20 light years away, the most Earthlike planet yet

[JoeRedskin]

Someone once said to me "Either life as we know it exists in the universe or it doesn't, either way - it's pretty mind boggling".

[MTK]

I saw this show recently on alternate dimensions. Apparently this is a concept that's really gaining some steam amongst scientists. The show really boggled my mind.

[RobH4413]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I saw this show recently on alternate dimensions. Apparently this is a concept that's really gaining some steam amongst scientists. The show really boggled my mind.

It's really the dominating theory in physics right now. They've recently gained a great deal of ground on something called "m theory", which unifies about 7 or 8 different "string" theories.

If you've got a lot of time, and psychedelic mushrooms, I'd strongly suggest you watch all of the series called "Elegant Universe". It's hosted by Brian Greene, who is kind of cheesy in it, but really brings to the table what's actually going on.

I'm reading a book by him called "Fabric of the cosmos" and he relates a lot of modern physics to the Simpsons and other familiar ideas. He's got great analogies, and it's definitely a good "sitting on the john" reading.

Here's the link to part 1 of "The elegant universe". You can fumble around and find the rest. YouTube - The Elegant Universe Part 1: Einstein's Dream (1/5)

A lot of these theories are being put to test by a company called Fermi-Lab. I think it's in Virginia somewhere, I can't remember off the top of my head. They have assembled a giant super collider where basically they're colliding atomic particles at close to light speed. On of the things they're looking for is a theoretical particle called a "gravitron". The theory is that gravity may possible be the strongest of the four forces, but it seems weak in our world because "gravitrons" flow in and out of different universes.

Crazy stuff, that we're actually investing a lot of time and money into to investigation of other universes with different forces altogether.

One last thing, this year in Switzerland they're opening up another super collider that's many times larger and more powerful then Fermi-Lab's. There are almost certainly going to be some mind shattering discoveries in the next 5 years.

Edit: Here is the fermilab particle accelerator.

[Beemnseven]

You know, speaking of warp drive, it got me thinking ... it only took 67 years from the time that we first achieved flight (in a heavier-than-air machine) to landing on the moon. During that time, we also harnessed the power of splitting the atom.

Those were pretty big steps in the progress of human civilization in a fairly short time span when you think about it -- or maybe in the grand scheme of things it's not that significant of an achievement.

But to come to the realization that we aren't anywhere near non-fossil fuel or alternative forms of propulsion for space flight makes this sort of finding interesting, but frustrating at the same time. Well, for people our age anyway. My great-grandkids might see something from it.

We still have a lot to learn.

[RobH4413]

Originally Posted by jsarno

WOW. Had no idea they were selling property on the moon. Kind of stupid if you ask me. Not becuase they WON'T make communities up there, I believe we can...but because the moon is already getting closer and closer to the earth every day, put more weight on the moon and then we may see it crash into the earth.
Why are humans self destructive?

Actually, the moon is getting farther and farther away from the earth. It's also interesting to know that as the moon drifts away, the earth's days are getting longer because of it. It has to do with circular motion, but it's kind of cool that we can actually calculate almost exactly the effect the moon has on our days. I'm a huge nerd, sorry.

[love them hogs]

I love reading about outer space.It will completly blow your mind.I mean the speed of light is something around 140,000 miles per second.Thats right, I said a second.

Black holes are also very interesting to learn about.The force of gravity is so strong in them because it is like shoving the mass of ten of our suns into the same space as the earth and the sun is like seven times the size of the earth.(those numbers are not exact but you get the idea).Their force of gravity will suck in anything around them including light.Now thats crazy,so much gravity that it sucks in light.Black holes will also distort the time around them.Meaning there is an area around the black hole where if you could orbit in that area time would actually slow down.Everything is relative you know.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by RobH4413

Actually, the moon is getting farther and farther away from the earth. It's also interesting to know that as the moon drifts away, the earth's days are getting longer because of it. It has to do with circular motion, but it's kind of cool that we can actually calculate almost exactly the effect the moon has on our days. I'm a huge nerd, sorry.

But in 100 years it will only be 2 milliseconds longer.
You are right about it getting farther and farther away...I knew that too, I don't know why I said closer and closer. My bad. I saw a documentary on this not too long ago about the effects of the moon.

[RobH4413]

Originally Posted by love them hogs

I love reading about outer space.It will completly blow your mind.I mean the speed of light is something around 140,000 miles per second.Thats right, I said a second.

Black holes are also very interesting to learn about.The force of gravity is so strong in them because it is like shoving the mass of ten of our suns into the same space as the earth and the sun is like seven times the size of the earth.(those numbers are not exact but you get the idea).Their force of gravity will suck in anything around them including light.Now thats crazy,so much gravity that it sucks in light.Black holes will also distort the time around them.Meaning there is an area around the black hole where if you could orbit in that area time would actually slow down.Everything is relative you know.

Yeah, it's insane to realize exactly how gifted Einstein was. He predicted that gravity bent light well before anyone had any experimental evidence to prove so.

It wouldn't take long for his theory to be put to the test, because according to Einstein during a solar eclipse, we would see that the stars observed behind the sun would be out of position in relation to where the stars should be from previous observations.

Sure enough, during the solar eclipse, it was observed that the star near the sun was actually observed to be closer to the sun than it should have been.

and u like my paint skills.

and grammar skills.

[SmootSmack]

Imagine getting stuck in this elevator

[RobH4413]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Imagine getting stuck in this elevator

That is nuts. I've never seen that before.

Cool shit.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Imagine getting stuck in this elevator

I just don't see how this can work. I saw previews for this, saying it would take like 3 months to travel on it.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Speaking of, do you plan on seeing this?

Space Week

Space Week rocks, I wish they would release all of those as a DVD collection. Have you been watching it?

[GhettoDogAllStars]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Imagine getting stuck in this elevator

I think this is the most efficient way to transport cargo outside of our atmosphere. An achievement like this could change the world as we know it. Currently, I think the cost of space transport is about $10K per pound (please correct me, if I'm wrong). With something like this, it could be incredibly cheaper -- making space exploration and development much more feasible. I could see this happening within the next 20 years.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Space Week rocks, I wish they would release all of those as a DVD collection. Have you been watching it?

Not as much as I would like

[MTK]

The one about the sun was very cool, and I watched a few last night, one about Mars and another one about Saturn. Saturn was very interesting.