Black Hole Thoughts » Astronomy

Hubble’s Mysterious Object

Andrew — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:16:52 +0000

Hubble's Mysterious X-Shaped Object. Credit: (NASA) http://www.nasa.gov

NASA reports that Hubble has captured images of a mysterious X-shaped object thought to be an asteroid following a collision. NASA says that “asteroid collisions are energetic, with an average impact speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, or five times faster than a rifle bullet.”

Source: Gizmodo

Astronomy vs. Climatology – A Contrast in Disciplines

Andrew — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:04:52 +0000

Recently, ClimateGate revealed that many who work in the Climatology discipline have been blinded by greed, or blind faith akin to religion, or both, forsaking the pure pursuit of truth normally associated with scientists. I cannot help but be shocked by the disparity in the behavior of scientists in the Climatology discipline versus those in other disciplines like Physics, Astronomy, and Astrophysics.

Granted, there isn’t the money involved in these other disciplines as compared to Climatology, but really, this is shameful. Scientists should hold themselves to the highest standard, like Petr Horava.

In a recent article in the December 2009 issue of Scientific American about gravity, time and space, a new theory on gravity was discussed. The scientist proposing the new theory, Petr Horava, is a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. The article works through his theory and describes other scientists who agree with it, and others who don’t. In fact, the article describes how one scientist, Diego Blas of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, has re-worked Horava’s theory. Horava’s response? He completely welcomes the changes:

“When I proposed this, I didn’t claim I had the final theory. I want other people to examine it and improve it.” –Petr Horava

Perhaps one day, real scientists who have the same attitude as Petr Horava will outnumber the pseudo-scientists currently dominating the Climatology discipline.

First Ever Close-Up Look at Solar Flare

Andrew — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:42:45 +0000

MESSENGER's Second Flyby of Mercury. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

The MESSENGER spacecraft got the closest look at a solar flare in human history, from a distance of about ½ AU (an Astronomical Unit is defined as the distance between our Sun and the Earth, approximately 93 million miles). The Mercury, Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging Mission, or MESSENGER, is tasked with studying Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun. It will insert into orbit around Mercury on March 18th, 2011.

SpaceDaily has more details of the data it recorded on the solar flare. Studying solar flares is crucial to understanding how the Sun works, and how flares affect our climate here on Earth. Flares also affect our satellites, and can have deadly consequences for astronauts. By increasing what we know about what cause these eruptions, we will improve our ability to predict when they will occur.

Source: SpaceDaily and NASA’s MESSENGER Mission

Black Holes and Invisible Extra Dimensions

Andrew — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:14:18 +0000

No, that’s not the lead-in for my next science fiction story, though it sure could be. Instead, this is happening in our lifetimes, in the real world. It involves the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and smashing quarks and gluons together to attempt to create tiny black holes that will exist for barely a moment in time. All of this in the pursuit of invisible extra dimensions.

This Science News article does a great job explaining exactly why this research is so important, but here are the major points. The first thing you need to know is that gravity is the weakest, and most perplexing of the four, natural forces. For example, a simple magnet can pick up small metal objects, boldly defying the entire gravitational force of the earth. That’s staggering when you think about it. Referred to as the “hierarchy problem”, this example illustrates the discrepancies between gravity and the other forces, which are 30 orders of magnitude more powerful.

Gravity refuses to play nice with physicists when they try to create theories that describe our universe from the very large to the very small, otherwise known as theories of everything. Try to establish a theory of everything is what frustrated Einstein towards the end of his life, and it’s what eludes physicists all over the world today. That’s why these experiments are so critically important. Because now, scientists think they know the answer. The idea, hinted at by string theory, is that gravity leaks out into another dimension.

So, if gravity is leaking into this other dimension, wouldn’t we see it occur in what are the most gravitationally powerful celestial objects we know of: black holes? The first section of the article digs into this idea, but the long story short is that no shrinkage, or evaporation as they call it, has been detected in any black holes so far.

That gravity leaks into this other dimension –which may be a fraction of a millimeter in diameter –may not yet been observed in black holes of the celestial magnitude, but what about tiny, micro black holes?

That’s where the LHC comes into play. If it can create these tiny black holes when it goes online again this November, it should be able to create a lot of them. With all those micro black holes popping into existence, scientists would have an excellent opportunity to see if they evaporate quickly. And, if they do, this would support gravity leaking into the other dimension.

Source: Science News, “Hunting Hidden Dimensions”

Super-massive Black Hole Discovered

Andrew — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:35:59 +0000

Given that this website is entitled Black Hole Thoughts, it seems only right to have some posts devoted to black holes.

Last month, Dr. Tomotsugu Goto and colleagues from the University of Hawaii reported they discovered a distant galaxy swirling around the most super-massive black hole ever detected.

The galaxy, so distant that it is seen as it was 12.8 billion years ago, is as large as the Milky Way galaxy and harbours a super-massive black hole that contains at least a billion times as much matter as our Sun.

Black holes are such large concentrations of matter, that nothing can escape their gravity wells, not even light. They are believed to be created when massive stars die and collapse from their own gravity. Black holes were first theorized by English geologist John Mitchell and French astronomer Pierre Simon Laplace in the late eighteenth century, calling them “gravitationally collapsed objects.” Princeton physicist John Wheeler invented the term ”black holes” in 1969.

Source: ScienceDaily article

The Mantra of the Mars Rovers: Yes I can! Yes I can!

Andrew — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:56:42 +0000

: Celebrating 3 Martian years (6 earth years) of service by the rovers. Credit: Astro0 / rover art by Dan Maas / Mars by NASA / JPL-Caltech / Malin Space Science Systems

Sometimes, things turn out better than you expect. There’s no better example than the Mars Rovers. Originally planned for a three-month tour of service on the Martian surface, they have now logged three Martian years worth of exploration –equivalent to six earth years!

Wow! That’s really worth celebrating. Visit the Mars Exploration Rover Mission home to learn more.

And check out the Planetary Society’s article –which inspired this post –to see the latest on what Opportunity and Spirit have accomplished, and what they’re doing now (you can learn about the plight of Spirit).

Source: Planetary Society article