Official Space is Awesome Thread

[Argonne69]

This probably falls more within the Earth sciences category, and not necessarily Space category, but given that are planet is floating in space, I'll post it here.

 

We like to think of Earth as a watery planet, given that 71 percent of its surface is covered by water. The average depth of the oceans is 3688 meters (12,100 feet). That's 3.69 km (2.3 miles).

 

However, when you consider that the radius of the earth is 6371 km (3959 miles), the oceans make up only 0.057% of the distance from the surface to the planet's core. Water makes up ~0.02% of the mass of our planet.

 

To put this in perspective, a layer of spray paint is rough 0.07 mm thick. Take an 26 cm (10.3 in) ball, slightly larger than a volleyball, give it a quick coat of spray paint, and you've deposited the oceans on its surface.

 

 

 

[bscinstnct]

This probably falls more within the Earth sciences category, and not necessarily Space category, but given that are planet is floating in space, I'll post it here.

 

We like to think of Earth as a watery planet, given that 71 percent of its surface is covered by water. The average depth of the oceans is 3688 meters (12,100 feet). That's 3.69 km (2.3 miles).

 

However, when you consider that the radius of the earth is 6371 km (3959 miles), the oceans make up only 0.057% of the distance from the surface to the planet's core. Water makes up ~0.02% of the mass of our planet.

 

To put this in perspective, a layer of spray paint is rough 0.07 mm thick. Take an 26 cm (10.3 in) ball, slightly larger than a volleyball, give it a quick coat of spray paint, and you've deposited the oceans on its surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, I have always been intrigued by what lies

 

within!

 

The core. How does it stay hot?

 

 

[crich88848]

Was watching a show last night that described the cosmic calendar. If you scale down the time-frame of the universe into a calendar year with Jan 1 being the big bang and Dec. 31 being today, recorded history accounts for the last 60 seconds of Dec. 31. Crazy.

[crich88848]

This probably falls more within the Earth sciences category, and not necessarily Space category, but given that are planet is floating in space, I'll post it here.

 

We like to think of Earth as a watery planet, given that 71 percent of its surface is covered by water. The average depth of the oceans is 3688 meters (12,100 feet). That's 3.69 km (2.3 miles).

 

However, when you consider that the radius of the earth is 6371 km (3959 miles), the oceans make up only 0.057% of the distance from the surface to the planet's core. Water makes up ~0.02% of the mass of our planet.

 

To put this in perspective, a layer of spray paint is rough 0.07 mm thick. Take an 26 cm (10.3 in) ball, slightly larger than a volleyball, give it a quick coat of spray paint, and you've deposited the oceans on its surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, I have always been intrigued by what lies

 

within!

 

The core. How does it stay hot?

 

 

 

Radioactive decay combined with the insulating properties of the surrounding rock. It will cool off eventually. I believe there is some frictional heat that occurs as well.

[Argonne69]

This probably falls more within the Earth sciences category, and not necessarily Space category, but given that are planet is floating in space, I'll post it here.

 

We like to think of Earth as a watery planet, given that 71 percent of its surface is covered by water. The average depth of the oceans is 3688 meters (12,100 feet). That's 3.69 km (2.3 miles).

 

However, when you consider that the radius of the earth is 6371 km (3959 miles), the oceans make up only 0.057% of the distance from the surface to the planet's core. Water makes up ~0.02% of the mass of our planet.

 

To put this in perspective, a layer of spray paint is rough 0.07 mm thick. Take an 26 cm (10.3 in) ball, slightly larger than a volleyball, give it a quick coat of spray paint, and you've deposited the oceans on its surface.

 

 

 

Nice, I have always been intrigued by what lies

 

within!

 

The core. How does it stay hot?

 

 

 

Radioactive decay combined with the insulating properties of the surrounding rock. It will cool off eventually. I believe there is some frictional heat that occurs as well.

 

Yup.

 

Reminds me of the joke about the Thermos. It keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold. How does it know? :taunt:

 

The pressure at the center of the Earth is 3.5 million times the surface pressure. The core is basically a solid ball of iron.

 

Strangely, even though Jupiter is a big ball of hydrogen (90%) and helium (10%), it's believed to also have a solid core of heavy elements. Where is gets really interesting is the layers above the core (~25,000 miles thick) where the pressure is so high the hydrogen transforms into a liquid metal. Basically, the electrons are squeezed out of the liquid hydrogen, and the fluid behaves like a metal.

 

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/09aug_juno3/

[NV825]

Was watching a show last night that described the cosmic calendar. If you scale down the time-frame of the universe into a calendar year with Jan 1 being the big bang and Dec. 31 being today, recorded history accounts for the last 60 seconds of Dec. 31. Crazy.

 

I believe you are talking about the show "Cosmos" with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Such an awesome show that explains both space and the history of science.

[Argonne69]

I like to think about the journey of a lonely photon that is created by the Sun. Deep in the core of the sun, immense pressure and heat fuse hydrogen into helium. One of the important byproducts are gamma-ray photons, i.e. light. The radius of the sun is 696,300 km. Traveling at the speed of light, one would think that the photon would take a mere fraction of a second to reach the surface of the Sun, and start its journey through the cosmos.

 

Nuh uh. Given the density of the Sun's core, the photon is absorbed, and re-emitted over, and over again. Each time, it loses a bit of energy, transitioning to an x-ray, infrared, and visible light photon along the way. In fact, it's estimated that the photon will take tens of thousands, or possibly millions, of years to reach the surface. After that, it's a quick 8 minute journey to the Earth.

 

Of course, if the photon doesn't hit the Earth, it'll continue on indefinitely. When we look at a very distant galaxy through a telescope, the light will have traveled uninterrupted for possibly billions of years before striking the sensor in the telescope.

[crich88848]

Was watching a show last night that described the cosmic calendar. If you scale down the time-frame of the universe into a calendar year with Jan 1 being the big bang and Dec. 31 being today, recorded history accounts for the last 60 seconds of Dec. 31. Crazy.

 

I believe you are talking about the show "Cosmos" with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Such an awesome show that explains both space and the history of science.

 

That's the one. Awesome show.

[driverwedge]

I like to think about the journey of a lonely photon that is created by the Sun. Deep in the core of the sun, immense pressure and heat fuse hydrogen into helium. One of the important byproducts are gamma-ray photons, i.e. light. The radius of the sun is 696,300 km. Traveling at the speed of light, one would think that the photon would take a mere fraction of a second to reach the surface of the Sun, and start its journey through the cosmos.

 

Nuh uh. Given the density of the Sun's core, the photon is absorbed, and re-emitted over, and over again. Each time, it loses a bit of energy, transitioning to an x-ray, infrared, and visible light photon along the way. In fact, it's estimated that the photon will take tens of thousands, or possibly millions, of years to reach the surface. After that, it's a quick 8 minute journey to the Earth.

 

Of course, if the photon doesn't hit the Earth, it'll continue on indefinitely. When we look at a very distant galaxy through a telescope, the light will have traveled uninterrupted for possibly billions of years before striking the sensor in the telescope.

 

Check out at about 1:50 or so.

[PixlPutterman]

But where did it all come from :)

[Argonne69]

But where did it all come from :)

 

The previous Big Crunch.

 

[crich88848]

But where did it all come from :)

 

The problem is we will never know. The laws of physics broke down and didn't apply before the big bang, so there will never be a way for us to know or see it. For us, our timeline begins at the big bang.

 

And the big crunch is one of many existing theories regarding the end/beginning of a universe. There are some pretty interesting ones floating around.

[MMB1500]

Not sure if you all caught this?

 

More than 1200 new planets discovered through NASA's Kepler telescope. Very cool.

[Argonne69]

But where did it all come from :)

 

The problem is we will never know. The laws of physics broke down and didn't apply before the big bang, so there will never be a way for us to know or see it. For us, our timeline begins at the big bang.

 

And the big crunch is one of many existing theories regarding the end/beginning of a universe. There are some pretty interesting ones floating around.

 

I personally prefer it to The Big Freeze, or The Big Crunch. An ever-recycling universe with no beginning and no end has an elegance to it. The thought of the universe simply going cold, or tearing itself apart? Not so much.

 

If it turns out our universe is simply one of an infinite number of parallel universes, then the latter two aren't as bad, provided that some of the other universes have slightly different laws of physics that allow for big crunches.

[crich88848]

But where did it all come from :)

 

The problem is we will never know. The laws of physics broke down and didn't apply before the big bang, so there will never be a way for us to know or see it. For us, our timeline begins at the big bang.

 

And the big crunch is one of many existing theories regarding the end/beginning of a universe. There are some pretty interesting ones floating around.

 

I personally prefer it to The Big Freeze, or The Big Crunch. An ever-recycling universe with no beginning and no end has an elegance to it. The thought of the universe simply going cold, or tearing itself apart? Not so much.

 

If it turns out our universe is simply one of an infinite number of parallel universes, then the latter two aren't as bad, provided that some of the other universes have slightly different laws of physics that allow for big crunches.

 

My favorite theory is the false vacuum. Instantaneously, the energy in the universe changes and the universe just falls apart. No forewarning, just gone. Kinda how I hope my death goes.

[bscinstnct]

How Gravity Explains Why Time Never Runs Backward

 

Because complexity is increasing in this backward direction, this second arrow of time also points into the past. Which, according to this second time direction, is actually the “future” of another universe that exists on the other side of the Big Bang.

 

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/time-gravity/

[hogans71]

I am officially freaked out reading this thread.

 

I love it.

[Argonne69]

Supernova. It completely blows my mind that the brightness of a supernova, the explosion of a single massive star, can outshine the output of its surrounding galaxy, composed of hundreds of billions of stars. Think about staring into the sun (but please don't do it). Think about staring into 100 billions Suns. It's brighter than that.

 

[PixlPutterman]

Anyone on here like Intelligent Design? I don't need to turn it into a religious debate....... :D

 

Seems like everything works to perfectly to chance that from "nothing"

[Argonne69]

Anyone on here like Intelligent Design? I don't need to turn it into a religious debate....... :D

 

Seems like everything works to perfectly to chance that from "nothing"

 

Except ID is nothing but religion. If everything must have a designer and/or creator, where did your god come from?

 

I assume I don't have to explain that science is based on observation and experimentation. ID does not, and has never, proposed an experiment to determine the existence of a "designer".

[crich88848]

Anyone on here like Intelligent Design? I don't need to turn it into a religious debate....... :D

 

Seems like everything works to perfectly to chance that from "nothing"

 

Actually, it all makes perfect sense if you really think about it. The universe is so vast that anything that can happen will happen because there are almost infinite possibilities of it happening. Gravity brings about a lot of stability to the universe. The real difficult part of it isn't how the universe is currently. How it is currently makes near perfect sense and can be proven scientifically. The difficult part is what happened before the big bang.

[MMB1500]

Anyone on here like Intelligent Design? I don't need to turn it into a religious debate....... :D

 

Seems like everything works to perfectly to chance that from "nothing"

 

Except ID is nothing but religion. If everything must have a designer and/or creator, where did your god come from?

 

I assume I don't have to explain that science is based on observation and experimentation. ID does not, and has never, proposed an experiment to determine the existence of a "designer".

 

A nice way of putting it. There is no evidence whatsoever to support the idea of ID. It is a myth, utterly without substance.

[PixlPutterman]

Anyone on here like Intelligent Design? I don't need to turn it into a religious debate....... :D

 

Seems like everything works to perfectly to chance that from "nothing"

 

Except ID is nothing but religion. If everything must have a designer and/or creator, where did your god come from?

 

I assume I don't have to explain that science is based on observation and experimentation. ID does not, and has never, proposed an experiment to determine the existence of a "designer".

 

A nice way of putting it. There is no evidence whatsoever to support the idea of ID. It is a myth, utterly without substance.

 

I disagree, but wont get into that and derail the thread

[Argonne69]

We have a "new" dwarf planet in our solar system, 2007 OR10. It's almost the size of Pluto, making it the third largest dwarf planet discovered to date. It was originally discovered in 2007, hence the name, but its size was vastly underestimated.

 

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-6256/151/5/117/meta;jsessionid=427CE76E6BAC5F523F0C1A2B35B50FC7.c3.iopscience.cld.iop.org

 

 

[Argonne69]

NGC 6814

 

 

Larger images:

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/NGC_6814.png

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/NGC_6814_HST-JS.png

 

 

 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160513112132.htm

[MMB1500]

Anyone on here like Intelligent Design? I don't need to turn it into a religious debate....... :D

 

Seems like everything works to perfectly to chance that from "nothing"

 

Except ID is nothing but religion. If everything must have a designer and/or creator, where did your god come from?

 

I assume I don't have to explain that science is based on observation and experimentation. ID does not, and has never, proposed an experiment to determine the existence of a "designer".

 

A nice way of putting it. There is no evidence whatsoever to support the idea of ID. It is a myth, utterly without substance.

 

I disagree, but wont get into that and derail the thread

 

Yeah, perhaps best we stay away from that topic. It's unlikely to be productive.

[Argonne69]

According to Special Relativity, time slows down as you approach the speed of light. At the speed of light, time basically stands still. Thus, a photon traveling through space for billions of years would "perceive" the trip as occurring instantaneously, and it would occupy every point on the path at the same time. In a nutshell, the photon travels no distance in no time.

 

[crich88848]

According to Special Relativity, time slows down as you approach the speed of light. At the speed of light, time basically stands still. Thus, a photon traveling through space for billions of years would "perceive" the trip as occurring instantaneously, and it would occupy every point on the path at the same time. In a nutshell, the photon travels no distance in no time.

 

 

Or does the Photon travel infinite distance in infinite time???? BOOOOOOM!!!!!

[driverwedge]

According to Special Relativity, time slows down as you approach the speed of light. At the speed of light, time basically stands still. Thus, a photon traveling through space for billions of years would "perceive" the trip as occurring instantaneously, and it would occupy every point on the path at the same time. In a nutshell, the photon travels no distance in no time.

 

 

Or does the Photon travel infinite distance in infinite time???? BOOOOOOM!!!!!

 

Or infinite distance in no time?

[bscinstnct]

Black holes offer a way to another universe, Stephen Hawking says in newly published paper

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/black-holes-offer-a-way-to-another-universe-stephen-hawking-says-in-newly-published-paper-a7068756.html