dmjalund Posted December 29, 2018 Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 33 minutes ago, Badger said: my mind orbits in eccentric orbit, like Pluto. Pluto? PLUTO IS A PLANET!!!!!!!!! you won't say that after the orbital mind laser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted December 29, 2018 Report Share Posted December 29, 2018 Badger is immune to orbital mind control lasers by virtue of having no mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted December 30, 2018 Report Share Posted December 30, 2018 Pluto is only a planet if the term "planet" has no meaning. L. Marcus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted December 30, 2018 Report Share Posted December 30, 2018 On 12/26/2018 at 4:38 AM, Christopher said: Ultima Thule - an object New Horizon will pass by around New Year - is giving us it's first mystery. We have already determined that it is not a sphere. So we have been looking at it to figure out what light-curve it emits, to have more ideas in wich way it was not a sphere. But there is no light curve. The light reflection is constants, as if it was a sphere. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20181220 Every time a probe visits a new celestial object, we find something that makes scientists say, "WTF? We didn't expect that. And there's another batch of theories thrown into the Dumpster." (All said with big grins and occasional mad giggles.) I would be surprised if Ultima Thule did not continue the tradition. Dean Shomshak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 17 hours ago, DShomshak said: Every time a probe visits a new celestial object, we find something that makes scientists say, "WTF? We didn't expect that. And there's another batch of theories thrown into the Dumpster." (All said with big grins and occasional mad giggles.) I would be surprised if Ultima Thule did not continue the tradition. Dean Shomshak The flyby will happen at 31st December/1st January. And we will have a high resolution image on earth about 1 day later. Currently taking a look at the twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/nasanewhorizonshttps://twitter.com/JHUAPL tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 1, 2019 Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 They seem to have reacquired the carrier frequency 15-20 minutes back, so the spacecraft survived close approach. Cool pics will take longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted January 2, 2019 Report Share Posted January 2, 2019 11 hours ago, Cancer said: They seem to have reacquired the carrier frequency 15-20 minutes back, so the spacecraft survived close approach. Cool pics will take longer. That is the last image we got before the flyby happened: We are not even certain if it is shaped like a bowling pin, or just two seperate objects in close orbit with each other from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 2, 2019 Report Share Posted January 2, 2019 It's a contact binary. Two approximately spherical objects in physical contact. Red in color, like the north pole of Charon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted January 2, 2019 Report Share Posted January 2, 2019 50 minutes ago, Cancer said: It's a contact binary. Two approximately spherical objects in physical contact. Red in color, like the north pole of Charon. So it is two iceballs doing a interstellar fusion dance?https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/science/ultima-thule-pictures-new-horizons.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 No, it is a demon snowman made of frozen blood, hurtling through the abyss for eternity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 11 minutes ago, Old Man said: No, it is a demon snowman made of frozen blood, hurtling through the abyss for eternity. And a planet, obviously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Hey, I'm happy it's not two Death Stars moored together. Or a pair of Cthulhu eggs side by side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 Hey, it could still be two Chthulhu eggs. Spawn of Ghroth. Whatever, Just very cold, as if that meant anything to the Outer Gods. But seriously: As usual, the newly sighted object is like nothing we have seen before.First contact binary in the Solar System. Whee! Dean Shomshak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted January 3, 2019 Report Share Posted January 3, 2019 I always love it when scientists discover something they didn't expect and can't explain. Human smugness needs puncturing once in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Well, a contact binary can be explained, but it was not at all expected. Unfortunately, now we wait a week for more data, as the Sun is now between us and the spacecraft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 This isn't really news; I just hadn't heard this point until today's meeting, in one of the prize lectures. The neutron star - neutron star merger 18 months ago that was seen in gravitational waves, and in gamma rays, and then in other wavelengths of electromagnetic waves, proves that the speed of light and the speed of gravitational waves are the same, to within one part in a quadrillion. This absolutely rules out MOND (modified Newtonian dynamics, a theory that tweaks the law of gravitation as a way to explain the rotation curves of galaxies and some other observed astrophysical velocities without resorting to dark matter) and some other alternative theories of gravity, because one piece of these is that gravity and electromagnetism don't necessarily propagate at the same speed (something which is absolutely required in general relativity). That limit of one part in a quadrillion comes from the difference in arrival times between the gravitational wave signal and the gamma-ray signal, a bit less than 2 seconds; that difference is a about a quadrillionth of the light travel time from the merging neutron stars to Earth. DShomshak, Christopher, Lawnmower Boy and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Back when physicists were in a tizzy over experiments that seemed to show neutrinos might travel faster than light, a letter to Science News made a similar point based on the near-simultaneous arrival of light and neutrinos from Supernova 1987A. Given the supposed discrepancy measured by the Italian experimenters, the neutrinos would have been detected some hours before the light. No such difference; therefore, the experimenters were in error. (And sure enough, the source of the error was figured out a few weeks later.) I appreciate the Universe producing such natural experiments. They are excellent rebukes to the idiots who insist that "Oh, scientists just make it all up." Dean Shomshak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted January 10, 2019 Report Share Posted January 10, 2019 12 hours ago, DShomshak said: Back when physicists were in a tizzy over experiments that seemed to show neutrinos might travel faster than light, a letter to Science News made a similar point based on the near-simultaneous arrival of light and neutrinos from Supernova 1987A. Given the supposed discrepancy measured by the Italian experimenters, the neutrinos would have been detected some hours before the light. No such difference; therefore, the experimenters were in error. (And sure enough, the source of the error was figured out a few weeks later.) I appreciate the Universe producing such natural experiments. They are excellent rebukes to the idiots who insist that "Oh, scientists just make it all up." Dean Shomshak But...they Do make it up! They just make it up using facts....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 On 1/10/2019 at 9:39 AM, pinecone said: But...they Do make it up! They just make it up using facts....? Never trust an Atom - they make up everything! DShomshak and pinecone 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 Mm, if the astrophysicists are right and 95% of the universe consists of dark matter and dark energy, then atoms make up hardly anything. Dean Shomshak Cancer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ruggels Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-shows-off-spacexs-massive-starship-test-rocket-2019-01-10 After a successful Falcon 9 launch, Papa Elon teases his next big project, with an image of his sub-orbital test vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 "Oh, Mr Musk! You are sooo naughty!" Scott Ruggels 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted January 12, 2019 Report Share Posted January 12, 2019 15 hours ago, DShomshak said: Mm, if the astrophysicists are right and 95% of the universe consists of dark matter and dark energy, then atoms make up hardly anything. Dean Shomshak So they even made that one up? Typical Atoms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted January 12, 2019 Report Share Posted January 12, 2019 Well, when it comes to making up stuff, what Atoms lack in quantity they make up for in quality. They seem very creative. As a maker-up of stuff myself, I bow to my masters in the art. Dean Shomshak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted January 14, 2019 Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 Further suspicions about Oumuamua Curiouser and curiouser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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