Quotations from "Chasing Hubble's Shadows" - The Search for Galaxies at the Edge of Time by Jeff Kanipe
"If fireflies flickered in the dark recesses of the moon, we could see them with the Hubble telescope."
"Some of the galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field ... lie more than 12 billion light-years away. But that immensity also represents a span of time - of more than 12 billion years in the past ... "
However, it is also true that:
"Observations during the mid-twentieth century showed that, on average, all galaxies in the nearby universe, including our own, are very old. Some of the Milky Way's oldest stars, which congregate in dense spherical systems called globular clusters, are about 13 billion years old, almost as old as the universe itself..."
"Because the universe is expanding, light coming from sources at progressively greater cosmological distances is stretched .. toward longer, or redder, wavelengths. The greater the redshift, the more distant the object and the farther back in time it lies."
"The fact that astronomers can stand before their colleagues today and present findings about galaxies that existed in a universe barely 700 million years old speaks volumes about how much more of the cosmic landscape has been assayed compared with the tracts of the last decade of the last century."
"The cosmological principle states that the universe looks basically the same in all directions from any location."
"One of the ironies of the current state of cosmology is that more is known about the universe when it was 300,000 years old than when it was 1 billion years old."
Friday, August 31, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Experimental Blog #129
Mostly notes from "Journey Beyond Selene" - Remarkable Expeditions Past Our Moon and to the Ends of the Solar System by Jeffrey Kluger
Selene apparently is the name of the ancient Greek goddess of our Moon.
In all, the author Jeffrey Kluger, writes about 29 "unmanned missions to the moons" that were launched between August 23, 1961 and October 15, 1997. All, but two, were designed, developed, and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The first nine were all Ranger missions that were designed to take a few minutes{maybe 10 to 15} of pictures before they were deliberately crashed onto the Moon, but of those 9, numbers 1 through 6 were failures for one reason or another.
There were 7 Surveyor missions that were designed to soft-land on the Moon in various places and then take pictures. They were much more successful, but numbers 2 and 4 failed and crashed, undeliberately.
Five Lunar Orbiters were all successfully launched and put into orbit around the Moon.
So , it seems, that the manned American Apollo missions were as well equipped as they could be with lunar maps and photographs.
The Mariner 9 mission was launched May 30, 1971, and it successfully orbited Mars and flew by Phobos, one of Mars' moons.
The Pioneer missions 10 and 11 were designed and developed primarily by the Ames Research Center, also in California. In Richard Corfield's book, "Lives of the Planets", it says that Pioneer 10 achieved a speed of 82,000 miles per hour due to Jupiter's "massive gravity", but only about one half of this speed, at most, seems to be confirmed by other sources.
Also in the second half of "Journey Beyond Selene", Jeffrey Kluger writes about the Voyager missions 2 and 1, which were launched on August 20 and September 5, 1977.
All of these unmanned missions, but especially the Pioneer and Voyager distant solar missions, which crossed 100s of millions, and then billions of miles of space; which, of course, eventually delayed communication for up to an hour, and then more, each way, seem to be virtually miraculous examples of the application of Newtonian mechanics and equations.
The last 2 missions the author writes about{in 1999}, Galileo and Cassini-Huygens, were still in progress or en route.
Also it is mentioned that "Kurt Debus, the Peenemunde veteran", apparently one of Wernher von Braun's team, was running the Florida launch complex in the 1960s.
Selene apparently is the name of the ancient Greek goddess of our Moon.
In all, the author Jeffrey Kluger, writes about 29 "unmanned missions to the moons" that were launched between August 23, 1961 and October 15, 1997. All, but two, were designed, developed, and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The first nine were all Ranger missions that were designed to take a few minutes{maybe 10 to 15} of pictures before they were deliberately crashed onto the Moon, but of those 9, numbers 1 through 6 were failures for one reason or another.
There were 7 Surveyor missions that were designed to soft-land on the Moon in various places and then take pictures. They were much more successful, but numbers 2 and 4 failed and crashed, undeliberately.
Five Lunar Orbiters were all successfully launched and put into orbit around the Moon.
So , it seems, that the manned American Apollo missions were as well equipped as they could be with lunar maps and photographs.
The Mariner 9 mission was launched May 30, 1971, and it successfully orbited Mars and flew by Phobos, one of Mars' moons.
The Pioneer missions 10 and 11 were designed and developed primarily by the Ames Research Center, also in California. In Richard Corfield's book, "Lives of the Planets", it says that Pioneer 10 achieved a speed of 82,000 miles per hour due to Jupiter's "massive gravity", but only about one half of this speed, at most, seems to be confirmed by other sources.
Also in the second half of "Journey Beyond Selene", Jeffrey Kluger writes about the Voyager missions 2 and 1, which were launched on August 20 and September 5, 1977.
All of these unmanned missions, but especially the Pioneer and Voyager distant solar missions, which crossed 100s of millions, and then billions of miles of space; which, of course, eventually delayed communication for up to an hour, and then more, each way, seem to be virtually miraculous examples of the application of Newtonian mechanics and equations.
The last 2 missions the author writes about{in 1999}, Galileo and Cassini-Huygens, were still in progress or en route.
Also it is mentioned that "Kurt Debus, the Peenemunde veteran", apparently one of Wernher von Braun's team, was running the Florida launch complex in the 1960s.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Experimental Blog #128
Comments on "Astro Turf" - The Private Life of Rocket Science by M. G. Lord and "My Dream of Stars" - From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer by Anousheh Ansari with Homer Hickam
Among many other people and subjects, in the first book the author M. G.{that is, Mary Grace} Lord writes extensively about "Project Paperclip, a U.S. Army program that permitted certain valuable Nazi scientists{maybe even hundreds, according to the New York Times} to work in this country, despite their compromising war records".
Wernher von Braun hardly needs very much introduction. He became an American TV celebrity, and he seemed to be on friendly terms with Walt Disney. M. G. Lord also writes about Arthur Rudolph. "In 1984{Werhner von Braun was no longer living}, Arthur Rudolph, the head of the Saturn V program, renounced his American citizenship rather than face a denaturalization hearing", and was "eventually charged with war crimes." She also mentions a Walter Dornberger, who was "instrumental in the developement of U.S. ICBMs".
Anousheh Ansari, the author of the second book, with her husband and brother-in-law{and a few other people} became a highly successful businesswoman in America. Apparently, they all became very rich; and this allowed her to fulfill her lifelong love of the stars.
Anousheh's description of the extremely thorough, lengthy, and arduous examination and training in Russia for her spaceflight will keep many people from being too envious. However, in September of 2006 she went into space on Expedition 14 on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and then transferred to the International Space Station 2 days later.
Although it seems that she eventually adjusted, Anousheh's description of how sick she became for about the first 2 days, in spite of all her training, would also discourage many people. However, her vivid descriptions of what she saw and experienced on her spaceflight are available not only in this book, but also in her blogs, accompanied by videos, that she made while in flight.
Although she says that her "ticket" cost about 20 million dollars, she seemed to become an important, that is helpful, passenger, or even crew member, during her several days aboard the International Space Station. The re-entry and rough landing that Anousheh describes at the end of her fairly short visit of about one week should also discourage many people from being too envious.
Among many other people and subjects, in the first book the author M. G.{that is, Mary Grace} Lord writes extensively about "Project Paperclip, a U.S. Army program that permitted certain valuable Nazi scientists{maybe even hundreds, according to the New York Times} to work in this country, despite their compromising war records".
Wernher von Braun hardly needs very much introduction. He became an American TV celebrity, and he seemed to be on friendly terms with Walt Disney. M. G. Lord also writes about Arthur Rudolph. "In 1984{Werhner von Braun was no longer living}, Arthur Rudolph, the head of the Saturn V program, renounced his American citizenship rather than face a denaturalization hearing", and was "eventually charged with war crimes." She also mentions a Walter Dornberger, who was "instrumental in the developement of U.S. ICBMs".
Anousheh Ansari, the author of the second book, with her husband and brother-in-law{and a few other people} became a highly successful businesswoman in America. Apparently, they all became very rich; and this allowed her to fulfill her lifelong love of the stars.
Anousheh's description of the extremely thorough, lengthy, and arduous examination and training in Russia for her spaceflight will keep many people from being too envious. However, in September of 2006 she went into space on Expedition 14 on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and then transferred to the International Space Station 2 days later.
Although it seems that she eventually adjusted, Anousheh's description of how sick she became for about the first 2 days, in spite of all her training, would also discourage many people. However, her vivid descriptions of what she saw and experienced on her spaceflight are available not only in this book, but also in her blogs, accompanied by videos, that she made while in flight.
Although she says that her "ticket" cost about 20 million dollars, she seemed to become an important, that is helpful, passenger, or even crew member, during her several days aboard the International Space Station. The re-entry and rough landing that Anousheh describes at the end of her fairly short visit of about one week should also discourage many people from being too envious.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Experimental Blog #127
Notes from "Gravity's Engines" - How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos by Caleb Scharf
"Black holes" form when enough "stellar remains ... implode" into a sphere and collapse "inwards to a single point that is , to all intents and purposes, of infinite density - an inner singularity." These places in the universe can be detected by the enormous amount of energy that is released as stars and other matter are absorbed across the surrounding "accretion disk".
There are "baby black holes only a few times the mass of our sun". However, others also occur up to 10 billion times the solar mass; which is the largest yet observed, and may be a maximum size.
The author, Caleb Scharf, says that compared to the at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe, our Milky Way is one of the largest that has been observed and it contains about "200 billion stars{that} amount to a mass approximately 100 billion times that of our Sun, and its disk stretches across a diameter of 100,000 light-years." And every "210 million years, we complete another circumnavigation of the Milky Way." And every year our galaxy creates a few new stars of about 3 solar masses total.
In spite of being a rather large galaxy, the mass at the center of the Milky Way beyond the event horizen and around the singularity can be measured! It is believed to be only about 4 million solar masses.
"Black holes" form when enough "stellar remains ... implode" into a sphere and collapse "inwards to a single point that is , to all intents and purposes, of infinite density - an inner singularity." These places in the universe can be detected by the enormous amount of energy that is released as stars and other matter are absorbed across the surrounding "accretion disk".
There are "baby black holes only a few times the mass of our sun". However, others also occur up to 10 billion times the solar mass; which is the largest yet observed, and may be a maximum size.
The author, Caleb Scharf, says that compared to the at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe, our Milky Way is one of the largest that has been observed and it contains about "200 billion stars{that} amount to a mass approximately 100 billion times that of our Sun, and its disk stretches across a diameter of 100,000 light-years." And every "210 million years, we complete another circumnavigation of the Milky Way." And every year our galaxy creates a few new stars of about 3 solar masses total.
In spite of being a rather large galaxy, the mass at the center of the Milky Way beyond the event horizen and around the singularity can be measured! It is believed to be only about 4 million solar masses.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Experimental Blog #126
Notes and Quotations from "Faint Echoes, Distant Stars - The Science and Politics of Finding Life beyond Earth" by Ben Bova
"Clouds of water vapor have been found deep in interstellar space"... "Water is the most common triatomic {three-atom} molecule in the universe."
In November of 1969 American astronauts retrieved a camera from the Surveyor 3 probe that had reached the Moon in 1967. NASA scientists "were stunned" to find the bacteriun Streptococcus mitus still alive after "thirty-one months on the Moon without air or water, subjected to hard radiation and temperatures that varied from" plus 132 degrees C to minus 151 degrees C.
"There are all sorts of microbes{called extremophiles here on Earth} living in environments that had previously been thought to be too hot, too cold, too acidic, too salty for life to exist."
"Comets are actually kilometers-wide icebergs laced with carbon-rich dust."
"To date{probably early 2003}, more that a hundred molecular species{including complex prebiotic molecules} have been detected in interstellar space."
"In 1994, Jupiter was struck by twenty-one fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 ... Blasting into Jupiter's atmosphere at an estimated 200,000 kilometers per hour ... with the energy of a million hydrogen bombs."
It has been postulated that in the Oort Cloud far beyond the orbit of Pluto there are trillions of comets. The Oort Cloud might extend half way to the nearest neighbor star Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light-years. "Perhaps some of the comets that we have seen in our skies actually originated around our stellar neighbor."
"Clouds of water vapor have been found deep in interstellar space"... "Water is the most common triatomic {three-atom} molecule in the universe."
In November of 1969 American astronauts retrieved a camera from the Surveyor 3 probe that had reached the Moon in 1967. NASA scientists "were stunned" to find the bacteriun Streptococcus mitus still alive after "thirty-one months on the Moon without air or water, subjected to hard radiation and temperatures that varied from" plus 132 degrees C to minus 151 degrees C.
"There are all sorts of microbes{called extremophiles here on Earth} living in environments that had previously been thought to be too hot, too cold, too acidic, too salty for life to exist."
"Comets are actually kilometers-wide icebergs laced with carbon-rich dust."
"To date{probably early 2003}, more that a hundred molecular species{including complex prebiotic molecules} have been detected in interstellar space."
"In 1994, Jupiter was struck by twenty-one fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 ... Blasting into Jupiter's atmosphere at an estimated 200,000 kilometers per hour ... with the energy of a million hydrogen bombs."
It has been postulated that in the Oort Cloud far beyond the orbit of Pluto there are trillions of comets. The Oort Cloud might extend half way to the nearest neighbor star Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light-years. "Perhaps some of the comets that we have seen in our skies actually originated around our stellar neighbor."
Friday, August 3, 2012
Experimental Blog #125
Notes and quotations from "Death by Black Hole - And Other Cosmic Quandaries" by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Among the most interesting subjects in this book are the origin and extent of life in the universe. Organic chemistry turns out to be not at all uncommon in our solar system and the universe, too.
"Eventually, in what must surely be countless billions of places in the universe, complex molecules assemble themselves into some kind of life."
"Notables on the short list of complex molecules include adenine{one of the nucleotides, or "bases," that make up DNA}, glycine{a protein precusor}, and glycoaldehyde{a carbohydrate}. Such ingredients, and others of their caliber, are essential for life as we know it and are decidely not unique to Earth."
The new sciences of astrochemistry and astrobiology were virtually unknown a few decades ago.
"Biologists once presumed that life began in "some warm little pond," to quote Darwin; in recent years, though, the weight of evidence has tilted in favor of the view that extremophiles were the earliest earthly life-forms."
Among the most interesting subjects in this book are the origin and extent of life in the universe. Organic chemistry turns out to be not at all uncommon in our solar system and the universe, too.
"Eventually, in what must surely be countless billions of places in the universe, complex molecules assemble themselves into some kind of life."
"Notables on the short list of complex molecules include adenine{one of the nucleotides, or "bases," that make up DNA}, glycine{a protein precusor}, and glycoaldehyde{a carbohydrate}. Such ingredients, and others of their caliber, are essential for life as we know it and are decidely not unique to Earth."
The new sciences of astrochemistry and astrobiology were virtually unknown a few decades ago.
"Biologists once presumed that life began in "some warm little pond," to quote Darwin; in recent years, though, the weight of evidence has tilted in favor of the view that extremophiles were the earliest earthly life-forms."
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