JimsAstronomy

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

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.

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--------------------------- 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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Sunday, November 9, 2014

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.
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- 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.
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- Blazars are seen when the jets at the rotating poles of the Blackhole’s accretion disk points directly at our line of sight.
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- NuSTAR is an X-ray orbiting telescope launched in 2012.
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- Chandra X-ray telescope was launched in 1999.
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- Here are some of the astronomical discoveries astronomers have made with their new X-ray eyes:
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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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 9, 2014 ---
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Thursday, November 6, 2014

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.
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----------------------------- 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:
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------------------------ Apparent Brightness = Sources luminosity / 4 * pi * d^2
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--------------------------- 4*pi*d^2 is the surface area of a sphere.
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- 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.
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- Is there a better way to measure these cosmic distances?
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- All these methods involve the movement of energy. With electromagetics the higher the frequency of oscillation the higher the energy:
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---------------------------- E = h * f
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- 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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Sunday, November 2, 2014

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.
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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 2, 2014 ---
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Saturday, November 1, 2014

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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Friday, October 24, 2014

1683 - The Ebola virus

- 1683 - The Ebola virus is deadly with no known cure. Recent re-engineering of RNA molecules allows protein molecules to be starved off preventing the virus from replication itself. The experimental drug has gone from monkeys to people this year because of the spreading Ebola epidemic.
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--------------------- 1683 - Can the Ebola Epidemic be stopped?
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- October, 2014, there are 4 cases of the Ebola virus in patients in the U.S. It appears very similar to the Flu virus. Flu symptoms soon become worse. The virus hijacks cells throughout the body to make copies of itself. The liver, lungs, spleen, and blood vessels hemorrhage if the virus is not stopped.
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- In Central and West Africa thousands have become infected. Up to 90% of these infections are fatal.
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- How can this virus be stopped?
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- Science is re-engineering DNA and RNA molecules to prevent the Ebola virus from making the particular protein it needs to replicate itself. The “SiRNA” drug does not seem to effect other proteins.
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---------------------------- RNA is ribonucleic acid
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---------------------------- DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid
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- The double helical structure of DNA was first discovered in 1953. This corkscrew of molecules is a near permanent repository of our genetic code and our gene proteins.
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- RNA contains genetic information too but it is less hardy and more easily degraded, or modified. Regardless, RNA is intricately involved in almost every cellular process. RNA controls the behavior of DNA and protein molecules by increasing or decreasing their activity.
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- Cells manufacture proteins by copying the genetic code found in DNA and producing long sequences of messenger RNA. Combining with ribosomes the messenger RNA grows protein molecules by linking specific amino acids together.
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- All this may sound complicated, but, actually it is easier. Proteins are 3- dimensional structures that are difficult to characterize. RNA is basically a 2-dimensional sequence, a linear problem much easier to solve.
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- Re-engineered RNA treatments may actually cure the Ebola Virus infections. The modified RNA may prevent the Ebola virus from making a protein thus preventing it from replicating itself. RNA treatments may likely defeat this disease if we can get to it soon enough.
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- Other diseases may be treated in a like manner. The hepatitis-C virus is the leading cause of liver cancer. In the U.S. this virus is more deadly than the AIDS virus. In 2013 science found a micro RNA that targets particular liver cells that can remove the hepatitis-C virus. The thinking is that if micro RNA can block the viral replication long enough the body will cure the disease.
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- This is amazing work! Biologists have identified tens of thousands of molecules that direct and shape the organized chaos that goes on within our body’s cells. By manipulating RNA science could potentially develop treatments to cure cancer, infectious
diseases and a wide range of chronic illnesses.
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- To learn more: www.nebi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articlesPMC2724769
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- http://f1000.com/prime/reports/b/5/47
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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, October 24, 2014 ---
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Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Big Bang

- 1682 - The Big Bang is not the birth of the Universe. That belongs to religion. Science is what we learn through observation and experimentation. The Big Bang is the birth of the Observable Universe. We don’t know the rest. The rest is our Quest for knowledge
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--------------------- 1682 - The Big Bang is Not the Birth of the Universe.
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- The Big Bang is not the birth of the universe. We don’t know that. Science uses observation and experimentation to understand stuff. The Big Bang is our name for the birth of the Observable Universe. The rest of the stuff is still a mystery. The biggest mystery of all is that we are here to observe it. That is religion.
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- Science has evidence to suggest that we today only can observe 5% of the Observable Universe. 95% is Dark Energy and Dark Matter that we see evidence for but that we cannot directly observe. We only have theories as to what this “ Dark” stuff is.
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- Plato was a Greek Philosopher. He described science as being like prisoners in a cave. A fire’s flame in the background creates flirting shadows on the cave walls. These 2- dimensional images are the only reality the prisoners can observe. How can they possibly understand their Universe when that is all they can see?
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- Our science today observes 3-dimensions of space and one dimension of time. Those 4 dimensions create our images on the cave walls.
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- A discovery in science was how to create holography where 2-dimensional images can be projected to create a 3-dimensional image in space. Perhaps the 3-dimensional images we see in space are projections of higher dimensions that we don’t see?
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- To explain what we observe in our Universe we use the Big Bang as a model for the creation of expansion of space and the passage of time. Our 4-dimensional Universe. However, in order to get the math to work our we have to assume the Universe expanded 10^78 times in volume in the first few seconds. ( That is 1 followed by 78 zeros ). The expansion of space was much, much faster than the speed of light.
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- We call this event “ Cosmic Inflation”. It is used to explain why space can be uniform in all directions while the speed of light could not have reached all the places we observe to make them uniform.
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- The math to explain this comes from a few simple equations containing only 5 independent parameters. The math matches what we observe today 13.5 billion years after the first few fractions of a second. One of these fundamental parameters is the density of the Universe as the sum of Ordinary Matter, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy. We need to explain the ratio of mass-energy that balances gravity’s attractive force with the repulsive force that is expanding the Universe at an ever faster rate.
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- When the math matches observation it tells us the 25% of the matter creating attraction is Dark Matter that we can not see. And, 70% of the repulsive force is Dark Energy that we can not explain. That leaves the Observable Universe that we can see to be only 5% of the mass-energy that is out there.
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- As the Universe expands it cools. The hot plasma at the beginning was the temperature of 10^27 degrees. ( That is a 1 followed by 27 zeros.) Today the temperature in all directions is observed to be only 3 degrees. This temperature is uniform in all directions to distances that even light could not have yet reached. Like a giant sphere where the surface appears flat to a small observer the space appears geometrically flat to all that we can observe. The Inflation theory was needed to explain these observations.
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- What caused this inflation to occur? What caused it to stop? It took a massive amount of energy. Were did all this energy come from? What existed before the inflation started? Is this a one time event or does it happen all the time? We don’t know.
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- How do we get a violent emergence of space and time from an infinitely dense point? In what universe did this point exist?
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- There is another mystery that we can reference. Astronomers can observe the effects of Black Holes. There is one at the center of our galaxy and at the center of most large galaxies. Black Holes are the process experienced by giant stars that exhaust all their nuclear fuel and collapse under immense gravity into a single point. The density of that point is so great as to create a gravitational force from which even light can not escape. Astronomers fail to learn what is inside a Black Hole because without light no information can escape.
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- The effects are like shadows on the walls of the cave, but, we can not yet exit the cave to see the light outside. We continue to search for light, knowledge, that will explain all that we observe. In the meantime, we just don’t know. Science is quest for understanding. Religion is the faith in the mysteries that we will never learn about the real universe and this life that lets us observe it.
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- Footnote: When the Universe was 2.8 billion years old its rate of expansion for 2 galaxies separated by 1 million lightyears was 42 miles per second. 151,000 miles per hour was how fast the galaxies were moving away from each other as the space between them continues to expand.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
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