Drhoz Posted May 8, 2021 Report Share Posted May 8, 2021 On 3/14/2021 at 1:12 AM, Lord Liaden said: I was hoping it meant the whole universe is a living organism, maybe conscious and thinking. IOW a scientific approach to God. (And yeah, that would also make for a cool game-world universe.) This next is actually a serious story, but the jokes just spring effortlessly from the title: Proposed ‘Moon Ark’ would shoot sperm into space to save the Earth. I refer you to this Kurt Vonnegut story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2021 Not sure how feasible that idea actually is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 11, 2021 Report Share Posted May 11, 2021 This lunar telescope could pull back the curtain on the cosmic dark ages. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted May 15, 2021 Report Share Posted May 15, 2021 China has successfully landed its Zhurong lander on Mars. Rover is expected to be deployed in a few days. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted May 17, 2021 Report Share Posted May 17, 2021 Heard this on All Things Considered. This article has a bit more information. Rare plutonium from space found in deep-sea crust | Live Science www.livescience.com/rare-plutonium-heavy-metal... A rare type of plutonium has been found in the crust below the deep sea, offering new clues as to how heavy metals form in star explosions and mergers. ... (1,500 meters) below the Pacific Ocean ... Also: Rare radioactive elements from outer space, created only in the most cataclysmic stellar events, extracted from the ocean floor? That's a superhero scenario that practically writes itself. Dean Shomshak Lord Liaden, Lawnmower Boy and tkdguy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2021 Recent volcanic activity on Mars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 14, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombrown803 Posted June 14, 2021 Report Share Posted June 14, 2021 14 hours ago, tkdguy said: My first thought was: Cancer's living room. Is this part of his plot to destroy the galaxy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 19, 2021 Report Share Posted June 19, 2021 Well, that operation is in action, so I don't know if "plot" is still the right word. It's just more obvious for M81's companion, M82. Oh, and ... Three missions to Venus in the coming decade tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 On 6/18/2021 at 5:06 PM, Cancer said: Well, that operation is in action, so I don't know if "plot" is still the right word. It's just more obvious for M81's companion, M82. Oh, and ... Three missions to Venus in the coming decade I heard NASA passed over missions to Neptune and Jupiter's moons in favor of these missions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archer Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 17 hours ago, tkdguy said: I heard NASA passed over missions to Neptune and Jupiter's moons in favor of these missions. Venus is a hellhole. Even if we find out everything about it, it's not like we could use the information for anything given our current level of technology and likely advances. Jupiter's moons on the other hand, could give us usable valuable information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 I dunno... I'm disinclined to think we know everything valuable about a whole planet permanently shrouded in clouds, until we get there. I remember when scientists widely assumed the deepest, lightless parts of our own oceans were lifeless wastelands, until we actually went there and found thriving ecosystems around volcanic vents. Our understanding of how life, uh, finds a way was greatly expanded by that discovery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 You could make a case for more study of any other world in the Solar System, from Mercury out to the Kuiper Belt, even much-studied bodies such as the Moon and Mars. I don't envy the budget-strapped planners who must pick and choose. I personally favor Uranus and Neptune because they've only been visited once, decades ago, when we didn't even know what questions to ask. But Venus is important too. It's similar to Earth in mass and composition, but radically different in rotation, not to mention lacking a moon and receiving about 50% more sunlight. (I think the scientist who called it "functionally identical" to Earth is stretching things a bit.) Even if our interest is focused on finding life on other worlds, which of Venus' initial differences resulted in its current condition? And if it can be shown that Venus once had a potentially life-supporting environment, why, that's three planets in one solar system. It bodes well for the prospects of life in other solar systems. Oh, and a mission to Enceladus. Gotta go to Enceladus to investigate its subsurface ocean! Dean Shomshak pinecone 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Betelgeuse dimming was "just dust" Interesting time sequence montage of high-resolution images in that linked item. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 On 6/19/2021 at 10:13 PM, tkdguy said: I heard NASA passed over missions to Neptune and Jupiter's moons in favor of these missions. Picking missions happens for a large ensemble of missions. Sometimes it has as much to do with technological developments that make for a suddenly greater opportunity to gain information; sometimes simple orbital geometry weighs against missions to the outer Solar System with the gravitational slingshot opportunities varying (e.g., it might be you launch in 2030 and get there in 2038; or you could wait to launch until 2032 and still get there in 2038). And sometimes it's political in ways I only barely perceive. It wouldn't surprise me if additional missions to the Jupiter system are being delayed while the Juno mission is still in operation -- its recent close pass of Ganymede gave better-than-ever-before data on that moon, and you want to digest that, and other data to come in the ongoing mission, before deciding what instrument package to load up and send. tkdguy and DShomshak 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archer Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 11 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: I dunno... I'm disinclined to think we know everything valuable about a whole planet permanently shrouded in clouds, until we get there. I remember when scientists widely assumed the deepest, lightless parts of our own oceans were lifeless wastelands, until we actually went there and found thriving ecosystems around volcanic vents. Our understanding of how life, uh, finds a way was greatly expanded by that discovery. I've heard a persuasive case that there's kilotons of gold at the Earth core. But since we can't access the Earth's core, we can't access the value. Not arguing there's nothing of value on Venus. I'm arguing that we can't use it because we can't get to it. Now is there information? Sure. But there's information literally everywhere we might go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted June 22, 2021 Report Share Posted June 22, 2021 14 hours ago, archer said: I've heard a persuasive case that there's kilotons of gold at the Earth core. But since we can't access the Earth's core, we can't access the value. Not arguing there's nothing of value on Venus. I'm arguing that we can't use it because we can't get to it. Yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted June 22, 2021 Report Share Posted June 22, 2021 Space Monsters, gotta be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2021 Azathoth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted June 22, 2021 Report Share Posted June 22, 2021 David Copperfield? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted June 23, 2021 Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 11 hours ago, tkdguy said: Azathoth? About the right size..... tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 24, 2021 Report Share Posted June 24, 2021 2000 stars with the best chances to detect Earth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperion Posted June 25, 2021 Report Share Posted June 25, 2021 Could we possibly have company in our solar system? Let's try to get some answers. tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted June 25, 2021 Report Share Posted June 25, 2021 The BBC yesterday aired a brief story about astronomers umaging the most distant galaxy yet seen. They're close to seeing the first stars, and expect the James Webb Space Telescope to do the job. Dean Shomshak tkdguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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