Astronomy - Planets , Stars & Heavenly Bodies

[BobDobbs]

2 hours ago, Electrophile said:

That's the one shaped like a walnut, right? Phil Plait hosted a series of videos on astronomy as part of PBS's Crash Course series, and one of them was on Saturn. 

 

Yes, but that is not the strangest aspects. It has a perfect, uniform "mountain range" running the entire equator, 8 miles high, no deviation north or south. One side is black, the other extremely reflective (it is not locked, it rotates so no dark side as a result of not being in sun) and when they sent x-rays they bounced off. I believe all readings and measurements have been exclusively visual as every type of scanner just bounces off.

Not saying this is some ancient, artificial satellite or generational ship from some long ago race billions of years in the past. Nope, not me. However, anything this weird which according to planetary physics & mechanics should not and cannot exist naturally needs a bit of consistent scientific inquiry. If such an anomaly is natural it would re-write the book on planetary physics which I think would be a pretty big deal.

[rm2551]

2 hours ago, BobDobbs said:

Yes, but that is not the strangest aspects. It has a perfect, uniform "mountain range" running the entire equator, 8 miles high, no deviation north or south. One side is black, the other extremely reflective (it is not locked, it rotates so no dark side as a result of not being in sun) and when they sent x-rays they bounced off. I believe all readings and measurements have been exclusively visual as every type of scanner just bounces off.

Not saying this is some ancient, artificial satellite or generational ship from some long ago race billions of years in the past. Nope, not me. However, anything this weird which according to planetary physics & mechanics should not and cannot exist naturally needs a bit of consistent scientific inquiry. If such an anomaly is natural it would re-write the book on planetary physics which I think would be a pretty big deal.

That sounds fascinating, got any references to good short vid's or info on it?

[BobDobbs]

11 hours ago, rm2551 said:

That sounds fascinating, got any references to good short vid's or info on it?

Iapetus, 350 years later, remains our most misunderstood moon - Big Think 

SHOCK CLAIM: Saturn’s huge moon Iapetus is an ‘ALIEN DEATH STAR’ | Weird | News | Express.co.uk

Ok, the second link is more for fun but it does have some interesting info buried within the nonsense.

[LedZeppfan1977]

On 3/14/2022 at 6:41 PM, BobDobbs said:

Saturn's moon Iapetus is the strangest moon in the entire solar system. What is even stranger is why NASA and pretty much every other space agency on the planet pretty much ignores such an odd and interesting moon. According to planetary & satellite mechanics, Iapetus should not exist yet it does but NASA only had the Voyager probe (a very quick flyby) and Cassini Probe do a quick flyby on it's way out of Saturn's system. I for one think a dedicated mission should have been sent years ago.

Strange

Seems they keep finding moons in Jupiters orbit.  I have lost count.  Europa is one that is very high in interest. 

[LedZeppfan1977]

Time travel?  Its been suggested if you could get lets say put the James Webb in a location 67 million light years from Earth and took a pic back at Earth, you could actually see the asteroid that they believe wiped out the dinosaurs.  The Chicxulub.   The Chicxulub crater that is off the Yukatan peninsula is where the strike occurred.   Much of the crater is under water in the SW Gulf of Mexico.  Shocked quartz is one telling sign of the strike.   Of course to do such a thing you would have to have a spaceship capable of incredible speeds, in fact defying the speed of light and even then it would take some time.  And have the luck of not hitting an asteroid en route.  It is believed the asteroid struck around 66 million years ago.  There is a line in geology that goes around the Earth, and they have never found a dinosaur fossil outside of that line.  Its named after the scientists that discovered it. Its called in short the K-T boundary. .  And it goes back approx 66 million years ago.  It separates the Mesozoic era from the Cenozoic.  The age of reptiles from the age of mammals.  The Cretaaceous which is the latter period of the dinosaurs existence.  At least in mass.  Before the asteroid strike.  

[BobDobbs]

8 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

Seems they keep finding moons in Jupiters orbit.  I have lost count.  Europa is one that is very high in interest. 

As is Titan as well. Titan appears to be the focal point for future colonization.

[LedZeppfan1977]

On 3/16/2022 at 12:38 PM, BobDobbs said:

As is Titan as well. Titan appears to be the focal point for future colonization.

OH BOY.  Just what I want.  To be on Mars with the view of the red desert in my oxygen tank.  Yippee

[BobDobbs]

2 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

OH BOY.  Just what I want.  To be on Mars with the view of the red desert in my oxygen tank.  Yippee

No silly, Titan is a moon of Saturn, it's largest moon and the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere. It has pretty much everything we need to survive insofar as chemical elements, it's gravity is almost the same as Earth, and it would be the easiest to terraform. Plus you get sweet view of Saturn 🙂 Still have to live in a dome but at least you can live on the surface. Without a dense atmosphere or magnetosphere you have to live either underground or in heavily shielded domes due to the radiation. Titan as both so...good to go!

[LedZeppfan1977]

8 hours ago, BobDobbs said:

No silly, Titan is a moon of Saturn, it's largest moon and the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere. It has pretty much everything we need to survive insofar as chemical elements, it's gravity is almost the same as Earth, and it would be the easiest to terraform. Plus you get sweet view of Saturn 🙂 Still have to live in a dome but at least you can live on the surface. Without a dense atmosphere or magnetosphere you have to live either underground or in heavily shielded domes due to the radiation. Titan as both so...good to go!

I was actually referring to a recent YouTube video on the colonization of Mars.  So many things can change here on Earth before any of these things are possible.  They say a manned mission to Mars is possible by 2034.  But I have heard this before 

[BobDobbs]

On 3/19/2022 at 5:40 PM, LedZeppfan1977 said:

I was actually referring to a recent YouTube video on the colonization of Mars.  So many things can change here on Earth before any of these things are possible.  They say a manned mission to Mars is possible by 2034.  But I have heard this before 

Meh, Mars. IMO a rather unremarkable orb though its moon Deimos is also a very unusual satellite which should be studied extensively. Mars is another planet with too thin an atmosphere. To colonize Mars you are gonna alive underground or if on the surface shielded buildings. I always thought Venus was much more interesting. It's closer, almost the exact same size as Earth yet it is the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface pressure of 92 bars or 92x more than Earth's. Now that place is kickin'!

Honestly though, when thought about we have a dream of a planet which is absolutely perfect for sustaining complex life but hey, let's go several millions of miles away to live on a barren, lifeless rock. YIPPIE!!!!

[hummingbird69]

[LedZeppfan1977]

On 3/20/2022 at 9:26 PM, BobDobbs said:

Meh, Mars. IMO a rather unremarkable orb though its moon Deimos is also a very unusual satellite which should be studied extensively. Mars is another planet with too thin an atmosphere. To colonize Mars you are gonna alive underground or if on the surface shielded buildings. I always thought Venus was much more interesting. It's closer, almost the exact same size as Earth yet it is the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface pressure of 92 bars or 92x more than Earth's. Now that place is kickin'!

Honestly though, when thought about we have a dream of a planet which is absolutely perfect for sustaining complex life but hey, let's go several millions of miles away to live on a barren, lifeless rock. YIPPIE!!!!

Venus and Mars are just dreams and ideas being thrown out there.  They are not realistic.    Setting it up would be intolerable and you think the Hoover damn and the Holland tunnel cost money?  We certainly would never get past the financial battle on that.  Its not going to happen.  Non manned missions with the help of the James Webb gives man the best chance of finding that perfect place with an ocean and a place you simply need to get to.  But that too is very much a dream.  Unless they can find a way to travel fast enough to get places that are so far away within a reasonable enough time given our life span.  My thought is IF we have been visited by aliens, its likely one of two scenarios.  They are probes, unmanned, or they can live far longer than us, thus the long time it takes to get here is no problem. You do not have to worry about raising your young on a spacecraft and growing plants and all of that.

[BobDobbs]

8 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

Venus and Mars are just dreams and ideas being thrown out there.  They are not realistic.    Setting it up would be intolerable and you think the Hoover damn and the Holland tunnel cost money?  We certainly would never get past the financial battle on that.  Its not going to happen.  Non manned missions with the help of the James Webb gives man the best chance of finding that perfect place with an ocean and a place you simply need to get to.  But that too is very much a dream.  Unless they can find a way to travel fast enough to get places that are so far away within a reasonable enough time given our life span.  My thought is IF we have been visited by aliens, its likely one of two scenarios.  They are probes, unmanned, or they can live far longer than us, thus the long time it takes to get here is no problem. You do not have to worry about raising your young on a spacecraft and growing plants and all of that.

Distance is only relevant to us as we are not advanced enough to implement the solution. Warp drive is theoretically possible. Creating artificial wormholes is theoretically possible. Folding space (kinda a wormhole but, not exactly, has more to do with quantum entanglement etc.) is also theoretically possible. Where we run into problems is power. Any of those takes enormous amounts of power to pull off, power in the magnitude of an entire sun in fact but there are workarounds which deal with the use of either anti-matter or sub-atomic manipulations.

I think the time it takes an alien species to travel say from the Sagittarius cluster (the most distant cluster in the sky) to Earth is instantaneous through these technologies. Then there is the possibility of intra-dimensional travel which pretty much circumvents time & space as we know it.

As they say, technology is considered magic to those less evolved. We just have yet to crack the code so to speak.

[rm2551]

17 hours ago, BobDobbs said:

Distance is only relevant to us as we are not advanced enough to implement the solution. Warp drive is theoretically possible. Creating artificial wormholes is theoretically possible. Folding space (kinda a wormhole but, not exactly, has more to do with quantum entanglement etc.) is also theoretically possible. Where we run into problems is power. Any of those takes enormous amounts of power to pull off, power in the magnitude of an entire sun in fact but there are workarounds which deal with the use of either anti-matter or sub-atomic manipulations.

I think the time it takes an alien species to travel say from the Sagittarius cluster (the most distant cluster in the sky) to Earth is instantaneous through these technologies. Then there is the possibility of intra-dimensional travel which pretty much circumvents time & space as we know it.

As they say, technology is considered magic to those less evolved. We just have yet to crack the code so to speak.

The question then is, do we get there as a species. Now that stretches my optimism to it's limits.

[BobDobbs]

5 hours ago, rm2551 said:

The question then is, do we get there as a species. Now that stretches my optimism to it's limits.

After watching the confirmation hearings for Judge Jackson I would say a definitive no. Talk about racist nonsense coated in lies and out of context quotes.

[LedZeppfan1977]

On 3/22/2022 at 12:23 PM, BobDobbs said:

Distance is only relevant to us as we are not advanced enough to implement the solution. Warp drive is theoretically possible. Creating artificial wormholes is theoretically possible. Folding space (kinda a wormhole but, not exactly, has more to do with quantum entanglement etc.) is also theoretically possible. Where we run into problems is power. Any of those takes enormous amounts of power to pull off, power in the magnitude of an entire sun in fact but there are workarounds which deal with the use of either anti-matter or sub-atomic manipulations.

I think the time it takes an alien species to travel say from the Sagittarius cluster (the most distant cluster in the sky) to Earth is instantaneous through these technologies. Then there is the possibility of intra-dimensional travel which pretty much circumvents time & space as we know it.

As they say, technology is considered magic to those less evolved. We just have yet to crack the code so to speak.

It’s long been considered building a spaceship that could reach let’s say half the speed of light?  I believe they said 40 years to reach nearest star ⭐️ outside of our Sun.  Your warp drives would be better but the idea of perpetual momentum is interesting.  Sir Isaac Newton in the drivers seat once again.  But if you hit an asteroid ☄️ belt, bang.  So who knows?  If our life spans were longer it would help.  Perhaps aliens can live longer?

[BobDobbs]

1 hour ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

It’s long been considered building a spaceship that could reach let’s say half the speed of light?  I believe they said 40 years to reach nearest star ⭐️ outside of our Sun.  Your warp drives would be better but the idea of perpetual momentum is interesting.  Sir Isaac Newton in the drivers seat once again.  But if you hit an asteroid ☄️ belt, bang.  So who knows?  If our life spans were longer it would help.  Perhaps aliens can live longer?

Space is nothing like what the movies represent in regard to actual stuff in it. Case in point: You see these asteroid fields densely packed in movies all the time but, that is impossible. The distance between other asteroids in an asteroid field is usually several hundred miles between asteroids. Even the supposedly densely packed rings of Saturn, made up of rock & ice blocks, was easily penetrated several times by probes with no problem.

However, a warp drive works by moving space around the craft, the craft actually never moves, space is moving which is why light speed is no longer a factor as the craft is not moving. Honestly though, I believe folding space or artificial wormholes are the best bet for interstellar travel.

[LedZeppfan1977]

On 3/28/2022 at 12:46 PM, BobDobbs said:

Space is nothing like what the movies represent in regard to actual stuff in it. Case in point: You see these asteroid fields densely packed in movies all the time but, that is impossible. The distance between other asteroids in an asteroid field is usually several hundred miles between asteroids. Even the supposedly densely packed rings of Saturn, made up of rock & ice blocks, was easily penetrated several times by probes with no problem.

However, a warp drive works by moving space around the craft, the craft actually never moves, space is moving which is why light speed is no longer a factor as the craft is not moving. Honestly though, I believe folding space or artificial wormholes are the best bet for interstellar travel.

Maybe in theory.  But do you really think its possible? Using a propulsion system, the only way we currently know, we would still have to be lucky not to hit an asteroid field travelig at those hight speeds. Not like you could stop on a dime. Likely what you said is understated.  Likely more than hundreds of miles between.  But no room for error.  If they hit one its over.  New launch.  Hard to believe they found the money for the James Webb

On that YouTube site they seem to believe they have found oceans on a moon of Jupiter?  Crazy stuff they are finding.  

Edited March 31, 2022 by LedZeppfan1977
add

[BobDobbs]

7 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

Maybe in theory.  But do you really think its possible? Using a propulsion system, the only way we currently know, we would still have to be lucky not to hit an asteroid field travelig at those hight speeds. Not like you could stop on a dime. Likely what you said is understated.  Likely more than hundreds of miles between.  But no room for error.  If they hit one its over.  New launch.  Hard to believe they found the money for the James Webb

On that YouTube site they seem to believe they have found oceans on a moon of Jupiter?  Crazy stuff they are finding.  

Star Trek uses deflectors to prevent space debris from impacting the craft. In principal, if we could generate enough power for a workable warp field, power for a deflector would be easy. Theoretical warp drive does have one very major drawback, or feature depending on perspective. The power produced by this warp field is so massive that as soon as the ship leaves the warp field, the energy would theoretically continue through space and destroy anything it encountered including a planet. So, kinda bad.

Another interesting event...Supposedly, they tried to use the nuclear fuel core of the Galileo probe to ignite Jupiter's atmosphere and create a second sun. This resulted in a portion of Jupiter's atmosphere igniting and creating a large, black-grey spot the size of Earth which lasted for about a month before dissipating. They supposedly tried again with Huygens probe and Saturn but nothing happened there likely due to the lower pressures compared to Jupiter. Had they succeeded in igniting Jupiter and creating a second sun the shock wave would have obliterated all life on Earth. If Saturn would have ignited and become a second sun it would have killed off 80% of life on Earth. I have no idea why they would have wanted this to happen under the circumstance so my guess is they never intentionally wanted to create a separate sun but just wanted to dispose of the spend probes and either did not realize doing so could create a runaway nuclear reaction resulting in the formation of a new sun, or, they believed the likelihood was slim. Either way, scary stuff.

[LedZeppfan1977]

7 hours ago, BobDobbs said:

Star Trek uses deflectors to prevent space debris from impacting the craft. In principal, if we could generate enough power for a workable warp field, power for a deflector would be easy. Theoretical warp drive does have one very major drawback, or feature depending on perspective. The power produced by this warp field is so massive that as soon as the ship leaves the warp field, the energy would theoretically continue through space and destroy anything it encountered including a planet. So, kinda bad.

Another interesting event...Supposedly, they tried to use the nuclear fuel core of the Galileo probe to ignite Jupiter's atmosphere and create a second sun. This resulted in a portion of Jupiter's atmosphere igniting and creating a large, black-grey spot the size of Earth which lasted for about a month before dissipating. They supposedly tried again with Huygens probe and Saturn but nothing happened there likely due to the lower pressures compared to Jupiter. Had they succeeded in igniting Jupiter and creating a second sun the shock wave would have obliterated all life on Earth. If Saturn would have ignited and become a second sun it would have killed off 80% of life on Earth. I have no idea why they would have wanted this to happen under the circumstance so my guess is they never intentionally wanted to create a separate sun but just wanted to dispose of the spend probes and either did not realize doing so could create a runaway nuclear reaction resulting in the formation of a new sun, or, they believed the likelihood was slim. Either way, scary stuff.

Don’t mess with Mother Nature.  Now they talk about space debris up there and getting in the way of already too many satellites sent up in orbit.  NASA was crying broke years back but no more.  I could talk about these topics for a long time.  So do you believe we have been visited by alien life?  The Phoenix lights are amazing.  March 13,1997.  No explanation 

[BobDobbs]

15 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

Don’t mess with Mother Nature.  Now they talk about space debris up there and getting in the way of already too many satellites sent up in orbit.  NASA was crying broke years back but no more.  I could talk about these topics for a long time.  So do you believe we have been visited by alien life?  The Phoenix lights are amazing.  March 13,1997.  No explanation 

Yes, I do believe we have been visited in the past going back tens of thousands of years. I also believe we currently are being visited as well. I am sure the adults in our galaxy are making sure the delinquent kids in the galactic kindergarten known as Earth have not burned the place down yet.

Regarding any actual interaction with our or other governments or any organization, I highly doubt that as at this point we likely barely rate as a curiosity and very unlikely we rate as a species they wish to openly communicate with.

[LedZeppfan1977]

On 4/1/2022 at 12:10 PM, BobDobbs said:

Yes, I do believe we have been visited in the past going back tens of thousands of years. I also believe we currently are being visited as well. I am sure the adults in our galaxy are making sure the delinquent kids in the galactic kindergarten known as Earth have not burned the place down yet.

Regarding any actual interaction with our or other governments or any organization, I highly doubt that as at this point we likely barely rate as a curiosity and very unlikely we rate as a species they wish to openly communicate with.

I so not think that its common to find any intelligent life in this universe.  So if they have found us  and are here, they are damn interested.  I believe that the UFO's in most cases might be unmanned probes sent here.  But I could be wrong. The tic tac sightings by the Nimitz crew reacted as if they were manned spacecraft.  Ability to stop on a dime, go underwater, and the whole works. I am sure you are familiar with the case? David Fraver.  And then the Phoenix lights.  That and the tic tac incident made me a believer.  Before that, having taken astronomy and understanding the great distances and obstacles in the way of space travel, I just did not think anyone or anything could get here, just too damn far.  But then I wonder if they could have much longer life spans. That would be a huge difference maker. If you could live as long as a Galapogos Island turtle, (they can live 500 years), then that would change everything.

[Plant77]

6 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

I so not think that its common to find any intelligent life in this universe.  So if they have found us  and are here, they are damn interested.  I believe that the UFO's in most cases might be unmanned probes sent here.  But I could be wrong. The tic tac sightings by the Nimitz crew reacted as if they were manned spacecraft.  Ability to stop on a dime, go underwater, and the whole works. I am sure you are familiar with the case? David Fraver.  And then the Phoenix lights.  That and the tic tac incident made me a believer.  Before that, having taken astronomy and understanding the great distances and obstacles in the way of space travel, I just did not think anyone or anything could get here, just too damn far.  But then I wonder if they could have much longer life spans. That would be a huge difference maker. If you could live as long as a Galapogos Island turtle, (they can live 500 years), then that would change everything.

That’s the thing about time and travel. For an advanced species that may have millions of years on us, I don’t think we can understand their laws of physics. Our laws and theory’s would t apply to an advanced species. As BobDobbs was saying with wormholes, etc. it could be as easy as that, or perhaps easier. It could also be that they are inhabiting our oceans? Who knows. For myself I think it is almost naive to think we are the only intelligent creatures in our galaxy, or any galaxy.  

[LedZeppfan1977]

5 hours ago, Plant77 said:

That’s the thing about time and travel. For an advanced species that may have millions of years on us, I don’t think we can understand their laws of physics. Our laws and theory’s would t apply to an advanced species. As BobDobbs was saying with wormholes, etc. it could be as easy as that, or perhaps easier. It could also be that they are inhabiting our oceans? Who knows. For myself I think it is almost naive to think we are the only intelligent creatures in our galaxy, or any galaxy.  

Yes good point on the oceans. They even have a term for these underwater sightings.  Something like UAP?   I’m sure I have it wrong, cant remember the exact abbreviation but they have Detected plenty on sonar.  Including what some believe to have been an underwater mother ship 🛳 during the gimbal sightings.  Time, space and distance make it difficult though.  Distance measured in AU’s.  

[Bong-Man]

Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024 (Great North American Eclipse ) (timeanddate.com)

Two years from today.  I saw the last one in 2017 out in Nebraska.  This one will be much closer to home and almost twice as long.  I've still got my glasses in the glovebox.