 | |  | | ![]() I do think they should stick with an Underworld theme for the two of them, much like how the features of Venus are named after women. And some quick wikipedia searching says that is the intention. Underworld dieties will make up the names of features. | |  | |  |
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 | |  | | ![]() Getting back to Rosetta:
http://nineplanets.org/news/waiting-for-philae/
[Actually, the reason for posting this is, if you click on the photo of the comet head, you will find the names of some features. And my previous post about voting for Pluto/Charon names doesn't seem so unusually strange...]
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 | |  | | ![]()  | Speeder said: | I just thought, AGAIN?
Then I saw the video.
Oh, it is alright then.
The SpaceX will attempt again soon, so I believed it was that second attempt that screwed up. |
They didn't attempt a barge landing on their last flight due to weather conditions, but they did again the other day. At least it landed less-sideways this time, at least until the point when it went sideways, and exploded.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMSzC1crr0 | |  | |  |
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| | | | ![]() You know those markings on ice worlds in Noctis that I call "grooving" in my comments? Of course those ice worlds are modelled after Europa:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141127.html
Well the nice people at JPL (located in a no-man's land between Altadena and La Canada/Flintridge and not "Pasadena" as the press likes to say*) have come up with an explanation- it's sea salt from the under-ice ocean's water seeping up to the surface:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=49184
(*of course, JPL is run by Cal Tech which is in Pasadena.)
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| written by Speeder on May 14, 2015 07:22 |
| | | | ![]() Crystal Pixels has better graphics. | | | | |
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| written by Speeder on May 14, 2015 19:46 |
| | | | ![]() Another random news:
Maybe it was found proof that magnetic monopoles (stuff with only one magnetic pole, instead of two) do exist:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27527-found-giant-spirals-in-space-that-could-explain-our-existence.html#.VVT6m_lVikp
The importance of that (Beside the research mentioned in the article itself) is that some of our current proofs in physics start with the phrase: "If magnetic monopoles exist then" (note: it is "if" not "if and only if" meaning these proofs being true does not mean that monopoles exist... only that if monopoles do exist, then we are certain these formulas are true) | | | | |
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| written by Speeder on May 22, 2015 13:05 |
| written by Neuzd on May 22, 2015 14:22 |
| written by Speeder on May 22, 2015 16:08 |
| | | | ![]() Still a cool pic =D
I don't understood why the disc size goes beyond the smaller star orbit though... | | | | |
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  | | | | ![]() Well, Speeder:
The Cnet article leaves out some of the wording of the original HubbleSite story. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/21/full/ First: "Based on current estimates, the nebula surrounding the stars is just a few thousand years old." Which is really a pretty short span of time stellar-wise.
"But the mass-transfer process in mammoth binary systems isn't always efficient. Some of the stripped matter can spill out during the dynamical gravitational tussle between the stars, creating a disk around the binary."
It really IS "sloppy stellar cannibalism."
I especially like the ending to the HubbleSite story:
" 'What evolutionary path the star will take is uncertain, but it will definitely not be boring,' said Mauerhan. 'Nasty 1 could evolve into another Eta Carinae-type system. To make that transformation, the mass-gaining companion star could experience a giant eruption because of some instability related to the acquiring of matter from the newly formed Wolf-Rayet. Or, the Wolf-Rayet could explode as a supernova. A stellar merger is another potential outcome, depending on the orbital evolution of the system. The future could be full of all kinds of exotic possibilities depending on whether it blows up or how long the mass transfer occurs, and how long it lives after the mass transfer ceases.' "
Either way...we won't be around to see what happens.
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| | | | ![]() The live broadcast and countdown would probably be more engaging if it didn't take multiple hours for any sort of transmission signal to make its way back to Earth. : P | | | | |
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Well... <quote- more or less>
July 14
At 7:49 a.m., the New Horizons spacecraft will make history as it flies past Pluto, after a journey of more than nine years and 3 billion miles. For much of the day the New Horizons spacecraft will be out of communication with mission control as it gathers data on Pluto and its moons.
...Follow the path of the spacecraft in real time with a "visualization" of the actual trajectory data, using NASA’s Eyes on Pluto. 
8 – 9:15 p.m. -- NASA TV program, Phone Home, broadcast from APL Mission Control  
NASA TV will share the suspenseful moments  of this historic event with the public and museums around the world. The New Horizons spacecraft will send a preprogrammed signal after the close approach. The mission team on Earth should receive the signal at about 9:02 p.m. When New Horizons “phones home,” there will be a celebration of its success [or commiseration of its doom (see under: Phobos 1, Mars Climate Orbiter, et al.)  ] and the anticipation of data to come over the days and months ahead. 
after all, I did suggest breaking out the goodies for a looooong day....
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