A To Z Challenge: Physics And Possible New Evidence Of Dark Matter

Physics is an enormous field concerned with the study of how things interact. It encompasses sound, light, heat, electricity, and just about any other physical phenomena you can think of. Physics also studies atoms and subatomic particles, as well as having some overlap with cosmology.

One recent development in physics is a couple of separate reports that scientists may be closer to figuring out  so-called "dark matter", that elusive component of the universe we haven't yet been able to detect for sure. But progress is being made: The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer attached to the International Space Station has detected positrons (the antimatter version of an atom's electrons) that might have been produced by dark matter interactions. Also, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in a mine in Minnesota has recorded three events involving supercool silicon wafers that could have been caused by dark matter particles, possibly supporting a supersymmetry theory involving "weakly interacting massive particles", known by the abbreviation WIMPs (got to hand it to physics sometimes when it comes to nicknaming things).

Obviously, three events is not enough to declare a discovery. Nor is detection of greater numbers of positrons than expected--but they're interesting glimpses of what could perhaps be one of the larger mysteries of the universe.

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Sources:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/physics
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Possible-Dark-Matter-Signal-201307331.html
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Dark-Matter--203199671.html
http://www.space.com/20674-dark-matter-detection-wimps.html
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/shedding-light-on-the-search-for-dark-matter-0410.html
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/04/ams-dark-matter/

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Do you think scientists will discover dark matter for certain in the coming decades?


-----The Golden Eagle

A To Z Challenge: Mineralogy And Missions To Mars

Jarosite on quartz.
Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.

Mineralogy is what it sounds like: The study of minerals, such as their physical properties, distribution, and identification. A mineral is a naturally occurring crystal of a chemical compound or an element that has a set (unchanging and predictable) chemical composition.

Last August, mineralogy expanded to a new planet--Mars. The Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, also known as CheMin, onboard the Curiosity Rover, has already detected several different minerals including jarosite, a mineral formed when water evaporates. CheMin works by drilling a hole in a rock in question, collecting the dust produced by the drilling, and firing a beam of X-rays through the dust. X-rays cause specific atoms to either absorb or emit light--these patterns indicate exactly which elements are present in the sample.

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Sources:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mineralogy
http://webmineral.com/Mineral_Definition.shtml
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/instruments/spectrometers/chemin/

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If you could send a machine like CheMin anywhere in the Solar System, what would you choose to explore? 


-----The Golden Eagle

A To Z Blogging Challenge: Cosmology And Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (+ IWSG)

Cosmology is the study of the universe as a whole: It's origin, its current state, and its future. Cosmology differs from astrophysics in that the latter is more focused on moons, planets, galaxies, stars, and other intergalactic forces, though there is significant overlap between the two fields; many scientific discoveries in one area of study affect the other.

One recent development in cosmology has been a better, much more detailed image of the universe's cosmic microwave background radiation, or CMBR, taken by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite. CMBR is considered to be a significant piece of evidence that the Big Bang (an extremely rapid explosion some 12-15 billion years ago considered by many cosmologists to have created the universe) actually happened. Assuming the Big Bang Theory is accurate, it calls for photon radiation (light) just after the initial explosion; these photons have since extended their wavelengths to become microwaves, hence the name cosmic microwave background radiation.

The radiation pattern shows fluctuations that, in some of the earliest moments of the Big Bang, caused the formation of galaxies and the other objects in the universe. It also supports the idea that the universe expanded very, very rapidly just after the Big Bang, and then slowed down, which would explain the size of the universe. The initial rapid expansion is called inflation.

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Sources:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cosmology
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/cosmo/lectures/lec23.html
http://www.superstringtheory.com/cosmo/
http://www.newscientist.com/topic/cosmology
http://dawn.com/2013/04/03/plank-probes-map-a-picture-of-our-universe/
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Planck/Planck_reveals_an_almost_perfect_Universe
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-powered-the-big-bang/

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And now, for the IWSG part of my post. In case you don't know what the Insecure Writer's Support Group is, check out this page on Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog.

My insecurity today is letting my writing sit for long periods of time; I haven't worked on my novel (my as-yet-unfinished NaNoWriMo novel, just to give you an idea for how long it's been around) in almost a month, and that's not unusual for me. A lot of people would argue you're supposed to write every day, even if it's just a few words, so my question is: Have you tried writing every day? Did it work? Were you more productive in the long term, or do you prefer to write in spurts?


Do you think cosmologists will someday be able to pinpoint the origin and the future of the universe? 


-----The Golden Eagle

A To Z Blogging Challenge: Astrophysics And Asteroids

Today is the kickoff of the A to Z Blogging Challenge!

My theme this year is science. Specifically, recent discoveries in science: Last year I explored various fields and gave overviews of what they were all about, but this time I've decided to track down some interesting discoveries/recent developments in scientific fields and post about those. I'm also winging the challenge--not exactly by choice, but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can come up with on a moment's notice. (Hopefully our internet connection will stop acting weird and let me blog normally soon. Pages are taking minutes to load for some reason.)

But before we finally get to the actual content of my post, I'd like to give a shout-out to the creator of the A to Z Challenge, Arlee Bird. He's an amazing blogger and built a challenge that has allowed people to explore the web and get to know people they'd normally never find.

Now, for my first A to Z Challenge entry: Astrophysics and Asteroids

Astrophysics is the study of space and the universe, such as stars, planets, matter, energy, and practically everything that involves the world beyond Earth. It's the examination of how celestial objects form or self-destruct; it raises questions about what occurred and is occurring in the universe.

The universe, of course, includes asteroids. On February 15th this year, as you've most probably heard, an asteroid (a "superbolide", bolide referring to the bright light it produced) hit the atmosphere and exploded over the Ural Mountains in Russia, above the town of Chelyabinsk. The asteroid was around 17-20 meters across and had a total impact energy of 440 kilotons of TNT, though around 90 kilotons was released as light.


Astrophysics has helped determine the size, velocity, and the likelihood of such an event occurring again. The chances of another asteroid exploding in the atmosphere is not, in fact, as low as you might think; since much of Earth's surface area is uninhabited by people, these types of explosions may occur from every few decades (which is the shortest estimate) to about 100 years and just go unnoticed. More are being found these days due to sensors put in place for the detection of nuclear blasts.

One thing astrophysics can't do, however, is predict such asteroids in advance. They're too minute for current methods and technology to find before they strike the planet, though there are plans to build a new satellite that would orbit the Sun and could be capable of pinpointing the smaller objects.




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Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/meteor-strike.html
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/fireball_130301.html
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/
http://io9.com/5985276/incredible-details-are-emerging-about-russias-chelyabinsk-meteor

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Do you think there should be more effort put into defending Earth from asteroids?

If you're participating in the A to Z Challenge, what did you choose for letter A?


-----The Golden Eagle

The Successful Curiosity Landing!

Last night, the Curiosity rover (which I posted about in further detail yesterday) landed on Mars.

It was successful, with everything going to plan, and the first pictures of the red planet were posted just a few minutes after:

And then more pictures came:

Including one of the landing of the rover, via the HiRISE camera, which is orbiting Mars:

If you'd like to know more, this video sums up (some of) the most exciting things about the Curiosity rover:




-----The Golden Eagle

The Curiosity Rover: Will You Be Watching The Landing?

Tonight (or tomorrow morning, depending on how you look at it and where you are geographically) Curiosity will be landing on Mars. Its payload has ten times the mass of other rovers sent to the planet, and the goal for the rover is to check if life could or did exist there.

Curiosity, unlike other craft sent up, is capable of testing rock and dirt samples onboard itself; the plutonium power supply is predicted to last for 687 Earth days/one Mars year. Scientific instruments carried by the rover include spectrometers, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (designed to take highly magnified images), the Mast Camera (for taking pictures of the landscape), and the Radiation Assessment Detector.

The news, as you might expect, is causing quite the buzz. The only problem? EDL, or "Entry, Descent, and Landing". It takes several stages for the rover to descend from the atmosphere to the ground and for seven minutes there will be nothing from Curiosity. It may even be longer than that until we on Earth know if it successfully landed (due to the position of two satellites around Mars and the rover's position relative to Earth); if it doesn't reach the planet all in one piece, there will never be a signal at all.

This span of time between entry and landing is (rather aptly) called the 7 Minutes of Terror.

In the words of NASA scientists:







Or if you'd rather not watch a video, this graphic sums up the process:

Detailed animation of what the landing should look like:



If you'd like to find out when the rover will be landing in YOUR timezone, go HERE. You can bet I'll be up in the middle of the night checking the feeds; and speaking of feeds, BoingBoing has a handy list of resources, and I believe that SciShow, MarsCuriosity, and NASA TV will be streaming live about the landing.




Sources of information:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/fact_sheets/mars-science-laboratory.pdf


Images found via www.nasa.gov
(If you want more stunning images of Curiosity, check out this photo gallery. )

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So, will you be watching?


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: Exobiology

Public domain image. SOURCE.

Exobiology, also known as astrobiology, space biology, or xenobiology, is the study and search for life on other planets. The phrase was coined by microbiologist Joshua Lederberg.

Despite its name, a good part of exobiology is concerned with the origins of life on Earth itself. Earth is currently thought to be around 4.55 billion years old, with the first evidence of life occurring on the record at 3.5 billion years; however, the state of life up until relatively recently in the planet's history is unknown. Harold Urey (famous for the Miller-Urey Experiment) proposed that Earth had an atmosphere containing methane, ammonia, hydrogen, and water--a "reducing" atmosphere--which would be the right conditions for organic chemistry to exist. Another theory is panspermia, or that life arrived from another planet via an object such as an asteroid.

An asteroid. Public domain image. SOURCE.

Some ongoing research in the field of exobiology focuses on prebiotic evolution (what kind of chemical system would be required to facilitate metabolism and replication, and alternative systems to DNA/RNA protein-based life), the evolution of early life (there are two major sources for this research: living organisms and geological records), the biosphere (such as how it might have responded to extraterrestrial events), and advanced life (biological and chemical factors which allowed it to develop). Studies also look at planetary conditions necessary for all that evolution (the formation of habitable planets, the formation of organic molecules, environments where chemical synthesis could happen, and the range in which life could exist).

Notable Exobiologist/Astrobiologist:

David Harry Grinspoon

David Grinspoon is the current Curator of Astrobiology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science's Department of Space Science; he is also Adjunct Professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Science at the University of Colorado. He is an advisor to NASA on space exploration, an Interdisciplinary Scientist on Venus Express (a satellite studying the atmosphere of Venus led by the European Space Agency), and has published books including Venus Revealed and Lonely Planets: The Natural History of Alien Life. He was awarded the Carl Sagan Medal for public communication of planetary science in 2006.

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Sources:
http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/NM/miller.php
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/exobiology/about/
http://cafescicolorado.org/Grinspoon.htm 
http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/Exobiology/index.html
http://www.funkyscience.net/bio.html
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exobiology
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=64
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/exobiology

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What do you think the chances are that significant signs of life will be found on another, non-Earth planet? And if you think it's possible, how advanced do you think it could be?


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: Cosmology

Timeline of the universe. Public domain image. SOURCE.

Cosmology is the study of the nature of the universe.

As with astrophysics (covered on Sunday), it is a branch of astronomy. Cosmology as we think of it now began to take off in the early 1900s, when Edwin Hubble (the Hubble Telescope was named after him) made the discovery that so-called "spiral nebulae" were actually galaxies whose light was shifted toward the red end of the spectrum, a phenomenon called "red-shift"; this results when an object is in motion. He proposed that galaxies are red-shifted because they are moving away from our own, the Milky Way, which in turn led to the idea that at one point, the universe exploded from an extremely dense point in what's known as the Big Bang.

Another scientist who made major contributions to cosmology was Albert Einstein with his Theory of General Relativity (which will be explored in greater detail on Saturday), a theory that brought together space and time, formerly considered separate, into a single entity called spacetime. Einstein also came up with the idea that spacetime is curved, thanks to gravity.

Spacetime curvature by Johnstone, CC-BY-SA-3.0. SOURCE.

The theories that the universe might have been in one location all at one time and that spacetime is unified doesn't mean the field is over and closed, however; rather, it's very far from it. Some current questions in cosmology are whether or not the universe is really infinite, whether it will stop expanding at some point and come together in a Big Crunch (indicating that the universe might expand and contract cyclically) or everything will continue to accelerate away from each other, why there is more matter than antimatter, the role of dark matter and dark energy, and (if the Big Bang theory is true) what occurred just after the beginning of the universe (since all laws break down at that point).

Public domain image. SOURCE.

Notable Cosmologist:

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking is probably one of science's--and cosmology's--most famous figures. He became a Research Fellow and then a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College, and took the position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1979-2009, a title formerly held by Isaac Newton; he is currently the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge University.

He and Roger Penrose showed that the General Theory of Relativity indicated there must be unification between quantum theory and general relativity; he also came up with the theories that black holes are not black--instead, they emit radiation--and that the universe has no edge. He has published a series of scientific papers, in addition to A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, The Universe in a Nutshell, A Briefer History of Time, On the Shoulders of Giants, the Middle Grade Fiction George's Secret Key to the Universe (and the subsequent novels in the trilogy), and his most recent The Grand Design.

At the age of 21, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease or motor neuron disease) and told he had one to two years left to live. But, rather remarkably, he lived far beyond that and is currently 70 years old.

Stephen Hawking received the CBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1982 and became a Companion of Honour in 1989.

A video about the universe with Stephen Hawking:

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Sources:
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/ideas/journey.htm
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmolog.htm
http://www.hawking.org.uk/index.html
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/index.html
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmology
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9988-introduction-cosmology.html
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/universe_level2/cosmology.html
http://superstringtheory.com/cosmo/index.html
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cosmology

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What do you think? Will the universe expand forever, or will it stop and begin contracting into the Big Crunch? Do you think humanity will ever figure out how the universe began and how it will end, definitively?


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: Astrophysics

The Milky Way Galaxy. Public domain image. SOURCE.

Astrophysics, to put it rather briefly and broadly, is the study of how the universe works.

It differs from cosmology (which is Tuesday's subject for the A-Z Challenge) in that it usually focuses on physical and chemical properties of the universe, while cosmology deals more with the nature and laws of the universe. The line between the two is not that great, however, and they're both part of astronomy, which is an even larger field that includes the study of everything outside of Earth's atmosphere.

A few current research subjects in astrophysics are black holes (points where gravity is so powerful that light, traveling at its tremendous 299,792,458 meters per second, cannot escape), planet, galaxy, and star formation, the interstellar medium (gas, dust, charged particles, and anything else between stars), dark matter and energy (dark energy is thought to constitute 70% of the universe and dark matter 25%), and the possibility of life in the universe beyond Earth (in addition to how it may have arrived here on Earth, if it did so).

Notable Astrophysicist:

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Public domain image. SOURCE.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is the current director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in NYC and is a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He graduated from Columbia University with a PhD in Astrophysics. He was also appointed to two presidential commissions (one on the aerospace industry and another on space exploration), is the author of over ten books including The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet, Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution (with Donald Goldsmith), and his most recent Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier.

He is the host of StarTalk Radio, NOVA ScienceNOW, and the two NOVA programs The Pluto Files and Origins (both based on his books) and was given the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. In addition, he has written many scientific papers. He is also the host of an upcoming 13-part sequel to Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, due to air in 2013.

On a less scientific note, People declared Neil deGrasse Tyson the Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive in 2000, and the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid after him--13123 Tyson.

Video narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson about the most astounding fact to the universe:

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Sources:


http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/milkyway/ism.html
http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/profile/about-neil-degrasse-tyson
http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/curriculum-vitae
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmology
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astronomy
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astrophysics
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20132902,00.html
http://physics.about.com/od/astronomy/Cosmology_Astrophysics.htm
http://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/research/astrophysics
http://research.amnh.org/astrophysics/research
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/
http://www.startalkradio.net/
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/08/cosmos-to-get-a-sequel-hosted-by-neil-degrasse-tyson/

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What do you think of astrophysics? And as today is the kickoff of the A-Z Challenge: how is the Challenge starting off for you?


-----The Golden Eagle

Grand OPENING Blog Tour: A Tour of NASA

Today I have the honor of presenting a guest post by Stephen Tremp, author of Breakthrough and Opening, about all the cool stuff NASA has going on.

Take it away, Stephen!

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  Thank you Golden Eagle for hosting me on my Grand OPENING Blog Tour today! We are going for an aerial perspective that is relevant and exciting! 

So what’s the latest and greatest regarding NASA? And why should I care, you ask? Hasn't the shuttling of the Space Shuttle Program and cutbacks in funding and lack of vision from our political leaders made this once awesome organization boring and irrelevant? Well, please allow me dispel these thoughts and take you on a tour of the NASA Web site. 

NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006, NASA's mission statement has been to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.” 

You can check out the latest and greatest in news, missions, multimedia, apps, and other ways to connect with NASA. You can even plan a visit to some of their eighteen facilities across the United States. 

NASA For Students: Have kids? Are you a school teacher, home schooler, or know someone who is? Then the NASA for Educators, the NASA for Students, and the NASA Kids Club and are worth a navigating and Bookmark or save in your Favorites. 

NASA for Students is broken up into grade groups of: 
K-4 
5-8 
9-12 
Higher Education 

Each group has age appropriate links. Example, NASA is sponsoring the 2012 NASA Space Settlement Design Program for 6th through 12 graders and can join as individuals, groups, or entire classrooms. 

Design a space settlement! Space settlements are permanent communities in orbit, as opposed to being on the moon or other planets. Designing a space settlement involves physics, mathematics, space science, environmental science and many other disciplines. This contest is for 11-18-year-old students from anywhere in the world. Individuals or teams may enter. Grades 6-8, 9-10 and 11-12 are judged separately, except for the grand prize. Submissions must be received by March 15, 2012. Click the link for more details, contest prizes, and certificates.  

And check out the Current Opportunities for Kids link. NASA also hosts youth ambassadors from around the globe for successful outreach programs. NASA’s Web site is a great site for kids to research homework and for author to research their novels. 

What about classrooms and partnering with other classrooms around the globe?  

Virtual Tours: Can't work out a visit to a NASA facility? Check out their interactive features such as their Interactive Features and Virtual Tours.  

Connect with NASA: Yep. There's an app for that. Check out the various apps and social networks NASA has such as Facebook and Twitter.  

What's Next For NASA? NASA is conducting an unprecedented array of missions that will seek new knowledge and understanding of Earth, the solar system and the universe. NASA has observatories in Earth orbit and deep space, spacecraft visiting the moon and other planetary bodies, and robotic landers, rovers, and sample return missions. One example is designing and building the capabilities to send humans to explore the solar system and working toward a goal of landing humans on Mars. 

NASA has a payback on our hard-earned tax dollars, providing great paying jobs, supporting entire communities, and opening doors for incredible future opportunities such as planet colonization and mining asteroids (more on this in a future post). 

Thanks again Golden Eagle for hosting me today. I hope this inspires a lot of people to do great things with their lives! 

Stephen Tremp, author of the BREAKTHROUGH series, has a B.A. in information systems and an MBA degree in global management. Stephen has a background in information systems, management, and finance and draws from this varied and complex experiential knowledge to write one-of-a-kind thrillers. His novels are enhanced by current events at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other scientific research facilities around the world. These potential advances have the ability to change the way we perceive our universe and our place in it! 

You can visit Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs. BREAKTHROUGH and OPENING can be downloaded:  
Kindle for $1.99  
Smashwords for $1.99

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Have you ever explored the NASA site or been to one of their facilities?


-----The Golden Eagle

Are You Watching The Eclipse?

It's happening right now. And if you don't happen to live where the lunar eclipse is visible (why oh why did the sun have to come up today? Okay, just kidding) I've got the live feed at the top of my blog. You can also go HERE to see it.

Sigh. I do wish I could see it in person . . . and it's the last lunar eclipse until 2014.


-----The Golden Eagle

An Update: Poll Results, Writing, And Random Stuff

I haven't done one of these kinds of updates in a while. Here we go:

As for the poll "Do you think people will ever live someplace other than Earth?" I had up for July, here are the results, out of a total of 62 votes:

Yes--and I think it's important that we do (17 votes, 27%)
It's possible (28 votes, 45%)
No, not really (12 votes, 19%)
No--and I don't think we should (4 votes, 6%)
I don't know (1 vote, 1%)

Thank you for voting, to the readers who did--62 is the most votes a poll on my blog has ever gotten.

I hadn't expected so many of you to think that moving off of Earth was important. Personally, I agree with the majority--I do think it's possible (even likely) that humans will be living on other planets or in spacecraft or in orbit; and in the very, very long-term (should an asteroid hit Earth or there's some kind of other disaster which is not impossible), yes, moving off the planet might be a good idea. Someday. But regardless, should technology reach that point where we can move elsewhere, I hope to be around when we're traveling to new frontiers.

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I started a new novel on Monday.

It's going well so far, and I've got the plot for the story set out from beginning to end. I'm excited about the project, since it's in first person, present tense, something I haven't tried before. And in case you're wondering, it's SF, Young Adult, and the main character is a girl. The antagonist is a tyrant who took over the city in a coup de tat over twenty years ago and now aims to control the planet.

Yes, he's just a lovely fellow.

I want to finish this novel by November, so I can start something brand new for NaNoWriMo. (Hey, it's only three months away! Not too early to start planning for it . . . right? I have even come up with a potential idea for that story.)

(SOURCE)

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The grass is probably thanking the sky right now. It's been hot and dry and hot and sunny and also warm for the past week(s), and it's finally cloudy and rainy, so the water doesn't just run off without being absorbed.

(SOURCE)

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Well, at least the stock market went down only 500 points. It wasn't the enormous percentage drop that happened in 2008 . . . though it came pretty close. Thank you, Washington D. C., for stalling until the very date USA was set to default on its 14+ trillion dollar debt. It certainly helped the stability of things. Not.

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I have decided I really like Blogger's new format. It's faster and sleeker than the old one, and while I sort of wish there were scroll bars in the Post Editor, I do like that the edges shift as a part of your window does. The old one didn't go anywhere. I keep forgetting to add tags, though, since they're over to the right and not below anymore.

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So: what do you think of the idea of living on another planet, or in space? How's your writing going--have you got any new projects in the works? Is the economy getting better, or do you think we're going into a double-dip recession? What do you think of Blogger, now that it's been around for a while?


Finally, have you done anything exciting lately? :)


Hope you're all having a great weekend, bloggers!


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: R Stands For: Rovers

Specifically, Spirit and Opportunity.

Image via Wikipedia

Spirit made a successful landing on January 4th, 2004, and Opportunity landed January 25th. So far, Opportunity has been functioning 25 times longer than originally planned. It is currently heading for the Endeavor crater.

(Opportunity. SOURCE)

Spirit on the other hand stopped communicating with Earth March 22nd 2010, although NASA is now trying other ways of communication in hopes the rover will wake from hibernation as its batteries charge from the Martian summer.

Both rovers discovered evidence that could indicate water used to be on Mars. Spirit found crystallized minerals in magma, possibly dissolved by water, along with a high concentration of salt in the soil. Opportunity found bedrock formations that form because of a current, along with hydroxide ions in jarosite, which could mean the mineral formed in the presence of water.

(Spirit's first image. SOURCE)

Hopefully, Spirit will communicate again with Earth and begin exploring Mars again. But even if it doesn't--it went far beyond its expected time--the rover made some important discoveries, as did its twin.

*****

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_rover

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_rover

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20110318.html

*****

Do you think there's a chance Spirit will come out of hibernation?

-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: N Stands For: Nebula

A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium, and other ionized gases.

(The Eagle Nebula SOURCE)

They are often star-forming regions. 

Stars form when gas, dust, and other materials out in space begin to gather together, forming larger and denser masses, which collect until there are huge clumps of dust and gas. The clumps are called protostars, and as gravity acts on the material, compressing it further, it heats up to over 10,000,000 degrees Kelvin. That is the point were hydrogen fusion can begin.

Hence, a star.

There are two sources of nebulae: exploding stars and material from the original formation of the universe.

(Rosette Nebula SOURCE)

There are also five major types. Emission, Reflection, Dark, Planetary, and Supernovae Remnants. (One thing I love about astrophysics--they keep the names in plain English.)

Emission:

(Orion Nebula SOURCE)

Reflection:

(NGC 1977 SOURCE)

Dark:

(Keyhole Nebula SOURCE)

Planetary:

(NGC 2818 SOURCE)

Supernovae remnants:

(Crab Nebula SOURCE)

And some more pictures:

(SOURCE)

(SOURCE)

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Sources:

http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/stars_birth.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebulae

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Have you ever seen a nebula? (As in, not just a picture but through a telescope or with your own eyes?)

-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: G Stands For: Galaxies

Up to 30 septillion stars make up the 80 billion or so galaxies in the universe. A galaxy consists of stars, stellar remnants, dust, and dark matter.

There are three major types: spiral, elliptical, and irregular.

An example of a spiral galaxy:

(SOURCE)

And example of an elliptical galaxy:

(SOURCE)

And example of an irregular galaxy:

(SOURCE)

Galaxies also form clusters and superclusters, the latter of which are galaxies that are not gravitationally bound to one another. Such groups make up much of the structure of the universe.

The Virgo Supercluster includes the Virgo Cluster and the Local Group. Andromeda and the Milky Way are included in the Local Group--and, therefore, us. The Virgo Supercluster's diameter is 33 megaparsecs, which is the equivalent of 110 light years.

(SOURCE)

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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgo_Supercluster

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Do you think there's a chance of alien life in one of those billions of galaxies? Do you think people will ever find a way to cross "galactic" distances efficiently?


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: D Stands For: Dark Matter

Scientists know little about dark matter.

Even though they think it makes up 23% of the universe, and 80% of all matter, dark matter is not detectable along the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e. radio, microwave, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet, x-ray). A few of the only signs of dark matter are temperature distribution in hot gas, the rotational speeds of galaxies (stars revolve around the center of their galaxies), and gravitation lensing (which is when light curves around an object to reach whatever's observing it).

(SOURCE)

These effects are attributed to dark matter because there is no clear way of explaining them without it. If dark matter really is playing a part in the universe, then it would explain the so-called "missing mass" and the current laws of physics would still work.

A video on dark matter:

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA scienceNOW.

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Although, dark matter is only one theory. It's obvious something is interfering with the way the universe should (according to our laws and calculations) work, but dark matter might not be the final theory. There could be something else that's affecting the way we arrive at our current answers; modified gravity laws and quantum gravity laws are two theories that do not involve dark matter.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter

Do you think we'll figure out what's acting on the universe and find a way of observing it directly, instead of being able to only note its effects?


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: A Stands For: Astrophysics

Astrophysics is:

"The branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties (luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition) of celestial objects such as galaxies, stars, planets, exoplanets, and the interstellar medium, as well as their interactions."

Image via Wikipedia

Fascinating stuff, astrophysics.


Especially once you start thinking about just how many discoveries that could still be made about the universe. We know practically nothing about dark matter and dark energy (aside from the fact it exists); there are countless stars that could have exoplanets (and, therefore, the potential for alien life); black holes (which could be at the center of every galaxy in our universe); star-forming regions such as nebulae (which are sometimes also the leftover matter from exploding stars); and the galaxies themselves, which collide and interact (as the Milky Way will with Andromeda, some billions of years from now).

(SOURCE)

And who knows, maybe in the future people will be exploring the universe beyond this solar system, traveling to other stars, exploring satellites and creating a new frontier in space. There's no telling what could happen if Earth becomes one of two, or several, or many other planets that could sustain human life and we have the technology to take us there.


Ahem.


Can you tell I read and write and love Science Fiction?

(SOURCE)

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And if you want some videos to watch to learn more about astrophysics:

Monster of the Milky Way NOVA Program
Hunting the Edge of Space NOVA two-part series
Origins of the Solar System NOVA Program 


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysics

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What do you think of astrophysics? Do you think any major discoveries about the universe will be made in the near future?

-----The Golden Eagle

NaNoWriMo Update And Other

*whew* Week 1 has passed! Now, just 3 more weeks (and then some) to go . . . but I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to write 50,000 words by the end of the month, seeing as I already have 21,536 words under my belt. That's the most I've ever written in a week! A new record!

This is me:

Yah. So, I'm doing pretty good.

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You know that poll on the sidebar? "Is Pluto A Planet"? It closed a while ago; I set it up because I was curious to see what people think after having read The Pluto Files. (Funny, informative, and interesting book--written by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, probably one of my favorite scientists.)

Well, the results are in, and 38% of you say it is a planet, 22% say it isn't, 8% think it's a Kuiper Belt Object, 22% of you say it's a dwarf planet, and 8% of you say it's a planet and a KBO.

Where do I fall? I think it should be a KBO. It's a small ball of ice, smaller than other objects that aren't planets.

If you didn't get a chance to vote, tell me: what do you think?


-----The Golden Eagle