More Galaxies than People

Feeling big today? Think about this:
"There are far more galaxies than people." -Carl Sagan

But, by the same token, don't feel bad; think of the uniqueness of you in the face of the rest of the cosmos. Only once ever has a configuration of atoms come together to have your thoughts and experiences.



Now, finish your beer, get another, and go watch SportsCenter...

 

The Galaxy Zoo

You can help classify the heavenly bodies - sweet!
The following is quoted from their Web site:
"The Galaxy Zoo files contain almost a quarter of a million galaxies which have been imaged with a camera attached to a robotic telescope the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, no less). In order to understand how these galaxies — and our own — formed, we need your help to classify them according to their shapes — a task at which your brain is better than even the fastest computer."

So go now and help; it'll be the coolest nerdy thing you've done since selling your Everquest character for $200 and a case of Mountain Dew!

http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Flickr is cool, but what about space?

No, I'm not talking about storage space for your files; I'm talking about space proper. The great, great out of doors - the night sky of stars, planets, clouds of Ort, and jazz of that sort. Well, Flickr has some eye candy for you space lovers too!
Check out this blog post called "Stargazing" by Fiona Miller; you'll get your fix. And if your camera is high tech enough or you are Wile E. Coyote ^{(TM Warner Bros.)} genius enough and built your own space pic taken camera you can enter the Astronomy Photographer of the Year project.

Teenagers' Class Project Takes Pics at the Cusp of Space

A group of Spanish teenagers pulled together a camera, a balloon, and some parts to send it all 20 miles up to take some snapshots.
Kids today, I swear. They've got nothing better to do than to make my childhood seem ridiculous. No wonder I didn't win at the high school science fair.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1162659/Students-tie-56-camera-balloon-send-edge-space-capture-stunning-images-Earth.html

Faster than Light Speed Travel?

Okay. Really?
"It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!"
(Never mind that parsecs are units of distance and not time - oh well, George still made a great movie.)

I know we all want it to be possible. The 'real' theory (not talking Star Trek/Wars here!) is based on an idea by Michael Alcubierre. The propulsion system doesn't really propel the space ship; it would expand space behind the ship and shrink space in front of the ship. The ship would then 'surf' the bubble as it zips through space. It was coined as the "Alcubierre drive."

This idea has been reworked a little (add a sprinkling of dark energy to control the manipulation of spacetime) by Baylor University physicists Gerald Cleaver and graduate student Richard Obousy.

It's an interesting thought experiment. It does seem to escape the problem of Einstein's theory of relativity. The ship is not actually 'moving through space,' but riding the bubble of stationary space. So then no infinite speed requiring an infinite amount of fuel mass.

I'm curious about time. Assuming that this will come to pass as real technology at some point. How will a bubble of space affect the passage of time in and around it?

The idea that space can move faster than light comes from data generated by the WMAP that space expanded faster than the speed of light for a short time after the Big Bang.

Sadly, we won't be able to enjoy the fruits of this theory, unless someone cracks the problem of the human life span. That's a story for another day.

Whole story at Discover.com
Warp Drive Engine Would Travel Faster Than Light
by Eric Bland

Story with more detail about how dark energy fits into the picture at SPACE.com
Spaceship Could Fly Faster Than Light
by Jeremy Hsu

Sugar in Space

Awesome. A simple sugar compound has been found to exist out in space.
"What's interesting about glycolaldehyde is how easily it combines with a three-carbon sugar to produce ribose, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, which carry genetic information for living things. "
Yum.
Read more at Discovery.com

Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity

I have always wanted to be an astrophysicists but could never cut the math.

Watch in a bigger format at Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity on Hulu.com

So Long Paris, Don’t Bother Writing; I wish I had the NASA channel.

Americans used to care about the space program. No more.

I remember when a Space Shuttle launch was a huge all-day media event. Our school would postpone regular class and wheel in a TV, and we’d watch it all day glued to the screen. From a camera far they would show the shuttle pointed skyward mounted of the booster rockets attached to the giant scaffolding, and then they would pan over and show the countdown clock. It really ramped up the tension. The reporters would occupy the pre-launch time by talking to NASA representatives about what will happen and what they were going to experiment on when they reached space. The giant robotic arm that placed the Hubble telescope in orbit was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. The astronauts were national heroes to all children and adults. We all went with them in our imaginations.

Today Atlantis is ready for launch at 6:38 CT and the weather looks good. This mission, they will continue the construction of the ISS (i.e. the International Space Station). It is an orbiting space station that shows that cooperation between nations is possible and reinvests hope in the future of the Human race in these very troubled times.
During this eleven day mission, they will attach a new section to the station and a new pair of solar panels. And this launch is especially important because in February a hail storm ruined the foam insulation on the external fuel tank and dented it like a barn roof in Kansas. Engineers and specialist have been working since then to repair the damage. From pre-launch to touch down and everything in between is an AMAZING feat of technical ability. They are doing things never done before, and all involved deserve our full respect and attention. Reaching out and colonizing space is our ONLY hope for the ultimate survival of the Human race, and since landing on the moon and then Skylab, ISS is the biggest step we’ve taken to that ultimate goal.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut; kids today want to be rich tarts.

However today, I can’t find any coverage on the major TV news networks because Paris Hilton has been ordered back to jail to server the full original 45-day sentence after she was allowed by the sheriff to skip out with some mental disability after doing four days and do the rest of her time at her house. Ouch; that must be a horrible place to soak in a tub and drink booze.
She’s being sent to county jail people; it’s not prison like Martha Stewart. And it’s (twin Towers Correctional Center) even a separate jail for rich people, politicians, celebrities, and cops gone bad. It is separate from the regular criminals doing their time because they couldn’t afford high price lawyers.
On Fox News there is live video feed from helicopters and rooftops showing the police car escorts, at least three, and Geraldo Rivera is commentating. How much money is LA County spending on this? And you know it’s frigging news if Geraldo is there. You’ll notice that he is not covering the War on Terror anymore since he gave away military plans on live TV.

Similar to the word ‘Diva’, the word ‘News’ used to mean something. No longer.

My information about the launch was gleaned from the CNN story:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/06/08/space.shuttle.ap/index.html

My so long Paris don’t bother writing information was boringly gathered from Fox News TV channel…oh and Paris cried for her mommy. Sweet.

So that no lovers of Fox News get mad, after more than 3 hours of live Paris coverage, they are now (3:29CT) talking about the launch of Atlantis, however they called Buzz Aldrin (former NASA Astronaut, Retired USAF Colonel, and Ph.D.) and are asking his opinion on the shuttle launch being overshadowed by Paris Hilton. They took time out of this national treasure of a man to ask his opinion on a rich tart. Shameful.
After the commercial break…they returned to Paris coverage. Sigh.