Nobody Cares! (Science & Tech Edition)

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Meet Earendel, the most distant star ever detected

A star system from the early universe

www.theverge.com

The most distant star — or possibly pair of stars — that astronomers have ever seen was just revealed thanks to the Hubble telescope and a massive cluster of galaxies. Far from Earth, the universe bends around the vast bulk of a galaxy cluster, creating a gravitational lens in spacetime much like the curved lens in a magnifying glass. Like a magnifying glass, it revealed something small and hidden: a star system from the early universe.

The far-away star system takes the official name WHL0137-LS, but the astronomers who found it nicknamed it “Earendel” from the Old English word meaning “morning star” or “rising light.”

Come on, we know it's Tolkien nerds at work here...

Earendel system as we’re seeing it today was shining within just 900 million years of the Big Bang, according to the authors of a new paper in the journal Nature describing the discovery. Fully 12.8 billion years passed before that light reached the Hubble Space Telescope, magnified by a lucky trick of gravity to appear as a tiny smudge of photons on Hubble’s image sensor. Earendel is 8.2 billion years older than the Sun and Earth and 12.1 billion years older than our planet’s first animals.

That is old.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Meet Earendel, the most distant star ever detected

A star system from the early universe

www.theverge.com

Put another way (if I understand correctly), it is impossible for us to observe anything more distant than the time since the big bang 13.8 billion years ago. This is 12.8 billion light years away so getting pretty close to the theoretical maximum.

 

[danielravennest]

New space company:

 

[Essence Lumin]

Forget metric vs imperial

Thread, inspired by the Mail

There is this article from The Jerusalem Post about an asteroid passing by that outdoes the Daily Fail by quite a margin.

Space Needle-sized asteroid heading for Earth in close flyby

With a length estimated between 77-170 meters, 2017 WN13 would be at minimum longer than 6 T-Rexes or 13 Asian elephants in length.

Presumably African elephants would throw off the length.

Designated 2017 WN13, this asteroid is estimated to be between 77 meters and 170 m. in diameter. For comparison, scientists estimate that a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the infamous "king" of the dinosaurs, grew to around 12.4 meters, meaning at minimum, this asteroid would be longer than six of them. For a more contemporary comparison, an Asian elephant can grow to an average of six meters, meaning 2017 WN13 would be at least 13 of them long.

At maximum length, however, it would surpass the 169-meter-high Washington Monument and would almost approach the Space Needle in length.

Luckily, however, this asteroid was very small, just about half the size of an average male giraffe, so it didn't cause any damage.

Not sure if female giraffes are bigger or smaller than male giraffes. Perhaps they read the Daily Fail for their giraffe inspiration. No mentions of Rhode Islands or bananas though.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

There is this article from The Jerusalem Post about an asteroid passing by that outdoes the Daily Fail by quite a margin.

Space Needle-sized asteroid heading for Earth in close flyby


Presumably African elephants would throw off the length.




Not sure if female giraffes are bigger or smaller than male giraffes. Perhaps they read the Daily Fail for their giraffe inspiration. No mentions of Rhode Islands or bananas though.

I can't find a comparison of weight, but African savannah elephants weigh about 9 tons while African bush elephants are a bit smaller. Asian elephants weigh in at 6 tons.

 

[Sid]

 

[Sid]

Two minutes worth watching.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

 

[Free]

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Sure, but does it really have all those lines and labels around everything?

 

[Sid]

It is to promote interstellar tourism.

 

[Sid]

 

[Free]

Probing Uranus Is Top Priority This Decade, U.S. Science Advisors Say

*snigger*

 

[Free]

I guess in this case, with Phobos being the moon doing the blocking, it's always going to be a partial eclipse.

 

[danielravennest]

I guess in this case, with Phobos being the moon doing the blocking, it's always going to be a partial eclipse.

The *sun* changes in apparent size by 17% due to Mars' orbit being elliptical, but that's not enough for a total eclipse. Phobos' orbit is only 1.5% eccentric, so its size barely changes. However, Phobos's orbit is only 2.76 times the radius of Mars itself. So if you are far from the equator, Phobos will appear smaller, since you are physically farther away. Its size also appears to change from rise, to being overhead, to set for the same reason.

 

[Sid]

 

[danielravennest]

This one's for Argent:

“Potentially Hazardous” Asteroid The Width Of 2,000 Ferrets To Whizz Past Earth Tomorrow

Asteroid 418135 (2008 AG33) will be zooming by at around 37,400 kilometers per hour (23,300 miles per hour) – around 30 times the speed of sound – on Thursday, April 28, according to NASA. It will come within 3.2 million kilometers (2 million miles) of Earth, extremely close in cosmic terms, but around eight times the distance of the Moon to us for context.

It's estimated to be around 350 to 780 meters (1,150 to 2,560 feet) wide, which on the larger end is around twice the height of the Empire State Building, six Taj Mahals placed on top of each other, or 144 giraffes. We have been known to offer up ferrets as a unit of measurement, so that's also 2,000 ferrets (end to end) across.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

You'll never get 2000 ferrets to sit still long enough to line them up.

 

[bubblesort]

Isn't this how we get Godzilla? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm totally pro-Godzilla, because big ships get stuck in the Suez canal sometimes... but I don't think the anti-Godzilla crowd is trying to create Godzilla.

Scientists: Japan's Plan To Dump Nuclear Waste Into The Pacific Ocean May Not Be Safe - Honolulu Civil Beat

A panel of scientists has identified critical gaps in the data supporting the safe discharge of wastewater into the Pacific.

www.civilbeat.org

 

[Free]

but I don't think the anti-Godzilla crowd is trying to create Godzilla.

If you're anti-Godzilla but there is really no Godzilla, wouldn't you at least consider getting involved with the team wanting to create Godzilla? Otherwise, what's the point?

 

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