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science The Space Thread


Celli

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I looked around and was surprised I didn't see a thread discussing space and stuff. So here we go.

Discuss the universe, the endless reaches of it, different bodies, matter, all that fascinating stuff. 

Post new findings from NASA, Hubble, Kepler, you name it. 

Name what you find the most interesting about it, favorite planet, whatever :P

I think it would be better to discuss new findings in space, too, like new planet discoveries, New Horizons' Pluto flyby in a thread like this, than to make separate threads on them.

The possibilities for discussion and debate are endless, so, discuss away!

Edited by Celli
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Colonizing other stars is very likely to be something I will never see in my lifetime, but I actually think it would be very interesting if we found some way to detect smaller "Earth-like" planets. If we could improve our space telescopes to see planets like that we practically have a lot of planets to pick from and search for alien life (that sounded a bit bizzare when I said it).

 

Also we NEED to get back to the moon. aeiou

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yussss!

 

Lately, I don't think that NASA Has been sending people to the space station or the moon. It's been a while since the last..

 

My favourite planet has to be Saturn/Neptune. Both are really special for the whole milky way. Saturn because its the only planet I know that has beautiful and powerful rings while Neptune.. has a lot of mystery behind it since we've only seen pictures of Neptune. No one has really landed in Neptune.. Get to work NASA!

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@,We haven't landed on Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus, either, but it's not really possible, given they are gas giants, with no actual surface. They have sent a probe to Jupiter, but that failed. Maybe we should try again.

I'm personally more interested to see what's on the surface of Venus or Mercury

Edited by Celli
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* something about space has always captivated me. in school during science lessons, i would start to space out at the mere thought of where did the universe come from, how has it always just been.. there? then i'd have friends or a teacher poke me and i'd have no idea what was going on.

 

* i have a fascination with the moon also. whenever the moon is out, whether it's a full moon, bigger than usual, small, doesn't matter, i just love staring at it.

 

* i hope to one day finally see the core of our galaxy.. i really hate that light pollution prevents me from seeing something so beautiful. i want to see the northern lights too.. although saying that, i imagine seeing either of them and them being real and huge in the sky would make me super nervous, but i still wish to see them regardless.

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We haven't landed on Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus, either, but it's not really possible, given they are gas giants, with no actual surface.

That's disputed. We don't actually know. Under the immense pressure of a gas giant's gravitational field, there may very well be a solid core.

Edited by Admiral Regulus
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That's disputed. We don't actually know. Under the immense pressure of a gas giant's gravitational field, there may very well be a solid core.

Well, yeah, there's a solid core, but the surface could be nothing but clouds and storms.

Course, the Jupiter probe burned up in the atmosphere so we won't know for a while.

I think we should send another probe, but make it capable of surviving the atmosphere. See the composition of the atmosphere and whatnot. And send back pictures.

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@,We haven't landed on Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus, either, but it's not really possible, given they are gas giants, with no actual surface. They have sent a probe to Jupiter, but that failed. Maybe we should try again.

I'm personally more interested to see what's on the surface of Venus or Mercury

Also adding the fact that going anywhere beyond Mars is going to take several years. In space everything is farther out than you would expect, and even if we manage to harnass better sources such as antimatter after some decades it will still take quite a while to go further than the asteroid belt (3 months ideally to Mars and 4 or 5 months back, as a reference).

 

So unless we get some really committed programs and astronauts to take a journey to the far-out Jovials we're probably not going to see a lot of manned trips to their moons anytime soon. We're mostly going to move towards the Sun with the programs (except Mars and other asteroids floating around) until we figure out how to go beyond antimatter in the mid-21st.

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Well, yeah, there's a solid core, but the surface could be nothing but clouds and storms.

Course, the Jupiter probe burned up in the atmosphere so we won't know for a while.

I think we should send another probe, but make it capable of surviving the atmosphere. See the composition of the atmosphere and whatnot. And send back pictures.

As an engineering student and a Kerbal Space Program player, I'm not sure how feasible that would be. The pressures would likely crush anything before it reaches any hypothetical solid core, and what's worse, Jupiter's gravity is so strong that it would be going too fast on descent. The atmosphere at such tremendous speeds would cause it to burn. This probe would require a very effective method of slowing down in thin air, superb heat resistance, and be strong enough to avoid being crushed from pressures greater than what deep-sea vessels can withstand.

 

Possible, perhaps, but I can't say for sure. It may not be possible with the materials and technology we have now.

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As an engineering student and a Kerbal Space Program player, I'm not sure how feasible that would be. The pressures would likely crush anything before it reaches any hypothetical solid core, and what's worse, Jupiter's gravity is so strong that it would be going too fast on descent. The atmosphere at such tremendous speeds would cause it to burn. This probe would require a very effective method of slowing down in thin air, superb heat resistance, and be strong enough to avoid being crushed from pressures greater than what deep-sea vessels can withstand.

 

Possible, perhaps, but I can't say for sure. It may not be possible with the materials and technology we have now.

True, and the same could be said of Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. Though Neptune is full of winds and stuff. I wonder what the surface looks like.

It would be cool to have a gas giant city a la Bespin, though I don't think that's possible either.

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True, and the same could be said of Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. Though Neptune is full of winds and stuff. I wonder what the surface looks like.

It would be cool to have a gas giant city a la Bespin, though I don't think that's possible either.

And not very necessary. We already have two planets right in our Sun's habitable zone and less than a year away (albeit with terrible atmospheres) that have great potential for colonization in at least this century. If we had the capability to fly to the gas giants we would probably put that efforts onto colonizing the moons instead.

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Space, one of my absolute favorite topics and one of my obsessions too. Space just fascinates me to no end. Looking up at the stars at night, knowing that we are just a tiny little pixel in just the grand scheme of this galaxy, let alone the entire universe. It makes humans seems so small and insignificant, but that to me is humbling. Even just the Sun, which is one of billions of stars, is more massive than would could imagine up close and we have no real power over that. It is chilling to think about but in a good way.Space is just endlessly filled with wonders, what could be out there, what is going on now. It makes my brain smile. : D 

EarthVSun-April62011.001.png

Look at that thingy! The sun is like, "politics? Pfft, yeah, okay." For the record, even just a tiny pixel of the Sun's surface create more energy every second than we as a species have created in our entire existence.

 

My favorite overall subjects have to be stars because of their extreme power over many things, gas planets like Jupiter and Saturn, and planetary exploration. Like how we still don't know too much about the surface of Venus since any probe we send can barely last a couple of hours. It rains friggin' acid there! D: Then who knows could be beyond Pluto now that New Horizons has made its course passed it. 

 

venus-2.jpg

That is an image from the surface of Venus. Even looking at that makes me feel uncomfortable. 

 

This is why Elite Dangerous is one of my favorite games and I cannot wait until the Horizons expansion launches. :c Space makes me think about how we humans are not the center of the universe, faaaaaar from it and I like that a lot. 

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True, and the same could be said of Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. Though Neptune is full of winds and stuff. I wonder what the surface looks like.

It would be cool to have a gas giant city a la Bespin, though I don't think that's possible either.

 

That would be possible on Venus. Since its atmosphere is so thick, cities with blimp or hot air balloon foundations could exist at an altitude several kilometers above the surface, where temperature and pressure conditions would be similar to Earth. The only problem is that the air would still be very poisonous to breathe, and the winds would be insanely strong.

 

But when you think about it, it's an environment that's only one small bit less habitable than Mars.

Edited by Admiral Regulus
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sig-4372064.venus-2.jpg

That is an image from the surface of Venus. Even looking at that makes me feel uncomfortable. 

 

This is why Elite Dangerous is one of my favorite games and I cannot wait until the Horizons expansion launches. :c Space makes me think about how we humans are not the center of the universe, faaaaaar from it and I like that a lot. 

Ah, Venus, a dreadful, world of death with an ironic name... Yeah, i've been always fond of this universe ever since my first visit to the local planetarium, which sadly is now closed. The vastness, sheer infinity of this universe is interesting, apassionating yet so alien and uncomfortable for most of us. The Alien: Isolation main menu does a damn good job at showing it:

There are so many things we have yet to explore in this great universe. Just goes to show that, no matter what we achieve, humanity is nothing but a pathetic parasite in an unbearably huge mantle of darkness and light... And who knows, maybe some civilization far far away has managed to create deadly bio-engineered parasites...

That shot, of the itty-bitty spaceship full of malfunctioning androids and freaking Xenomorphs next to that imposing gas giant is chilling alone.

Edited by Dino-Mario
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Astronomy has been one of my favorite subjects, since 3rd grade. Majored in Physics with four classes in Astronomy. The existence of Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and possibly Wormholes inspire me of how little we know, and how much more we have to look forward to in unlocking the mysteries of our universe.

 

I love these videos:

 

Comparing the size of various celestial bodies, from the moon to some of the biggest stars:

 

 

Computer-animated mission to find life on Europa:

 

 

 

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There are so many things we have yet to explore in this great universe. Just goes to show that, no matter what we achieve, humanity is nothing but a pathetic parasite in an unbearably huge mantle of darkness and light... And who knows, maybe some civilization far far away has managed to create deadly bio-engineered parasites...

That shot, of the itty-bitty spaceship full of malfunctioning androids and freaking Xenomorphs next to that imposing gas giant is chilling alone.

Humanity being fairly destructive? Yes. Parasites? Not quite. As much as humanity can destroy, humanity can create and develop, and even considering the vast universe of mostly dark matter and energy is not insignificance but a tiny speck of life. As far as we know we could possibly be the only significant beings several light years away from any other civilization, which gives us a bit of an incentive to explore what needs to be explored.

 

Which does make humans a bit special (but of course not the best, since there may just be other civilizations that can outdo us).

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Humanity being fairly destructive? Yes. Parasites? Not quite. As much as humanity can destroy, humanity can create and develop, and even considering the vast universe of mostly dark matter and energy is not insignificance but a tiny speck of life. As far as we know we could possibly be the only significant beings several light years away from any other civilization, which gives us a bit of an incentive to explore what needs to be explored.

 

Which does make humans a bit special (but of course not the best, since there may just be other civilizations that can outdo us).

Couldn't have said it better. Sorry if my description of mankind in the universe sounds rather negative, you know, i just got a little carried away... heh

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I am immensley obsessed with space.

 

I would love to go to space and explore the galaxy.

 

Which is ironic because I'm super afraid of heights..

 

But that doesn't stop my love for space. ^_^

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I'm surprised people haven't discussed about the recent detection of gravitational waves by LIGO. This is really changing how we look at the universe (and Einstein was right!)

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Space is sooooo bucking fascinating. Ever since i was a little kid i found space to be this aww inspiring thing. Whenever i saw a space educational film it always felt like their goal was to make the viewer feel like Space is nirvana. So many mysteries, so many what ifs that i want to see happen or hope its real.

Quick side thingy, Scientists discovered validity to Einstein's theory of relativity....I thought it was already proven?

Anyways, i want to build a space station....just me in space, free internet, room, and food. Yes, getting food and water to space would be hard. BUT, food, water, and even me are made up of chemicals/elements found in space.

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Anyways, i want to build a space station....just me in space, free internet, room, and food. Yes, getting food and water to space would be hard. BUT, food, water, and even me are made up of chemicals/elements found in space.

Kerbal Space Program is a great rocket/space sim for that. It'll satisfy your space interest I think^^

It has a steep learning curve though, so if you're willing to. It does have sandbox mode without the career mode restrictions and you can build ridiculous rockets and stuff.

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Kerbal Space Program is a great rocket/space sim for that. It'll satisfy your space interest I think^^

It has a steep learning curve though, so if you're willing to. It does have sandbox mode without the career mode restrictions and you can build ridiculous rockets and stuff.

And it's still going. They're adding more and more parts to use into the game and it's very mod-friendly.

 

Quick side thingy, Scientists discovered validity to Einstein's theory of relativity....I thought it was already proven?

 

Anyways, i want to build a space station....just me in space, free internet, room, and food. Yes, getting food and water to space would be hard. BUT, food, water, and even me are made up of chemicals/elements found in space.

 

There was no direct proof of Einstein's theories until now, even though there was a lot of indirect proof that already makes those theories solid. Add on the fact that if we continue to improve our tech on this we could be able of seeing the universe at different angles.

 

As for space stations...the food, water, oxygen, and heat are difficult enough (ignoring the costs of building a space station or maintaining it), but our bodies aren't made to stay in space for very long. Muscle atrophy kicks in after a few months and so far the record we have for the longest spaceflight is Polyakov, who stayed in space for 14 months. Right now there's no way to prevent this unless we manage to create artificial gravity in space, which might take some years.

 

And space Internet has been a very recent thing that had only been implemented in the ISS in 2010 or around that time. The Internet there is as slow as a dial up simply because of the extra distance it has to travel compared to if it was in a random location on the ground. Most space programs don't really bother with improving Internet anytime soon, unfortunately, because it becomes more vulnerable to certain errors and space Internet is usually meant to send e-mails anyway, not play a random video game.

 

If you have looked at our recent probes we haven't bothered to update the tech on them, so they have as much bandwidth and room as a computer in the early 90s. It's very costly to update tech when the old ones already work, and like I said before, more complex systems = more vulnerable to problems.

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