tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11300661606235017122023-11-15T06:37:22.076-08:00Quantum KittensDavid Arnothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08032713007577681469noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130066160623501712.post-51784106625526780212013-02-07T05:20:00.000-08:002013-02-08T05:53:10.483-08:00Porn Stars in Space and the History of the Universe in 1minute<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Porn Stars in Space</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coco Brown is aiming to be the </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/coco-brown-first-porn-star-in-space_n_2567586.html"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>first adult film actress</strong></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong> </strong></span>in space. She is one of those queueing to being amongst the first of the new breed of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Space Tourists</strong></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a number of companies aiming to provide space trips, all with different themes and of course…price tags. Including </span><a href="http://www.virgingalactic.com/"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Virgin Galactic’s</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></strong>“VSS Enterprise” – <em>really?!? </em>This is an addition to the private companies that NASA is using or looking at to replace the Shuttle, such as </span><a href="http://www.spacex.com/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>SpaceX’s </strong></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dragon capsule.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course if you want the full to the Moon and Back experience, then for a mere $100 million </span><a href="http://www.spaceadventures.com/"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Space Adventures Ltd</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> can help you out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coco hasn’t commented whether she is looking forward to be taken to the Heaven and back… <span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Trying to have </span><a href="http://www.space.com/13149-space-sex-interstellar-travel-challenges.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong>sex in space</strong></span> </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is a little difficult, especially if you're going to do Zero G. You just really don't that much control. People have to learn how working in no gravity functions before you do a porn there."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though if she did want to try sex in Zero gravity she wouldn’t be the first. Twenty seconds of the adult film, "The Uranus Experiment: Part 2" were filmed in actual weightlessness. I’ll let you look up the link for that one….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to </span><a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4775634/coco-brown-to-be-the-first-porn-star-in-space.html"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sun</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> she said “<span lang="EN" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">I’m an adventurous person and I thrive off of excitement. I’m ready to do something that many would never attempt</span>” We can only presume she’s talking about her trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Universe in 1 Minute</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So with Prof Cox trying to explain the universe, life, 42 and anything else the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>BBC science dept</strong></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> can think of that isn’t stepping on David Attenborough’s toes, I thought I’d cut through the detail and give you the extremely potted <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1minute story of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Universe</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…. Although I might cover this a bit more fully at a future date...</span></div>
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<a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121114.html"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121114.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you've got any thoughts or ideas on things you'd like me to post about, then feel free to leave comments below...</span></div>
David Arnothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08032713007577681469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130066160623501712.post-74078805618014837502013-01-25T08:29:00.002-08:002013-01-25T15:27:07.727-08:00The end of the world<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The end of the world, valentine’s days and DA14<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2012/03/asteroid_2012_da14/9275225-5-eng-GB/Asteroid_2012_DA14_medium_gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="293" oea="true" src="http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2012/03/asteroid_2012_da14/9275225-5-eng-GB/Asteroid_2012_DA14_medium_gif.gif" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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(Source: European Space Agency)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Doesn’t look like much, does it? A fuzzy image of a small fuzzy dot moving passed other fuzzy things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I’m getting ahead of myself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Filmmakers love to produce movies about the end of the world. Armageddon, Deep Impact, Silent Running, etc. Usually it’s a huge asteroid on collision course or the Sun expanding into a </span><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/12648/will-earth-survive-when-the-sun-becomes-a-red-giant/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;"><strong>Red Giant</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">and swallowing the earth (in 5billion years, so we don’t have to worry so much about that!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whilst the “end” of the last Mayan calendar may have passed, it might seem that we’re not quite out of danger yet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">In fact we never will be. Some might say we should be. Were it not for the devastation of the dinosaurs by </span><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/36697/the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;"><strong>a massive impact</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> then mammals may very not have had the chance afforded them and ultimately for humans to eventually evolve.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">So what is likely to be the ultimate doom for the Earth?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well here are some of the major ways current thinking for life on Earth to end.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">A </span><a href="http://www.howitworksdaily.com/space/could-a-supernova-destroy-earth/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;"><strong>Supernovae</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">happens on-average about once every 100,000 years per galaxy. And we are overdue one in the Milkyway!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Betelgeuse is such a star that will go supernova and very soon. It could already have happened and we might just not know it yet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Within ~26 light years the explosion would sufficient to vaporise our atmosphere. At 640 light years away, we are far enough to Betelgeuse to enjoy the view without dying. Fortunately we are probably several billion years away from a star close enough to go supernova close enough…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Space isn’t empty. It looks cold and dark, but moving out there between stars are vast swathes of dust and gas bulldozing their way through the Milkyway. Left over from the formation of the galaxy and/or debris from novae long ago. One such dust cloud is the </span><a href="http://messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/coalsack.html"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">Coal Sack nebula</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">. It’s huge, 60-70 light years across. Whilst we are some way away, we sometimes forgot that the Sun is moving around the galaxy at 200km/s. The Heliosphere, the sphere of energy and cosmic particles being thrown by the stellar wind are sufficient to keep normal interstellar dust from smothering the solar-system, but something as large as the Coal Sack would simply bulldozer its way thru the galaxy smothering the planets, blotting out the sun and in effect blotting out all the light and warm our sun grants. It would be a cold, slow death for our planet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">But of course we shouldn’t forget filmmakers favourite Death by Meteor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40173"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">Nasa tracks </span></strong></a><span style="font-size: large;">over 19000 man-made objects in orbit around the earth</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> as well as around 10000 </span><a href="http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;"><strong>Near Earth Objects</strong></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;"><strong> </strong></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">and further out via radar and the </span><a href="http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">Deep Space Network</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></strong>many more objects and of course it’s remote Spacecraft and missions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Remember that fuzzy dot on the fuzzy background at the start. Its name is DA14, or more correctly </span><a href="http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2012-da14-will-pass-very-close-to-earth-in-2013"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;">Asteroid 2012-DA14</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">. On February 15<sup>th</sup> 2013 it will appear slightly clearer than a fuzzy dot. In fact it is going to pass so close to us that it pass between the Earth and the Moon. In fact closer than geostationary satellites.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2012/03/2012_DA14.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="319" oea="true" src="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2012/03/2012_DA14.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fortunately this time they have its trajectory plotted down to fine detail and we are not in danger. But it does remind us of the precariousness of life on our planet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Something to remember this Valentine’s Day…</span></div>
David Arnothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08032713007577681469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130066160623501712.post-30229772770835693932013-01-18T05:18:00.002-08:002013-01-18T05:29:03.578-08:00Hot and Cold<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ok so it’s a little bit cold out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">No I’m not talking about the few flakes of snow currently falling on the UK. I mean out in Space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Below is a chart of the temperature in Space throughout our Solar System.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Closest in to the Sun, Mercury is one of the hottest and coldest places in the Solar System. It has a dayside temp in excess of 400C, with its night-side can be as low as -200C.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although the temperature of the space around Venus is about 55C which would allow liquid water (and thus possibly life), it’s thick green-house atmosphere drives it’s surface to around 186C.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We like to think of Earth as a temperate world, and fortunately closer to the bottom range of temperatures that allows liquid water. The hottest recorded temp was 71C(!) in the Lut Desert of Iran and the cold being -89C...of course in Antarctica. This would be colder than Mars and lower than the freezing point of CO<sub>2</sub> (dry ice).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Out beyond Mars and the Asteroid belt, space temp starts to become a challenge for spacecraft. Normally their systems would literally freeze up well before they’d reach Jupiter, so they carry isotropic heaters to ensure they keep on working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Passed Jupiter and it really starts to get chilly! Oxygen liquefies as we pass Saturn and Nitrogen not long after. After Uranus Oxygen & Nitrogen (Air!) actually freezes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pluto and Eris (dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt) are a mind numbing -229C & -231C respectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Further out, we really reach the vast coldness of space between stars at -250C.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But only in the dark of the emptiness between Galaxies do we find the coldest parts of the Universe, hovering just above Absolute Zero, around 3K, or -270C.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So when you look out the window at the snow, maybe it’s time to just put another jumper on!</span></div>
David Arnothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08032713007577681469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130066160623501712.post-8923189546500101482013-01-14T02:39:00.004-08:002013-01-14T03:42:33.894-08:00Heroes and Blueberries<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known” – Carl Sagan<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">When I was young, in our loft was a long white box with plastic covers on each end. It was a telescope. A telescope that our father had made. The first telescope I looked through. To see the moon closer, to see the planets. To see the stars in their glory. That same telescope was donated to our school, had its own housing and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mini-observatory built (even if it did later fall down and become the place to hold the score-board of the cricket pitch!) That same telescope helped underpin a school Astronomy club, that allowed Wednesday afternoons off once-month to go to London to the meeting of the British Astronomical Association, that allowed me to meet, shake the hand of a Legend and get his autograph (“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To David, Patrick Moore</i>”).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Spin back to 1969.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">I was born 11days before 2 men stood on another world. I am told that I was placed in front of the black & white tv & stared as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked upon the Moon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">This wasn’t the end or even the peak of the space-race, as science fiction, became reality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">More missions to the moon.<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong>Voyager</strong></span></a><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong> </strong></span>stretching out into the vastness of cold black space to photograph other planets close up for the first time.</span> </span><span lang="ES" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: ES;"><a href="http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz.html"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Soyuz</span></strong></a></span><span lang="ES" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: ES;"> <span style="color: white;">&</span> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong>Apollo</strong></span></a><span style="color: white;">.</span> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/skylab/index.html"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong>Skylab</strong></span></a> <span style="color: white;">&</span> <a href="http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mir.html"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Mir</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: ES;"><span lang="ES"><span style="color: white;">, Astronauts and Cosmonauts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">These were the reality of my my first decade bolstered with Sci-Fi. StarTrek. Buck Rogers, BattleStar Galactica and of course…Episode IV: A New Hope. They fired the imagination with new worlds, star-fighters and space-travel, hyperspace & warp-speed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Others as well that spoke of futures where the destiny of Earth and Humanity were questioned; 2001,</span> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Dark Star</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">, </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Silent Running</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">A decade which ended with the great Carl Sagan’s</span> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dADUBcoEEHw"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong>Cosmos</strong></span></a><span style="color: white;"> series.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">I think it’s fair to say that my mind & imagination were forever<strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3EO1M_oIm8"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">entangled</span></a> </span></strong>with the vastness beyond our </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><strong>pale blue dot</strong></span></a><span style="color: white;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">Martian Blueberries.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Opportunity rover has been on Mars for eight years now. Amongst its more recent and interesting discoveries were geological “</span><a href="http://marsrover.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20120914a.html"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">blueberries</span></strong></a><span style="color: white;">” </span><span style="color: white;">which indicate water in the past.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0408/blueberries2_opportunity_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" jea="true" src="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0408/blueberries2_opportunity_big.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: white;">If you have any comments or suggestions for a future blog subject please let me know below.</span></span></div>
David Arnothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08032713007577681469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1130066160623501712.post-50286934000446034092013-01-11T02:10:00.004-08:002013-01-11T03:12:15.550-08:00In the Beginning<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">This is Anna’s fault. Or rather is Caroline’s. Or rather it’s mine.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">Anna is a teacher. She teaches stuff to small kids. She’s really good. Caroline is a scientist. She agreed to write Anna a lesson plan on some cool Science stuff. I thought I’d do this too, as I know some really cool stuff about space, the planets, the universe and stuff. And I can explain it to my 7yo nephew and answer his questions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">Writing a lesson plan, with links to videos and stuff would be easy… right. Oh dear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">So instead I thought I’d take a step back and look at all the cool stuff I know (or think I know), put it somewhere I could access easily if I needed to explain things, let others see it too, and of course put here all the things I learn and cool things that I find out about from time to time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Reminders for myself of cool science stuff that has happened or will be happening through out the year (eg</span> </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9767950/Comet-15-times-brighter-than-the-moon-to-be-visible-from-Britain.html"><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: #3d85c6;">Comet ISON</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">). And I have a sieve of brain and until the lottery comes in no PA to remind me of important stuff!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">And If I can try and explain stuff or put in links to places that explain the complex in simple terms, , then maybe I will remember & understand them a bit better as well - Higgs-Boson, Quantum theory, Light speed, gravity & space-time, big bang vs big crunch, Fermi principle, Einstein-Rosenberg bridges (worm-holes to you and me), why E does <u>not</u> =Mc<sup>2</sup> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>etc etc.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">Don’t for one minute think this is going to be a guide in order explaining the universe. (I think the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/"><strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;">BBC & Prof Cox</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">) <span style="color: white;">have that covered if you want that). I’ve read a few book and most of them are pretty good.</span></span><span style="color: white;"> (</span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cosmology-Very-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/019285416X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357816667&sr=1-4"><strong><span style="color: #3d85c6;">for example</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">) and there are some other pretty good resources on the web (e.g. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/sixtysymbols"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Sixty Symbols</span></strong></a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">So let’s start with something simple. Something pretty. And possibly the best link on the web (IMO) – Nasa's </span><a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Astronomy Picture of the Day</span></strong></a><span style="color: white;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: white;">15 years of photos, graphics, videos and other things showing and explaining pretty and very cool things in the universe.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0901/newrings_cassini_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="314" src="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0901/newrings_cassini_big.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">In the Shadow of Saturn </span></strong><br />
<a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110904.html"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black;">http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110904.htm</span>l</span></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Calibri;"> It’s from Nasa and edited by one of Astrophysics great heavy-weights, Robert Nemiroff, with whom I’ve bounced some very interesting emails, about some </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lensing"><strong><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Calibri;">gravitational lensing</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: white;">I spotted in one their photos.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span> </span><span style="color: white; font-family: Calibri;">So each week I will try and put up something cool that is happening in the Universe or about Space, amazing science and “stuff”.</span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Calibri;">If you've got any thoughts or ideas on things you'd like me to post about, then feel free to leave comments below (<em>please no conspiracy theories...</em>)</span></div>
David Arnothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08032713007577681469noreply@blogger.com1