--------- #1353 - How Fast Do You Have to Go to Escape the Galaxy?
- Attachment: none
- How fast do you have to be going to escape the gravity of the Earth?
----------------------- 6.96 miles per second
--------------------- 25,056 miles per hour.
- Just over 25,000 miles per hour and the traveler can permanently escape the grasp of Earth’s gravity. But, not the grasp of the Sun. How is escape velocity calculated?
- The velocity needed to escape the gravity of a body is directly proportional to the mass of the body and inversely proportional to the radius to the center of the mass.
----------------- (velocity)^2 = constant * Mass / radius
- The constant needed to make this equation an equality is 2 times the Gravitational Constant, “G”.
------------------ G = 6.67 * 10^-11 m^3 / (kg*sec^2)
----------------- v^2 = 2 * G * M // r
----------------- M = mass of the Earth
------------------ M = 5.97*10^24 kilograms
------------------- r = radius of the Earth
------------------- r = 6.38 *10^6 meters
-------------------- v^2 = 2 * (6.67*10^-11) * ( 5.97*10^24) // ( 6.38*10^6)
------------------- v^2 = 12.48*10^7
------------------ v = 11.2 kilometers / meter
----------------- velocity = 25,000 miles per hour.
- For the Moon the escape velocity = 2.4 kilometers / meter
------------------ v ( Moon) = 5,370 miles per hour
- For the Sun the escape velocity is:
------------------- v ( Sun ) = 1,382,400 miles per hour.
- How fast is the escape velocity from the Sun at the distance of the Earth?
--------------- v(Sun at Earth) = 93,600 miles per hour
- Our fastest rocket ships can only go 36,000 miles per hour. So, our rockets can escape the Earth but the can not go fast enough to escape the Sun. Astronomers have figured out how to use gravity to swing by the planet and slingshot the rocket at ever greater velocities. When rockets get free from gravity traveling in outer space there speeds can gradually increase if they use more rocket fuel. But, fuel is heavy and rockets want to carry payloads not fuel.
- How fast would these rockets have to get going in order to escape the gravity of the Milky Way? Are there stars in the galaxy going fast enough to escape the Milky Way? The galaxy contains at least 200,000,000 suns and weighs over 2* 10^42 kilograms. Using averages for distances and mass distributions the escape velocity for the Galaxy is:
---------------------- v( galaxy ) = 648,000 miles per hour.
- Have astronomers ever found a star traveling this fast away from the center of the Galaxy?
- Yes, in 2005, a blue star was discovered (spectral type “O”) in the Constellation Hydra the Sea Serpent traveling at:
--------------------- v(star) = 1,558,800 miles per hour.
- This star is 362,000 lightyears away from the center of the galaxy. At these speeds it must have left the center of the Galaxy some 80,000,000 years ago.
- By 2011 astronomers have discovered 12 stars traveling at galactic escape velocities. One of these in the Constellation Puppis the Stern, very near the Dog Star, Sirius, is a Neutron Star traveling that fast. It’s velocity is 0.5% the speed of light. This star will leave our Galaxy in just a few million years.
------------------ v(neutron star) = 3,353,167 miles per hour
- How can these enormous stars possible obtain these enormous velocities?
- Astronomers have two theories: One has to do with binary stars that fly too close to an enormous Blackhole, like the one at the center of our Galaxy. When the Blackhole captures one of the stars and pulls it in the Conservation of Momentum requires the companion star to be flung in the opposite direction with the same kinetic energy. This Conservation of Energy puts enormous velocity in the escaping companion star.
- The second theory has to do with a massive supernova explosion that is asymmetric. If the explosion is lopsided and the explosion goes off in one direction the remnant Neutron Star could get shot away like a cannon ball. Again, the Conservation of Energy requires an equal and opposite reaction. If the massive star’s supernova explodes in one direction the Neutron Star flies off in the opposite direction at enormous velocities.
- Velocities great enough to escape the Milky Way Galaxy and enter intergalactic space traveling at their escape velocity forever. What is the escape velocity to escape the Universe? Light traveling at light speed creates the Observable Universe as it goes. But, space is expanding faster than the speed of light. And, light is getting redshifted to broader and lower energy wavelengths as it goes. It appears that nothing can ever escape the Universe. An announcement will be made soon, stay tuned.
--------------------------------------------------
Also see Review #883 How to escape.
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Playing Baseball on our newest Planet?
--------- #1352 - Playing Baseball on Planet Kepler 22b?
- Attachment:
- The newest space telescopes have discovered over 2,000 planets orbiting other stars. Of those discoveries being studied 48 may be planets with liquid water and with environments suitable to life as we know it here on Earth.
- One planet in particular has been the most studied and the first discovered in 2009. Now, after early 3 years of study, confirmation has been made with 3 transits of the planet about the star. The planet’s orbit is 290 days. We witness the transit with a dip in the star’s brightness as the planet passes in front of it in our line of sight.. We have witnessed 3 transits: 3 * 290 days = 870 days = 2.4 years.
- The planet is named Kepler 22b and its solar system is 600 lightyears away. The star that is hosting this planet is spectral type “G”, which means it is very similar to our Sun that has a temperature of 6,000 to 5,000 Kelvin, greenish yellow color.
- Stars are classified by letters: “O”, “B”, “A”, “F”, “G”, “K”, “M”
-------------------- “ Oh be a fine girl kiss me”
- Here are the classifications be temperature, lifespan, peak wavelength, and example stars:
-----Spectral Type ----- Temperature ----Lifetime --------- Wavelength --- Example
------------------------------Kelvin---------million years ---- nanometers --------------
--------- O ------------ 35,000-30,000 ------ 3 -------------<97 -------- Orion’s Belt.
--------- B ------------ 30,000-10,000 ------ 15 ----------- to 290 -------- Rigel
--------- A ------------ 10,000-7,500 ------- 500 -----------to 390 -------- Sirius
--------- F ------------ 7,500-6,000 --------- 3,00------------ to 480 -------- Polaris
--------- G ------------ 6,000-5,000 --------- 10,000 --------- to 580 -------- Sun
--------- K ------------ 5,000-3,5000 ------- 15,000-----------to 830-------- Arcturus
--------- M ------------ < -3,500 --------- 200,000 -------- > 830 -------- Betelgeuse
- Planet Kepler 22b is 2.4 times he diameter f Earth, about ½ the size of Neptune. It could be anywhere from 10 to 35 Earth masses. Knowing its mass would help us decide if it is mostly ocean with a small rocky core, or a gaseous planet more like Neptune.
- The planet’s orbit is about 15% less than Earth’s orbit about the Sun. However, the star it is orbiting is 25% less luminosity than our Sun. This combination should bring the moderate temperatures to the planet to allow liquid water. Without an atmosphere the temperature would average -11C. But, with an atmosphere and he greenhouse effect that comes with it the temperature should average + 22C , or, 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Sounds pretty nice.
- There are 48 other planet candidates out of the 1,094 discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope that are in similar situations. But, more data needs to be collected on these candidates before good estimates on habitability can be made.
- The Kepler Space Telescope is starring at on spot in the sky. The singe field of view contains over 150,000 stars that are being recorded. If a star’s brightness dips in repeated fashion, it might be caused by a planet in transit in front of the star from our point of view.
- The total number of planet candidates discovered by various other telescope and methods total 2,236 candidates. The Doppler shift of the star is another method astronomers use to identify stars with planets in orbit. The sizes of the 2,236 candidates are:
----------------- 207 are Earth-size
----------------- 680 are super-Earth-size
----------------- 1,181 are Neptune - size
---------------- 203 are Jupiter-size
--------------- 55 are larger than Jupiter.
- Of these candidates 48 are possible life habitable planets. All need further study, but Kepler 22b has the best confirmed data so far.
- To make an estimate of the mass of the planet we can assume it has the same density as the Earth, 5,500 kilograms / meter^3. We measure the radius of Kepler 22b to be about 15,000 kilometers.
-------------- Volume = 4/3 *pi* radius^3
-------------- Volume = 4/3 *(3.14)* (1.5*10^4^3
-------------- Volume = 14 * 10*12 kilometers^3
------------- Density = Mass // Volume
------------ Mass = (5.5*10^3) kg/m^3 * ( 14*10^21) m^3
------------- Mass = 78*20^24 kilograms
- The mass of the Earth = 5.97*10^24 kilograms
- Therefore, an estimate fro the mass of Kepler 22b is:
------------------------ Kepler 22b = 13 Earths
- If you were playing baseball on Planet Kepler22b, how much would the batter weigh and how big would the baseball diamond be?
- This all has to do with the force of gravity on Planet Kepler22b. On Earth the acceleration of gravity is 9.8 meters / second^2. ( 32 feet per second per second).
- The acceleration of gravity, “g”, is directly proportional to the mass , “M” and inversely proportional to the square of the radius , “r^2”.
------------------------- g = G * M // r^2
-------------------------- G = The Gravitational Constant which is supposed to be the same everywhere in the Universe
------------------------- G = 6.67 * 10^-11 m^3 //(kg*sec^2)
------------------------- g = (6.67 * 10^-11) * (78*10^24) // (1.5*10^7)^2
-------------------------- g = 23 m/sec^2
---------------------- g = 23 m/sec^2 // 9.8 m/sec^2
- Gravity is 2.4 times greater on Planet Kepler 22b. The batter weighs 150 pounds on Earth. She would weigh 2.4 * 150 = 354 pounds at home plate on Planet Kepler22b.
- The Home Run fence is 325 feet away from Home Plate on Earth. The fence would be 325//2.4 = 147 feet away on Kepler’s base ball diamond. However, to run the bases she would only have to go 90 // 2.4 = 38 feet between bases. What would the approximate batting average on the Planet Kepler22b? ----------------- Just kidding!
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, December 14, 2011
- Attachment:
- One planet in particular has been the most studied and the first discovered in 2009. Now, after early 3 years of study, confirmation has been made with 3 transits of the planet about the star. The planet’s orbit is 290 days. We witness the transit with a dip in the star’s brightness as the planet passes in front of it in our line of sight.. We have witnessed 3 transits: 3 * 290 days = 870 days = 2.4 years.
- The planet is named Kepler 22b and its solar system is 600 lightyears away. The star that is hosting this planet is spectral type “G”, which means it is very similar to our Sun that has a temperature of 6,000 to 5,000 Kelvin, greenish yellow color.
- Stars are classified by letters: “O”, “B”, “A”, “F”, “G”, “K”, “M”
-------------------- “ Oh be a fine girl kiss me”
- Here are the classifications be temperature, lifespan, peak wavelength, and example stars:
-----Spectral Type ----- Temperature ----Lifetime --------- Wavelength --- Example
------------------------------Kelvin---------million years ---- nanometers --------------
--------- O ------------ 35,000-30,000 ------ 3 -------------<97 -------- Orion’s Belt.
--------- B ------------ 30,000-10,000 ------ 15 ----------- to 290 -------- Rigel
--------- A ------------ 10,000-7,500 ------- 500 -----------to 390 -------- Sirius
--------- F ------------ 7,500-6,000 --------- 3,00------------ to 480 -------- Polaris
--------- G ------------ 6,000-5,000 --------- 10,000 --------- to 580 -------- Sun
--------- K ------------ 5,000-3,5000 ------- 15,000-----------to 830-------- Arcturus
--------- M ------------ < -3,500 --------- 200,000 -------- > 830 -------- Betelgeuse
- Planet Kepler 22b is 2.4 times he diameter f Earth, about ½ the size of Neptune. It could be anywhere from 10 to 35 Earth masses. Knowing its mass would help us decide if it is mostly ocean with a small rocky core, or a gaseous planet more like Neptune.
- The planet’s orbit is about 15% less than Earth’s orbit about the Sun. However, the star it is orbiting is 25% less luminosity than our Sun. This combination should bring the moderate temperatures to the planet to allow liquid water. Without an atmosphere the temperature would average -11C. But, with an atmosphere and he greenhouse effect that comes with it the temperature should average + 22C , or, 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Sounds pretty nice.
- There are 48 other planet candidates out of the 1,094 discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope that are in similar situations. But, more data needs to be collected on these candidates before good estimates on habitability can be made.
- The Kepler Space Telescope is starring at on spot in the sky. The singe field of view contains over 150,000 stars that are being recorded. If a star’s brightness dips in repeated fashion, it might be caused by a planet in transit in front of the star from our point of view.
- The total number of planet candidates discovered by various other telescope and methods total 2,236 candidates. The Doppler shift of the star is another method astronomers use to identify stars with planets in orbit. The sizes of the 2,236 candidates are:
----------------- 207 are Earth-size
----------------- 680 are super-Earth-size
----------------- 1,181 are Neptune - size
---------------- 203 are Jupiter-size
--------------- 55 are larger than Jupiter.
- Of these candidates 48 are possible life habitable planets. All need further study, but Kepler 22b has the best confirmed data so far.
- To make an estimate of the mass of the planet we can assume it has the same density as the Earth, 5,500 kilograms / meter^3. We measure the radius of Kepler 22b to be about 15,000 kilometers.
-------------- Volume = 4/3 *pi* radius^3
-------------- Volume = 4/3 *(3.14)* (1.5*10^4^3
-------------- Volume = 14 * 10*12 kilometers^3
------------- Density = Mass // Volume
------------ Mass = (5.5*10^3) kg/m^3 * ( 14*10^21) m^3
------------- Mass = 78*20^24 kilograms
- The mass of the Earth = 5.97*10^24 kilograms
- Therefore, an estimate fro the mass of Kepler 22b is:
------------------------ Kepler 22b = 13 Earths
- If you were playing baseball on Planet Kepler22b, how much would the batter weigh and how big would the baseball diamond be?
- This all has to do with the force of gravity on Planet Kepler22b. On Earth the acceleration of gravity is 9.8 meters / second^2. ( 32 feet per second per second).
- The acceleration of gravity, “g”, is directly proportional to the mass , “M” and inversely proportional to the square of the radius , “r^2”.
------------------------- g = G * M // r^2
-------------------------- G = The Gravitational Constant which is supposed to be the same everywhere in the Universe
------------------------- G = 6.67 * 10^-11 m^3 //(kg*sec^2)
------------------------- g = (6.67 * 10^-11) * (78*10^24) // (1.5*10^7)^2
-------------------------- g = 23 m/sec^2
---------------------- g = 23 m/sec^2 // 9.8 m/sec^2
- Gravity is 2.4 times greater on Planet Kepler 22b. The batter weighs 150 pounds on Earth. She would weigh 2.4 * 150 = 354 pounds at home plate on Planet Kepler22b.
- The Home Run fence is 325 feet away from Home Plate on Earth. The fence would be 325//2.4 = 147 feet away on Kepler’s base ball diamond. However, to run the bases she would only have to go 90 // 2.4 = 38 feet between bases. What would the approximate batting average on the Planet Kepler22b? ----------------- Just kidding!
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Animals that are 570 million years old?
--------- #1351 - Animals that are 570 Million Years Old?
- Attachment: mini-baseball animals?
- Science believes it has discovered fossils in South China and in Australia that represent the oldest animal life on Earth. These fossils date back 570,000,000 years ago.
- See the attached photo. The fossils look like mini-baseballs, or soccer balls. There are three theories as to what living creatures these fossils really were?
---------------------- (1) bacteria
---------------------- (2) protists
---------------------- (3) metazoan embryos.
- (3) It these mini-baseballs are truly embryos they represent the oldest records of animal evolutionary lineage.
- (2) We know plants evolved before animals. Protists could be either. Protists are single cell organisms that lack a structured cellular arrangement. Protists include:
------------------- (a) bacteria
------------------ (b) algae
----------------- (c ) diatoms
----------------- (d) fungi
- Protists are not animals yet but they may have given rise to both plants and animals on Earth.
- (2a) Bacteria was the strongest theory until the mini-baseballs were studied using a particle accelerator. Using the power of the accelerator resolution was imaged down to 250 nanometers. Samples were sliced into sections so thin that they were transulent. Microscopic examinations revealed a myriad of eggs and embryos that confirmed the presence of tiny adult sponges and cnidarians. Several bilaterians were discovered ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 nanometers across. The extreme close-ups of these specimens revealed that the fossils and bacteria were far too different. The theory that mini-baseballs ere bacteria was shot down.
- These fossils from the Dousantuo formation in South China were preserved in a chance formation of calcium phosphate. The fossil deposit is 26 feet thick and each single grain is a fossil, a mini-baseball. The phosphate acted as a preservative for the remains of these soft-bodied animals.
- Preservation of fossils in types of rock and chemistry are spectacularly rare. Another one of these rare finds is in Solnhofen Limestone in Germany. There a 150,000,000 year-old feathered specimen was found believed to be the earliest bird, “Archaeopteryx”.
- Other fossils at the South China site include Vernaimalcula, which means “small spring animal”. It first appeared at the end of the era known as “ Snowball Earth”. This fossil is the first known animal having body symmetry. “ Bilaterians” are celled animals comprising species from worms to humans. Their symmetry displays a left-right balance yet a multilayered body that typically has a mouth, a gut and anus.
- Bilaterians as microscopic animals are surprisingly complex including the three major tissue layers you learned in high school biology, endoderm, mesoderm and extoderm. The presence of a gut and a mouth and anus and paired coeloms ( body cavities) surrounding the gut. The Vernaimalcula’s oval shaped body scooted along the seafloor to feed. At one end of the oval, the mouth sucked up microbes. Pits on either side of the mouth were likely sense organs. In life this animal was the size of a period at the end of this sentence “.”
- “Kimberella” are soft-bodied sea dwellers some 10 centimeters in length that were likely the ancestors to mollusks and today’ clams, snails, and squid. This link to the bilaterians is still waiting discovery.
- Other similar fossils have been found at Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Both sites were dated at 570,000,000 years old. Accordingly at that time South China and South Australia were connected as one continent , called “ Gondwana”. The Cambrian explosion of life began about 542,000,000 years ago and science now believes that complex animals existed at least 50,000,000 years earlier.
- Using DNA differences in organisms science tries to measure the date at which two lineages split from a common ancestor, each group going its separate way and accumulating its own distinctive mutations. The idea is that over millions of years mutations in the DNA of genes occurs at a steady rate. Using this technique theories have bilaterians diverging from more primitive animals 1,200,000,000 years ago.
- Exactly what the mini-baseball fossils in the picture represent remains to be determined. They have something to do with the evolution of life on Earth. We just to not know what that is? An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned. In the meantime , they are mini-baseballs fossils.
-------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Cradle of life, the discovery of Earth’s earliest fossils, by j. William Schopf
(2) Evolution, the triumph of an idea, by Carl Zimmer.
(3) Life on a Young Planet, the first 3 billion years of evolution on Earth. by Andrew H. Knoll.
(4) On the origin of Phyla, James W. Valentine
(5) www.ucmp.berkeley.edu
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Tuesday, December 13, 2011
- Attachment: mini-baseball animals?
- See the attached photo. The fossils look like mini-baseballs, or soccer balls. There are three theories as to what living creatures these fossils really were?
---------------------- (1) bacteria
---------------------- (2) protists
---------------------- (3) metazoan embryos.
- (3) It these mini-baseballs are truly embryos they represent the oldest records of animal evolutionary lineage.
- (2) We know plants evolved before animals. Protists could be either. Protists are single cell organisms that lack a structured cellular arrangement. Protists include:
------------------- (a) bacteria
------------------ (b) algae
----------------- (c ) diatoms
----------------- (d) fungi
- Protists are not animals yet but they may have given rise to both plants and animals on Earth.
- (2a) Bacteria was the strongest theory until the mini-baseballs were studied using a particle accelerator. Using the power of the accelerator resolution was imaged down to 250 nanometers. Samples were sliced into sections so thin that they were transulent. Microscopic examinations revealed a myriad of eggs and embryos that confirmed the presence of tiny adult sponges and cnidarians. Several bilaterians were discovered ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 nanometers across. The extreme close-ups of these specimens revealed that the fossils and bacteria were far too different. The theory that mini-baseballs ere bacteria was shot down.
- These fossils from the Dousantuo formation in South China were preserved in a chance formation of calcium phosphate. The fossil deposit is 26 feet thick and each single grain is a fossil, a mini-baseball. The phosphate acted as a preservative for the remains of these soft-bodied animals.
- Preservation of fossils in types of rock and chemistry are spectacularly rare. Another one of these rare finds is in Solnhofen Limestone in Germany. There a 150,000,000 year-old feathered specimen was found believed to be the earliest bird, “Archaeopteryx”.
- Other fossils at the South China site include Vernaimalcula, which means “small spring animal”. It first appeared at the end of the era known as “ Snowball Earth”. This fossil is the first known animal having body symmetry. “ Bilaterians” are celled animals comprising species from worms to humans. Their symmetry displays a left-right balance yet a multilayered body that typically has a mouth, a gut and anus.
- Bilaterians as microscopic animals are surprisingly complex including the three major tissue layers you learned in high school biology, endoderm, mesoderm and extoderm. The presence of a gut and a mouth and anus and paired coeloms ( body cavities) surrounding the gut. The Vernaimalcula’s oval shaped body scooted along the seafloor to feed. At one end of the oval, the mouth sucked up microbes. Pits on either side of the mouth were likely sense organs. In life this animal was the size of a period at the end of this sentence “.”
- “Kimberella” are soft-bodied sea dwellers some 10 centimeters in length that were likely the ancestors to mollusks and today’ clams, snails, and squid. This link to the bilaterians is still waiting discovery.
- Other similar fossils have been found at Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Both sites were dated at 570,000,000 years old. Accordingly at that time South China and South Australia were connected as one continent , called “ Gondwana”. The Cambrian explosion of life began about 542,000,000 years ago and science now believes that complex animals existed at least 50,000,000 years earlier.
- Using DNA differences in organisms science tries to measure the date at which two lineages split from a common ancestor, each group going its separate way and accumulating its own distinctive mutations. The idea is that over millions of years mutations in the DNA of genes occurs at a steady rate. Using this technique theories have bilaterians diverging from more primitive animals 1,200,000,000 years ago.
- Exactly what the mini-baseball fossils in the picture represent remains to be determined. They have something to do with the evolution of life on Earth. We just to not know what that is? An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned. In the meantime , they are mini-baseballs fossils.
-------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Cradle of life, the discovery of Earth’s earliest fossils, by j. William Schopf
(2) Evolution, the triumph of an idea, by Carl Zimmer.
(3) Life on a Young Planet, the first 3 billion years of evolution on Earth. by Andrew H. Knoll.
(4) On the origin of Phyla, James W. Valentine
(5) www.ucmp.berkeley.edu
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Blackholes can be Big and Bright?
--------- #1350 - Blackholes Can Get Big and Bright?
- Attachment: Blackhole image
- We are learning more about Blackholes that occupy the Universe with us. However, they still remain beyond our comprehension. Blackholes come in all sizes. Their creation is really dependent on the ratio of mass to radius. Even the Sun would become a Blackhole if its diameter were squeezed down to about 3 miles. The Earth would become a Blackhole at ¾ inch.
- We have a Blackhole called Sagittarius at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. It is about 4,000,000 times the mass of the Sun, ( 4 million Solar Mass).
- There is a Blackhole in the Constellation Cygnus the Swan. Spot the constellation straight overhead. At about the center of the long neck of the swan. There is Cygnus
X-1. We can not see the Blackhole but we can see what happens around it. There is a blue star nearby that weighs 10 to 20 Solar Mass. This blue star is orbiting something in a tight circle every 5.6 days.
- Using Kepler’s laws for gravity we calculate that the mass at the center must be holding the holding the blue star in its orbit with 8.7 Solar Mass. The radius of orbit about the center is only 20,000,000 miles. ( Mercury is orbiting the Sun at an average radius of 36,000,000 miles.) Using our most powerful telescopes astronomers have found no trace of anything at the center of this circle.
- Until X-ray telescopes too a look. What appeared is a brilliant high-energy X-ray source. The radiation flickers with pulses as short as 1/100th of a second. The flicker must occur with the entire object increases and decreases in illumination all at once. Light travels 3,000 kilometers in 1/100th of a second. 1,860 miles in 1/100th of a second. Therefore the Blackhole’s accretion disk must be less than 1,860 miles across. This is much smaller that the diameter of the Earth. To have over 8 times the mass of the Sun in this small of volume it must be a Blackhole. Calculations have put the size of the Blackhole at 1/20th the size of the Moon. What is creating the X-rays is the in falling atoms that are orbiting the accretion disk at the Event Horizon of the Blackhole.
- When massive stars run out of nuclear fuel they collapse under the immense gravitational pressure with no radiation pressure to stop the collapse. The smaller they get the more dense they become, the higher the escape velocity needed to leave the surface. When the escape velocity exceeds 186,282 miles per second light itself can not escape.
- Escape Velocity is proportional to mass and inversely proportional to radius.
--------------- Vesc = constant * Mass / radius
- Any proportionality can be turned into an equality with the proper constant. In this case it is “G” the Gravitational Constant.
---------------- (Vesc)^2 = 2 * G * M / r
- If we substitute the values for the constants and put the mass in terms of Solar Mass, and set the escape velocity equal to “c” the speed of light the equation reduces to:
--------------- c^2 = 2* 6.67 *10^-11 * M / 2*10^30 kilograms * r
--------------- r = 3 kilometers * M / Ms
- The radius of a Blackhole accretion disk Event Horizon is simply 3 kilometers times the mass in Solar Masses. In this case it is 3 kilometers times 8.7 Solar Mass = 26 kilometers, or about 16 miles radius.
- Beyond this Event Horizon we enter our incomprehension. The star continues to shrink while it mass and gravity remain unchanged. The star compresses to 3.7 miles diameter, then to the size of a beach ball, an orange, an apple seed, and still further ? We do not know?
- The circling accretion disk that is emitting the X-rays is only 32 miles in diameter. Inside this ring is the unknown.
- Recent discoveries have found Blackholes that weigh 21,000,000,000 Solar Mass. NGC4889 is 336 million lightyears away in the Constellation Coma Berenices.
- Another discovery is NGC3842 that is 9,700,000,000 Solar Mass 331 million lightyears away at the center of a Galaxy Cluster “Abell 1367” in the Constellation Leo the Lion.
- Blackholes are with us. We might as well get used to the idea. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Monday, December 12, 2011
- Attachment: Blackhole image
- We have a Blackhole called Sagittarius at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. It is about 4,000,000 times the mass of the Sun, ( 4 million Solar Mass).
- There is a Blackhole in the Constellation Cygnus the Swan. Spot the constellation straight overhead. At about the center of the long neck of the swan. There is Cygnus
X-1. We can not see the Blackhole but we can see what happens around it. There is a blue star nearby that weighs 10 to 20 Solar Mass. This blue star is orbiting something in a tight circle every 5.6 days.
- Using Kepler’s laws for gravity we calculate that the mass at the center must be holding the holding the blue star in its orbit with 8.7 Solar Mass. The radius of orbit about the center is only 20,000,000 miles. ( Mercury is orbiting the Sun at an average radius of 36,000,000 miles.) Using our most powerful telescopes astronomers have found no trace of anything at the center of this circle.
- Until X-ray telescopes too a look. What appeared is a brilliant high-energy X-ray source. The radiation flickers with pulses as short as 1/100th of a second. The flicker must occur with the entire object increases and decreases in illumination all at once. Light travels 3,000 kilometers in 1/100th of a second. 1,860 miles in 1/100th of a second. Therefore the Blackhole’s accretion disk must be less than 1,860 miles across. This is much smaller that the diameter of the Earth. To have over 8 times the mass of the Sun in this small of volume it must be a Blackhole. Calculations have put the size of the Blackhole at 1/20th the size of the Moon. What is creating the X-rays is the in falling atoms that are orbiting the accretion disk at the Event Horizon of the Blackhole.
- When massive stars run out of nuclear fuel they collapse under the immense gravitational pressure with no radiation pressure to stop the collapse. The smaller they get the more dense they become, the higher the escape velocity needed to leave the surface. When the escape velocity exceeds 186,282 miles per second light itself can not escape.
- Escape Velocity is proportional to mass and inversely proportional to radius.
--------------- Vesc = constant * Mass / radius
- Any proportionality can be turned into an equality with the proper constant. In this case it is “G” the Gravitational Constant.
---------------- (Vesc)^2 = 2 * G * M / r
- If we substitute the values for the constants and put the mass in terms of Solar Mass, and set the escape velocity equal to “c” the speed of light the equation reduces to:
--------------- c^2 = 2* 6.67 *10^-11 * M / 2*10^30 kilograms * r
--------------- r = 3 kilometers * M / Ms
- The radius of a Blackhole accretion disk Event Horizon is simply 3 kilometers times the mass in Solar Masses. In this case it is 3 kilometers times 8.7 Solar Mass = 26 kilometers, or about 16 miles radius.
- Beyond this Event Horizon we enter our incomprehension. The star continues to shrink while it mass and gravity remain unchanged. The star compresses to 3.7 miles diameter, then to the size of a beach ball, an orange, an apple seed, and still further ? We do not know?
- The circling accretion disk that is emitting the X-rays is only 32 miles in diameter. Inside this ring is the unknown.
- Recent discoveries have found Blackholes that weigh 21,000,000,000 Solar Mass. NGC4889 is 336 million lightyears away in the Constellation Coma Berenices.
- Another discovery is NGC3842 that is 9,700,000,000 Solar Mass 331 million lightyears away at the center of a Galaxy Cluster “Abell 1367” in the Constellation Leo the Lion.
- Blackholes are with us. We might as well get used to the idea. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Monday, December 12, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Five Merging Galaxies, what can we learn?
--------- #1349 - Five Colliding Galaxies in Pegasus
- Attachment: Stephan’s Quintet Galaxies
- There are a group of 5 galaxies all colliding in the Constellation Pegasus the Horse. When first discovered it was thought to be a bright star. As telescopes got better and better it became a Nebula, then a galaxy, then 5 galaxies all merging together. Called “Stephan’s Quintet” it was our opportunity to study 5 merging galaxies.
- The merging galaxies had filaments and streams of stars interconnecting them as the merger was occurring. All 5 galaxies appeared to be about the same size and the same distance away.
- When astronomers first began to measure the distance of the galaxy merger they created great controversy. The technique was to use the redshift of the spectrum of hydrogen. Some got a redshift of 658 nanometers for hydrogen spectrum at 656.3 nanometers. A redshift of 1.7 nanometers. Other measurements got 670.6 nanometers for a redshift of 14.3 nanometers.
- The ratio of the amount of redshift to the wavelength at rest is to the receding velocity is to the speed of light.
------------- shift in wavelength / wavelength = receding velocity / speed of light.
-------------- 1.7 nanometers / 656.3 nanometers = receding velocity / 3*10^5 kilometers / second.
------------- Receding velocity = 780 kilometers per second
------------- Receding velocity = 1,740,000 miles per hour
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- 14.3 nanometers / 656.3 nanometers = receding velocity / 3*10^5 kilometers / second.
------------- Receding velocity = 6540 kilometers per second
------------- Receding velocity = 14,600,000 miles per hour
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- That is 8.5 times faster velocity for some measurements versus others. Astronomers began to loose faith in the redshift method of measuring distances. The Universe is expanding at 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears distance.
- Distance = 1,740,000 miles per hour / 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears
- Distance = 37 million lightyears.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Distance = 14,600,000 miles per hour / 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears
- Distance = 310 million lightyears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- These galaxies could not be merging and be that far apart, or, the redshift measurements for distance can not be working?
- See the Hubble Space Telescope attached. One of the galaxies has all the bright stars shining as pin points of light. The other 4 galaxies are somewhat blurred because of the 8 times greater distance. It just happened that the 5th galaxy was in our direct line of sight and was 8 times smaller. The interconnecting filaments were an optical illusion.
- However, further study confirmed that the other 4 galaxies were truly colliding and would eventually end up as a giant merger in an elliptical galaxy. The strange interconnecting filaments were caused by giant intergalactic shockwave caused by one galaxy falling into the center of the group at 300,000,000 miles per hour. The shockwave is so big itself is larger than the Milky Way Galaxy. The shockwave is similar to a sonic boom except it is in interstellar gas rather than in air.
- The shockwave was detected by an X-ray Space telescope. The X-rays are emitted by gas heated to millions of degrees. This created another controversy. How could we be measuring the spectrum of molecular hydrogen within the shockwave. This measurement was measured with an Infrared Space telescope. Molecular hydrogen is a very fragile molecule and would easily be ionized or destroyed by a shockwave.
- What astronomers learned was that the shockwave produced a turbulence creating many smaller shocks which in turn created pockets in which the molecular hydrogen could survive. This is very interesting because it is the molecular hydrogen that is the seeds for the birth of new stars.
- Most recently the Infrared Space telescope has discovered as set of 4 other galaxies that are extremely “red”. See the image attached from Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s image is not so bright in visible red light, however, the infrared image is 60 times brighter in the longer wavelengths. Galaxies can appear red for several reasons:
------------------- (1) They might be very dusty
------------------- (2) They might be very old stars that have lost their high temperature brilliance.
------------------- (3) They might be very distant and the expansion of the Universe has stretched their brilliant starlight into longer and longer wavelengths. and redder and redder colors.
- All three reasons apply to these 4 distant galaxies that are 13,000,000,000 lightyears away. This proves that galaxies existed within less than 1,000,000,000 years after the Big Bang. Stephan’s Quintet gives us some theories of how molecular hydrogen could survive these galactic collisions to form new stars. The further distance we see the further back in time we go. These images are the childhood of stars in a galactic nursery. We are just beginning to trace their evolution into today’s understanding of the Cosmos we see. An announcement will be made soon, stay tuned.
--------------------------------------------------------
(1) Also see Review #1240 Stephan’s Quinter Merging Galaxies
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, December 11, 2011
- Attachment: Stephan’s Quintet Galaxies
- The merging galaxies had filaments and streams of stars interconnecting them as the merger was occurring. All 5 galaxies appeared to be about the same size and the same distance away.
- When astronomers first began to measure the distance of the galaxy merger they created great controversy. The technique was to use the redshift of the spectrum of hydrogen. Some got a redshift of 658 nanometers for hydrogen spectrum at 656.3 nanometers. A redshift of 1.7 nanometers. Other measurements got 670.6 nanometers for a redshift of 14.3 nanometers.
- The ratio of the amount of redshift to the wavelength at rest is to the receding velocity is to the speed of light.
------------- shift in wavelength / wavelength = receding velocity / speed of light.
-------------- 1.7 nanometers / 656.3 nanometers = receding velocity / 3*10^5 kilometers / second.
------------- Receding velocity = 780 kilometers per second
------------- Receding velocity = 1,740,000 miles per hour
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- 14.3 nanometers / 656.3 nanometers = receding velocity / 3*10^5 kilometers / second.
------------- Receding velocity = 6540 kilometers per second
------------- Receding velocity = 14,600,000 miles per hour
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- That is 8.5 times faster velocity for some measurements versus others. Astronomers began to loose faith in the redshift method of measuring distances. The Universe is expanding at 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears distance.
- Distance = 1,740,000 miles per hour / 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears
- Distance = 37 million lightyears.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Distance = 14,600,000 miles per hour / 47,000 miles per hour per million lightyears
- Distance = 310 million lightyears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- These galaxies could not be merging and be that far apart, or, the redshift measurements for distance can not be working?
- See the Hubble Space Telescope attached. One of the galaxies has all the bright stars shining as pin points of light. The other 4 galaxies are somewhat blurred because of the 8 times greater distance. It just happened that the 5th galaxy was in our direct line of sight and was 8 times smaller. The interconnecting filaments were an optical illusion.
- However, further study confirmed that the other 4 galaxies were truly colliding and would eventually end up as a giant merger in an elliptical galaxy. The strange interconnecting filaments were caused by giant intergalactic shockwave caused by one galaxy falling into the center of the group at 300,000,000 miles per hour. The shockwave is so big itself is larger than the Milky Way Galaxy. The shockwave is similar to a sonic boom except it is in interstellar gas rather than in air.
- The shockwave was detected by an X-ray Space telescope. The X-rays are emitted by gas heated to millions of degrees. This created another controversy. How could we be measuring the spectrum of molecular hydrogen within the shockwave. This measurement was measured with an Infrared Space telescope. Molecular hydrogen is a very fragile molecule and would easily be ionized or destroyed by a shockwave.
- What astronomers learned was that the shockwave produced a turbulence creating many smaller shocks which in turn created pockets in which the molecular hydrogen could survive. This is very interesting because it is the molecular hydrogen that is the seeds for the birth of new stars.
- Most recently the Infrared Space telescope has discovered as set of 4 other galaxies that are extremely “red”. See the image attached from Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s image is not so bright in visible red light, however, the infrared image is 60 times brighter in the longer wavelengths. Galaxies can appear red for several reasons:
------------------- (1) They might be very dusty
------------------- (2) They might be very old stars that have lost their high temperature brilliance.
------------------- (3) They might be very distant and the expansion of the Universe has stretched their brilliant starlight into longer and longer wavelengths. and redder and redder colors.
- All three reasons apply to these 4 distant galaxies that are 13,000,000,000 lightyears away. This proves that galaxies existed within less than 1,000,000,000 years after the Big Bang. Stephan’s Quintet gives us some theories of how molecular hydrogen could survive these galactic collisions to form new stars. The further distance we see the further back in time we go. These images are the childhood of stars in a galactic nursery. We are just beginning to trace their evolution into today’s understanding of the Cosmos we see. An announcement will be made soon, stay tuned.
--------------------------------------------------------
(1) Also see Review #1240 Stephan’s Quinter Merging Galaxies
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Sunday, December 11, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Take a trip around our Galaxy, it's dangerous?
--------- #1348 - A Galactic Journey around the Milky Way?
- Attachment: A Spiral Galaxy
- Everything in our Universe is in motion. It represents kinetic energy that is everywhere, all the time. There must be a lot of energy in the cosmos in motion alone. If you are standing in Santa Rosa, California, you are traveling 700 miles per hour due east as the Earth rotates. You are also traveling 66,663 miles per hour as the Earth orbits around the Sun. The planet Mercury is traveling much faster at 107,088 miles per hour.
- Then the Sun and the entire Solar System is traveling around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 486,000 miles per hour. Our galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy are approaching each other at 670,000 miles per hour. Together with a Local Group of Galaxies we are approaching the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies at 2,370,000 miles per hour. That is our closing speed, our galaxy is traveling at 335,550 miles per hour in that direction. This whole Cluster of Galaxies is approaching the Coma Cluster of Galaxies at 16,000,000 miles per hour.
- These are all “approaching” galaxies because they are all gravitationally connected. Outside the gravity bounds of these galaxies is outer space that is expanding between galaxies. The rate galaxies are receding is known as Hubble’s Constant and it is 50,400 miles per hour per each million lightyears distance in separation. The further a galaxy is away from us, the more expanding space there is between us, the faster the galaxy is receding away from us.
- A galaxy that is 100 million lightyears away is receding at 5,400,000 miles per hour.
- A galaxy that is 10 billion lightyears away is receding at 504,000,000 miles per hour. That is 75% the speed of light. If we look over the opposite horizon at another galaxy that is 10 billion light years away receding at the same speed, the two distant galaxies are receding from each other at 1,008,000,000 miles per hour. That is 150% the speed of light.
- The Universe is only 13.7 billion years old. The two distant galaxies are 20 billion light years apart. The space between them is expanding 50% faster than the speed of light. Therefore no light, or any matter, or radiation, could ever be exchanged between them. And, it never will.
- Remember, the galaxies themselves are not traveling faster than the speed of light. It is the space between them that is expanding with a cumulative effect of separating them faster than the speed of light.
- Also remember, that the light that reaches us today can not be older than 13.7 billion years. But, it has been traveling for 13.7 billion years to reach us and the Universe has been expanding all that time. Our Observable Universe is 13.7 billion years in all directions, but, the actual “Observable Universe” that we will have to wait to see because the light that has not reached us yet traveling at 670,616,529 miles per hour, is 45 billion lightyears away in all directions.
- Here is a thought experiment: If Isaac Newton had blasted off the Earth on a spaceship traveling at the speed of light, we could observe him alive today through the telescope. He could be waving at us through the porthole of the spaceship at the same time we know he is buried in Westminster Abbey. In the same way we see galaxies as the looked billions of years ago. We have only imaginative ideas as to what they really look like today?
- Back to our Solar System orbiting Sagittarius at 486,000 miles per hour. The Constellation ”Sagittarius the Archer” is the “teapot” constellation in the southern night sky. Right at the top of the spout of the teapot is the center of our galaxy. We are 26,000 lightyears away from that center. Traveling in a circle around the center takes 220,000,000 years. It is a perilous journey through space. During our lifetimes we do not get very far around. But, during the lifetime of our Solar System, 4.5 billion years, we have made the trip 68 times.
- In one complete trip we have to pass through the 4 spiral arms of the Milky Way disk. We also have to bob above and below the disk about 4 times. Each bob gets us above and below the disk by about 200 lightyears.
- This is a perilous journey. We encounter many dangerous environments in space. Our Mother Earth has a very broken record of all it has encountered. The rocks and records have been constantly recycled by plate tectonics, seasonal and weather erosions. However, a better record can be found on the Moon. If we can get there and read the record, its rocks have been undisturbed for eons.
- The Moon’s sub-terrain certainly contains a record of our past journeys through the spiral arms of the galaxy. These arms are standing waves of denser regions where stars and gas come closer together. As our Solar System passes through each arm we are like a surfer riding an ocean wave. If our speed is just right we get pushed along with the wave. We could ride the wave for 10,000 years or more.
- Our Sun is richer in heavy elements than stars in our neighborhood. Also, the Dwarf Planet Sedna has an elongated orbit not explained by our Solar System physics. This could be evidence that our Sun was once closer to the center and once road such a wave. If we could get to the Moon we could find confirming evidence of our surfing background.
- The Orion Nebula is only 1,000 lightyears away. It is full of new stars and massive stars. Many supernovae have exploded in this region in the distant past. The Earth would have been much closer at times in its journey around the galaxy. X-ray radiation from these supernovae could have been responsible for depleting our ozone layer. Ultraviolet radiation could reach the surface with Cosmic Rays causing massive environmental change and mass extinctions of life on Earth.
- Discovery of the isotope iron-60 in ocean sediments suggests just such an event occurred several million years ago. The half life of iron-60 is 2.6 million years. It is commonly expelled material of supernovae, but, it is not found in any natural processes on Earth. Again, the Moon should have the answers. Astronomers hope to find other exotic isotopes like krypton-83 and xenon-126. The lava flows on Moon’s surface can be dated precisely by measuring decay of radioactive elements. Could the Moon’s records match the Earth’s records of mass extinctions?
- Today, our journey is in a relatively empty patch of space, with a hydrogen atom per 5 cubic centimeters. There are denser patches of space around the galaxy that have 1,000 molecules per cubic centimeter. Passing through these denser regions could have the effect of deforming our electromagnetic shield that encircles the Earth. This in turn could create reflective clouds and dust aerosols that would block the sunlight and trigger a global ice age every few hundred million years. We know a “Snowball Earth” era did occur some 700 million years ago. Again, the Moon could tell us Earth’s tale.
- Could our galactic odyssey be repeated encounters as we journey around the galaxy? Our Solar System today is north of the galactic plane. Could we be headed for danger? An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Friday, December 9, 2011
- Attachment: A Spiral Galaxy
- Then the Sun and the entire Solar System is traveling around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 486,000 miles per hour. Our galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy are approaching each other at 670,000 miles per hour. Together with a Local Group of Galaxies we are approaching the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies at 2,370,000 miles per hour. That is our closing speed, our galaxy is traveling at 335,550 miles per hour in that direction. This whole Cluster of Galaxies is approaching the Coma Cluster of Galaxies at 16,000,000 miles per hour.
- These are all “approaching” galaxies because they are all gravitationally connected. Outside the gravity bounds of these galaxies is outer space that is expanding between galaxies. The rate galaxies are receding is known as Hubble’s Constant and it is 50,400 miles per hour per each million lightyears distance in separation. The further a galaxy is away from us, the more expanding space there is between us, the faster the galaxy is receding away from us.
- A galaxy that is 100 million lightyears away is receding at 5,400,000 miles per hour.
- A galaxy that is 10 billion lightyears away is receding at 504,000,000 miles per hour. That is 75% the speed of light. If we look over the opposite horizon at another galaxy that is 10 billion light years away receding at the same speed, the two distant galaxies are receding from each other at 1,008,000,000 miles per hour. That is 150% the speed of light.
- The Universe is only 13.7 billion years old. The two distant galaxies are 20 billion light years apart. The space between them is expanding 50% faster than the speed of light. Therefore no light, or any matter, or radiation, could ever be exchanged between them. And, it never will.
- Remember, the galaxies themselves are not traveling faster than the speed of light. It is the space between them that is expanding with a cumulative effect of separating them faster than the speed of light.
- Also remember, that the light that reaches us today can not be older than 13.7 billion years. But, it has been traveling for 13.7 billion years to reach us and the Universe has been expanding all that time. Our Observable Universe is 13.7 billion years in all directions, but, the actual “Observable Universe” that we will have to wait to see because the light that has not reached us yet traveling at 670,616,529 miles per hour, is 45 billion lightyears away in all directions.
- Here is a thought experiment: If Isaac Newton had blasted off the Earth on a spaceship traveling at the speed of light, we could observe him alive today through the telescope. He could be waving at us through the porthole of the spaceship at the same time we know he is buried in Westminster Abbey. In the same way we see galaxies as the looked billions of years ago. We have only imaginative ideas as to what they really look like today?
- Back to our Solar System orbiting Sagittarius at 486,000 miles per hour. The Constellation ”Sagittarius the Archer” is the “teapot” constellation in the southern night sky. Right at the top of the spout of the teapot is the center of our galaxy. We are 26,000 lightyears away from that center. Traveling in a circle around the center takes 220,000,000 years. It is a perilous journey through space. During our lifetimes we do not get very far around. But, during the lifetime of our Solar System, 4.5 billion years, we have made the trip 68 times.
- In one complete trip we have to pass through the 4 spiral arms of the Milky Way disk. We also have to bob above and below the disk about 4 times. Each bob gets us above and below the disk by about 200 lightyears.
- This is a perilous journey. We encounter many dangerous environments in space. Our Mother Earth has a very broken record of all it has encountered. The rocks and records have been constantly recycled by plate tectonics, seasonal and weather erosions. However, a better record can be found on the Moon. If we can get there and read the record, its rocks have been undisturbed for eons.
- The Moon’s sub-terrain certainly contains a record of our past journeys through the spiral arms of the galaxy. These arms are standing waves of denser regions where stars and gas come closer together. As our Solar System passes through each arm we are like a surfer riding an ocean wave. If our speed is just right we get pushed along with the wave. We could ride the wave for 10,000 years or more.
- Our Sun is richer in heavy elements than stars in our neighborhood. Also, the Dwarf Planet Sedna has an elongated orbit not explained by our Solar System physics. This could be evidence that our Sun was once closer to the center and once road such a wave. If we could get to the Moon we could find confirming evidence of our surfing background.
- The Orion Nebula is only 1,000 lightyears away. It is full of new stars and massive stars. Many supernovae have exploded in this region in the distant past. The Earth would have been much closer at times in its journey around the galaxy. X-ray radiation from these supernovae could have been responsible for depleting our ozone layer. Ultraviolet radiation could reach the surface with Cosmic Rays causing massive environmental change and mass extinctions of life on Earth.
- Discovery of the isotope iron-60 in ocean sediments suggests just such an event occurred several million years ago. The half life of iron-60 is 2.6 million years. It is commonly expelled material of supernovae, but, it is not found in any natural processes on Earth. Again, the Moon should have the answers. Astronomers hope to find other exotic isotopes like krypton-83 and xenon-126. The lava flows on Moon’s surface can be dated precisely by measuring decay of radioactive elements. Could the Moon’s records match the Earth’s records of mass extinctions?
- Today, our journey is in a relatively empty patch of space, with a hydrogen atom per 5 cubic centimeters. There are denser patches of space around the galaxy that have 1,000 molecules per cubic centimeter. Passing through these denser regions could have the effect of deforming our electromagnetic shield that encircles the Earth. This in turn could create reflective clouds and dust aerosols that would block the sunlight and trigger a global ice age every few hundred million years. We know a “Snowball Earth” era did occur some 700 million years ago. Again, the Moon could tell us Earth’s tale.
- Could our galactic odyssey be repeated encounters as we journey around the galaxy? Our Solar System today is north of the galactic plane. Could we be headed for danger? An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Friday, December 9, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
What is the next supernova to go Boom?
--------- #1346 - What is the Next Supernova to Go Boom?
- Attachment: Eta Carinae and SN2006 image.
- The picture attached is the star Eta Carinae. It has been huffing and puffing for centuries. It may be the next to blow.
- The biggest supernova explosion ever recorded was in 2006. It is 250 million lightyears away in the Galaxy NGC 1260. The supernova was named SN2006gy. It super brightness lasted for several months pumping out enormous amounts of energy starting on September 18, 2006.
- There are three general types of supernovae ingeniously categorized as Type I, Type II, and Type III.
- This supernova SN2006 was a Type III. Type III supernovae occur with truly massive stars, up to 150 Solar Mass, which is believed to be the maximum size a star can possible get. These massive stars do not live very long, only a few million years. For that reason there are not many in existence today. In our Milky Way Galaxy of 400,000,000,000 stars less than 10 are Type III supernova candidates.
- After 5 to 10 million years these massive stars burn all their nuclear fusion fuel. They collapse and explode with such intensity their Gamma Rays create matter, anti-matter pairs. When these matter collides with anti-matter they annihilate entirely converting 100% of their mass into energy according to E = mc^2. ( By comparison, normal fusion reactions at the cores of stars only release 0.7% of their mass into energy.)
- The explosion from these massive stars is so great nothing is left behind. No Neutron Stars, no Blackholes, no remnant at the core is left behind. Everything is blown away into outer space. the matter, anti-matter annihilation releases 10 million - trillion times more energy then the output of the Sun.
- This Type III supernova in 2006 was 250,000,000 lightyears away. Eta Carinae is only 8,000 lightyears away. Nearly 32,000 times closer. It could blow tomorrow or any time in the next million years.
- Eta Carinae was first discovered in the Constellation Carina the Keel in 1677. “Eta” is the 7th letter in the Greek alphabet which meant that it was the seventh brightest star in the Constellation. In 1700 things changed, it became the brightest star in the Constellation. Then it changed again dimming for decades and in 1820 was the brightest again. Its brightness peaked again in April , 1843. It is definitely huffing and puffing.
- It is 4,000,000 times more luminous that our Sun with light coming from a binary pair of orbiting stars. Eta is the biggest of the pair and is estimated at 100 Solar Mass.
- Eta dimmed again in 1940, then brightened, and today is dimming again. Why these irregular outbursts occur astronomers can only guess. Somehow an interaction between the super luminous Eta sucks off material from one to the other maybe blocking light or maybe causing outbursts of light.
- The most recent outbursts have created the pairs of lobes or bubbles you see in the picture. Shockwaves have produced standing waves dividing the out rushing material into dual spheres expanding at 938,000 miles per hour. The center of the lobes glows in a violet color, the center has blown clear of dust allowing the blue wavelengths to escape. the dust in the bipolar lobes glows in red-light. It is a spectacular image today. When it blows it will look more like SN2006 supernova.
---------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Type I supernovae are from a double - star system. One star is a dense White Dwarf star that pulls in stellar wind material from the orbiting companion star. When enough material accumulates on the White Dwarf its carbon fusion enters a thermonuclear explosion with a well defined luminous supernova. Astronomers refer to these as “standard candles”.
-------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Type II supernovae are single massive stars whose core burns up the last remaining elements up to the element iron. Iron does not fuse and release energy, it absorbs energy. Therefore the core stops its outward radiation the pushes against gravity. The compressing material arrives at the core and rebounds into a massive explosion sending the outer layers of the star into outer space. The material flies away at 2,237,000 miles per hour. Left behind is a hyper-dense Neutron Star that is 12 miles in diameter or an even denser and smaller Blackhole.
----------------------------------------------------
(3) Type III supernovae described in this review are from the really super massive stars that can approach 150 Solar Mass.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
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707-536-3272, Wednesday, December 7, 2011
- Attachment: Eta Carinae and SN2006 image.
- The biggest supernova explosion ever recorded was in 2006. It is 250 million lightyears away in the Galaxy NGC 1260. The supernova was named SN2006gy. It super brightness lasted for several months pumping out enormous amounts of energy starting on September 18, 2006.
- There are three general types of supernovae ingeniously categorized as Type I, Type II, and Type III.
- This supernova SN2006 was a Type III. Type III supernovae occur with truly massive stars, up to 150 Solar Mass, which is believed to be the maximum size a star can possible get. These massive stars do not live very long, only a few million years. For that reason there are not many in existence today. In our Milky Way Galaxy of 400,000,000,000 stars less than 10 are Type III supernova candidates.
- After 5 to 10 million years these massive stars burn all their nuclear fusion fuel. They collapse and explode with such intensity their Gamma Rays create matter, anti-matter pairs. When these matter collides with anti-matter they annihilate entirely converting 100% of their mass into energy according to E = mc^2. ( By comparison, normal fusion reactions at the cores of stars only release 0.7% of their mass into energy.)
- The explosion from these massive stars is so great nothing is left behind. No Neutron Stars, no Blackholes, no remnant at the core is left behind. Everything is blown away into outer space. the matter, anti-matter annihilation releases 10 million - trillion times more energy then the output of the Sun.
- This Type III supernova in 2006 was 250,000,000 lightyears away. Eta Carinae is only 8,000 lightyears away. Nearly 32,000 times closer. It could blow tomorrow or any time in the next million years.
- Eta Carinae was first discovered in the Constellation Carina the Keel in 1677. “Eta” is the 7th letter in the Greek alphabet which meant that it was the seventh brightest star in the Constellation. In 1700 things changed, it became the brightest star in the Constellation. Then it changed again dimming for decades and in 1820 was the brightest again. Its brightness peaked again in April , 1843. It is definitely huffing and puffing.
- It is 4,000,000 times more luminous that our Sun with light coming from a binary pair of orbiting stars. Eta is the biggest of the pair and is estimated at 100 Solar Mass.
- Eta dimmed again in 1940, then brightened, and today is dimming again. Why these irregular outbursts occur astronomers can only guess. Somehow an interaction between the super luminous Eta sucks off material from one to the other maybe blocking light or maybe causing outbursts of light.
- The most recent outbursts have created the pairs of lobes or bubbles you see in the picture. Shockwaves have produced standing waves dividing the out rushing material into dual spheres expanding at 938,000 miles per hour. The center of the lobes glows in a violet color, the center has blown clear of dust allowing the blue wavelengths to escape. the dust in the bipolar lobes glows in red-light. It is a spectacular image today. When it blows it will look more like SN2006 supernova.
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(1) Type I supernovae are from a double - star system. One star is a dense White Dwarf star that pulls in stellar wind material from the orbiting companion star. When enough material accumulates on the White Dwarf its carbon fusion enters a thermonuclear explosion with a well defined luminous supernova. Astronomers refer to these as “standard candles”.
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(2) Type II supernovae are single massive stars whose core burns up the last remaining elements up to the element iron. Iron does not fuse and release energy, it absorbs energy. Therefore the core stops its outward radiation the pushes against gravity. The compressing material arrives at the core and rebounds into a massive explosion sending the outer layers of the star into outer space. The material flies away at 2,237,000 miles per hour. Left behind is a hyper-dense Neutron Star that is 12 miles in diameter or an even denser and smaller Blackhole.
----------------------------------------------------
(3) Type III supernovae described in this review are from the really super massive stars that can approach 150 Solar Mass.
---------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net.
or, use: “Jim Detrick” www.facebook.com, or , www.twitter.com.
707-536-3272, Wednesday, December 7, 2011
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