Listening to the radio early this morning, I heard the presenter announce that Betelgeuse (the second brightest star in Orion) was going to 'go supernova.'...."We'll talk about this, shortly," said he.
"Wow...that'll be interesting !", thought I . Something to look out for, before all these new communications** satellites b%gger up the night sky. =)
I was somewhat disappointed, when the astronomer they had on, said......."Well....it could happen tomorrow *...or any time in the next hundred thousand years." :(
Cheers - Patrick Moore.
* Or rather we might see it tomorrow, as it's somewhere between 400 & 600 light years away...so it could have already happened !
**.....Does that need an apostrophe, before the 's'.....after the 's'... or not all ? :-
Confused of Wales. :D
It does fluctuate anyway over a hundreds of year cycle, but not this dimly.
You must remember the last time Phil...
You mean you can use a magic looking tube Phil ? :D
Quote from: Techno on 02 February 2020, 08:21:25 AM
I was somewhat disappointed, when the astronomer they had on said......."Well....it could happen tomorrow *...or any time in the next hundred thousand years." :(
Rather like the completion of my chariot army!
Quote from: ianrs54 on 02 February 2020, 09:31:35 AM
You mean you can use a magic looking tube Phil ? :D
Oh....Come
on, Ian =).....We didn't even have magic tubes, back then.
Quote from: mad lemmey on 02 February 2020, 09:25:17 AM
You must remember the last time Phil...
Nah.....seen too many. They all sort of blur, now, Will.
(What annoys me, is that awfully nice Mr Halley has a comet named after
him.....I told him
when to expect it....And HE took all the credit !....It should be called Techno's comet ! >:()
Cheers - Phil ;)
Quote from: Norm on 02 February 2020, 09:35:19 AM
Rather like the completion of my chariot army!
To be fair, I think most of us could put any one of half a dozen words there instead of 'chariot'.
Neither the communications or the satellites are possessive, so no.
Each satellite handles multiple communications, so the s is pluralising, thus no ' before, and the communications do not own the satellites it is a descriptor of what they handle, so no need to indicate possession after the S. The "satellites communications" would need one before the final s (one satellite) or after (multiple satellites).
The best bit will be Harry Belafonte doing the soundtrack.
Quote from: Norm on 02 February 2020, 09:35:19 AM
Rather like the completion of my chariot army!
Quote from: Raider4 on 02 February 2020, 10:58:52 AM
To be fair, I think most of us could put any one of half a dozen words there instead of 'chariot'.
Only half a dozen !!!!!!
I could put half a dozen there only in 10mm, let alone other scales
I remember working out the scaling of Betelgeuse when I was reading an astronomy book. If I remember right, if Earth was a 10p piece, the Sun would be a football, and Betelgeuse was roughly our 100ft long garden at the time. I still simply can't fathom the size of something so ridiculously massive.
Quote from: Leon on 02 February 2020, 10:09:27 PM
I remember working out the scaling of Betelgeuse when I was reading an astronomy book. If I remember right, if Earth was a 10p piece, the Sun would be a football, and Betelgeuse was roughly our 100ft long garden at the time. I still simply can't fathom the size of something so ridiculously massive.
Yes, space is big . . .
What really stuns me are the extra-solar planets they've found. Planets the size of Jupiter or greater that orbit their stars in 4 days??? What??? How close are they to the star? How can they survive at those distances? Mind-blowing!
Quote from: Raider4 on 02 February 2020, 10:18:30 PM
Yes, space is big . . . Mind-blowing!
It certainly is !.......Just like the HHGG says !!
Cheers - Phil
But there is nothing in it - same book !
;D ;D ;D ;D
Yes....Well you might think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's.......
(I've listened to that FAR too many times. ;))
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: Leon on 02 February 2020, 10:09:27 PM
I remember working out the scaling of Betelgeuse when I was reading an astronomy book. If I remember right, if Earth was a 10p piece, the Sun would be a football, and Betelgeuse was roughly our 100ft long garden at the time. I still simply can't fathom the size of something so ridiculously massive.
Humans are notoriously poor at visualising really big (and really small) dimensions.
Brian Cox enjoys doing his "scale model solar system" schtick, with the sun being something like a big grinning spacehopper, and all the planets being other roughly round objects.
For extra effect, always put Pluto on the offshore Island where they build the lighthouse or quarantine facility.
Examples of people failing to appreciate size ratios are plentiful.
"We're spending another 5 million on tehdefence budget" - saying that as through it's a major uplift.
Expecting the mash in a paper mask to actually trap viruses (as opposed to the water droplets that carry the viruses).
Stating that 10mm is "too small to paint properly".
Safe to say a 10mm model of Betelgeuse won't be gracing the Pendraken or Minibits terrain pages any time soon.
You can safely ignore such requests.
Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 03 February 2020, 12:15:03 PM
Safe to say a 10mm model of Betelgeuse won't be gracing the Pendraken or Minibits terrain pages any time soon.
You can safely ignore such requests.
But I WANT ONE !!! :'( :'(
Quote from: steve_holmes_11 on 03 February 2020, 12:15:03 PM
Brian Cox enjoys doing his "scale model solar system" schtick, with the sun being something like a big grinning spacehopper, and all the planets being other roughly round objects.
For extra effect, always put Pluto on the offshore Island where they build the lighthouse or quarantine facility.
Try the Somerset Space Walk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Space_Walk). The first four planets are within 67 metres of the Sun, Pluto is 11 km away. The nearest star would be ~76000 km away . . .
Quote from: Raider4 on 03 February 2020, 01:20:23 PM
Try the Somerset Space Walk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_Space_Walk). The first four planets are within 67 metres of the Sun, Pluto is 11 km away. The nearest star would be ~76000 km away . . .
That's a perfect example of where the human brain starts saying "11km / 76000km, why that's a more than thee times as far".
Once you slap a few zeroes on, then our numeracy reverts to the caveman's "one two, some, many".
There are distances that we CAN 'see'......
But it's hard to comprehend that if some giant rock slapped into the moon we'd see it about one and a half seconds later......No....that's fine..I can cope with that time difference.
If the sun (sol) suddenly 'went out' (Yes...I know, it's not a light switch, and that's not something that's ever going to happen, like that.) .....But, from memory that's about 8 and a half minutes before we'd notice
(EEK !... that might have happened while I've been typing this garbage.....Damn....I'm getting cold. all of a sudden.)
Beyond that...My brain starts hurting, even more than usual.
...Proxima Centuri.....
Four light years(ish) ?......I can cope with that, as well......But THEN. X_X.....Wibble, wibble, Flurp. 8-} 8-}
Cheers - Phil ;)
Seriously, watch this, it's brilliant!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR3Igc3Rhfg
Seconded, seen it before, was well worth rewatching
Going the other way...
If the nucleus of an atom was the size of an orange, the nearest electron would be a marble 2 km away.
The nuclear atom is just a metaphor anyway, and I understand it's considered a rather outdated one by those who make up these stories. The truth is we just don't have an experiential frame of mental reference to handle concepts and questions like "There is no before to predate the Big Bang", or "Is life without cats worth living?".
Never trust an atom...they make up everything.
X_X
;D ;D ;D ;D
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: pierre the shy on 04 February 2020, 03:05:42 AM
Never trust an atom...they make up everything.
Kindly submit your resignation letter or (preferably) suicide note by tea time.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 04 February 2020, 08:15:06 AM
Kindly submit your resignation letter or.....
C'mon Kitty that wasn't that bad.. :-[...seen it as a slogan on a t-shirt from a science museum actually....
Kats have a limited saense of humour, BUT it was THAT Bad !!!!! :'( :'(
Quote from: pierre the shy on 04 February 2020, 03:05:42 AM
Never trust an atom...they make up everything.
=D> =D> =D> =D>
:-B
:-bd
Quote from: FierceKitty on 04 February 2020, 08:15:06 AM
Kindly submit your resignation letter or (preferably) suicide note by tea time.
Quote from: ianrs54 on 04 February 2020, 08:57:23 AM
Kats have a limited saense of humour, BUT it was THAT Bad !!!!! :'( :'(
:P L-)
Quote from: FierceKitty on 04 February 2020, 02:09:19 AM
The nuclear atom is just a metaphor anyway, and I understand it's considered a rather outdated one by those who make up these stories. The truth is we just don't have an experiential frame of mental reference to handle concepts and questions like "There is no before to predate the Big Bang", or "Is life without cats worth living?".
One of many "lies-to-children"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie-to-children
Quote from: FierceKitty on 04 February 2020, 02:09:19 AM
"Is life without cats worth living?".
Yes. Mine is much improved.