Apparently, scientists have created a fluid with negative mass.
Normally, I'd be sceptical, but with the increasing quantum strangeness, I find it perfectly believable.
It will be some time before we get 'real world' applications of this oddity .
In other news, the areas of the brain connected with dreaming have been identified, and appear to be connected with our physical selves - so if you dream that you're falling and manage to stop yourself by waking up, then you probably did.
Phew, eh ?
MEANWHILE, IN SPACE...
There is speculation of a field trip to Venus , and an orbiting space station as a possible practice
for any manned mission to Mars.
Speaking of Mars, this excellent video was created by Sean Doran, from thousands of expertly assembled jpegs.
Apparently the transient atmosphere of planetoid * Ceres is linked to the activity of the sun
The exact mechanism is unknown, but surely the implication is that Ceres has a magnetic field attracting and enhancing solar activity..
That's my conjecture anyway.
Last week there was a live-stream from NASA, which suffered from all the usual gremlins - sound and image dropped out , were subject to delays , and the presenters struggled to maintain a semblance of gravitas.
I gave up and sourced the information elsewhere.
The whole thing was underwhelming , and essentially told us little of any real importance.
Even so, here is a link to a downloadable poster of the watery worlds in our solar system.
Reading between the lines, I decided that NASA were saying that Saturns moon Enceladus was a stronger contender for alien life than Europa.
Which is possibly true, but our best chance for further information from the little moon is now entering its final days.
Cassini is heading for its grand finale, a swan dive through Saturns rings - infact twenty two dives, each one furthering our knowledge of the gas giant , until the final swoop in September 2017.
Cassini launched in October 1997 and has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004 , giving us an incredible wealth of information .
At the point where you think it should be winding down, perhaps taking retirement, it is going out in a blaze of glory.
April 26th 2017 is the date for the beginning of the end for Cassini.
An immense x-ray burst has been observed erupting from a galaxy some 10.7 billion light years away.
Its exact cause is unknown, but it was observed briefly by the Chandra observatory.
Theories include a black hole swallowing a star , which is a tenuous link to this piece about what it would be like to have a black hole the size of a coin in your pocket..
The news that the New Horizons craft is now halfway to its destination made me laugh - with memories of long family car journeys '..are we there yet ? '
'Yes , dear - only 486.19**mllion miles to go...why don't you have a nap - we'll be there when you wake up'
Let's not forget that we know nothing of the mysterious object , other than the fact that it is apparently bright red .
I'm surprised we can't have a general peek around at the colours of all the other debris in the Kuiper Belt by way of comparison...if I was there, I'd be wiping the little porthole window and craning my neck to peer out at the lumps of rock around us.
Actually, if I was there, I'd be squashed up due to the lack of space in New Horizons.
* is this an actual designation , or should I stick with ' dwarf planet ' ?
** This was accurate on April 1 , 2017 - not an April Fool
Normally, I'd be sceptical, but with the increasing quantum strangeness, I find it perfectly believable.
It will be some time before we get 'real world' applications of this oddity .
In other news, the areas of the brain connected with dreaming have been identified, and appear to be connected with our physical selves - so if you dream that you're falling and manage to stop yourself by waking up, then you probably did.
Phew, eh ?
MEANWHILE, IN SPACE...
There is speculation of a field trip to Venus , and an orbiting space station as a possible practice
for any manned mission to Mars.
Speaking of Mars, this excellent video was created by Sean Doran, from thousands of expertly assembled jpegs.
 |
| Ceres gif - NASA/JPL-Caltech / UCLA/ MPS /DLR/IDA/PSI |
Apparently the transient atmosphere of planetoid * Ceres is linked to the activity of the sun
The exact mechanism is unknown, but surely the implication is that Ceres has a magnetic field attracting and enhancing solar activity..
That's my conjecture anyway.
Last week there was a live-stream from NASA, which suffered from all the usual gremlins - sound and image dropped out , were subject to delays , and the presenters struggled to maintain a semblance of gravitas.
I gave up and sourced the information elsewhere.
The whole thing was underwhelming , and essentially told us little of any real importance.
Even so, here is a link to a downloadable poster of the watery worlds in our solar system.
Reading between the lines, I decided that NASA were saying that Saturns moon Enceladus was a stronger contender for alien life than Europa.
Which is possibly true, but our best chance for further information from the little moon is now entering its final days.
Cassini is heading for its grand finale, a swan dive through Saturns rings - infact twenty two dives, each one furthering our knowledge of the gas giant , until the final swoop in September 2017.
Cassini launched in October 1997 and has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004 , giving us an incredible wealth of information .
At the point where you think it should be winding down, perhaps taking retirement, it is going out in a blaze of glory.
April 26th 2017 is the date for the beginning of the end for Cassini.
An immense x-ray burst has been observed erupting from a galaxy some 10.7 billion light years away.
Its exact cause is unknown, but it was observed briefly by the Chandra observatory.
Theories include a black hole swallowing a star , which is a tenuous link to this piece about what it would be like to have a black hole the size of a coin in your pocket..
The news that the New Horizons craft is now halfway to its destination made me laugh - with memories of long family car journeys '..are we there yet ? '
'Yes , dear - only 486.19**mllion miles to go...why don't you have a nap - we'll be there when you wake up'
Let's not forget that we know nothing of the mysterious object , other than the fact that it is apparently bright red .
I'm surprised we can't have a general peek around at the colours of all the other debris in the Kuiper Belt by way of comparison...if I was there, I'd be wiping the little porthole window and craning my neck to peer out at the lumps of rock around us.
Actually, if I was there, I'd be squashed up due to the lack of space in New Horizons.
 |
| New Horizons - note the lack of viewports |
* is this an actual designation , or should I stick with ' dwarf planet ' ?
** This was accurate on April 1 , 2017 - not an April Fool
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