space
Space: The Final Frontier. Exploring space developments and theorizing about how humans fit into the universe.
Nuclear Propulsion
“Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.” Robert Oppenheimer spoke these words in July of 1945 when asked about his feelings after the Trinity test, the first successful detonation of a nuclear weapon. Oppenheimer’s prophecy rang true on August 6th and August 9th of that same year, after the dropping of those same weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
By Anthony Pullano9 years ago in Futurism
The Warp Drive: A Crash Course In Relativity. Top Story - July 2017.
The estimates from the Hubble Telescope suggest that there are upwards of 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Each with millions upon millions of stars (the Milky Way is a smaller galaxy with around 100 billion stars), each with at least some prospective habitable planets.
By Anthony Pullano9 years ago in Futurism
Carl Sagan's 'Billions & Billions'
More than two decades after his untimely passing, Carl Sagan's life and work continue to resonate. The famous documentary series Cosmos, which helped to make him the best-known scientist of his time, was revised and updated just a couple of years ago, introducing him to a new generation that might not even have been born when he passed away. Yet in reading Billions & Billions, a posthumously published collection of his essays from 1997 which I encountered earlier this year, I found myself struck by just how much this particular set of his work remains surprisingly relevant today.
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
Astronomers Take New Highest-Resolution Image of Giant Star Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars known in our galaxy, a red supergiant, and now astronomers have taken the highest-resolution image ever so far. They used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile for their observations, and not only was it the first time that ALMA had observed this star, but it succeeded in producing the highest-resolution of Betelgeuse currently available.
By Paul Scott Anderson9 years ago in Futurism
A History of Gravitational Waves
14th September 2015. A 4 kilometer long arm forming part of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) changed its length by one ten-thousandth the width of a proton, due to a distortion in spacetime, disturbing a laser beam housed inside. Computers immediately detected the mind bendingly miniscule change, sending an automatically generated email containing the observed data to a postdoctoral researcher by the name of Marco Drago working in the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, Germany. Marco’s job was to monitor LIGO readings examined the data to rule out any error or “dummy signal” used for testing purposes. Within a few days news of the detection had been leaked to the world astrophysics community and after the observation had been definitively confirmed an official press conference on the 11th of February 2016 revealed to the world the first observation of a gravitational wave on earth by LIGO.
By Devon Keogh9 years ago in Futurism
The Mysteries Surrounding Black Holes
Black holes are probably the strangest thing in existence. For many reasons, they don't seem to really make sense at all. Black holes are formed when a star stars, which in their core contains nuclear fusion crushing hydrogen atoms into helium, producing a mighty amount of energy. This energy pushes against gravity, maintaining a delicate balance between gravity and radiation. For stars much larger than our own sun, the heat and pressure at the core allows them to fuse heavier elements until eventually, they reach iron. Iron then builds up at the core until breaking the delicate balance, leading to the core callusing in on itself leading to a supernova explosion - resulting in a neutron star or if the star is gargantuan enough, a black hole.
By Sarah McDaniel9 years ago in Futurism
Alex The Inventor-Chapter 17
Read Chapters 1 - 16 at: Deep Sky Stories Chapter 17 (Part 1) - The First Hello Elizabeth Faraway led Alex into the little kitchen where he saw something resting on the table. It was a little square computer screen on a folding stand and, at first glance, it could easily have been mistaken for a tabletop picture frame."Come sit down," Elizabeth said and she pulled up a chair for him. Sitting down beside her son, Mrs. Faraway brought the small silver screen up close and then lightly touched the glass.There was a momentary blink and flicker as the tiny screen reset itself, then a face appeared behind the glass. The person belonging to the face seemed to be in the middle of talking to someone else but then was interrupted by a faint voice that sounded like Miss Vee‘s. She was talking urgently and there were faint explosions in the background.Alex couldn't understand much of what she said but he thought he heard his name mentioned once. Suddenly the man's face changed drastically and a look of deep sadness and guilt showed clearly in his eyes. He looked away for a few moments, perhaps trying to gather the nerve to continue talking, but finally, he got control of himself and looked up again, straight back through the glass and into Alex's eyes.
By G.F. Brynn9 years ago in Futurism
Exoplanet Update: NASA Releases New Kepler Data
NASA released the latest data from the Kepler space telescope project. A total of 219 objects were identified as new planet candidates. More significantly, 10 of those were determined to be possible Earth-like exoplanets which orbit their star at a distance called the habitable zone, where water could exist in a liquid state.
By Anya Wassenberg9 years ago in Futurism
Alex The Inventor-Chapter 16
Read Chapters 1 - 15 at: Deep Sky Stories Chapter 16 - Luss Power and Big Ben's Last Rumble Big Ben rumbled up to the scene of the battle just in time as Dart and Jade were forced to fly lower, with wings unfolded, and battle on as best they could. They flitted and dodged about, firing madly as their Bubble-Shields glowed dangerously from multiple hits. A swarm of the cat-sized Flies soon surrounded Ben but he continued on despite taking several stinging hits from their Shock-Bolt Guns.Within seconds, the huge, lumbering robot became the target for a hail of tiny missiles and jolting high-voltage assaults. Huddled inside the tiny driver's compartment, Alex and Rainah cringed as each projectile clanged and rattled off old Ben's shuddering iron body.
By G.F. Brynn9 years ago in Futurism
Aliens or Comets? Has the 'Wow!' Signal Mystery Finally Been Solved?
The search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence is one of the most exciting pursuits in astronomy today. Needless to say, there is a lot of controversy and debate surrounding the topic, partly due to an event which happened in 1977 - the famous "Wow!" signal. The brief but unusual radio transmission was detected only once, and the debate over its origin has continued to this day. Now, a group of astronomers are claiming to have finally solved the mystery. According to their new study just published, the signal came not from aliens, but comets.
By Paul Scott Anderson9 years ago in Futurism
