Interesting Developments

MSNBC.COM has a nice write up with a bunch of great photos on Jupiter. The title of the article is: Jupiter and the Moon take over the Night. Of course I had to go out and see if that is so, and tonight was just the perfect night to do it. Clear, no clouds, but boy was it cold here at the coast. OK, I did not dress right, but it is summer, it's supposed to be hot, even at night. The article is right, the view is spectacular.

What else is happening in Astronomy? I have read a bunch of interesting news. The Swiss (they are so clever) discovered a bunch of exoplanets. According to the article, the planetary system has some similarities to our own system, including one planet that is only 1.4 times the mass of Earth, and very close to the star. This is it! Time to pack your bag and explore a new planet. Travel time is only 127 years assuming we can travel at the speed of light. At a more conventional speed it will take a bit longer… Check out the article, it features an interesting video.

There was another interesting news article, this time published by the BBC, "Supercomputer clue to black holes". What grabbed my attention in this article was the speculation that gas with a mass of millions of Suns could accumulate and collapse directly into a black hole, without forming a star first. Now that is some interesting stuff. This idea certainly challenges the conventional thinking of how the super massive black holes have formed in the center of the Galaxies. 

This is so great, just when we thought we understood something, some new theory comes along and challenges everything. Let's see how long this latest idea about the forming of the massive black holes in the center of the galaxies will survive.

Most Massive Star Ever

This is interesting; according to an article published in The Great Beyond astronomers discovered a cluster of super massive stars, up to 300 times the solar mass and 10 million times more luminous than the Sun. According to the official press release this massive star would outshine the sun in the same way as the sun outshines the full moon.

Scientists are not certain if those massive stars were born big or were they the result of several massive stars merging. However they were formed, very impressive, but as we know, big stars don't last very long. In a few million years we should be able to observe a huge type II Supernova. Yes, our Sun will outlast those huge stars by billions of years, so someone here on Earth should be able to make the observation.

Rock-Star Physicist

A rock-star physicist, what a cool title! I want to put on my resume that I am rock-star physicist. Brian Cox does deserve that title, his presentation is… well decide for yourself:

Cosmic Zoom Lens?

Talking about pushing the envelope, this story is incredible. The European space agency launched the Far Infrared and Sub-millimeter Telescope (FIRST) in May of 2009. This space telescope was later renamed to Herschel after the incredible female astronomer Caroline Herschel who did some amazing research in the late 1700 and early 1800. Herschel is the largest single mirror space telescope ever built to look deep into the past.

So, here we have one of the most powerful space telescopes ever built, gathering long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the universe. But that is not enough; using something called a gravity lens Herschel is able to detect a Galaxy that is 11 billion light years away.

First, here is an example how a gravity lens works:




 

By observing a distant Galaxy cluster Herschel was able to detect a Galaxy that is even further away. The telescope observed a Galaxy that emitted its radiation over 11 billion years ago. Thinking about this for just a minute, I have the following question: What does that Galaxy look like today? Does it still exist? If the Galaxy does still exist, where could it be? Apparently our Galaxy, the Milky Way is about 8.8 billion years old, plus or minus 1.7 billion year. (This is according to Wiki, I know… but Wiki is good enough for this thought experiment!) Assuming the oldest possible age of the Milky Way, 10.5 billion years, is it possible we are looking at baby picture of our Galaxy? Given the fact that there are 100 billion other Galaxies out there it is highly unlikely that this specific Galaxy is the baby Milky Way, but the question is still valid, could we see a picture of a baby Milky Way? We know that space is not flat; space is curved so… naw… that is just too wired.

Bottom line still is, it is amazing that we are able to observe a Galaxy that is some 11 billion light years away from us. What is even more amazing is the technique used to make that observation.

The Astronomy Class is Over

Just because the quarter is over does not mean I have to stop blogging about the sky. There are a few things in respect to astronomy I still want to do, and blogging about it forces me to be serious. The few things I still want to do is more sky observations. During the quarter we really did not have too many days when going out and making sky observation was possible. The weather in the spring is just a bit too unpredictable. Maybe this summer we will have a better chance to do that.

In the meantime, I am posting a few interesting items. Here is something I came across just the other day. During class we were studying dark clouds, what they are etc. Dr. Tom Megeath from the University of Toledo reported the following oddity. What looked like a dark cloud is in fact not a dark cloud, but a hole in the sky. Here is his interview on the Canadian Quirks & Quarks Show. (Follow the link, the fourth topic in the May 15 show, hosted by Bob McDonald, with the title, There's no There, There is and interview with Megeath discussing the discovery.)

 
Herschel finds a hole in space

Herschel, The Mission

Dr. Tom Megeath

News Flash!

Now here we have some exciting news! This seems to indicate why we have not observed the expected number of neutrinos in our neutrino detectors.
Here are two links to the relative articles:

• Particle Chameleon Caught in the Act of Changing
• Scientist Confirm Long-Held Theory About Source of Sunshine

I guess we will need to re-write the astronomy textbooks...

Week 9 Review

Galaxies, Space, Distances, Black Holes… who cares? On Friday we had a short discussion at the end of the period centering on the question, does all this really matter? Does it really matter if there is a black hole in the center of our Galaxy? Does it really matter how our universe evolved, the big bang, the expansion and so on. Some of my class mates simply state that all this really does not matter. If our Milky Way is on a collision course with Andromeda, who really cares? It will not happen in our life time, so why thinking about it?
Those are all very valid points but… where would we be if we never crossed the Atlantic Ocean west bound? Many will argue it is not the same thing, but it is! During the dark ages in Europe, when questioning just about anything of authority, especially linked to religious believes was a certain death sentence, some still questioned. It certainly would have been much easier for Copernicus to stick with the common believes of those days and keep the Earth in the center of the universe. But he couldn’t! It did not work, the observation did not agree with the model. So he asked the question why, and he came up with a very unpopular answer in those days.

For whatever reason, we will always ask questions. Why is the universe expanding? What about a black hole. How about that string theory with 6 additional dimensions? Not all of us have that need to know, and that is OK. But all of us (most of us?) benefit from those who asked the question, starting with the question what happens if we sail west. I admit sailing west was a good thing for us Europeans, but not the best thing for the natives of the Americas.

The cost of CERN is about 3 billion dollars. So what will we get out of CERN? Will we find the elusive hadron particle? Will we be able to confirm additional dimensions? May be not! May be all what CERN will do is answer a few questions but ask many more! Even if we find the elusive hadron particle, and suddenly everything falls into place how will that help in our other challenges we face, such as war, hunger, health etc. CERN will not help the unfortunates on our planet. But 3 billion dollars would have made a big change in the life of some of the unfortunate on our planet.

I am not sure what the right answer is. I am not sure if knowing that the universe is expanding, and the sun will run out of fuel in 4 billion years really matters. But for me it is important to know those things. Even if I am not a scientist on the leading edge of discovery, I feel richer having the knowledge and the ability to understand what they are talking about. I want to know if the string theory is a valid theory. It will not change my life, but I still want to know. I also want us to continue to explore space. I do think we are doing it wrong! Exploring space is such a huge task, a task that will take many generations to accomplish, and for that we should work as a united force. Not in competition with each other. Similar to the CERN experiment. CERN is an experiment that has the support of over 100 countries, hundreds of universities and over 10,000 scientists. The track is built in two countries, France and Switzerland, it is a common effort with an outcome that will benefit everyone. We need the same vision on space exploration.