estimated that it is about the size of Jupiter, but weights 4-7 times as much, making astronomers think it has a rocky core, the source of the heat.

http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1245a/

Also, there are some idiots out there who think this planet marks the end of the world (i.e. 21/12/2012), thinking aliens are controlling the planet like some sort of spaceship. Even Dr Cox picked up on this and tweeted that it is utter b*llocks.

[nickyf1]

Great idea for a thread!

NASA have been swaying towards the idea of a human tended EML2 (a point in space beyond the Moon where it is possible to 'stand still' in relation to the Earth and the Moon) outpost as of recent. It would be used as a fuel depot for deep space human missions as a ''gateway'' to the solar system, for staging missions to NEO's and the Martian system. Pretty cool stuff if it ever happens.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/11/exploration-alternatives-propellant-depots-commercial-lunar-base/

Also, confirmation of the human return to the Lunar regions.. EM-2
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/10/em-2-orion-crew-spend-four-days-lunar-orbit/

[XPR Roadrunner]

^^ isn't that callaed a Le Grange point?

[Beanz]

[XPR Roadrunner]

www.apod.nasa.gov

most awesome site ever. and pretty informative too. great for getting desktop pictures

[nickyf1]

^^ isn't that callaed a Le Grange point?

EML2 = Earth-Moon Legrange 2

EML1 is on the nearside of the Moon, EML2 is on the farside.. I think.

[Richy59]

Google has just released their latest 'experiment' where they have visualized the closest 100,000 stars to us.

http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/stars/

Using either your mouse or a trackpad, “100,000 Stars” lets you fly around in a sophisticated 3D graphic of our galaxy, taking a close look at the stars that are relatively close to Earth. Try zooming way out, where you can peer at the edge of the Milky Way, and see if it makes you feel like we did, finding ourselves wishing we could zoom out even farther.

Or you can click the “take a tour” button on the upper left to be swept away to the most interesting stars in our galaxy, or click on a star to get more info. And don’t miss the variety of views you can get, showing you the actual density of the stars in our galaxy. It’s spectacular.

It's pretty damn cool

[Standaman94]

That's pretty impressive.

Similar to a crazily huge universe "game" called Space Engine. If you haven't seen it... Check it out, trust me. YouTube it, Google it, just don't download it expecting to play it, my laptop won't even start it

In basic terms, you can seamlessly travel right from the most distant point in the known universe to 1 meter above the ground of a planet; ANY planet.. In the universe. Most of which are randomly generated (but are still permanent, ie my planets are the same as yours)

[Richy59]

My PC is a monster gaming rig, I am so downloading it

[Standaman94]

On Tuesday/Wednesday was a solar eclipse over the pacific ocean. It could only really be seen on a boat or from parts of New Zealand.

[Ax4x Kane]

Is this really a science thread, or just a space/astrophysics thread

[Standaman94]

Haha, ok. Something that isn't physics, astrology, or anything like that.

Time for some physiology and paradoxes, including everyone and no-one's most and least favourite and hated paradox, Schrodie's Cat. And Dog.

[nickyf1]

Haha, ok. Something that isn't physics, astrology, or anything like that.

Time for some physiology and paradoxes, including everyone and no-one's most and least favourite and hated paradox, Schrodie's Cat. And Dog.

Ooooh, fatal error there.

Astrology = bollocks

Astronomy is what you mean, I hope

[Standaman94]

I always get the two confused

[Beanz]

[XPR Roadrunner]

omg I nearly pee'd myself when I saw that the first time

[Standaman94]

There's been a recent hoo-har about NASA. It goes like this:

Something something data, something something Curiosity, something something Mars, something something "One for the History books", something something verify data.

In English, that means that NASA has found something with the Sample Analysis on Mars instrument on the Curiosity rover, which is apparently going to make history, but they're going to check over the data to make sure it's just not contaminated by air taken 200 million miles from Earth.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/11/21/speculation-increases-over-nasas-history-making-mars-finding/

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112735508/mars-curiosity-rover-one-for-the-history-books-112112/

[XPR Roadrunner]

SWEEEET!

First indications of Martians I bet!

[CQR Rogue]

what I am hearing a lot about at work - Scram Jets

however I work for UTC who run and operate Rolls Royce spares -

We maintain and fix engine control units on for RR -



Enjoy my day job trent 1000 if any wants info on job info let me know

[Beanz]

I did some reading about RAM and SCRAM jet engines a while back, very interesting!

[Ax4x Kane]

I for one am pursuing a career where I work with Planes, more specifically military aircraft for the RAF, so any info, tips, or general helpfulness would be appreciated.

[Standaman94]

I watched the Plane Crash thing on Channel 4 a while ago, that was very interesting. If we had the money, I'm sure that sort of thing could happen more often with old planes. You can never truly understand something until you've smashed it up.

[LMR BlackHawk]

im going to try and get an apprenticeships with GE who build and fix aircraft engines and i had work experience at ryanair in prestwick and it was the best weak of my life
aircrash investgtion could be helpful

[CQR Rogue]

nice 1

[XPR Roadrunner]

PHOBOS:


This moon is doomed. Mars, the red planet named for the Roman god of war, has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, whose names are derived from the Greek for Fear and Panic. These martian moons may well be captured asteroids originating in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or perhaps from even more distant reaches of the Solar System. The larger moon, Phobos, is indeed seen to be a cratered, asteroid-like object in this stunning color image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, recorded at a resolution of about seven meters per pixel. But Phobos orbits so close to Mars - about 5,800 kilometers above the surface compared to 400,000 kilometers for our Moon - that gravitational tidal forces are dragging it down. In 100 million years or so Phobos will likely be shattered by stress caused by the relentless tidal forces, the debris forming a decaying ring around Mars.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121028.html

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