Can a rocket reach the nearest star? Ion drives, solar sails and railguns are discussed. Could it be possible to use quantum mechanics to bend space and seem like your travelling faster than light? It got me dreaming although the reality of space kicks in at the end. Would you mind if a project was [...]
Cassini Creates the First Topographical Map of Titan
Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, has been surveyed by Cassini. Cassini, which is a probe that has been looking at Saturn and its moons, has made a topographic map from the surveys. Titan is a lovely moon that is one of the most earthlike and interesting worlds in the solar system. It is Saturn’s largest [...]
Hawaiian Summit to Gain Giant Telescope
The construction of a large telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea which is opposed by the Hawaiians has permission now to go ahead. This has been opposed because the Hawaiians consider it sacred ground. The construction could start on the top of the 13,800 foot high mountain as early as April 2014. The mountain [...]
The Existing Climate Change Model Could Be Wrong
Climate models may be too conservative in forecasting tropical changes. This is indicated by a large amount of warm water that used to stretch out from Indonesia over to Africa and South America 4 million years ago. This large mass of water would have altered rainfall in the tropics perhaps even removing the monsoon. The [...]
Data That Was Called a Nuisance Leads to a Surprising Discovery about Star Birth
Bright objects appeared in maps in 2008 from data made with the South Pole telescope. These light sources interfered with the measurements that were being made of the cosmic microwave background radiation (the afterglow of the big bang). But this turned out to be a rare find in what was a large survey of the [...]
The Best View of Exoplanets Planets yet
4 Jupiter mass planets, among the most exotic ones to be known, have been seen in more detail than ever before. Project 1640 picked out these planets using the Hale telescope. These planets orbit a star called HR 8799 which is 128 ly away. Light from planets is hard to make out as the stars [...]
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aliens
Alien Civilization Types From 1 To 7
What could an alien civilisation be able to do? Well, as we have not found any alien civilisations then everything is guesswork based on the laws of physics and our experiences here on earth. This could be completely wrong or it could be completely right or it could be somewhere in between. It is great [...]
aliens
21 Reasons We Have Not Talked To Or Found Alien Civilizations
Look up and you will see lots of dots of light. No, it’s not a load of cars screaming towards the Earth because they missed the stop sign at Mars. It’s stars. There are said to be about 140 billion stars that look like the sun in the Milky Way. There are a lot more stars [...]
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Dark Matter Monsters Or A Change In The Laws Of Physics?
There is a massive mystery in the universe, Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Nobody knows what these evil things could be or that they are proof that the universe’s laws we have made up are total rubbish. The dark stuff does sound a bit hellish but that’s just a name and a bit inappropriate as [...]
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Throwing Things At The Moon
The Moon is great isn’t it? It features in the best album ever (The Dark Side of the Moon) and is like an old friend flying round the Earth. Other planets may have more Moons and more colourful Moons but our moon is ours. If you feel that the Moon needs a hug and protection [...]
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Robots March Forward Triumphantly
Robots are fascinating things to talk about, make movies about and generally be scared about nowadays. Of course we’ve all seen the new terminator movie but that is science-fiction isn’t it? Let’s try and start at the beginning with the first robot, that sounds logical to me. Leonardo da Vinci had a good go at [...]
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Are There Other Universes Just Beyond Our Fingertips?
Parallel universes have always been used in science fiction as a great tool, but, as science fiction has a funny way of turning into fact (see Arthur C. Clark’s predictions) having parallel universes is getting very close to being a fact although they are theory at the moment. But how can our universe (or the [...]
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Ways That We Will Avoid Death
Doesn’t death hack you off sometimes? What point has it got? It must be a joke, surely? We all know that it happens and unless you believe in something it does and that’s it. But what is death? Well I suppose the easy answer is that it’s when you die. I think I may get [...]
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Is The Earth Safe From Rocky Demons Above?
Have you ever looked up into the sky and wondered what was going to drop onto your head? When you look up what do you see? Well if I was to do it now I would see a load of black clouds as I live in the rainy UK which tends to give me a [...]
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Not Faster Than Light But Fast Light, Is It Possible?
Light is one of those things that you take for granted just switching on a switch or, if you are a caveman, lighting a fire. It appears almost instantaneously as that switch clicks or fire bursts into life. But, you know what I’m going to say don’t you, it’s not that simple. It takes time [...]
aliens
Where Are All The Civilisations?
What is going on? Where are they all? Are they here? Too many questions and literally too little time. It just seems so really boring that we can be the only ones in this universe. Time is definitely a massive problem when looking for somebody alien to chat to. Does it matter that there are [...]
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Does Something Unknown Lurk at the Galactic Center?
It may be a bit of a long way away (26,000 ly) but it is an interesting place to go. At 26,000 light years away it would take 26,000 years as measured by clocks on Earth at the speed of light, and no time at all as measured by your watch. Time is relative, not fixed. [...]
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Blow Up Your Brain With Quantum Physics, Or Perhaps Not?
Quantum theory is bizarre and daft and if somebody told me about this in the pub then I would laugh them outside, and then drown myself in beer. In order to try and understand, we need to forget everything we know about what causes things to happen and what effects are caused. You also need to [...]
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What Are We And The Universe Made Out Of?
Have you ever looked at something and wondered what it was made out of? Why should you? Well it might be a nice fact to know to impress your neighbours or perhaps your friends or even the butcher. Then again it might just be interesting. Everybody learns about molecules and atoms at school and in [...]
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A New Human Race To Explore The Stars?
In an earlier post we talked about robots doing our dirty work and exploring the universe, relaying images back to us allowing us to see what they have found without actually risking our own necks. If you fancy a look then the post is here ”Is Humanity A Space Fairing Race?” . I have a funny [...]
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An Internet To Span A Galaxy
Wouldn’t it be great to surf to a website and find out about any planet, Star or literally anything else in the galaxy? Just think of all the forums, chat and possibilities for communication that a galaxy wide Internet would give us. Could this be done? It would need a rather long cable. I am [...]
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Is Nothing Nothing Or Something?
I was tempted just to post a blank page, but that still wouldn’t have been nothing and would have been cheating. So here we go… Let’s say you walk into a room and there is “nothing in it” — no objects of any kind, no furniture and no people. It’s just four walls, a ceiling [...]
aliens
Using A Laser To Communicate With Aliens
A communication strategy that aliens might use instead of radio signals is to send brief and intense bursts of laser light across the galaxy – sort of like a signal lamp between two ships. Some space telescopes would be ideally suited to pluck out such a signal from the sky background. Why laser beams instead of radio transmitters? [...]
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Using Energy In Different Ways To Travel The Universe
The greatest restriction to space travel as far as I can see is that the fuel that is needed to propel the vehicle is carried on the spacecraft. If we use energy to travel the universe in a different way then that fuel may not have to be carried or just a little fuel may [...]
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Talk to the Animals?
My dog is looking at me now it’s barking at me. It always seems to be saying something. But how would I know if it was or not?. I’m not sure if I really want to know what is being said,but perhaps it could be quite useful if I could understand the barks. Perhaps that [...]
