Learning from Comet Landing?

- 1696  -  Comet landing with Rosetta mission is collecting science that tells us a history of our planet.  Did comets bring water to Earth 4 billion years ago?
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---------------------------  1696  -  Comet - Rosetta after Landing
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-  See Reviews # 1692 and #1688 for an introduction to the Rosetta mission landing on a comet, November, 2014.  This review begins the story of what we are learning from this adventure.
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-  “ Philae”, the Lander sent 64 hours of data before its batteries went dead and the instruments shut down in hibernation.  November 12, 2014 the landing occurred on a comet 2.5 miles in diameter traveling at 37,300 miles per hour.  This all happened 319,000,000 miles away from Earth between Mars and Jupiter.
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-  The batteries drained because the Lander bounced to a site almost devoid of sunlight making its solar panels inoperable.
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-  Ten instruments on board the Lander were still able to transmit their data.  The landing itself was a tricky maneuver.  The Lander weighing 100 kilograms on Earth ( 220 pounds) weighs only 1 gram on the comet.  No wonder the Lander bounced leaping 3,200 feet above the surface ( 0.6 miles).  The surface below was rotating.  Where it eventually landed gets only 1.5 hours of sunlight.  The Sun is too far away and that is too short a time for the feeble sunlight to recharge the batteries.
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-  A second attempt will be made when the comets gets closer to the Sun and the Lander comes out of hibernation.
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-  Pictures showed the landing site to b a dusty surface covered in rock-like material having a wide range of sizes.  A hammer mechanism on a 40 centimeter rod ( 16 inches ) probed the surface.  The dust was 4 to 8 inches thick.  Below that was rock hard ice.  With the previously calculated low density of the comet the ice was expected to be porous.  Not so at this landing,  it was unusually hard ice.
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-  A magnetometer measured the comet’s magnetic field.  Samples were taken from the surface identifying organic molecules.  Water H2O, carbon monoxide CO, carbon dioxide CO2, ammonia NH3, Methane CH4, methanol CH4O.  Analytical chemist are busy pouring over this data to learn if chemical signatures are similar to those found on the Earth.  Are their amino acids and water that could support life?
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-  In August 2015 the comet will be at its closet point to the Sun.  Attempts will be made to wake up the Lander to resume tests.  In the meantime Rosetta the Orbiter will continue to operate and make its own observations.
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-  One achievement completed when the Lander was operating involved the Orbiter from the opposite side of the comet passed a radio signal through the comet to the Lander.  This analysis will be similar to a CAT Scan that will create a 3-D image cross sections of the comet.
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-  Review # 1692 calculates the comet’s volume assuming that it is approximately two spheres connected together.  One is 2.4 kilometers in diameter, the other is 0.8 kilometers diameter.  The volume calculates to be 9.4*10^2 meters^3 , the mass 2.8 *10^12 kilograms ( 2.8 billion tons ), the density 300 kilograms / meter^3.  Water is 1,000 kilograms/ meter^3.
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-  More sophisticated calculations use the volume of the large lobe 2.5 x 2 x 0.8 miles and the small lobe 1.6 x 1.6 x 1.2 miles with a density of 400  kilograms / meter^3.  The Earth’s density is 14 times greater at 5,600 kilograms / meter^3
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-  One of the mysteries Rosetta hopes to solve is how water arrived on Earth.  We know that the Earth’s early formation was too hot for liquid water to survive.  Somehow water had to arrive after the Earth cooled down.  The bombardment of comets in the early days of the Solar System may have been the delivery mechanism.
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-  By analyzing  the isotopes in the water and the “ chirality” of the molecules, were they left-handed or right-handed molecules, ( Earth molecules are left-handed)  science can determine if there is a match.  The abundance of the Deuterium isotope in Earth’s water is 0.015%.  If comet water is the same ratio there would be another match.  Well, then we can thank the comets for life on Earth.
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-  Comet bombardment occurred 4 billion years ago.  estimates have been made that in over 400 million years the ice that was deposited could have filled the Earth’s oceans.
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-----------------------  2 kilometer diameter comets hit every 6 months, on average
-----------------------  20 kilometer comets hit every 600 years
-----------------------  200 kilometer comets hit every 1,000,000 years
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-  The volume of ice in comets this size is V = 4/3 *pi*r^2:
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-----------------------  2 kilometer comets , V  =  4.2 kilometers^3
-----------------------  20 kilometer comets , V  =  4,200 kilometers^3
-----------------------  200 kilometer comets , V  =  4,200,000 kilometers^3
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-  The volume of ice delivered per year is 20 kilometers^3:
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--------------------  4.2 kilometers / 0.5 years   =  8.4 kilometers^3/ year
-------------------  4,200 kilometers^3 / 600 years  =  7.0 kilometers^3/ year
-------------------    4,200,000 kilometers^3 / 1,000,000 years  =  4.2  kilometers^3 / year
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-  Solid ice is 6 times the volume of liquid water.
-  So, the total volume of water delivered is 3.33 kilometer^3 / year.
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-  The water in Earth’s oceans totals 1.33 billion kilometers^3
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-------------------------  1,330 * 10^6  /  3.33  =  400 * 10^6 years
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-  Therefore, if this much ice landed on the surface of the Earth over 400 million years that could account for all the water in Earth’s oceans.
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-  Stay tuned, there is much more to learn on this Rosetta adventure.
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-  Other Reviews about comets available upon request:
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-  # 1623 Calculate  the amount of water lost by a comet as it loops around the Sun.
-  # 1612  How many comets make close flybys to Earth?
-  # 1600  Comet ISON November 2013
-  # 1338  Did comets bring water to Earth?
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Monday, December 1, 2014  ---
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Measuring Astronomical Distances.

- 1695  -  Measuring Astronomical Distances.  This review illustrates different methods to measure distances back to the Big Bang.
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---------------------------  1695  -  Measuring Astronomical Distances
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-  For nearly 25 years the Hubble Space telescope has been staring at the heavens.  Staring is the right word.  Hubble is looking at the same spot in the sky for up to 140 orbits.  Each orbit takes 90 minutes.  The long time exposure is used to see as far back in the Universe as we possibly can.
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-  The latest Hubble images are using gravitational-lensing, the light bending properties of gravity from 6 remote clusters of galaxies.  The goal is to study even more remote galaxies that are in the same line of sight.  These far off galaxies would be too faint to observe without magnification and brightening created by the foreground clusters’ gravity.
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-  What astronomers hope to learn from these deep field studies:  When did the lights of the Universe first turn on?  How many galaxies formed in the first few million years after the Big Bang?  How quickly did they form?
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-  So far astronomers have determined that the number of galaxies drops off dramatically beyond a Redshift of 8.5,  corresponding to 600 million years after the Big Bang.  The most distant galaxy found to date had a Redshift of 9.8, a time only 490 million years after it all started.
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-  The enormous mass of a galaxy cluster  bends the light, analogous to a magnifying lens.  If Earth happens to be in the line of sight astronomers can image distant galaxies that would other wise be undetectable.
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-  One way to learn the distances to these remote galaxies is to use the light spectrum.  By measuring how much the light spectrum has shifted towards the red end of the spectrum astronomers an calculate how much the space has stretched in expansion during its long journey to Earth.  Knowing the Redshift  and Hubble’s constant for space expansion we can determine the distance the light has traveled:
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----------------------  Redshift  =  (wavelength observed  -  wavelength actual)  /  actual wavelength.
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-------------------- Distance =   receding velocity  /  Hubble’s Constant
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------------------  Hubble’s Constant  =  71 kilometers / second/ mega parsec
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-------------------  Hubble’s Constant  =  47,000 miles per hour /  million lightyears
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---------------  Redshift  ------------------   Travel Time  ----------  Time after Big Bang
---------------                  ------------------   lightyears      ----------  million years
------------------  1         -------------------       7.7    ----------------    5,930  -------------
------------------  5         -------------------       12.5    ----------------  1,190 -------------
------------------  8         -------------------       13.0    ----------------    650  -------------
------------------  10       -------------------       13.2   ----------------     480  -------------
------------------  15       -------------------       13.4    ----------------    270  -------------
------------------  20       -------------------       13.5    ----------------    180 -------------
------------------  50       -------------------       13.6    ----------------      47  -------------
------------------  100       ------------------      13.65    ----------------    17  -------------
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-  Gravitational lensing can magnify feeble radiation from tenfold to hundredfold.
The first galaxies found at a Redshift of 9.8 were a mere 500 lightyears across.  Which is 500 times smaller than our Milky Way Galaxy.  The belief is that these small galaxies merged in the early Universe to become the large galaxies we see today.
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-  Where but in astronomy can you witness the past.  We are getting very close to the Beginning.  Electromagnetic waves may not be the detection method used to see the farthest in the past.  Gravity waves, or neutrinos may be the detection medium used to accomplish this.
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-  Or, we may use the boy scout method to measure astronomical distances.  The further something is away from us the smaller it appears.  A popular visual is to look down the distance of a straight railroad tracks.  The distance between the tracks appears to get smaller and smaller.
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-  One Example:  Galaxy NGC415, called the “ Eye of Sauron”  hosts a massive Blackhole at its center.  The radiation for the accretion disk orbiting the Blackhole creates shockwaves that form hot dust rings around the Blackhole.  The hot dust rings emit infrared radiation.
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-  To measure the physical size of this dust ring astronomers measure the time delay from the emission of a flash of radiation from the accretion disk close to the Blackhole to the more distant ring of infrared emissions.  The distance or physical size of the radius of the ring is the time delay divided by the speed of light.
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---------------------  Physical Size  /  angular size  =  2*pi* Radius  /  360 degrees
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-  Using an interferometer of several telescopes achieved the resolving power of an 85 meter telescope.  This magnification  allowed the measurement of the angular size of the diameter of the ring.
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-  The distance from the telescope to the galaxy is the radius of another bigger circle., having the circumference  = 2 *pi*R
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-  To illustrate this math we will measure the distance to the moon.  We know the angular size of the Full Moon in the sky is about 0.5 degrees.  The physical diameter of the Moon is 3,476 kilometers ( 2,160 miles).
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----------------  3,476 kilometers  /  0.524  =  2 * pi* R  /  360
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---------------   R  =  380,000 kilometers
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----------------  R  =  236,000 miles
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-  The distance calculated for the Galaxy was 19  mega parsecs or 62 million lightyears.
But, that is from Earth to the Galaxy.  Using the Redshift method we were measuring back 13,000 million lightyears.  A distance 200 times further than our boy scout method.
Stay tuned, to see what distances the gravity wave and neutrino methods will produce.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Saturday, November 29, 2014  ---
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Nebulae are like snowflakes?

- 1694 -  Nebulae are like Snowflakes,  no two are alike.  The physics part of the story is even more interesting.  Scroll the internet for some beautiful pictures and  then try to imagine what is really going on with atoms and elements being created.
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---------------------------  1694  -  Nebulae are like Snowflakes.
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-  Like snowflakes no two nebulae are alike  Each color represents a different element.  Hydrogen being the predominate red glow.  Different colors are created by radiant emissions and also by reflections, absorption and reemission at different wavelengths.
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-  Nebulae are a natural evolution in the lifetime of stars. But, the nebulae phase lasts only a short period of time, thousands of years to even only decades.   Our Sun will be a nebula in another 5 billion years.  Our Sun is a medium size star and has an expected lifetime of 10 billion years.  Massive stars have a much shorter lifetimes, only a few million years in some cases and their nebula phase can be much different.
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-  Check out the internet to witness some great examples of nebulae:
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-------------------  Red Rectangle Nebula  HD44179.  composed of 4 spokes and ladder rings nested in the shape of a rectangle.
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------------------  Dumbbell Nebula M27 discovered in 1764.
------------------  Cat’s Eye Nebula  NGC 6543
-----------------  Eskimo Nebula  NGC 2392
-----------------  Spiro graph Nebula  IC 418
-----------------  Blinking Planetary Nebula  NGC 6826
-----------------  Ant Nebula  Menzel 3
-----------------  Ring Nebula  M57
-----------------  NGC 5189
-----------------  Boomerang Nebula
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-  Wherever we see hot, massive stars we are seeing a region of star formation.  Because massive stars have short life spans they are never found very far from their birthplace.
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-  Near hot stars are “ nebulae”  colorful, wispy, blobs of glowing gas.  The gas glows because electrons get accelerated out of their atoms due to the high temperatures and vibrating atoms ( the definition of temperature.)   The gas becomes ionized, the charges become separated.  Protons and electrons are no longer allowed to stay together and remain neutral.
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-  The gas atoms get excited, energized because they are absorbing ultra-violet photons from the hot stars.  The absorbed energy puts electrons in higher energy orbits.  When these electrons fall back not lower energy orbits they emit visible light.  Energy always seeks its  lowest level.
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-  When an electron in a hydrogen atom falls from an energy level of 3 to and energy level of 2 it emit’s a red photon with a wavelength of 656 nanometers.
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-  The nebulae are multicolored because light reflected from dust grains produces blue light that gets reflected due to its shorter wavelength.  Red light has wider wavelengths and passes through the dust without being reflected.  This is the same reason the sky is blue.  It is the same reason big waves pass by the boat and small waves splash against the hull.
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- Dark regions in the nebula is where dusty gas completely blocks the light.  Dust grains can also absorb high-energy light and remit light at lower frequency, infrared light.  Fast moving electrons nearing the speed of light can also emit radio wavelengths.  The is the same as how a radio transmitter antenna works.
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-  Among the dozens of nebulae discovered  so far 25% have bipolar lobes and 20% have multiple lobes.  Others are oval shape , or cylinders.  Some even have spiral arms.  If you count all of them discovered to date in the Milky Way you get 3,500.  Counting those undiscovered the estimated total grows to 28,000 in our Galaxy.
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-  The astronomical term “ planetary nebulae” was created because when some nebulae were first discovered they were thought to be planets.  Only when telescopes got better did astronomers realize they were gas bubbles.  The term is given to a very short phase in the evolution of a low-mass star.  Our Sun will experience such a phase in about 5 billion years from now.
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-  When a star has burned most of its fuel, hydrogen and helium, and the core is mostly fused oxygen and carbon surrounded by a shell of helium and an outer shell of hydrogen, the fusion moves from the core to the outer shell.  The helium then sinks to the lower shell.  The increased density of helium creates a “helium flash”..  The explosion plows through the hydrogen and the density decreases until the hydrogen sinks back down and the fusion starts producing helium again.  The whole cycle repeats itself many times.  You can see these shockwaves in the image history of each nebula.
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-  The explosive flashes send out a wind of high density carbon and heavier elements in the dust.  This wind can take 50% to 90% of the star’s mass out into a dense envelope surrounding the star.  This phase of the dying star is the planetary nebulae .
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-  The last phase of the star’s death ends as a White Dwarf of carbon and oxygen at the center.  There is no more hydrogen or helium to restart fusion again.  The smaller stars are not massive enough to produce the gravity pressure needed to fuse the heavier elements above carbon.  Big stars do this in supernovae.
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-  The star’s surface temperature gets to 30,000 Kelvin crating intense radiation ionizing the surrounding gas clouds causing them to glow.  This final phase in the process only lasts a few hundred years, sometimes as short as a few decades.  The planetary nebula phase  in its entirety only lasts a few tens of thousands of years.  Mere moments in astronomical terms.
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-  As the star’s winds die off the nebula steadily dissipates leaving behind the small dense White Dwarf that continues to cool for billions of years.
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-  It remains mysterious how the nebulae acquire the different and unusual shapes during the explosions.  Perhaps the density regions in the outer envelope vary to the degree high speed winds flow more rapidly.  If the wind flows out the poles it could produce the bipolar shapes we see.
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-  The theories so far do not go far enough to explain the complex point-symmetric shapes where each point on one side matches a corresponding point on the other side.  Maybe an interaction of a binary pair of White Dwarf stars could produce this shape?
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-  Maybe the star’ s magnetic field interacts with the exploding gases to sculpture the shape in interesting ways.  But, this would require an explanation for where the magnetic energy strong enough would come from?
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-  Maybe it is not an energy gain but an energy loss.  Maybe exoplanets interfere with the wind and change the angular momentum of the star when the planet is swallowed up?
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-  Maybe all these things happen and each planetary nebulae is formed in its own unique way.
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-  Astronomers explain the Red Rectangle Nebula as seeing two cone-shaped lobes where the edges of the cones stand out in the form of spikes.  The ladder rings could be consecutive, repeated eruption and shockwaves.  A Red Rectangle mystery is that its formation appears to be older than 14,000 years.
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-  Better telescopes discover more unique nebulae and more details to mystify their formations.  Stay tuned  - there is more to learn.  Study these images and try to imagine the myriad of elements created and thrown into the interstellar medium.  Everything in our lives is made from this star dust.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Thursday, November 27, 2014  ---
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Playing around with Particle Physics

- 1693 -  -  Let’s play around with Particle Physics and you may be surprised what you learn.  This review is about Quarks.  These are the sub-atomic particles that make up protons and neutrons.  The discoveries of new particles come from the Large Hadron Collider that smashes protons together.
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---------------------------  1693  -  Playing around with Particle Physics.
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-  How can a Quark and an Anti-Quark decay into an Electron?
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-  Quarks are fundamental particle, like the Electron is a fundamental particle.  Quarks have positive and negative charges and when 3 come together they form a proton with a net positive charge, +1.  The Electron has a net negative charge, -1, and the Electron is not made up of smaller particles.  So, how can Quarks decay into Electrons?
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-  Quarks are never found independently.  They are always found in combinations that form heavier particles.  There are 3 Quarks in every Proton, 2 Up Quarks and 1 Down Quark.  There are 3 Quarks in every Neutron, 2 Down Quarks and 1 Up Quark.  Up and Down Quarks are at there lowest energy level and are stable.  They make up the nucleus of all the atoms.
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-  But, there are heavier Quarks that are not stable and quickly decay to these lighter Quarks in order to get to the lower energy levels  Here are the 6 types of Quarks with their masses and charges:
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--------------------Lowest Energy Level  ---------------Mass  --------------  Charge  -------
-----------------------------------------------  Up  -------- 0.002  ---------------  +2/3
----------------------------------------------Down  ------  0.005  --------------- - 1/3
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--------------------  Medium Energy Level  ------------Mass  --------------  Charge  -------
--------------------------------------------  Charm  -------- 1.3  ---------------  +2/3
--------------------------------------------  Strange  ------  0.1 --------------- - 1/3
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-  --------------------Highest Energy Level  ------------Mass  --------------  Charge  -------
----------------------------------------------- Top --------- 173  ---------------  +2/3
----------------------------------------------Bottom  -----   4.2  --------------- - 1/3
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-  The mass is in billions of electron-volts /per c^2.   M  =  E/c2     Mass  =  Energy divided by the speed of light squared.
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-  Charge is relative to the charge magnitude of the electron, 1.
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-  The Charm, Strange, Top and Bottom Quarks are heavier Quarks ( higher energy) and quickly decay into their lighter and stable Up and Down Quarks.  We only get the heavier Quarks in high energy collisions that occur with Cosmic Rays and in Particle Accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, LHC.
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-  Quarks are the only fundamental particles that interact with all 4 fundamental forces, electromagnetism, gravity, strong nuclear  and weak nuclear forces.  Quarks have electric charges that are not whole integers like the Electron, which is integer -1.
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-------------------------  Up Quark  +2/3
-------------------------  Down Quark  - 1/3
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-  An Anti-Quark is exactly the same as its counterpart except it carries the opposite charge.
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-------------------------  Up Anti-Quark  -2/3
-------------------------  Down  Anti-Quark  + 1/3
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----------------------Proton  =  +2/3  + 2/3  -  1/3  =  +3/3  =  +1 charge
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-    There are 2 Down Quarks and 1 Up Quark in a Neutron:
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-------------------  Neutron  =  - 1/3  - 1/3  + 2/3  =  0 charge
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-  OK, back to how do we collide a Quark and an Anti-Quark to create an Electron?
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-  An Up Quark and an Anti-Up Quark collide and out comes a “ Virtual Photon”  “Virtual” because it is not a real photon, it has mass and photons can not have mass.  It must decay so quickly that physics does not notice it.  It is such a short lifetime that the laws of physics do not have time to apply.  The Virtual Photon quickly decays into an Electron and an Anti-Electron ( called a Positron).  All these charges add up to zero.  Just like the Big Bang itself it all starts from “nothing”.  When you put everything in the Universe together it adds up to zero.
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-  Up Quark  +2/3 and Anti-Up Quark -2/3 equals zero.
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-  Electron  -1  and Positron  +1  equals zero.
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-  The time limit for all this to happen is set by Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle ( A different Review #18 ).
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-  Heisenberg’s Uncertainty   =  change in position of a sub-atomic particle  *  change in momentum  is always greater than  h / 4*pi  =  change in Energy * the change in Time.
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-  “h” is Planck’s Constant and is a very small number:
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---------------  h  =  0.0000000000000000000000000000006625 grams * meter^2/second
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-  To put into words it says that the uncertainty of a particles position times the uncertainty of its momentum is always greater than 1.055*10^-31 grams*m^2/sec.  If the uncertainty of one goes down the other must go up to keep the product of the two greater than h/4*pi.
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-  And, the uncertainty of time * the uncertainty of energy is always = 1.055*10^-31 grams*m^2/sec.  Planck’s Constant divided by 4*pi.
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-  The maximum time that virtual particles can exist is 10^-23 seconds:
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-----------------  time  =  0.0000000000000000000001 seconds
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-  Welcome to the sub-atomic world.  These math formulas describe a world that looks like this:
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-  The Electron is always in a constant motion of jitter.  It is this jitter, or particle - wave indeterminacy that causes the Heisenberg Uncertainty.  If you determine the position of an Electron you can not know its momentum, or velocity precisely.   Momentum is mass * velocity.   Because we observe a “cloud” of jitter we must deal in probabilities of position and velocity with these sub-atomic particles.  Mass and Energy too are constantly being exchanged in a sea of uncertainty, a cloud of jitter.
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-  All this particle physics uses the math of Quantum Mechanics.  The math of the Theory of Relativity does not work at the sub-atomic level.  And, the Quantum Mechanics math does not work at the astronomical level.  This is a mystery,  why this is so?
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-  Relativity math uses the concept that gravity is the presence of mass distorting space and time.  Gravity is a geometric phenomena.
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-  Quantum Mechanics math explains the four forces, including gravity, as an exchange of virtual particles.  Virtual particles pop in and out of existence so fast we can not detect them.  It all happens inside the bounds of Heisenberg’s Uncertainties explained above.  Gravity’s virtual particle is called the “ Graviton” and is yet to be discovered. So, gravity is the dynamic exchange of Gravitons rather than being geometric.
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-  Attempts to unify the math has failed so far.  Attempts take us into “ String Theory” and another path, “ Quantum Loop Theory”.  On says all particles are really vibrating strings and the other says space-time is granular, made up of quantum particles of the smallest dimensions possible.
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-  These mysteries have not stopped science from discovering new particles.  Just this week a paper was published on-line ( November 23, 2014) announcing the discovery of 2 new particles.  At the LHC colliding protons created a Baryon , like a Neutron , only:
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--------------------  Bottom Quark  =  -1/3
--------------------  Down Quark  +  2/3
--------------------  Strange Quark  - 1/3
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-  The discovery was made based on the new particle having the exact weight and charge of these 3 particles.  The new particle only lived for a thousandth of a billionth of a second before decaying into lighter particles.  The lighter particles were detected in the LHC and their trajectories extrapolated backward to define the heavier new particle.
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-  The second new particle was exactly the same except having the opposite “spin“.  When the spin of two Quarks are aligned it has slightly heavier mass.
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-  The observations exactly match the math calculations of Quantum Mechanics, called Lattice Quantum Chromodymanics
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-  There were two other particles discovered at the LHC in 2012:
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--------------------  Bottom Quark  =  -1/3
-------------------    Up Quark  +  2/3
--------------------  Strange Quark  - 1/3
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-  And the Higgs Boson.  There are many mysteries left in Particle Physics for younger students to figure out.  I have exceeded my pay grade , but, hope you learned a little.  Stay tuned-  there is more leaning to follow.  There is plenty of room at the bottom.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Sunday, November 23, 2014  ---
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Rosetta mission lands on Comet.

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- 1692 -  The Rosetta spacecraft landed an instrument package on Comet 67P.  This review is some background while waiting for the science news to arrive.  A math lesson estimates the size of the comet.
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---------------------------  1692  -  Rosetta Mission lands on the Comet.
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-  European Space Agency has put a satellite in orbit around Comet 67P and dropped a Lander instrument package on the surface.  ( August 13, 2014 )
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-  Rosetta is the spacecraft.
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- Philae is the Lander.
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-  I am anxiously waiting for information to be released on what science is learning about the comet.  This review is premature but good background about what we already know.
-
-  The comet was first discovered in 1969.  Its orbital period around the Sun is 6.45 years. Its elongated orbit travels 186 million miles from the Sun to 500 million miles from the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.  The Earth is 93 million miles from the Sun.  The comet is traveling 84,000 miles per hour.
-
- The comet is closest to the Sun on August, 2015.  The Rosetta spacecraft arrived to orbit the comet August, 2014 after a 10 year journey. Launched March, 2004 it traveled 2,860 million miles to get to the comet because it had to sling shot around Earth and Mars to gain the speed needed to catch up with the comet.  It could not carry enough fuel to fly straight there.
-
-  When the spacecraft got within 175 miles away it took a picture.  The comet rotates every 12.4 hours.  With a good broadside image the picture represented 5 kilometers across having a dumbbell shape or two connected spheres.
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-  To estimate how big the comet is draw two circles on the picture to represent the two spheres.  Use ratios to estimate the diameter of the two spheres.  The larger sphere has a radius of 1200 meters.  The smaller sphere radius is 840 meters.
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-  Picture is 6.1 inches across, represents 5,000 meters.
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-  Large sphere diameter is 2.94 inches.   2.94 inches / 6.1 inches  =  x  / 5000 meters
-  x  =  2400 meters.  Radius = 1200 meters.
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-  Small sphere diameter is 2.05 inches.    2.05 / 6.1  =  x  / 5000  x  =  1680  meters
-  Radius  =  840 meters.
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-  Volume  =  4.3 *  pi  * R^3
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-  Large sphere volume  =  1.3 * 3.14 * ( 1200)^3  =  7000 million cubic meters
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-  Small sphere volume  =  1.3  *  3.14  * (840)^3  =  2400 million cubic meters.
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-  Estimating the average density of the comet to be 300 kilograms per cubic meter.  (water is 1000 km/m^3 ).
-
-  Total volume is 9400 million cubic meters
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-  Mass  =  density  *  volume
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-  Mass  =  300 kg / m^3  * 9.4 * 10^9 m^3  =  2.8*10^12 kilograms
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-  1 ton  -  1000 kilograms
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-  Mass  =  2.8 billion tons.
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-  An oil tanker weighs about 0.2 billion tons.  So, this comet is the size of 14 oil tankers.
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- The picture shows the Atlanta Airport runway next to the comet for size comparisons.  The runway is 725 meters, ( 0.45 miles ) So, the comet is about 6 airport runways long.  The comet is 2.7 miles long by 2.5 miles wide.
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-  The escape velocity for that size mass is 3 feet per second, that is about 2 miles per hour.  You can see why Philae Lander bounced when it landed.  The temperature of the comet that far from the Sun is - 60 C.  The orbit of the comet gets to its closest point to the Sun on August 13, 2015.  It should warm up and outgas a tail by then.  The last time the comet made that loop was August 18, 2002.
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-  The mission is costing ESA 1.5 billion Euros.  The mission was named after the Rosetta Stone discovered in Egypt in 1749.  The Lander was named Philae after an island in the Nile where an obelisk was found that helped archeologists decipher the hieroglyphics written on the Rosetta Stone.
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-  More science to come.  More reviews to come, stay tuned.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Thursday, November 20, 2014  ---
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Thinking About Time

- 1691 -  Thinking about Time.  Everything you see is younger when you see it.  It takes time for the light to reach you and it is the speed of light that is constant.  Time is variable it depends on where you are and how fast you are moving.  It even gets more complicated.
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---------------------------  1691  -  Think about it, what time is ?
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-  7:32 A.M.
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-  No, not what time is it, What time is?
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-  Does time fly…………… or is it even moving?  Or, are we simply moving through it?  What is the it?
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-  Is time a structure in the Universe that has one dimension , flows in one direction , and unfolds sequentially to separate events?  Is time what keeps everything from happening all at once?
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-  Or, is time not actually an entity.  It is not like the entity space where we actually travel through it.
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-  By 1915 Einstein had showed the world that time is not the “constant” that everyone thought it was.  Time flows at different rates in different places in order to keep the speed of light constant.  Clocks just do not click the same everywhere.
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-  The speed of light, the gravitational constant , the mass of an electron are fundamentally “constants”.  Time is not constant.  Time changes with gravity and with rapid motion.
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-  We do not notice time is slowing down at our speeds because we are not traveling fast enough.  Once your speed is 87% the speed of light time is slow to half its normal rate.  87% is still 583,450,000 miles per hour.  Orbital speeds are in the 17,000 to 25,000 miles per hour range.  Can they even notice time slowing down?
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-  The Global Positioning System, GPS, uses satellites orbiting Earth to beam down signals that calculate distances to triangulate and determine any position on the planet.  The satellites are traveling at high enough speeds that the calculations have to add time to account for the slower clocks in the satellites.  Higher speeds slower time.
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-  Then, because the satellites are in a weaker gravitational field in orbit we need to subtract some time because weaker gravity accelerates the clocks.  Lower gravity faster time.
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-  Then, there is the gravity differences for the different altitudes on the surface of the Earth.  Every location is a different distance from the center of the Earth.  A closer location to the center experiences slower clocks.
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-  Then, Earth is rotating at 1,040 miles per hour.  Different latitudes experience different rotational speeds.  Faster speeds slow down the clocks.
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-  Then,  the satellites have slightly elliptical orbits putting them at different distances from the center at different times in their orbits.
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-  All of these factors affect the flow of time.  Software in the calculation of distances must take each factor into account.  GPS triangulations to locate accurate positions on the surface of Earth must add and subtract the precise measurement data on location and speed.  If the factors are not included the positioning accuracy is within several miles.  With the calculations including the relativity factors the accuracy is within a few feet.
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-  Here are some other Reviews about time, available upon request:
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-  #1621  Time to Think.  -  Your brain has to do the same calculations to adjust positions with time, especially astronomer’s brains.  Everything seen through the telescope is younger as you see that it is at the time you see it.  It takes time for light to reach us,  especially at astronomical distances.  Light from the Sun is 8 minutes old, and that is the closest star.
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-  The next closest star is 4 ½ years younger as we see it.  It takes 4 ½ years for the light to reach us.
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-  #1341  Optical Lattice Clock.
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-  #1189  The Beginning of Time  -  If you could run the clocks backward 13,700,000,000 years you would reach the beginning of time.  Thought to be the creation of time and space.
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-  The end of time would be the end of endings.
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-  The boundaries of time seem to be the boundaries of our reasoning as well
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-  #1006  Is Time slowing Down?
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-  #910 Time to Think, again
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-  No two times are the same if they are separated in space.  Would time even still exist if there were no space?
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-  Does time have something to do with “ entropy”.  Entropy is the physic’s name for disorder, randomness.  Physic’s law states the entropy in the Universe is always increasing.  The Universe constantly marches toward an equilibrium state where everything is randomly the same.    We are always approaching that state of randomness.  It takes energy to reverse it and we are always dissipating energy.  The death of the Cosmos is the cold, random, equilibrium of our future.
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-  Randomness is the lowest energy state.  Nature is always seeking it.  we could say that time is a measure of “ change”.  And, if nothing changes , time is done.
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-  #854  Time, GPS, and Entropy
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-  #842  Pressed for Time
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-  #830  A 24 hour Day  -  Time -  How do you go from GPS time to Universal Time, just add 19 seconds.  Why?
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-  #814  Fast Speed and Short Time  -  The smallest fraction of time is 10^-43 seconds. That is how long it takes light to travel the smallest possible distance, 10^-35 meters.  If a distance got any smaller it would become a mini-blackhole (  See #724 and #734)
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-  #783  Time is what God created  - to prevent everything form happening all at once.
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-  #747  Why 60 minutes.
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-  #356  -  Time is Getting Short  -  Zeptosecond pulses ( 10^-21) are used to study nuclear events in side an atom.  We are not there yet with our technology.  Attoseconds ( 10^-18) is used to study electrons orbiting the nucleus in atoms.  Femtoseconds (10^-15) measures chemical reactions and the interactions of molecules.
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- #354  Jim’s Universal Calendar.  History from 10^-43 seconds to today summarized in 19 pages.
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-  #37  Deriving Time Dilation from the Pythagorean Theorem.  Sorry, that is all the time I have.  Bye for now, but, stay tuned there is more to learn.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Wednesday, November 19, 2014  ---
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Discovering Life on Other Planets?

---------------------------  1690  -  Discovering Life ?
-                        

-  Is there life beyond Earth?
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-  How will we ever know?
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-  Several of the moons beyond Earth are thought to have liquid oceans.  Mars at one time had liquid water on its surface.  These certainly portray major ingredients for the presence of life.
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-  Astronomy is preparing to find out with experiments here on Earth.  Experiments on frozen lakes in the Arctic.  Experiments in pitch dark caves in Mexico.  Caves that are filled with poisonous hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide gases along with water laced with sulfuric acid that still contain life.  These experiments are designed to prefect methods to detect this life.
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-  Jupiter’s moon Europa could have similar ice-covered oceans as those found in the Arctic.
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-  Mars could harbor many gas filled caves laced below its surface.
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-  On Earth the studies are called “astrobiology”.
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-  Much of this got started in 1961 with Drake’s Equation ( Request a separate review to learn details about this equation.).  The equation tried to calculate the probability of finding life elsewhere in the Universe.  It multiplied together the essential factors:  How many sun-like stars are there? * how many of these have planetary systems? * how of these planets are in the  habitable zone? * how many habitable zones actually support life? * how many of these life forms have intelligence? * how many  have technology that we can detect or communicate with? * and, how long have the civilizations survived and overlap with our own?
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-  In 1995 the first planet was detected orbiting a sun like star just 50 lightyears away (51Pegasi b).
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-  By 2014 there have been over 2,000 more exoplanets discovered.
-
- The factors in Drake’s Equation began to take shape beyond mere guesses.  Observations brought real numbers into the factors.  For example astronomers now estimate that more than 20% of sun like stars harbor habitable planets.
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-  Our Sun is not an average star.  It is too big to be average.  More than 80% of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy are smaller, cooler, dimmer, redder, and considered M Dwarf stars.  However, to be habitable simply means the planet must orbit closer to its star.
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-  Since 1971 we have known that liquid water once flowed on Mars.
-
-  Planets are a small number compared to moons.  Moons like Europa orbiting Jupiter have a liquid water ocean beneath its icy surface.  Europe  being that far form the Sun we would expect to have all water be frozen solid.  However, the tidal forces of Jupiter’s gravity generate enough friction to heat the interior and keep the water liquid beneath the surface.
-
-  Jets of water have been observed erupting from the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.  Saturn’s moon Titan has rivers, lakes, and rain on its surface.  But, Titans liquid is not water, it is methane and ethane.  Maybe a different form of life could exist in this environment.
-
-  The experiments done here on Earth are to learn how to detect this life using “biosignatures”.  These signatures we detect would be chemical clues that suggested the presence of life, either at present or in the past.
-
-  The caves in Mexico contained biofilms, microbes, chemotropism, that oxidize hydrogen sulfide for their energy source.  Bioverms are another life form found in these caves.  Life that produces oxygen as a biosignature may be just one of many different life forms to be detected.
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-  In the Arctic lakes methane is the hydrocarbon gas generated by microbes, methanogens, that are living on decayed material.
-
-  It may be plausible that somewhere a sulfur-cycle might have replaced the carbon-cycle the dominates our own terrestrial biology.
-
-  Mars is most likely our first step to find life elsewhere.  It had a similar history as Earth.  It was once warmer several billion years ago.  It had liquid ocean at one time and a thicker atmosphere.
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-  Life can be defined as a biological system that encodes information and uses that information to build complex molecules.  Current technology has developed instruments that can simply detect these complex molecules.  Known as “ immunoassay testing’”.
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-  Earth’s organisms contain millions of different proteins, complex molecules, left-handed amino acids.  Handedness is know as “chirality”.  Not only is protein detection evidence for the presence of life, if chirality is detected on Mars to be right-handed that would suggest the life forms on Mars evolved independently of life-forms on Earth.
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-  We know that Earth and Mars have exchanged rocks.  Rocks blown into space by volcanoes, geysers, or impacts and have migrated from one gravitational capture to another .  So, left-handed chirality may exist on both planets.  We know the Moon was splashed into orbit due to an giant asteroid collision during Earth’s early formation.  Some of that splash made it all the way to Mars.
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-  If we find a life-form on Mars or on other moons we will know that just as there are billions of stars and planets and moons there are many biology’s  out here.
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----------------------------    http://mars.jpl.NASA.gov
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-  Stay tuned, there is much more to learn.  Discoveries will bring it to us.
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-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Saturday, November 15, 2014  ---
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How to become a savant?

---------------------------  1689  -  How to become a Savant?
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-

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-  What’s a Savant?  A savant is a person of profound or extensive learning, a genius at something way above average.
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-  How do you become a savant?
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-  Well, one way is to take a severe blow to the head.
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-  Really?
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-  Here are some real life stories that give some truth to this idea:  It all has to do with the brain.  Is it smart enough to figure itself out?
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-  Brain size does not determine intelligence.  A cow’s brain is 100 times larger than a mouse’s brain, a grapefruit compared to a blueberry.
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-  Your own brain is likely only 2% of your body weight yet it alone consumes 25% of your body’s energy.  For a newborn baby, the brain is consuming 65% of the calories.  The brain is miraculous and still not well understood.  The brain is trying to understand itself from the outside looking in using the inside to understand what’s happening on the outside.
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-  Let’s get back to the bump on the head.  It is less confusing:
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-  Orlando Serrell got hit in the head with a baseball when he was 10 years old.  From that day on Orlando could begin telling you the exact day of the week for any date.  ( I have another review that explains how you too can do this.)  He could also recite the weather conditions for every day since his injury.  Studies have convinced experts that his skill comes from unconscious calculating and not from memorization.
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-  Jason Padzett suffered a brutal mugging in 2002.  During his recover from his severe concussion he suddenly had a passion for math.  He was a former college drop-out and math-averse before his injury.  Now he has an obsession with studying geometric figures, fractals, and has written books on mathematics.
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-  This behavior is called “ acquired savant syndrome”  It could be a discovery that there is possibly an intellectual savant residing in each of us.
-
-  Alonzo Clemons fell and suffered a brain injury at the age of 3.  The injury caused him to have a limited vocabulary and limited speech abilities.  However, at the same time he acquired a unique and remarkable skill in sculpturing.  He started with shortening taken from the kitchen in creating his 3-dimensional figures, mostly animals.  He developed the skill to be able to look at a photograph of a horse and sculpt a 3-D replica in 30 minutes with each muscle and tendon in exacting detail.
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-   Today there are 319 registered savants.  32 of these are “acquired” through concussions or strokes.  Some of these stories imply that accidental genius results when a diminished activity of one brain area gets combined with a counter balancing intensification  in other areas.  It is like the brain trying to heal itself and it overcompensates, somehow?
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-  The brain rewires itself.  There are billions of neurons in the brain.  Each has an elongated tail called an “axon”.  the end of the axon branches out forming ‘synapses” which are contact points for the brain cells.  Maybe healing creates thicker axons which can carry signals faster increasing the brains energy consumption and comprehension abilities?
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-  Another theory is that our brains do not start as a blank slate that just gets inscribed with education and life experiences.  The brain may come pre-loaded, inherited, having a set of innate predispositions for processing and understanding.  Somehow savants tap into this inherited ability better than the average Joe.
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-  So, does everyone have the capacity to become a savant?  I have not yet found the key myself , and, I don’t have that much time left.  I plan to sigh\n up for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ( tDCS) by sitting in front of the television to see if that works.
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-  Meditation is another way I can explore my undiscovered artistic capabilities.  But, I always fall asleep too soon.  Somehow I need to uncover my neurobiologic underlying savantism.  Here are more guys did it:
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-  Tommy Mctugh was 51 when he had a brain hemorrhage in his frontal lobe.  He survived and began filling notebooks with poems and art.
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-  Derek Amato was 40 when he dove into a swimming pool suffering a severe concussion and hearing loss.  Home from the hospital he suddenly could play the piano never having touched one before.  He saw the black and white keys in his head.  He now makes a living composing, performing, and recording music.
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-  Tony Cicoria was an orthopedic surgeon.  He was struck by lightning.  He survived and remained a surgeon, but, with an all consuming obsession with classical music.  He transcribed a 26 page concert piano piece called “ Fantasia, The Lightning Sonata, op1”
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-  Where do these islands of genius come from?
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-  Is there a “ Rain Man”  residing inside each of us?
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-  My brain is still trying to figure itself out.  It is more complicated than I can comprehend.  Stay tuned, there is more to learn.  Reading my reviews will help.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Friday, November 14, 2014  ---
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Landing spacecraft on a comet!

- 1688 -  November 12, 2014 Rosetta spacecraft sends a Lander to the surface of a comet.  The spacecraft has been orbiting the comet since August.  With instruments on the surface and  on the orbiter we should learn much more about comets.  They have been unaltered for billions of years since the solar system’s formation.

-

---------------------------

---------------------------  1688  -  Today we* land on a comet!

-

-  Remember when Comet ISON passed us by in 2012.  This comet circled the Sun and broke apart when it reached 1.16 million from the Sun’s surface.  We lost a lot of science in our hopes to study the comet on its return trip after circling the Sun.  It broke up too soon.  Well, we have another chance today.

-

-  On August 6 this year the Rosetta spacecraft reached and began orbiting around Comet 67P.  It is the 7th comet astronomers have visited in the past 30 years.  But,  this is the first visit to achieve orbit with a “lander” that is expected to last for at least 17 month of scientific study from the surface.

-

-  Comet 67P is a double-lobed nucleus with craters and boulders strewn across its surface which spreads 2.5 miles across.  You can see many close up pictures already on the internet.

-

-  Today, November 12, 2014 , the Rosetta spacecraft released a “lander” module that now rests on the surface.  New science is in process.  We should learn a lot.

-

-  Comets are a time capsule that were created during the formation of our Solar System, 4,600,000,000 years ago.  Astronomer believe Comet 67P originated in the Kuiper Belt of comets orbiting beyond the planet Neptune.

-

-  Over 1,500 Kuiper Belt objects have been identified, including the Dwarf Planet Pluto.  Astronomers now estimate there are over 100,000 “objects” that are over 100 kilometers across, and 10,000,000,000 that are as large as 2 kilometers across.

-

-  Sounds impressive, but, if you add it all up  the mass of these objects in the Kuiper Belt they are only 10% the mass of the Earth.  

-

-  The 220 pound lander  will set down on the surface traveling 1 mile per second through space along with the comet.  It will fire harpoons into the surface to keep it secure upon landing.  Dozens of instruments will take measurements and even samples will be drilled out of the surface.

-

-  Rosetta and Philae the Lander will continue measurements until December 2015 when the comet reaches 185 million miles away from the Sun.

-

-  Other spacecraft, New Horizons launched in 2006 will be visiting Pluto and its moon Charon.  Charon has no atmosphere so comparing craters on its surface with those on Pluto will tell astronomers how Pluto’s elongated orbit has affected its erosion.  Pluto might even have an underground ocean like Europa, Ganymede, Enceladus and Titan.  This is a flyby mission with no orbit or landing like Rosetta is doing.

-

-  These spacecraft adventures may allow astronomers to answer, where did Earth’s water come from?  We know that in the early formation for our planet water could not have survived.  It had to be delivered later.  Is the H2O in a comet identical to the H2O on Earth?  What is the composition of a comet?  When the Rosetta orbiter is on the opposite side of the comet from the Lander instruments can beam radio beams through the body of the comet.  Equivalent to a CT Scan it will detail the internal structure of the comet.

-

-  Stay tuned, we expect to learn much, much more.  Another giant leap for mankind

-

-  “we*” is the amazing humans beings that do this stuff.

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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---

---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----  

----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------

 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---

 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Wednesday, November 12, 2014  ---

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What are X-ray telescopes?

- 1687  -  Astronomers are no longer limited to visible light when studying the heavens.  Today’s technology launches detectors into orbit that can “see” much more of the electromagnetic spectrum, from infrared to Gamma Rays.  This review focuses on what astronomers have learned with X-ray telescopes.
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---------------------------  1687  -  What can X-ray Telescopes See?
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-  What if you were like Superman and had X-ray vision?  What would the Universe look like?  Astronomers have been looking through a slot in the electromagnetic spectrum only 300 nanometers wide for most of history.  Visible light spans from blue light at 400 nanometers to red light at 700 nanometers wavelengths.
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-  The shorter the wavelength the higher the energy in the radiation.
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------------------------  Energy  =  Planck’s Constant  *  Speed of Light  /  wavelength of light.
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----------------------  E  =  h  *  c  /  w
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-   The shorter the wavelength the higher the energy.  Infrared radiations with a longer wavelength than visible  red light at 700 nanometers was discovered in 1800.  For the first time we could see what our eyes could not see.  Then shortly after, in 1801 , ultraviolet radiation was discovered with wavelengths shorter than 400 nanometers.   Ultraviolet waves carry more energy and can burn the skin with rays you can not see.
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-------------------------  Microwaves were discovered in 1864
------------------------  Radio waves in 1887
------------------------  X-rays in 1895
------------------------  Gamma Rays in 1900
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-  The slot in the electromagnetic spectrum through which we peer gets wider and wider.
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-  Energy wise visible light ranges from 1.6 electron volts to 3.4 electron volts.  That is a very little amount of energy, but, all your eyes need to see what’s out there.
-
-  X-rays with far shorter wavelengths have energy ranging from 3,000 electron volts to 79,000 electron volts.  That much energy can penetrate right through your body.  Lucky for us the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs this X-ray radiation from space before it gets to the surface of Earth.
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-  Astronomers have to go into orbit, into space, to measure and “see” X-ray emissions in outer space.  With these new eyes astronomers can study Blackholes, Blazars, supernovae, and our Sun.  Images never before seen.
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-  The accretion disks of Blackholes contain higher energy because the orbiting particles rub together and friction reaches high enough temperatures to emit X-rays.  As material is falling into a Blackhole X-rays are radiating away.  This is how astronomers can “see” a Blackhole.
-
-  Blazars are seen when the jets at the rotating poles of the Blackhole’s accretion disk points directly at our line of sight.
-
-  NuSTAR is an X-ray orbiting telescope launched in 2012.
-
-  Chandra X-ray telescope was launched in 1999.
-
-  Here are some of the astronomical discoveries astronomers have made with their new X-ray eyes:
-
-  X-ray emission from galaxy clusters have been used to calculate their temperature, density, and mass.  Comparing clusters in today’s cosmos with those present 5.5 billion years ago allows the growth of these clusters to be calculated.  Modeling slower growth in the past and faster growth in the present has determined that the ratio of repulsive energy is 70% and attractive energy, gravitational energy is 30%.  We call the 70% Dark Energy and the 30% matter.  Only 5% if the matter is visible, 25% is Dark Matter that we can not see.
-
-  Every large galaxy has a super massive Blackhole at its center.  X-ray emissions come from the hot gasses surrounding an active Blackhole.  Calculating the amount of energy released has shown astronomers how Blackholes can create galactic structures a billion times larger than themselves.
-
-  X-rays have detected hot gases between the galaxies.  In fact, the mass of these hot gases exceeds the mass of the galaxies by a factor of 7 times.  Normal Matter , that is visible matter, can account for only a small fraction of the total mass present.  The rest must be Dark Matter that we can not see.
-
-  X-rays have discovered several dozen pairs of Blackholes that are circling each other.  Eventually the two Blackholes will merge as they loose energy, energy that we believe is radiating away in the form of gravitational waves.
-
-  X-ray observations of the Blackhole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy have detected X-ray flares much like the flares radiated by our own Sun.
-
-  The Supernova 1987 is the nearest to Earth.  X-rays track the shockwave that has been heating up cold gas in the interstellar medium as it explodes into space.
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-  By measuring the wavelengths of the individual elements formed in the supernova explosion astronomers can map the images of oxygen, silicon, sulfur, magnesium, and iron.  The individual elements are tracked as they travel inside the exploding structure of the supernova remnants.
-
-  Uniform X-ray signals across the sky create an X-ray “ background”.  Much like the cosmic microwave background that exists.   Although it appears uniform, high resolution from the Chandra telescope has identified enough individual point sources to account for the total background signal.  They are Blackholes at the centers of most galaxies.
-
-  These are a few of the discoveries X-ray telescopes have brought to astronomy.  The first observations were made in 1978.  NuSTAR is the latest X-ray telescope launched in 2012.  Chandra launched in 1999.  Chandra measures “ soft X-rays” in the 0.1 to 10,000 electron volt range.  NuSTAR measures “ hard X-rays” in the 3 to 78,000 electron volt range.
-
-  Astronomers can create images detected in X-rays by translating them to lower frequencies and into the range of visible light that our eyes can recognize.  This is like heterodyning in AM radios that translates radio waves down to acoustic waves that our ears can recognize.  New discoveries are certain to occur, stay tuned.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Sunday, November 9, 2014  ---
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Measuring the size of the Universe?

-  1686  -  Measuring the Size of the Universe?  Astronomers use the fact that a light gets dimmer the further away it is.  There are a lot of uncertainties with the results of this calculation.  New measuring tricks may be developed soon using Baryon Waves and Gravity Waves for a better yardstick to measure the size of the Universe.
-

-----------------------------  1686  -  Measuring the Size of the Universe?
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-  The Universe is much, much larger than our “Observable Universe”.  We can only see as far as light has traveled this past 13,500,000,000 years.  But, that is in both directions so we can theoretically be looking at two regions in space that are 27,000,000,000 lightyears apart.
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-  There is a lot to see in our Observable Universe.  How do we measure how big it is?  We measure the brightness of a distant light source, a galaxy, and calculate its distance by how much dimmer it has gotten as the light beams spread out across the Universe.  The further the light source is away the dimmer it will appear.  It is a fairly simple formula:
-
------------------------  Apparent Brightness   =   Sources luminosity  /  4 * pi * d^2
-
---------------------------  4*pi*d^2 is the surface area of a sphere.
-
-  If we know the luminosity, how intrinsically bright the object is, and , we measure the apparent brightness from Earth, then, we calculate the distance, “d”, to learn how far away it is.
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-  The luminosity is the total power the source emits into space.  The power dissipates as it radiates in all directions.
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-  Obviously this formula has some limitations.  How do we know the intrinsic luminosity of the source?  All galaxies,  or stars, are not the same.  How do we know if dust in the interstellar space between us has not dimmed the light.  We make assumptions and we calculate distances with inherently large uncertainties.
-
-  Is there a better way to measure these cosmic distances?
-
-  One possibility involves Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopy.   Baryons are the scientific name for all atoms without electrons.  The electrons are called Leptons.  When separated the Baryons can carry positive charges, protons, and , the Leptons carry negative charges.  The Baryons, protons and neutrons, are 1,800 times heavier than the electrons although their charges are equal.
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-  Before atoms first formed in the hot plasma of the early Universe these charged particles, baryons, interacted with the photons of light.  The expanding waves of these interactions traveled 60% the speed of light, like sound waves but much faster.
-
-  The wave action was created by the repeated interaction between the pull of gravity due the mass of the baryons and the push of the radiation pressure of expansion.  The wave action continued for 380,000 years until the Universe expansion cooled enough  for the baryons and the electrons to begin combining and forming neutral atoms, hydrogen and helium.
-
-  Neutral atoms are immune to light photons that are pushing the radiation pressure.  We see the free photon radiation cooled from 3,000 degrees Kelvin then down to 3 degrees Kelvin today.  Today this is the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation.  The wavelengths stretched as space expanded over the past 13.5 billion years.  Light stretched into microwaves.
-
-   What astronomers are anxious to be able to do is to measure the size of the waves of Baryon Oscillation.  By knowing the wavelengths and the speed of these oscillations astronomers can re-calculate cosmic distances.
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-  The wavelengths of the Cosmic  Microwave Background are about 1 arc degree in the sky.  This 1 arc degree translates to 490 million lightyears distance. ( 150 mega parsecs ).
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-  The average separation of galaxies in the Universe matches this 490 million lightyears.  But, that is the average.  Galaxies have been jostled around to where the spread varies from 140 to 160 mega parsecs, averaging 150 mega parsecs.
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-  If astronomers can measure the Baryon Oscillation wavelengths they would have another cosmic ruler in 3-dimensions., not just 2-dimensions.  To this end astronomers have measured the separation distances of 46,748 pairs of galaxies as part of the earlier Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
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-  Using the latest Baryon Survey they have measure 1,200,000 galaxies distances with 1% accuracy.  One calculation that falls out of this is the rate of the expansion of the Universe.  The Hubble Constant is calculated to be 67 kilometers per second per mega parsec.
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-  Translating this to more familiar terms, the expansion of space is occurring at 47,000 miles per hour separation speed for every 1 million lightyears separation.  Space is expanding.  The more space between the galaxies the faster they are separating.
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-  So now we have another means besides light, the electromagnetic spectrum, in which to study the Universe.  We have the waves of charged particles.  There may be even another cosmic ruler using the waves of gravity.
-
-  All these methods involve the movement of energy.  With electromagetics the higher the  frequency of oscillation the higher the energy:
-
----------------------------  E  =  h * f
-
-  With gravity the higher the mass the greater the force, energy of gravity.
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----------------------  E  =  m*M /  r^2
----------------------  E  =  F  / r
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-  “r” is distance and on the scale of the Universe gravity dominates.  Dominates along with Dark Energy which is some unknown energy causing the expansion.  How can we see the oscillating waves of gravity?  How can measure the wavelengths of gravity waves?  The energy of gravity is very weak on the worldly scale.  A magnet can hold a paper clip with the gravity of the entire Earth pulling it down.
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-  Einstein’s theories have gravity as a distortion in the dimensions of space and time.  His General Relativity theory would have sudden changes in the curvature of spacetime create waves propagating across the Universe.
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-  The problem is that the gravity waves are so weak we can not detect them.  They travel at the speed of light.  When they pass through a mass the mass would experience a small compression and expansion as the wave moves through.  But, unless the mass is enormous the changes are undetectable.
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-  We have some indirect evidence from observing two binary Neutron Stars that are orbiting each other.  Observations from 1975 to 2014 have seen the orbits decay by 15 seconds.  These whirling, enormous masses emit gravity waves causing their orbits to steadily decay.  Theory calculations match observation giving indirect evidence that gravity waves exist.
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-  If a gravity wave passed Earth we should see a slight distortion of spacetime in one direction then the other as the wave passed by.  A mass would distort in the left to right direction then in the top to bottom direction as the wave passes.  Believe it or not astronomers think they can measure this.  Here is one proposal:
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-  Pulsars are spinning Neutron Stars.  They can spin at millisecond rates.  A pair of pulsars close together might be detected as millisecond signals correlated in a constant way.  If science can detect pulsar signals to within a tenth of a nanosecond variations they could detect a passing gravity wave that have frequencies of nano- hertz, , 10^-9 cycles per second.  Equivalent to wavelengths in years.
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-  These gravity wavelengths are 10^15 times longer than AM radio wavelengths.
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-  See Reviews on LIGO, Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, to learn more about how these long gravity waves might be detected.
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-  Once science is able to detect gravitational waves they hope to study fundamental interactions of particles at energy levels far greater than our Earthly Particle Accelerators can produce today.  Energy levels present after the Big Bang and during the period of Cosmic Inflation.
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-  There is much more to learn, it is a big Universe out there, how big?  Stay tuned.
-  -  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Thursday, November 6, 2014  ---
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Overcoming the odds:

-  1685  -  What are the odds you are able to read this?  Many things have had to come together just right.  This review will suggest a few of the amazing odds you have overcome.
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---------------------  1685  -  What are the odds you are able to read this?
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-  Our Sun is a star, one of over 200,000,000,000 stars in our galaxy.  Our star is middle-aged, 5,000,000,000 years old out of a life-span of 10 billion years.  Our galaxy is one of 200 billion galaxies in our Observable Universe.  Our little planet is just one of billions, and billions and billions of possibilities.
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-  Our Observable Universe extends out pretty far in every direction, 2.7*10^23 miles.  We observe a spherical volume having a radius of 270,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles.  Here we sit at the center observing this enormous volume of space.  Of course, anyone, anywhere would see themselves in the center of the Universe.  They could be looking the same distance in every direction.
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-  Outer space seems so enormous.  But, nearly the same can be said about the space inside our own bodies.  Within the space of our bodies are the reproducing bacteria that are 200 billionths of a meter in size.  There are viruses that are 10 time smaller than that.
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-  The average size of all the world’s animals is 40 grams, 1.5 ounces.  We humans are at the upper end of this weight scale.  There are comparatively few mammals larger in size that us, elephants, whales and the like.
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-  Our whole existence appears to be on the very edge of the best conditions.  We are at the edge of the biologically complex.  The source of all our world’s energy comes from a star that just happens to be at mid-life and at its most peaceful existence.
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-  Our Solar System’s planets have pleasant circular orbits and we do not expect a disruptive planetary environment to occur for another 5 billion years.  We are fortunate to be on the 3rd planet from the Sun giving us a temperate climate.  Our Earth’s chemistry is not too caustic nor to inert.  We are living in a Goldilocks existence.
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-  If you delve deep into physics you discover that certain fundamental constants in nature are “ fine tuned” to allow all this to happen.  A small tweak in the strength of gravity, “g”, a slight alter of the electromagnetic force , “e”,  would destroy the diversity of molecular structures that allow life and the existence of the entire friendly cosmos.
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-  But, do not be deceived.  Life would likely not have evolved at all in a totally calm, friendly environment.  On the contrary, science believes life required a varying and dynamic alignment of parameters balancing at the interface of calm and chaos.  Biology may be the most complicated physical phenomenon in the entire Universe.  We hover in between order and chaos.  Between life and death.  What are the odds we will fine life elsewhere with these same fortunate conditions?
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-  How could the random collisions of atoms and molecules ever give creation a sense of perception, thinking?  You can not accomplish the complexity of life merely by chance.  The observable Universe contains lots of atoms, 10^80 atoms.  In is incalculable the number of ways those atoms could be arranged.
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-  The same with the possibilities of how the stars could be arranged and the galaxies too.  Or, how many ways the neurons can be connected in your brain.  The mind’s potential possibilities lies far beyond its own compression.
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-  Our bodies are a collection of elements that were formed inside exploding stars.  Inside our bodies are arrangements of 60 different elements.  Hydrogen is the element that formed first coming directly out of the Big Bang.  That same hydrogen represents 9.5% of our body weight.
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-  The rest of the elements were created in the cores of stars and upon the star’s death were spread into the interstellar medium through  massive supernovae explosions.
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-  Hydrogen and helium gas clouds coalesced into the first stars within 100,000,000 years after the Big Bang.  These massive stars had short lives and died in titanic supernovae explosions.  They hurled oxygen, carbon and magnesium element into space.
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-------------------  65% of our body weight is oxygen
-------------------  18% of our body weight is carbon
-------------------  0.1% is magnesium
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-  After 500,000,000 years the smaller stars formed into galaxies.  Stars the size of our Sun live for 10 billion years.  Stars 100 times bigger live for only a few million years.  These larger stars created iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium sulfur and zinc  The star’s death was an explosion that spread these heavier elements into the interstellar medium.
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-------------------  Calcium is 1.5% of our body weight in our bones and teeth.
-------------------   Phosphorus is 1.0% .  It provides energy that drives chemical reaction in the cells.
-------------------  Potassium is 0.4%.  It maintains electrical signaling in the neurons.
-------------------  Sulfur is 0.3%. It is in the cartilage, the insulin, in proteins that support our immune system.
------------------  Zinc is in trace amounts but it  makes up the enzymes used in digestion.
------------------  Chlorine is 0.2%  needed for nerves and gastric juice.
-----------------  Sodium 0.2%  needed for nerves and regulation  of the amount of water in the body.
------------------  Iodine in trace amounts used in the thyroid gland to regulate our metabolism
-----------------  Iron is trace amounts but part of the hemoglobin carrying oxygen in the red blood cells.
-  Somehow all this stuff came together to make you. So, what are the odds you are able to read this review?  Stay tuned, there is always more to learn.
-  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Sunday, November 2, 2014  ---
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Does a supernova make a sound?

-  1684  -  What does a Supernova Explosion sound like?
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---------------------  1684  -  What does a supernova explosion sound like?  In space there is no sound.  However, technology can detect electromagnetic radiation and translate it to the frequencies we can hear.  What can we learn from this?
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-  Count to five.  During that time 5 supernovae have exploded somewhere in the Observable Universe.  Each second , on average, there is a supernova exploding somewhere in our Universe.
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-  About 30% of these explosions are in binary star systems, where one star is pulling material from the other star until it reaches critical mass and explodes as a supernova.
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-  The remaining 70% are massive stars that have burned all of their nuclear fuel , their cores collapse, and a supernovae explosions result.
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-  We see a massive explosion from the supernova’s emission of visible light.  However, that light is but a small fraction of the explosions total energy.  99% of the explosion’s energy escapes in the form of ejected neutrinos.  Neutrinos are extremely low-mass, weakly interactive particles.
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-  Most all of this energy released in a supernova is “ dark”.  This dark energy is extremely important because it produces the chemical enrichment present in our Universe.  This enormous concentration of energy smashing atoms together forms all the elements in our periodic table heavier than helium.  All of the elements we and our world are  made of originates in this exploded stardust.
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-  Current observations by astronomers can not yet directly detect the neutrinos responsible for this enormous explosive energy.  However, their observations have greatly expanded beyond visible light.  Today, astronomers can “see”, detect, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays and Gamma Rays.  Gamma Rays are a billion times more energetic than visible light.
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-  A new technique that astronomers are using is to translate this wide spectrum of electromagnetic radiation down to what we can not “see” to lower frequencies that we can hear.  They are looking for patterns that our eyes would not recognize into sounds that our ears can readily detect.  The process is called, “ sonification”.
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-  A typical supernova brightens to a peak in a few weeks, than dims over the following months.  With sonification this whole event can be translated from divergent EM wavelengths into a few minutes of sound.
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-  Different wavelengths can be translated into different tones.  Different supernova explosion patterns can then be compared and studied with a whole new set of “ eyes”, or rather ears.
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-  When this technique was used on Supernova 2009ip that occurred 80 million lightyears away in the Spiral Galaxy NGC7259, we learned that it was not a supernova in 2009, as the name signifies.  It erupted again in 2010, 2011, and 2012.  This last explosion was likely the real supernova that occurred from a luminous blue variable star of 60 solar mass.  A star 60 times bigger than our Sun that finally burned all its nuclear fuel, collapsed and exploded.
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-  The sound of this total event lasting over 1,300 days was translated from UV, optical, near-infrared, and X-rays into a musical symphony lasting only a few minutes.
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-  You can hear it at www.Astronomy,com/toc   “ Supernova 2009ip”.  Take a listen.  Wonder, can anyone else in the Universe be hearing what you are hearing?  There is always more to learn, stay tuned.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
----  email request for copies to:   -------      jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ---------
 ---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/  , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com  ---
 ---- www.twitter.com , ---   707-536-3272    ----   Saturday, November 1, 2014  ---
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