Dark Matter, Majorana, Quipu and Naked Sand

Apparently a galaxy has been found without any dark matter
Normally this would be a cause for concern, but as dark matter has never been empirically proven to exist, I think we'll just have to collectively shake our heads in bewilderment.
'Dark Matter' is possibly a marketing opportunity according to this piece - interesting article, but the overuse of the phrase 'sort of ' makes me sad.
Still, it's a step up from ' kinda '...if you know worra mean...

Perhaps I'm psychic...or a jinx, as no sooner did I mention * the pending launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, than it was put back to 2020.
The JWST has a long history of delays, going way back to 2005, but let's not be negative.
Sadly though, the delay will impact on other projects

Similarly, the Parker Solar Probe hit a couple of delays (it is also the only NASA craft named after a living person) but is now on target for a launch window between May and July 2018 : if you're quick, you can include your own name, sending it to the sun - not sure of the symbolism here - thousands of sun sacrifices at the same time, hmmm

Mayan sacrifices to the sun revisited ?

If you would prefer a hands- on role with NASA, now is the time - I'd apply, but not being a U.S. citizen means no, sadly...

There will be a bout of synchronised satellite flying in 2020, as ESA send proba 3 to record the suns corona closer than ever before.
The proba series of missions were designed to be low cost, small satellite projects-
Long ago, proba 1 was a satellite used for aerial photography, such as this shot of the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt.
Which brings us to the news that algorithms intended to reveal nudity are turning up images of sand dunes...perhaps it is more evidence that the science behind AI is not really fit for purpose; another frustration for Microsoft who are trying to make progress in what they see as a triptych of science offering great potential  - AI, Augmented Reality, and Quantum Computing.

Sand nudes , as they say...

They are currently working with an elusive particle - Majorana Fermion, in an attempt to corner the market in 'quantum supremacy' which is a long shot given that they have yet to produce an actual quantum computer ( D-wave have allegedly already done this, although their computers are very limited in ability).
Majorana Fermion is unique, in that it contains its its own anti-particle , as well as retaining memory of where it's been, and Microsoft hope to use it for braiding - the best analogy I can think of is the use of knots to contain information as practiced in many cultures - particularly the Andean Quipu system which was in use until it was eradicated by the Spanish conquistadors.

Quipu in the Larco Museum collection

Another analogy would be the DNA helix structure which contains the encrypted passcode to everything living... either way, good luck to Microsoft in their quantum endeavours. I'm only surprised that neither Jeff Bezos nor Elon Musk are involved in the race for ' quantum supremacy'...

IN OTHER NEWS...

It appears that the ' alien megastructure star' is at it again , with further dips in luminosity.

As I write this micro-blog post, we await the re-entry of the Chinese space station Tiangong 1 - debris is expected to fall between New Zealand and the U.S. - sometime on Monday 2nd April.
Previous debris falls included the 77 tonne Skylab in 1979...**

**UPDATE- Tiangong 1 burned up harmlessly somewhere overhead,,,



This link contains some stunning processed images of the Gale crater on Mars, thanks to Sean Dorán

 TTFN,

G

Happy April Fools Day, Easter, Eostre !


*23rd March blogpost

When Stars Collide, Hyperloop Pods, Propellors and Quantum Catapults

Apparently, half the missing matter in the universe has been found.

I breath a sigh of relief, as I'm sure we all do.

Personally, the idea of dark matter and black holes gives me a sense of deep dread.

All that nothingness...(shivers)

One hundred and thirty million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, two neutron stars collided.

In August, the signals from that event reached Earth, and became the first ever visual and gravitational record of such a cosmic cataclysm.

The visual and gravitational records arrived within 17 seconds of each other, which is pretty damn good for a journey spanning aeons* of time...

The image below looks underwhelming, but don't forget that you're looking at an event that took place long before we existed...

NGC 4993     When Stars Collide                   NASA/Swift

Personally, I'm still reeling with the simple fact that telescopes are time machines...

What we need is a quantum catapult, enabling us to cross the vast divide of space and time.

I'm working on it, but I need more elastic for the catapult.

It's a minor inconvenience - I'm sure Elon Musk could sort it out - speaking of whom, in a recent discussion of his hopes to use rockets as glorified 'airliners' on Mars, he displayed a masterful use of terms like 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' (rocket explodes) , and ' ...getting somewhere in thirty minutes by rocket...will be negatively affected if ...' you might die', is on the ticket.'

Fear not, though, as current tests for his (Earthbased)  hyperloop system are exceeding their own speed records, and it won't be long before intercity journey times are vastly reduced.

Google have expanded their maps to include places in our solar system: enjoy, but please don't confuse them with your own GPS...

'Propellor' imaged by Cassini    NASA

Remaining with our own corner of the cosmos, I found this article interesting, as it ponders a few discoveries of the belated (do we use this term for a spacecraft? ) Cassini, particularly the interesting 'propellors' created by moonlets in Saturns rings.

A world with moons named from figures of Greek mythos , including Janus, Pandora, Atlas, Dione and Prometheus is always worth revisiting, although my personal favourite is the little oddity known as Pan...

35km wide Pan...

Don't forget there is a little time left ( closing November 1,2017 )  to include your name on the Insight flight to Mars - get your boarding pass here

Not sure if I got a wing seat, knowing my luck, I'm probably in baggage...


...but I'll  see you there

* Using aeons as a fluid measurement

Our Expanding Universe, ♥ and the Zombie Pandemic...

Apologies for the delay in missives, the author was overwhelmed by illness at a time when antibiotics are becoming redundant - that global zombie pandemic begins to look almost plausible - even moreso if we look at political trends.
Ahem
However, we shall rise above such concerns which lead to fisticuffs at the watercooler - apparently a new reason for not 'getting things done' in the workplace is the recent discovery that the universe is expanding faster than we thought, by some 5 - 9 %.
As a percentage, that may sound insignificant, but of course the universe is expanding at the speed of light, so a conservative estimate is approximately 34 million miles an hour - which is one of those frightening, unwieldy numbers that keeps me awake at night.
The sheer thought of the emptiness...*

There's more space than we thought...

...to counteract the coldness of deep space, I think of the intense warmth generated by fusion, which may eventually provide an almost limitless supply of energy .
Although it seems like an eternal carrot being dangled just out of reach , the immense technical challenges (how do you generate millions of degrees of heat, and how do you keep it safe ?) are being addressed by facilties such as PPPL, in the USA.

 

Fusion Image courtesy PPPL

Meanwhile, on the event horizon ...

It has also recently been deduced that black holes were mostly created in the first seconds of the existence of the universe, and may be used to explain the absence of ' dark matter' .
As we hurtle through an increasingly large space on our little rocky world, we are also adapting to our new technologies, the smartphones and screens which alter the way our brains work - with shorthand language that replaces expressions with emojis ♥ and acronyms instead of words.
An extreme extrapolation of this is that we are preparing for the next level of communication - a language of symbols  which would be quite universal (certainly for carbon - based lifeforms)...

Meanwhile, on Mars...

There is evidence of an ice age in the records of the Martian polar ice cap, and also records of two huge tsunamis exist in the shorelines around Mars.
All that remains is to establish whether Marsquakes were triggered, and there is the proof of a mass extinction event.
Of course, this leads to the question - what became extinct ?
Again, it has been put forward that a fossil record would be preserved in rock near the tsunami shorelines.
If you ask me, the pieces of jigsaw are falling into place for the evidence of a mass migration.
Wouldn't it be funny if we, in our shiny new spaceships, boldly conquered the barren Mars, only to find that our ancestors had abandoned it millenia ago ?
Especially if our collective reason for the Conquest of Mars was our own poor environmental management here on Earth , triggering extreme weather cycles and natural disasters...♥


* ...okay, so how can anything exceed the speed of light ?
Theoretical particles for one, and - oh, yes - the Theory Of Relativity may be wrong.
Or at least, incomplete...hey, I'm only the messenger, put those virtual pitchforks down !

Of Po and Particles

Apparently, now that the Large Hadron Collider has been upgraded, it can  search for a particle ( the gluon) which is allegedly even more exciting than the Higgs - Boson .

(pause to allow for excitement)

Being a supersymmetry particle (don't ask) , it can point us to the elusive 'Dark Matter' of the universe (as opposed to the 'Dark Web' of the online universe,).
Anyway, whilst trying to contain my own excitement , and the trembling of my hands which rattled the porcelain cup from which I was drinking my tea, I espied another article in which Anne Woods, creator of 'The Teletubbies' bemoaned the proposed remake as evidence of the dearth of originality and creativity in media (a point which I mentioned in a previous post ).
Following my own logic which adheres to the quantum idea of entanglement , I decided to make a little collage combining the two, with our illustrious  ( anti - ) heroes searching for the elusive 'gluon' particle

This collage is purely for information purposes, thank you

As a parent whose eyeballs were scoured and senses assaulted by the above scamps and a certain purple dinosaur , I am ambivalent - part of me thinks how sad that the creative urge is being  neglected, and part of me thinks thank goodness, no more...again again! - except, if they are being re - made then they do exist.
Time for a lie down...