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Astronomy

pacman said:
I personally only think that getting a device to bore holes in Europa is only really impossible due to science projects getting screwed in US budgets. It would be awesome to see that happen though.
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I agree with that too. The NASA budget is always one of the first things the government slashes when going through budget cuts and it has shown. Sad that the US can't even send our own astronauts into space anymore, let alone equipment to Europa. I'm hopeful that the private space industry will be able to pick up the slack but thus far it has been a slow moving process.
 
wyverary said:
Yes! I do not know if there are any organic molecules there that could give rise to life--perhaps nobody does--but it is exciting to think at all of an ocean of liquid water on another body in our solar system.
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There's a big indicator in the red staining of the ice around fracures in the surface. It's thought it might be organic in origin (sort of plankton in the sea sort of thing). If I was in charge of NASA I'd be investigating that much more than Mars right now. Mars is a dead(ish) planet, Europa and the other moons of Jupiter are very much alive and kicking (or should that be swimming?!) :D

As for intelligent life, well I think the jury is out for any of that on any of the planets orbiting our sun! ;)


Oh, as for boring holes in the ice - no need. If the staining is residual organic matter, all we need is a sample of that....
 
Mellotron said:
I agree with that too. The NASA budget is always one of the first things the government slashes when going through budget cuts and it has shown. Sad that the US can't even send our own astronauts into space anymore, let alone equipment to Europa. I'm hopeful that the private space industry will be able to pick up the slack but thus far it has been a slow moving process.
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although it would be creating/supporting jobs for the people involved....(trying to make this argument convincing...)
 
Ste11aeres said:
although it would be creating/supporting jobs for the people involved....(trying to make this argument convincing...)
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If by that you mean creating jobs in the private space industry I am with you there. I think the future has to be private industry as the US government (in my view) only ever wanted the space program as a Cold War "battle victory". The golden age of space was pretty much the 1960s-early 70s and once that became recognized as a victory for the US, the Nixon administration began the budget slashing. Now it is up to private industry to do it and I hope it works. I don't know much about the in's and out's of what it takes to run something like that by any means. Its just taken so long to get anywhere with it that I don't know know how long it will be before the next major breakthrough is done outside of a government-run space program.
 
Mellotron said:
I agree with that too. The NASA budget is always one of the first things the government slashes when going through budget cuts and it has shown. Sad that the US can't even send our own astronauts into space anymore, let alone equipment to Europa. I'm hopeful that the private space industry will be able to pick up the slack but thus far it has been a slow moving process.
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It's really ****** because the NASA budget is incredibly small and cutting it really makes no significant impact on the national budget.
 
pacman said:
It's really ****** because the NASA budget is incredibly small and cutting it really makes no significant impact on the national budget.
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Yea it's ridiculous how small their budget is. I think it's one of those deals where the government gets to say they cut something out of the budget and people who don't look at the numbers will go "oh good, they're doing something" but in reality it makes no difference.
 
Mellotron said:
Yea it's ridiculous how small their budget is. I think it's one of those deals where the government gets to say they cut something out of the budget and people who don't look at the numbers will go "oh good, they're doing something" but in reality it makes no difference.
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That's pretty much exactly what is going on.
 
pacman said:
Well, I have officially submitted the paperwork to add a second major in astronomy. I'm excited.
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Nice! I wish I had done something like that as a major. I took one class in it in college and it was fascinating. I took a bunch more interesting courses that would've made better majors actually. The odd thing about my astronomy professor (to me anyway) was that he knew astronomy obviously real well but contended that Earth was the only place in the universe that contained life. I found that likely impossible but oh well. I'm not sure what others think about that idea.

Anyway, good luck in your new major! :)
 
Mellotron said:
Nice! I wish I had done something like that as a major. I took one class in it in college and it was fascinating. I took a bunch more interesting courses that would've made better majors actually. The odd thing about my astronomy professor (to me anyway) was that he knew astronomy obviously real well but contended that Earth was the only place in the universe that contained life. I found that likely impossible but oh well. I'm not sure what others think about that idea.

Anyway, good luck in your new major! :)
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I'm pretty sure that the universe is way to freaking huge for there not to be life elsewhere. Of course we can't really say until it actually gets discovered, but I'm willing to bet that it is out there.
 
I'm hoping when I get stable, I can get a degree in astronomy or astrophysics. Then, hopefully a phd if possible. I'd do that work for free, so getting paid would be just gravy.
 
Does anyone else listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson's podcast StarTalk? I keep my iPod loaded up (along with other podcasts) for long drives.
 
This thread is called "Astronomy", so I've thought I'll post here. I wouldn't say I am obsessed with Astronomy. We had it as a separate subject in middle and high school and it was... hard to deal with. Primarily because I couldn't remember anything and because in order for me to remember data I had to be able to imagine it in 2D, I couldn't imagine space being flat... anyway I have a question. And please be gentle, I'm a person who doesn't know much about astronomy but I'm including it in my sci fi book...

here's my question:
Which galaxy is HD 209458 in? I presumed, because it's only 150 light years away (+/-), it should be in our galaxy (the Milky Way) or am I wrong?

I actually have another question as well. it's less specific and more about physics... I guess.

I'm wondering if any of you came across some sort of a research about a possibility of existence of particles that we don't perceive or that behave in a similar way to the particles that we can perceive. Sort of like ghost or shadow particles (I don't mean literally). I know you would have to predict their existence based on experience with particles, which behavior we can observe. Everything else would be just our imagination. It's just maybe I'm coming up with some ideas that have already been researched and written about, if so I could include the current knowledge in the book as well...

Well, let's see if anyone replies now :) I apologize if I "clutter" somebody's thread. I didn't want to create a new one for the sake of one question.
 
Thanks for replying. I did come across some info, which confirmed that the star is in Milky Way. Its not like its extremely important but I still needed to know. I thought I'd post an illustration I made with the star. I'm not sure if it's accurate size wise, plus my star looks a little "hairy", but these illustrations are not meant to be hyperrealistic, so I think its fine :)

arieh-page1.jpg
 
[QUOTE="Mellotron, I don't know know how long it will be before the next major breakthrough is done outside of a government-run space program.[/QUOTE]

Hi NASA is dead, out of the loop, Air force- space defence has the high ground, along with the energy department.....that's all I'm saying go look for the rest.

empath13 The answer to your particle question is Yes and No
 
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Maelstrom said:
[QUOTE="Mellotron, I don't know know how long it will be before the next major breakthrough is done outside of a government-run space program.
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Hi NASA is dead, out of the loop, Air force- space defence has the high ground, along with the energy department.....that's all I'm saying go look for the rest.

empath13 The answer to your particle question is Yes and No[/QUOTE]
Tell me a little bit more about the "yes and no" :)
 
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