What have we learned about the planet Mercury?

-  1815  -  The Planet Mercury, after 4 years of a spacecraft orbiting Mercury what did we learn about the planet closest to the Sun?
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-----------------  -  1815  -  The Planet Mercury
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-

-
-  April 30,2015 the spacecraft MESSENGER crashed in to the planet Mercury at 8,750 miles per hour.  This was after 4 years orbiting the planet 4,140 times.
-
---------------------  What did we learn?
-
-  The spacecrafts closest approach in its orbit was 125 miles altitude.
-
-  Mercury’s magnetic field is 1/100th the strength of Earth’s magnetic field.
-
- Mercury is 2,032 miles in diameter and it magnetic field is likely generated by an internal dynamo of rotating electric currents.
-
-------------  Mercury’s magnetic field   =           200 nanotesla
-
-------------  Magnetic field from Solar Wind  =  50 nanotesla
-
-------------   Earth’s magnetic field  =                  30,000 nanotesla
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--------------  from Solar Wind  =                          10  nanotesla
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-  Tesla is a unit of magnetic flux density.  It is one Weber per meter, or one kilogram per second^2 per Ampere.
-
----------------------------  T  =  W * b  /  m^2
-
---------------------------  T  =  Kg * sec^2  /   A
-
- ---------------------------  nano  =  10^-9
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-  Mercury’s atmosphere contains atoms of sodium, and calcium.  Sodium may come form impacts of tiny dust grains on the surface.   Iron on surface rock is around 2%.  Surface has more magnesium and less aluminum than Earth, Moon , or Mars.  Potassium and Chlorine is similar to Mars.
-
-  Sulfur is present although it should have boiled away as a gas at Mercury’s temperatures.  Almost no Oxygen was found in the rocks.
-
-  Mercury’s core starts just 250 miles below the surface
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-  At the north pole water ice was discovered in the shadows of craters.
-
-  To explain the dark surfaces a theory is that it could be carbon.  When magma formed low-density carbon graphite was light enough to float and make a crust.
-
-  No question Mercury has a strange geology
-
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-
-  #1767  -  diameter of Earth is            7,927  miles
-                 diameter of Mercury is       2,032 miles  (26%)
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-  #1706  -  Mercury has virtually no atmosphere and its surface is as dark as an asphalt parking lot.
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-  #1479  -  Mercury’s crust is 289 miles thick which is 19% of the planet.
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-  #1478  -  mass is calculate to be 3.3 * 10^23 kilograms which is 5.5% the mass of the Earth.
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-  #1369 -  Average temperature is 163 C.
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-  #1343  -  The Sun’s gravity is 10 times greater than on Earth.
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-  #1165  -  its elliptic orbit swings from 25.5 to 43 million miles tilted at 7 degrees.
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-  #815  -  until 1974 we had never seen the back side of Mercury, like not seeing the back side of the Moon.
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-  #44   -  Escape velocity is                        9,887 miles per hour
-               Escape velocity on Earth is       25,008  miles per hour
-
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Neutrinos - Can they answer the ? about anti-matter?

-  1814  -  Neutrinos  -  nearly massless, traveling at nearly the speed of light and maybe even be matter and anti-matter in the same particle?
-
-

-
-----------------  1814  -  Neutrinos
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-  Neutrinos  -  are particles like electrons and Quarks, called Leptons, but , these particles have very little mass and travel at nearly the speed of light.  They come in 3 different varieties but because they have neutral charge they are “ almost’ undetectable.
-
-  Particle physics is trying to reduce the Universe to as few particles as possible.  Particles appear to be waves that have just slowed down to have mass.  If a particle has no mass then it must travel at the speed of light.  Photons have no mass but they still have momentum while traveling at 186,300 miles per second.
-
-  Particle physics has the list narrowed down to 12 particles, 8 of which only exist for short times at high energies.  Then there are 4 force particles plus the new Higgs Boson.  But, then you have to double the 12 particles to include their equivalent anti-particles, same mass but opposite charge.  If a particle and an anti-particle come in contact with each other they both disappear in a flash of Gamma Rays, from matter to energy.
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-  One of the mysteries in physics is why there is an imbalance with far more matter than anti-matter.  The Big Bang should have produced equal amounts.  Somehow we ended up with a Universe of matter?  Maybe there is another equal Universe made only of anti-matter?  Neutrino research appears to have some of the answers.  Maybe?
-
-  Before we can make things simpler we need to make them more complicated with new names and definitions,  Sorry.  We start with 2 particles.
-
-------------------  Fermions  --------------------------  Bosons  ------------------------
-
-  Bosons are the particles that carry the 4 forces.  Photons carry light.
-
-  Fermions are the particles that make up all matter.  There are 2 types of Fermions:
-
-----------------  Leptons  ------------------------  Quarks  -------------------------
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-  Quarks are in the nucleus of atoms.  There are 3 per Proton, 2 Up Quarks and 1 Down Quark.  And, there are 3 per Neutron, 1 Up Quark and 2 Down Quarks.  Protons carry the positive electric charge.  Neutrons are neutral.
-
-  Leptons are the particles outside the nucleus.  Like electrons in orbiting shells around the nucleus.
-
----------------------  Electrons  --------------  Neutrinos  ---------------------------
-
-  Electrons carry the negative electric charge
-
-  Neutrinos are neutral charge and almost weightless.
-
-  Neutrinos are high energy fundamental particles but they pass through almost everything they touch, always traveling at near light speed.
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-  Some 54 high-energy Neutrinos have been  detected at the South pole ICECUBE experiment.  The experiment uses a cubic kilometer of ice 1.5 kilometers below the surface of the South Pole.  If a Neutrino happens to interact with a water molecule the charged particles radiate a blue light, called Cherenkov radiation.  ICECUBE has 5,160 optical detectors spaced throughout the block of ice to detect this event.  By timing the detectors astronomers can calculate speed and direction of the Neutrino particle.
-
-  Two detections were made at energies of 1.07*10^15 electron volts and 1.24 PeV.   For comparison the CERN particle accelerator is Tera electron volts , TeV (10^12 eV).
-
-  Cosmic Rays bombard the Earth from space.  They are high energy protons traveling at near light speed.  They are charged particles and are deflected by magnetic field.  Therefore it is hard to identify their source.  Astronomers suspect they come from supernovae explosions.  They hope to detect Neutrinos produced by Cosmic Ray collisions occurring in the upper atmosphere.
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-  There are 3 varieties of Neutrinos :  muon, tau and electron.  Maybe these are not Neutrinos being detected?  Maybe they are Dark Matter particles with PeV energies.  ICECUBE has detected 28  thought to be Neutrinos between 10 and 1,200 TeV in 2015.
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-  In 1928 Paul Dirac developed equations that required electrons to sometimes have negative energy ( a positive charge).  In 1932 the “Positron” was discovered ( the anti-electron carrying a positive charge.)
-
-  A particle is considered “ right - handed” if its spin is in the same direction as its motion.  It is considered left-handed it its spin is in the opposite direction.
-
-  In 1937 it was proposed the Neutrinos and Anti-neutrinos were actually the same particle.  This is not that unusual .  It is thought that Gluons, particles that hold the nucleus of atoms together, and Higgs Boson, particles that confer mass to all particles , are also their own anti-particles.
-
-  In 1998 It was determined that Neutrinos do indeed have a very small mass ( < 0.13 *10^-9 GeV/c^2)
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-  Evidence that the Neutrino is its own anti-particle is found in the number  of Leptons and anti-Leptons that occur in an interaction.  The Law of Conservation would require the number of Leptons to remain the same before and after all interactions.
-
-  The search for a violation of “ Conservation “ involves the “ double beta decay”.  this is a process in which a nucleus decays into a different nucleus and emits 2 electrons and 2 anti-neutrinos.  If anti-neutrinos annihilate each other that that would violate ‘Lepton Number conservation”
-
-  If the above occurs that would at the same time favor matter over anti-matter creating the imbalance we observe in nature today.  If this experiment proves out it would change our understanding of where particles get their mass.  There could be tow different neutrino and anti-neutrino states yet to be discovered.
-
-  These experiments are extremely difficult to pull off.  the must occur in very quiet environments with very clean detectors and without any interference for outside radioactivity.  Stay tuned, an announcement will be made shortly.
-
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-
-  #1631  Neutrinos used to detect Supernovae Explosions.
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-  #1608  -  While you were reading this sentence 65,000,000 Neutrinos passed through your thumbnail.
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-  #1589  -  There maybe be an undiscovered particle called the “ Sterile Neutrino “ that interacts with gravity abut with none of the other forces.
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-  #1219  -  ICECUBE - the Neutrino telescope at the South Pole
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-  #1139  -  The Universe will light up when we can see with Neutrino eyes.
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-  #630  -  The Earth’s surface receives 65 billion Neutrinos per cm^2 per second.
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-  #732  -  The Neutrino is a Fermion because it has ½ integer spin.
-
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Solar Storms, Galaxy Quakes, Gravity Waves?

-  1813  -  Galactic Storms, Quakes, and Waves.  Seismic like quakes occur across our Galaxy.  We can analyze these waves to map out the Galaxy in 3D very similar to how analysis of Earthquake waves are used to analyze the Earth’s interior.
-
-

-
-----------------  -  1813  -  Galactic Storms, Quakes, and Waves
-
- There is a lot going on out there.  Space is not as peaceful and quiet as we thought a few years ago.  The more we learn the more violent it gets.
-
-  Let’s start out close to home.  Sunspots have been recorded by astronomers since 1859 when a giant solar flare hit the Earth.  If a similar solar flare hit us today it would have devastating effects on the electric grid, satellites, and all forms of the world’s communication systems.
-
-  Then there are quakes occurring in our Milky Way Galaxy.  Different than Earthquakes, and sunspot quakes, but never the less, a type of sound wave passing through a medium of space.  When a Dwarf Galaxy, packed with Dark Matter, skimmed past our Galaxy a few hundred million years ago, it created seismic waves on a galactic scale in the interstellar gas that is in our Galaxy’s outer disk.
-
-  Just as seismologists analyze waves to infer properties in the Earth’s interior, astronomers use waves in the galactic disk to analyze the Galaxies interior structure and mass.
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-  A similar event occurred with the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51, that is 26 million lightyears from us.  The Dwarf Galaxy was NGC5195.  Spectroscopy was used to calculate the speed of 3 Cepheid Variable Stars.  Cepheids pulsate, modulating their intrinsic brightness which can in turn be used to calculate their distances.
-
-  The Cepheids are racing away from us at 450,000 miles per hour ( radial velocity).  This Dwarf Galaxy brushed by our Galaxy millions of years ago leaving Gravity Ripples in its wake.  Now it is skimming the Whirlpool Galaxy.
-
-  Astronomers hope that analysis of these ripples, like seismic waves,  might help us learn more about the interior of galaxies and in particular the amount of Dark Matter that makes up their total mass.  Estimates are the Dark Matter is 85% of all matter in these galaxies.
-
-  To learn how Cepheids are used to calculate distances:  These are pulsating stars the are varying their luminosity in a relationship to the pulsating period.  For example a pulsating star has a peak brightness ever 30 days.  At its peak the luminosity it is 10,000 times brighter than our Sun.  The Sun’s luminosity is 3.8*10^26 watts.  The Apparent Brightness of the star is 1.0*10^-12 watts / meter^2.
-
-  The distance squared is proportional to the ratio of the Luminosity / 4*pi * (Apparent Brightness).
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------------------------  d^2  =  L  / 4*pi* (AB)
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----------------------  d^2  =  3.8*10^26  /  4*pi*(1.0*10^-12)     meters^2
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-----------------------  d^2  =  0.3 * 10^38    m^2
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--------------------------  d  =  .55 *10^19 meters
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---------------------  Lightyear  =  9.5*10^16 meters
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------------------  The distance is 58 lightyears away.
-
-  To explain the Universe that we observe looking 10 billion lightyears in one direction and then 10 billion lightyears in the opposite direction and seeing the same structured Universe.  It looks exactly the same.  There is not enough time for light, or any information, to have traveled between these two opposite locations.  How could they share the exact same features if they had never been in contact?  They must have been together in the early history of the Universe and there must have been a period of expansion that was faster than the speed of light.  This is what is known as “ Cosmic Inflation”.
-
-  To explain ratio of Dark Matter science is suggesting there was a secondary inflation period.  Best estimates are that Dark matter makes up 25% of all the mass -energy in the Universe.  Ordinary Matter is only 5%.  The remainder is Dark Energy.
-
-  Cosmic Inflation is thought to have occurred when the Universe was only 10^-35 seconds old.  It lasted for less that a second.  Science is proposing a secondary inflation less violent that occurred when the Universe was a few minutes old.  This could account for the dilution of Dark Matter.
-
-  When the Universe expanded and cooled enough for the Dark Matter particles to be frozen out of the plasma.  The secondary inflation period diluted its abundance to match the density we observe today, about 25%.
-
-  Secondary inflation is only another theory to help science model a 70% Dark Energy, 25% Dar Matter , and 5% Ordinary Matter and to explain the ratios we observe today.
-
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-
-  #1754b  -  “The Tides of Gravity”  Astronomers are studying tidal streams to locate the center of gravity in our Galaxy.
-
-  # 1751  -  “Einstein’s Theory of Gravity”  All bodies accelerate in a gravitational field the same regardless of mass or composition.
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-  #1456  -  “Gravity’s Tidal Forces”  The ground you stand on can rise more that a foot as the Moon passes overhead.
-
-  #43  -  “ The Gravity of it All”  If the Earth was spinning 5 times faster ( a 5 hour day) what would happen to gravity?
-
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Dark Energy and the Higgs Field

-  1181  -  Dark Energy and the Higgs Field.  One field is trying to compress space back to a point and the other field is trying to blow it apart into oblivion.  We are luckily in the middle somehow.
-
-

-
-----------------  -1181  -  Dark Energy and the Higgs Field
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-  The Higgs Boson particle was predicted to exist 50 years ago using theory and mathematics.  It was not discovered until 2012 using the $4.9 Billion machine called the Large Hadron Collider (CERN).
-
-   The Higgs Boson and the Higgs Field is what gives all other particles their mass.  Mass is not an intrinsic property like electric charge.  The strength of the electric charge of an electron is always the same everywhere.
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-------------------------  Electric Charge  =  - 1.6 * 10^-19 Coulombs
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------------------------  Coulomb  =  Ampere * second   and the force between two charges 1 meter apart when the force is 9*10^9 Newtons the charges on each is 1 Coulomb.  But, the point is it is always the same under all circumstances, even in relative motion.
-
-   Protons are 1,840 times heavier than an electron yet has the same charge with the opposite sign.  Electrons moving fast can weigh more than protons at rest.  Mass increases with velocity.
-
-  Mass is not intrinsic.  Mass is created by an invisible field, the Higgs Field.  This field like a magnetic field , or an electric field, or a gravitational field  but, has the property to interact with other particles to create their inertia or mass.  The heavier the mass the stronger the interaction.
-
-  The particle that carries this force field is the Higgs Boson.  Like photons carry the electromagnetic field.  Bosons are particles with 0 or 1 integer spin, example the photon has a spin 1.  Fermions are particles with half and integer spin, ½,  3/2,  5/2,  example is the electron has a spin ½.
-
-  One of the mysteries remaining with mass is identifying the source of Dark Matter.  The Dark Matter particles interact with gravity but not with the electromagnetic field.  It is “ Dark” because it does not interact with light, or any part of electromagnetic spectrum.
-
-  Observations of the interaction with gravity tell us that 80%  of all the matter in the Universe is Dark Matter.  20% is ‘ Ordinary Matter”, which is made of Quarks and electrons.
-
-  Supersymmetry, or SUSY, is a theory that proposes that every particle has a heavier “super” particle.
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---------------  Every electron has a heavier “ selectron”
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---------------  Every Quark has a heavier  “ squark”.
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-  SUSY doubles the number of particles in the Table of Fundamental Particles and those in the entire Universe.
-
-  This SUSY theory proposes that Dark Matter has a particle called the “ neutralino”  that is 100 times heavier that a proton.  Neutralinos would not interact with Ordinary Matter, but, they would interact with gravity.
-
-  The problem with SUSY theory is that physic has never found any evidence that any of these “ super” particles actually exist.
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-  The Higgs Boson has a mass of 126 billion electron volts.  The Supersymmetry theory predicts there are 5 different Higgs Bosons with 5 different masses.  This one discovered to date is the lightest one.
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-  Physics is still searching for more powerful particle accelerators that can reach the energies needed to discover these heavier particles.
-
-  Remember Einstein showed us that energy and mass are the same thing  E = mc^2
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-----------------  mass  =  (0.111*10^-16)  *  Energy
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-  Einstein did not know about Higgs Fields and Dark Energy.  The strengths of these fields are responsible for all the matter, structure, and life in the Cosmos.
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-------------------  1  -  strength of the Higgs Field
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-------------------- 2  -  strength of Dark Energy
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-  The strength of the Higgs is what gives particles mass.  Mass is what gives curvature to space-time.  Curvature of space-time is what gives us gravity.  A stronger Higgs field with more mass would be trying to stop the expansion and pull the Universe back to a single point
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-  The strength of the Dark Energy field is the opposite.  It is trying to expand the space between mass at an ever increasing acceleration.  All mass would separate in to a cold, dark oblivion.
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-  One is compressing space-time the other is expanding space-time.  One is pulling the Universe together the other is blowing it apart.  We are stuck in between the two fields.
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-  The Higgs Field is just “ slightly” turned on.  Somehow it is Goldilocks just right.  Any different and there would be no structure in the Universe.
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-  Dark Energy is repulsive force accelerating the expansion of the Universe.  It was first measured in 1998.  It is the energy of empty space.  Any different and there would be no structure in the Universe.
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-  If we do the math for Dark Energy it should be 10^120 times stronger that our observations tell us it is?  Thank God it is so weak.  If this repulsive force were any stronger it would rip our Universe apart.  Atoms, galaxies, stars, planets would not exist.
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-  How and why are these two opposing fields so “finely tuned” to allow life to exist?  God has set the numbers for both forces just right.  “ We lucked out”  Thank God.
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-  #1805  -  2015 new discoveries in astronomy and physics.  Higgs, gravity waves, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy.
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-  #1748  -  The science of empty space.  Radio waves are ripples that travel through your body.  Ripples in the Higgs Field are call Higgs Bosons.
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-  #1577  -  All things at their smallest level are ” quanta”, small packets too small to see of even to measure.
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-  #1498  -  What is the Higgs Boson?  Fortunately anti-matter does not occupy our natural world in any stable form.
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-  #1495  -  Larger energies correspond to smaller distances.  The Higgs Boson is 126 GeV.
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-  #1423  -  Peter Higgs wrote 2 papers in 1964 predicting the Boson to cause particles to have mass.
-
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Blackholes and Relativity?

-  1812 -  Blackholes and Relativity.  This review covers frame dragging and how Blackholes evaporate into the Universe.  Mass tells space-time how to curve.
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-

-
-----------------  1812 -  Blackholes and Relativity
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- General Relativity tells us that gravity as a force is actually a curvature of space and time.  Mass is what causes space- time to curve.  The mass of the Earth certainly gives us substantial gravity , but, the curvature of space -time is barely measurable.
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-  However, the mass of a Blackhole is substantial enough to make the curvature obvious.  Blackholes demonstrate the full effects of General Relativity.  When the curved space-time is rotating around a Blackhole another effect become obvious as well.  This effect is called “ frame dragging”.
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-  The spinning mass has the effect of dragging the fabric of space-time along with it.
-
-   Gravity Probe B is a satellite launched to measure the frame dragging effects due to Earth’s mass.  The axis of spinning gyroscopes in the satellite become offset one hundred thousandth of a degree per year due to Earth’s rotation causing frame dragging  That is so small it is amazing to think we can even measure it.
-
-  To measure this effect around a Blackhole astronomers detect X-rays emitted by iron ions swirling around in the accretion disk orbiting the Blackhole.  The frequency of the X-rays shift due to the Doppler Effect if the ions are moving toward us or away from us.
-
-  Analysis showed that as the Blackhole spins the accretion disk “ wobbles”.  It tugs on surrounding space-time and drags the disk with it.  The effect is 100 trillion times stronger then the effect found near Earth.  If the Earth gyroscopes were orbiting he Blackhole the axis of the gyroscopes would shift 90 degrees each second.
-
-  In addition to frame dragging radiation and evaporation are another prediction expected at the accretion disk of a Blackhole.  Stephen hawking presented this theory of Blackhole evaporation in 1974.
-
-  In the accretion disk orbiting the Blackhole matter-anti-matter pairs are constantly being produced.  If one particle in the pair is dragged into the Blackhole the other is flung off as “Hawking Radiation”.  This action equal reaction is due to the Conservation of Momentum.
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-  If this process proceeds long enough the Blackhole would completely evaporate.  Theoretically all the information inside the Blackhole is preserved while radiating out in to the Universe.
-
-  The math needed to describe these events around Blackholes is incomplete.  General Relativity equations explode into infinities.   Quantum Mechanics equations produce in determinants.  We need new math to describe what’s going on.
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-  Gravity and acceleration are the same thing.  It impossible to tell the difference as an observer.  The same equations should work for both?
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-  Light bends in a gravitational field.  So does the whole electromagnetic field.  How else do these two fields interact?
-
-  Photons have no mass but they have momentum.  They follow the shortest and quickest path through curved space-time.
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-  Mass tells space-time how to curve.  Space-time tells mass how to move.
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-
-  Request these Reviews to learn more.
-
-  #1803  -  If acceleration is equivalent to a gravitational field then the same equations should apply to both.  This review contains a bibliography of more reviews.
-
-  #1663  -  At 186,282 miles per second an object has zero length and time has stopped.
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-  #1582  -  Deriving the equation for Relativity using the Pythagorean Theorem
-
-# etc.
-
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Photons are everywhere?

-  1810  -  Photons are Everywhere.  How many photons enter your eye?  How many photons are in the Universe?  Do the math it may surprise you.
-
-

-
-
-----------------  1810  -  Photons are Everywhere.
 -
-  A photon is the smallest “bit” of light.  It can only move at one speed, 186,000 miles per second.  A photon has no mass and all massless objects have to move that fast.  Even at that speed a photon takes 8.3 minutes to reach us after it leaves the Sun.
-
-  Photons are massless.  If an object has mass it must slow down.  Mass and energy are the same thing but mass is energy that has slowed down enough for us to see it.
-
-  Photons have no mass but they do have momentum (p).
-
-------------------------------  p  = h * f  /  c
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------------------------------  “h” is Planck’s Constant  =  6.6 *10^-34
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-  That is a very small number.
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-----------------------------  “f”  is frequency, or, cycles per second
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-----------------------------  “c”  = the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second
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------------------------------  c  =  3 * 10^8  meters / second
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------------------------------  h / c  =  2.2 *10^-42
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-------------------------------  p  =  2.2*10^-42   *   f
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----------------------------Momentum is directly proportional to frequency
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-  The higher the frequency, the higher the energy of the photons.  Radio waves have low frequency, and low energy.  Kilohertz frequency and the radio needs a lot of amplification in order to listen to them.  Microwaves have high frequency, high energy.  These photons just brought my coffee to a boil.
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------------------------  Energy  =  Planck’s Constant  * frequency
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----------------------------  E  =  h * f
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---------------------------  E  =  6.6*10^-34   *  f
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-  A photon has momentum (p)  because it carries energy (E).  Kinetic Energy is equal to momentum times velocity (v) squared.
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------------------------------  E  =  p * v^2
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-  At the speed of light:
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----------------------------  E  =  m * c^2
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--------------------------  E  =  m * 9*10^16
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--------------------------  mass  =  (0.1111*10^-6)  *  Energy
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-  Energy is directly proportional to mass and vise versa.
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-  You eye is very sensitive to this energy.  The eye’s chemistry can detect less than 25 photons per second.  There are a lot of photons in sunlight.  The sunlight that reaches Earth in 8.3 minutes carries 1400 watts per square meter.  How many photons (N) is this?
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-  The number of photons  equals the Intensity of light divided by the Energy
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--------------------------  N  =  I  /  E
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-------------------------  N  =  number of photons
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-------------------------  I  =  Intensity in watts  
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-------------------------  E  =  h * f  =  h * c / w
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--------------------------  w  =  wavelength  =  c / f
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---------------------------  N  =  (I  * w)  /  (h * c)
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-------------------  wavelength of redlight  =  w  =  5.6*10^-7 meters
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-------------------------  N  =  1.4*10^3 * 5.6*10^-7  /  6.64*10^-34  *  3 *10^8    watts * m * sec^2 * m  /  (m^2 * kg * m^2)
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-------------------------  watt =  kg * m^2/ sec^3
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-------------------------  N  =  0.39 *10^22
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-  The number of photons entering the eye?  The pupil is ½ centimeter.  The area is pi*r^2 =  3.14 * (.025)^2   = 2  * 10^-5.
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------------------------  N  =  0.39 * 2 * 10^-5  =  0.79 *10^15 photons per second
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-----------------------  N  =  790,000,000,000,000  photons enter the eye ever second.
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-  That is a remarkable range of the eye’s sensitivity to photons, (25) to (790,000,000,000,000).   Photons change the chemistry in the eye.  Photons are absorbed and emitted, but, they last forever.  They were created in the Big Bang.  None have died.  They just spread out as the Universe expands.  They are all over the Universe by now 14 billion years later.  Let’s see if we can count how many?
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--------------------  An incandescent light bulb emits 10^20 photons per second.
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---------------------  The Sun is a giant light bulb.  It emits 10^45 photons per second.
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-  Now there are a few hundred billion suns in the Milky Way Galaxy (10^8).  And, there are a few hundred billion galaxies in the Observerable Universe (10^8).  That is 10^61 photons per second.  But, that is just star light.  There are nebulae, supernovae, pulsars, accretion disks around Blackholes, gas, etc that all emit photons.  Then there is the oldest light of all, the Cosmic Microwave Background.
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-  If your eyes could see microwaves you would see a uniform haze of photons coming from every direction in the sky.  300,000,000 years after the Big Bang the expanding Universe had cooled enough for neutral hydrogen gas to form and photons could escape the charged plasma and expand into the space-time as  Gamma Rays, the highest frequency light.
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-  After 14 billion years of traveling through expanding space-time the Gamma Rays wavelengths got stretched out to microwave wavelengths.
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-  That event released 10^90 photons.
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-  So, for every photon that is emitted by the stars in the Universe another 10^30 are traveling as the Cosmic Microwave Background.  If the Universe were a single light bulb it would be emitting 10^90 photons.  Better start counting that is a big number.
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-  Request Reviews # for more to learn:
-
-  #733  -  The Photon,  E^2  =  c^2*p^2  +  m^2 *c^4.  Since the photon is massless:
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----------------------------  E  =  c * p
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-  # 1074  -  Physics the way I learned it
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-  #738  -  The science of physics.
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-  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------  RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
--  email comments, corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
-  to:   -------    jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ------  “Jim Detrick”  -----------
-  https://plus.google.com/u/0/  -- www.facebook.com  -- www.twitter.com
 -----   707-536-3272    ----------------------   Sunday, January 17, 2016  -----
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Life beyond Earth, what is the likelihood?

-  1809  -  Life Beyond  Earth?  What is the likelihood and what would be the criteria to search for?  Life has its dependencies, we can’t live without them.
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-----------------  1809  -  Life Beyond  Earth?
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-  Is there life beyond Earth?
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-  How about beyond the Milky Way Galaxy?
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-  Earth seems the only likely place in our Solar System.  Mars is too dry.  Venus is too hot.  Where can we find the Goldilocks’ porridge just right?

-  Let’s start by defining a solar system with a “habitable zone” being planetary orbits (moons will be discussed later).  A habitable zone is the range of distances from the star where a rocky planet could maintain liquid water on the surface.
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-  Because stars vary with age and temperature these zones vary as well.
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-  A rocky planet covers the range from 2 times radius to 10 time mass of Earth.
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-  Mars is in our Solar System’s habitable zone yet it lacks standing water on its surface.
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-  A habitat would change surface life in the very air we breath in a detectable way.  Where an exoplanet passes in front of its star ( a transit)  the light from the star passes through the exoplanets atmosphere.  A spectroscopy measurement can detect the components in that atmosphere.  Carbon dioxide ( CO2) and water (H2O) are the primary greenhouse gases to look for.
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-  Hydrogen and oxygen are the 1st and 3rd most abundant elements in the Universe (Helium is 2nd).  H2O should also be abundant.
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-  The 4 rocky planets in our inner Solar System were dry, being intensively radiated by the higher energy earlier Sun.  Out near Jupiter the radiation temperature was  low enough for water and ice to survive.  Earth’s water had to come later from showers of icy asteroids and comets.
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-Today water cover 67% of our surface and makes up 67% or our body weight.  The oceans have an average depth of 2.5 miles which would fill a sphere 800 miles in diameter.  Yet water is only 0.02% of the mass of the Earth.  If our planet were a Boeing 777 all the water would weigh less that a single passenger,  300,000 kilograms.  ( or, 186,410 pounds / 180 pounds  =  1000 times heavier).
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- 30% of the planet’s mass is the nickel - iron core.  Potentially this could hold even more water then the mantle in the form of hydrogen bond with oxygen outside of the immense heat and pressure .  The estimate is that the mantle alone contains at least another ocean’s worth of water in hydrated rocks and minerals.  Still this only gets us to 0.04% of the planet’s mass.
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-  Earth seems to have collided with a Mars-size body 4,500,000 years ago.  That is how the Moon got formed.  That impact would have flash-boiled any water oceans at that time.  Earth’s water had to be delivered later.
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-  Planets should not be the only search for life.  Saturn’s moon Titan has lakes of liquid methane that could act as a solvent in place of water.
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-  Jupiter’s moon Europa is an icy body with a subsurface liquid ocean,
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-  Potentially these could be habitable worlds that exist beyond the “habitable zones”?
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-  Spotting vegetation covering the land would be a strong suggestion for life.  Science would need to able to detect chlorophyll.
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-  NASA has recorded more than 4,000 exoplanets.  Yet, the field of exoplanet discoveries is so young compared to the field of astronomy.
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-  There is a chance that Blackholes switched on habitable planets allowing them to support complex life.  High-energy particles from Blackholes and supernovae could play a critical role in life’s evolution.
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-   On early Earth at some point the bath of Cosmic Ray flux dropped off enough for life on Earth to flourish
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-  Supernovae explosions were more common in the early Universe.  The rates of star births were much higher then.  Storms of radiating exited from galactic Blackholes as they consumed surrounding matter.
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-  In the early Universe everything was close together.  It took billions of years of Cosmic expansion to pull things apart and thin out the deadly soup of radiation.  Universe expansion is another important aspect for life to exist.
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-  In addition, it is the supernovae explosions that produce the heavier elements like oxygen and nitrogen that are in our atmosphere.
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-  It is this thick atmosphere that protects us from the radiation power of Cosmic Rays.  If a Cosmic Ray dose is high enough it can kill something.  But, a lesser amount can cause mutations that allow evolution to produce many different species.
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-  Blackholes at the heart of galaxies can swell to 50 billion Solar Mass.  Gigantic Blackholes form disks of orbiting gas.  A huge amount of radiation is generated as the swirling gas falls in to the Blackhole.
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-  50 billion Solar Mass is about the maximum size a Blackhole can reach through the accretion disk process.  However, Blackholes can get bigger by merging with other Blackholes.  There would be no life without them.
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-  Request these Reviews for more information:
-
-  #1690  -  Discovering Life  -  It may be plausible that somewhere a sulfur-cycle might replace our carbon-cycle?
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-  #1695  -  What are the odds you are able to read this?
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-  #1191  -  Every cell  in the body is connected to a tiny blood vessel that provides the nutrients it needs.
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-  #1016  -  Life coming from space and landing on Earth?
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-  #1151  -  how did God start life on Earth?  Belief that life had a simple beginning and evolved its complexity through natural selection.
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-  #844  -  Drake’s Equation - calculations for the parameters for life.
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-  #813  -  Life from comets?
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-  #348  -  Life -  evolution over 4.6 billion years.  ( 10 pages )
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-  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------  RSVP, Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----------------
---   Some reviews are at:  --------------     http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
--  email comments, corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
-  to:   -------    jamesdetrick@comcast.net  ------  “Jim Detrick”  -----------
-  https://plus.google.com/u/0/  -- www.facebook.com  -- www.twitter.com
 -----   707-536-3272    ----------------------   Wednesday, January 13, 2016  -----
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