Han hecho falta muchos años para que el CERN o el acelerador de partículas más ambicioso de la humanidad sea una realidad. Justo después entraron virus a través de internet al CERN y se estropeó y obligaron a reparar el CERN un proceso que duró relativamente bastante.

Bueno pues ahora una vez ya reparado lo periódicos y los grandes medios de comunicación o ‘mass media’ no se han hecho cargo de la noticia tal y como se esperaba o yo por lo menos por más que busco noticias de actualidad del CERN no encuentro ninguna. Parece que se han aburrido de hablar del CERN. Pero una vez que está en funcionamiento yo creo que no tardará en dar noticias y que aunque el proceso de descubrimiento no sea instantáneo sino que tarde unos meses o años será un descubrimiento casi seguro y podremos encontrar la llamada partícula de Dios y descubrir y conocer con detalle de que estamos hechos. También se busca encontrar el gravitón que es la partícula que nos hace participantes de la gravedad, es decir, la gravedad influye en la materia porque tiene el gravitón.

Respecto a lo que se ha hablado del CERN se la creación de agujeros negros y que producirá el fin del mundo esta es una teoría superlativamente imposible porque para que exista un agujero negro debe existir una supernova y las supernovas no se crean en el CERN.

Yo creo que un fin del mundo probable sería lo que se trató en la película de 2012 con las tormentas solares o un meteorito como aphopis que impactara contra la tierra aunque ya hay tecnología para todo esto y que se perfeccionará en el futuro.

Espero que en breve recibamos muchas buenas noticias del CERN descubriendo partículas que ni siquiera sabíamos que existían o partículas inimaginables que desentrañen secretos cosmológicos. Me despido y perdonen por la poca actividad del blog en esta semana pero es que estamos liados con exámenes. Un saludo

Después de tanto tiempo llegó la película 2012 a los cines españoles. Yo fui al estreno y voy a pasar a comentar la película.

Desde mi punto de vista, esta película ha sido mucho menos científica de lo que esperaba ya que los argumentos que defienden que 2012 sea el fin del mundo han ocupado poquísimos minutos en la película. Han mezclado realidad con humor en una película científica cosa que no me gusta. Durante toda la película se percibe un cierto surrealismo en todos los aspectos, cosas como que un piloto que solo tenía 2 clases de vuelo luego realizara complejas maniobras con la avioneta, que naves navegando por el agua abrieran paso por el mismísimo Himalaya. Y ciertas dificultades que superaba siempre el protagonista con una facilidad increíble.

Por otro otro lado, los efectos especiales de la película están muy bien conseguidos y en algunos momentos la película llega a resultar hasta graciosa.

Espero que hagan películas un poco más serias y mas científicas sobre este tema.

(Post realizado por Miriam Arbona, 1º Bach. C)

No se si habréis oído hablar del asteroide Apophis, pues bien, de ello trata este post.

He escogido este tema, ya que al enterarme de la existencia del Apophis, al igual que de las diferentes noticias, personalmente, me pareció un tema curioso e interesante.

Aquí os dejo un artiículo que contrarresta dos opiniones, la de un niño prodigio y sus conclusiones sobre el tema, habla sobre la disminución de probabilidades, calculadas por la NASA, de que el asteroide Apophis pueda colisionar con la tierra y causar así, daños inimaginables en nuestro planeta.

“¿Quién tendrá razón al respecto? ¿La NASA o Nico Marquardt? Nico es un niño prodigio de 13 años que colabora con el Instituto de Astrofísica de Potsdam. Conocido mundialmente por su trabajo titulado “El asteroide asesino Apophis”, que contradice la teoría sostenida por la NASA de que la probabilidad de que el gigantesco asteroide colapse contra la Tierra es de 1 en 45.000.

La teoría del genio alemán incorpora un dato que la NASA no ha tomado en cuenta y es que Apophis podría llegar a colisionar con uno o varios de los 40.000 satélites que se encuentren próximos a la Tierra el 13 de abril de 2029.

Si esto fuera así, cambiaría la trayectoria de Apophis de manera que podría chocar con nuestro planeta en el año 2036, en su próximo paso cercano a la Tierra.

De esta manera, Nico Marquardt sostiene que la probabilidad de que el meteorito impacte contra la Tierra se incrementaría hasta 1 en 450. Una diferencia no menor con las proyecciones de al NASA. Este trabajo no sólo le valió el primer premio de un concurso regional, sino también, la aceptación de la Agencia Europa del Espacio.

Sin embargo la NASA, terca en su argumento, se niega profundamente a modificar sus previsiones y sostiene que todos los factores relevantes han sido tenidos en cuenta a la hora de efectuar el cálculo. Ojalá que tengan razón y que el joven genio esté equivocado, pues que la habitabilidad del planeta dependa de una probabilidad de 449 en 450 es demasiado baja para las consecuencias que acarrearía la pérdida.”

Después de leerlo, cuesta creer que el supuesto “futuro” de la humanidad pudiera correr tan desdichada suerte, ¿verdad?, cuesta creer que el Apophis pudiera llegar a ser la razón de nuestra destrucción, no total, pero mayoritaria. Aún así, las posibilidades no defienden que pueda serlo, pero imaginaros por un momento que así fuera…

Este video se decanta por la postura de crear el caos, que es lo que los medios de comunicación, suelen lograr entre las grandes masas

E aquí el debate que planteo: ¿Creéis que realmente pueda llegar a suceder este suceso, que el Apophis choque contra la tierra? o ¿Sois mas partidarios de la postura de que simplemente lo que se pretenden es que cunda el caos entre la sociedad?
En fin, aquí os lo dejo, espero que os guste…

Saludos a todos!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk

Uma das maiores ameaças que ameaçam a vida sobre a Terra é o asteróide Apophis. Em 2036, Apophis vai fazer uma rasante à Terra, mas agora parece que ela será menos tangencial do que se acreditava.

O asteróide foi descoberto em 2004 e tem o tamanho de dois campos de futebol. Se um objeto de tais dimensões chocasse com a Terra criaria uma devastação sem precedentes na História humana, provocando uma extinção em massa de espécies e levando o Homem, muito provavelmente pela mesma via… Felizmente, novas observações do telescópio da Universidade do Hawai permitiram recalcular a sua órbita e corrigi-la de forma a que em 13 de abril de 2036, esta estará mais distante da Terra do que se pensava inicialmente.

Continua a haver uma possibilidade de colisão, mas esta passou de 1 em 45000 para 4 num milhão. Apesar desta improbabilidade, Apophis continuará a passar a apenas um terço da distancia Terra-Lua… Demasiado perto para ser tranquilizante e recordando-nos desta verdadeira Espada de Damocles que pende sobre os nossos pescoços. Esperemos que então sejam enviadas missões tripuladas ou robóticas a Apophis que estudem e recolham amostras da sua natureza que aumentem o nosso conhecimento sobre este perigoso companheiro solar. Ou que se pondere até a instalação de um motor foguete (nuclear, de iões ou químico) que num funcionamento continuo mas suave vá afastando gradualmente o asteróide da nossa órbita.

Fonte:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091007-apophis-hazard.html

Scientists have continued to refine the asteroid Apophis‘ future trajectory.  Their most recent calculations show a decreasing probability of a potential strike by Apophis on Earth in 2036.  Previous work had already discounted any strike in 2029.  The recent announcement holds some interesting language:

“Updated computational techniques and newly available data indicate the probability of an Earth encounter on April 13, 2036, for Apophis has dropped from one-in-45,000 to about four-in-a million.”

So the probability decreased from 1-in-45,000 to 1-in-250,000.  Notice how much unlikelier the chance seems when the world million is used.

#######

Private entry into space comes closer to reality every day.  Progress is measured by relatively short-lived but attention-driven events like rocket launches.  A reusable private rocket test was successful last week.  Colorado had numerous connections to the launch, with launch services provided by UP Aerospace of Denver, CO and the program directed by Advanced Programs at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Littleton, CO.

New Mexico is trying to secure its place in space history with the world’s first purpose-driven spaceport, currently under construction.  Lockheed Martin has already has three successful test launches from Spaceport America.  Hopefully there are many more to follow.

Devido ao seu grande tamanho e por sua órbita cruzar o caminho da Terra, Apophis é um dos mais vigiados asteroides do espaço. O objeto deve atingir a máxima aproximação no ano de 2036 e até recentemente tinha uma chance em 45 mil de se chocar contra a Terra. Agora, novos cálculos diminuíram um pouco essa chance, mas a vigília permanece.

Os resultados foram anunciados pelos cientistas Steve Chesley e Paul Chodas, ligados Programa de Objetos Próximo à Terra, NEO, do Laboratório de Propulsão a Jato da Nasa, JPL, durante encontro realizado na Divisão de Ciência Planetária da Sociedade Astronômica Americana, que se realizou em Porto Rico em 8 de outubro. Segundo os pesquisadores, as chances de um impacto no dia 13 de abril de 2036 foram reduzidas em cinco vezes caíram de 1 em 45 mil para 1 em 250 mil

Para chegar a esta conclusão, os cientistas utilizaram os dados observacionais da equipe do astrônomo Dave Tholen, do Instituto de Astronomia da Universidade do Havaí, que analisou diversas imagens do céu noturno feitas com o telescópio de 2.2 metros de Mauna Kea, também no Havaí, e que ainda não eram conhecidas dos pesquisadores. As observações foram complementadas com dados captados pelo Observatório Steward, no Arizona e pelo radiotelescópio de Arecibo, em Porto Rico.

Além de refinarem os cálculos orbitais, Chesley e Chodas também identificaram uma terceira aproximação de Apophis para o ano de 2068, com chance de colisão de uma em 330 mil. “Se conseguirmos obter dados de radar em 2013, poderemos antecipar a localização de Apophis pelos próximos 60 anos” disse Jon Giorgini, do JPL. Nesta data Apophis passará a 14.4 milhões de quilômetros e permitirá aos astrônomos melhorar os modelos de trajetória para as próximas passagens.

Apophis
Descoberto em junho de 2004, Apophis tem aproximadamente 400 metros de comprimento e completa uma volta ao redor do Sol a cada 323 dias, cruzando a órbita terrestre duas vezes por ano. Chamado inicialmente de 2004 MN4, a rocha foi definitivamente batizada como 99942 Apophis em julho de 2005, após ter seus parâmetros definitivamente conhecidos.

Apophis, que em grego significa “destruidor”, é hoje o corpo celeste mais vigiado no espaço. Atualmente se localiza a 300 milhões de quilômetros da Terra, com o Sol entre os dois objetos.

2029: Muito perto da Terra
Antes de 2036, Apophis deverá se aproximar bastante da Terra em abril de 2029. Cálculos anteriores mostravam que o asteroide tinha cerca de 3% de chances de atingir a Terra nesta data, mas à medida que os modelos orbitais foram refinados essa possibilidade foi praticamente descartada, mesmo assim o asteroide deverá passar a apenas 29 mil quilômetros de distância da Terra, uma distância menor que a dos satélites geoestacionários.

Impacto
Caso se choque com a Terra, sua massa, velocidade, composição e ângulo de entrada na atmosfera serão suficientes para provocar uma explosão equivalente a 1480 megatoneladas de TNT, o que representa 114 mil vezes a energia liberada pela bomba atômica lançada em 1945 sobre a cidade de Hiroshima e sete vezes mais intenso que explosão do vulcão Krakatoa, na Indonésia, em 1883. Em termos de destruição seria capaz de desintegrar completamente uma área do tamanho da ilha da Sicília e causar efeitos colaterais na geografia, clima e meio ambiente de mais de 30% do planeta.

Via Apolo11

It’s weeks like these that all the aliens need to get together and finally start an intergalactic news organization to report on all the universal happenings. Here at HowStuffWorks.com we’ve been so busy covering the Ig Nobels this week, that outer space took a back seat.

Which new story excited you the most? Was it NASA taking a bite out of the moon Friday morning? Or maybe you didn’t bat an eye at that since, as Robert reminded me, this idea of bombing the moon has been around since as early as the 1950s in the form of Project A 119. Or maybe you’re more of a pacifist and applaud Huffington Post blogger Amy Ephron’s efforts to help save the moon (rather than bomb it). Furthermore, even if you were gung-ho on the explosion idea, the impact didn’t exactly give you a big show in the form of a plume of debris. If you haven’t gotten around to watching it yet, I’ve included a link to NASA’s coverage of the event.

Space.com is running a cool top 10 featuring the greatest lunar crashes ever, No. 10 being the recent LCROSS impact.  The moon’s cataclysmic origins figure in prominently, too. (I tried to link to it, but for some reason, it wouldn’t work. Sorry about that guys.)

But if the moon wasn’t your bag, there was plenty of news emanating from the gas giant a few planets over. Earlier in the week, we learned that yet another enormous ring encircles Saturn. This one, according to the folks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, could fit about 1 billion Earths inside it. The Spitzer Space Telescope discovered Saturn’s latest admirer. If anyone’s lost count, up until this latest finding, the planet had seven rings and few more faint unnamed ones in reserve (maybe those are backups in case A through E don’t work out?).

We also learned that the Earth isn’t quite as likely to get beaned by Apophis, the near-Earth object that measures two-and-a-half football fields across. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory report that the probability of Earth receiving a decidedly unwelcome visit from the asteroid on April 13, 2036, has dropped from one-in-45,000 to about four-in-a million.

And those are just a sliver of the stories that rocked space this week.

Get spacey at HowStuffWorks.com:
When Worlds and Comets Collide
Moon Quiz
Why do some people believe the moon landings were a hoax?

Where is Bruce Willis when you need him? Luckily, it appears Mr. Willis and Ben Affleck won’t be needed as NASA has downgraded the odds of an 885-foot asteroid striking the planet in 2036.

From the Associated Press:

Scientists initially believed there was a 1-in-45,000 chance that Apophis could hit the planet on April 13, 2036. But the threat was lowered to a 1-in-250,000 chance after researchers recalculated the asteroid’s path.

“It wasn’t anything to worry about before. Now it’s even less so,” said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Chesley and his colleagues refined the asteroid’s orbit after an astronomer in Hawaii analyzed previously unreleased images that gave scientists a better idea of Apophis’ position.

Científicos de la NASA han recalculado el camino previsto del asteroide Apophis y han reducido significativamente la posibilidad planteada en estudios anteriores de una colisión fatal contra la Tierra en el año 2036.

Apophis es un asteroide con una órbita próxima a la de la Tierra y que según datos de la NASA, pasará muy cerca de la Tierra en el año 2036 (antes estimado en 2029) y una pequeña colisión con otro asteroide podría desviarlo hacia nuestro planeta, donde produciría un efecto superior al de 40.000 bombas atómicas.

Técnicas actualizadas por computadora y nuevos datos disponibles indican que la probabilidad de un encuentro con la Tierra el 13 de abril de 2036 ha descendido de una sobre 45.000 y tan sólo cuatro por millón.

Inicialmente, se pensaba que Apophis tenía un 2,7 por ciento de posibilidades de impactar contra la Tierra en 2029. Observaciones complementarias del asteroide descartaron toda posibilidad de impacto ese año. Sin embargo,
se calculó una aproximación peligrosa del mismo el 13 de abril de 2036, a tan sólo unos 30.000 kilómetros de nuestro planeta.

La trayectoria de riesgo se ubica en la parte sur de Rusia, cruzando el Pacífico, pasando por las costas de California y México, luego proseguiría entre Nicaragua y Costa Rica continuando por el Mar Caribe hasta cruzar por las regiones septentrionales de Colombia y Venezuela, finalizando su recorrido en el Atlántico antes de llegar a África.

El asteroide Apophis tiene aproximadamente el tamaño de 2,5 canchas de fútbol. Los nuevos datos han sido documentados por Steve Chesley y Paul Chodas, astrónomos especializados en objetos cercanos a la Tierra del Jet Propulsion Laboratory de la NASA.

El asteroide Apophis (en el círculo)

El asteroide Apophis, de unos 250 metros de diámetro y 2,1 × 10⁷ toneladas, pasará muy cerca de la Tierra en 2029 y 2036. A pesar de los alarmantes cálculos iniciales tras su descubrimiento en 2004, poco después las posibilidades de impacto con nuestro planeta se descartaron para el paso de 2029, y se estimaron en una entre 45.000 para el paso de 2036.

Un reciente estudio presentado en el Congreso Anual de la División de Ciencias Planetarias de la Sociedad Astronómica Americana que se está celebrando estos días, muestra que las probabilidades son aún menores, del orden de 1/250.000, según presentaron varios investigadores del Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Apophis pasará en 2029 a unos 29.000 km de la Tierra, por debajo incluso de la órbita geoestacionaria (35.700 km), y es posible que la probabilidad de impacto en 2036 disminuya todavía más.

Sin embargo, los NEO (objetos cercanos a la Tierra) y especialmente los PHA (asteroides potencialmente peligrosos, de los que hay catalogados casi un millar) son lo suficientemente preocupantes como para justificar no solamente programas de detección y seguimiento, sino el desarrollo de estrategias tecnológicas para poder acometer un desvío en caso de detectar una trayectoria de impacto.

Otras noticias sobre el tema

Image Credit: NASA Photo

Apophis, an asteroid discovered on 19 June 2004 during observations at Kitt Peak National Observatory, caused a media stir when an estimate from NASA was released on 23 December 2004 of there being a one-in-300 chance of hitting the Earth in 2029. This put it at a Level 2 on the Torino Scale. The next day, an update stated: December 24 Update: 2004 MN4 is now being tracked very carefully by many astronmers around the world, and we continue to update our risk analysis for this object. Today’s impact monitoring results indicate that the impact probability for April 13, 2029 has risen to about 1.6%, which for an object of this size corresponds to a rating of 4 on the ten-point Torino Scale. Nevertheless, the odds against impact are still high, about 60 to 1…

Over time, the risk level has gradually been lowered as additional measurements have been made. As early as 3 February 2005, NASA ruled out a collision in 2029 (Friday the 13th, April), when it would come no closer than 36,350 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. However, this still left open a possible encounter in 2036.

Now, observations made by the 2.3 meter (90-inch) Bok telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, along with measurements from the Arecibo Observatory on the island of Puerto Rico have been combined with observations by Dave Tholen and collaborators at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy in Manoa. The previous estimate for 2036 was one-in-45,000, The new refined estimate is one-in-250,000 (6 times less likely).

NASA now reports that:

…the asteroid is expected to make a record-setting — but harmless — close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, when it comes no closer than 29,450 kilometers (18,300 miles) above Earth’s surface.

See Eric Berger’s Blog on Preparedness for NEO Impacts on the Earth.

Also, its a crowded Solar System.

… the Earth is much less likely to hit by an asteroid in 2036 than previously expected. (And, yes, the Futurama reference is intentional.)

The NASA release from today’s inbox:

NASA Refines Asteroid Apophis’ Path Toward Earth

PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth in 2036.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO)

The Apophis asteroid is approximately the size of two-and-a-half football fields. The new data were documented by near-Earth object scientists Steve Chesley and Paul Chodas at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They will present their updated findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in Puerto Rico on Oct. 8.

“Apophis has been one of those celestial bodies that has captured the public’s interest since it was discovered in 2004,” said Chesley. “Updated computational techniques and newly available data indicate the probability of an Earth encounter on April 13, 2036, for Apophis has dropped from one-in-45,000 to about four-in-a million.”

A majority of the data that enabled the updated orbit of Apophis came from observations Dave Tholen and collaborators at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy in Manoa made. Tholen pored over hundreds of previously unreleased images of the night sky made with the University of Hawaii’s 88-inch telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea.

Tholen made improved measurements of the asteroid’s position in the images, enabling him to provide Chesley and Chodas with new data sets more precise than previous measures for Apophis. Measurements from the Steward Observatory’s 90-inch Bok telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona and the Arecibo Observatory on the island of Puerto Rico also were used in Chesley’s calculations.

The information provided a more accurate glimpse of Apophis’ orbit well into the latter part of this century. Among the findings is another close encounter by the asteroid with Earth in 2068 with chance of impact currently at approximately three-in-a-million. As with earlier orbital estimates where Earth impacts in 2029 and 2036 could not initially be ruled out due to the need for additional data, it is expected that the 2068 encounter will diminish in probability as more information about Apophis is acquired.

Initially, Apophis was thought to have a 2.7 percent chance of impacting Earth in 2029. Additional observations of the asteriod ruled out any possibility of an impact in 2029. However, the asteroid is expected to make a record-setting — but harmless — close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, when it comes no closer than 18,300 miles above Earth’s surface.

“The refined orbital determination further reinforces that Apophis is an asteroid we can look to as an opportunity for exciting science and not something that should be feared,” said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. “The public can follow along as we continue to study Apophis and other near-Earth objects by visiting us on our AsteroidWatch Web site and by following us on the @AsteroidWatch Twitter feed.”

The science of predicting asteroid orbits is based on a physical model of the solar system which includes the gravitational influence of the sun, moon, other planets and the three largest asteroids.

NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-based telescopes. The Near Earth-Object Observations Program, commonly called “Spaceguard,” discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Cornell University operates the Arecibo Observatory under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va.

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

For more information about NASA, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/

Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO
AP Archive:  http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: NASA

Web Site:  http://www.nasa.gov/

APOPHIS, enemigo de RA, personificación de la fuerza de la oscuridad. Es el dios Serpiente, el dios de la Noche

“ Su función consiste en interrumpir el recorrido del barco solar para que no pueda alcanzar el nuevo día, y para ello empleaba varios sistemas: atacar a la barca directamente o culebrear para provocar bancos de arena donde el navío encallara. Todo ello tenía sólo una meta: romper el orden cósmico, la Maat.

Apophis era una serpiente indestructible y poderosa a la que había que contener; sin embargo, nunca sería aniquilada sino dañada o sometida, ya que de otro modo el ciclo solar no podría llevarse a cabo diariamente y el mundo perecería. Para los antiguos egipcios era necesario que el concepto del mal existiese para que el bien fuera posible.

(…) no tenía ojos ni oídos y sólo podía gritar.

(…) Apophis y Atum son dos manifestaciones del Sol antes y después de haber establecido la creación (el desorden y el advenimiento del orden).

Los teólogos egipcios entendieron que la suerte de Apophis era el motivo por el que, en ocasiones, los cielos se teñían de rojo. El color no era más que la sangre que emanaba de las heridas provocadas a la serpiente. Los mismos teólogos egipcios interpretaron los eclipses como obras maléficas de Apofis en su lucha en el Más Allá.”

Fuente: GRAN DICCIONARIO DE MITOLOGÍA EGIPCIA

IAO

 Virgo, Isis Madre Altísima

Escorpio, Apophis, Destructor

Sol, Osiris, Asesinado y Elevado

Welcome once again ladies, gentlemen, and anyone else I missed to another exciting edition of Brutal Bagelz Review! Today is another concert review, but more importantly, its also the Fall Equinox, or in other words, the first day of fall. I think its safe to say that this season should be good for one of my favorite bands, The FALL into Black. Eh heh heh, I don’t get paid to write jokes people, so shut the fuck up.

Anyways back on track. A little over a week ago I once again ventured far into the land of Minnesota, all the way to Buffalo where the kind folks at Serrated Records happened to be putting on a show at hot ‘n’ sticky Vault. And why shouldn’t they? Most of us young-ins are back to school now and we had recently memorialized the tragedy our country faced 8 years ago, so it was about time that we all got together and rocked the fuck out. O trust me, we did.

With a killer line-up consisting of the popular heavy-weights Vessels for our Ghost and The Fall into Black, one of my favorite bands Now Until the Hour, the exotic Milwaukee-flavored Apophis, and also the Atlantic Fury, who before this show, I had never heard, I can imagine the tough decision that the boys of Serrated had to face when deciding order. But they asked for it by bringing all of those good bands together in one place.

First up was the out-of-town band, Apophis. Coming through Minneapolis on tour, they were hoping to make a name for themselves further north in the midwest, and I know they made at least a few fans that night. They were heavy enough to contend with my super-heavy favorite, Now Until the Hour, and in spite of the lack of crowd they rocked just as hard as every other band, showing great resilience and stage presence. The music was all quality and I can’t wait for these guys to come through again, or maybe I’ll even road trip to Milwaukee…Anyone else interested?

The second band on the bill was The Atlantic Fury, a fairly well known band around the area, but not one I was all too familiar with before concert. I’m glad they came to play. I was thoroughly impressed with the music and stage presence, and also how good Nick looked without a shirt. I don’t blame him for taking it off, with the amount of teenage girls present in the audience it should have been mandatory, not to mention its hot as hell in that venue. I can’t wait to see these guys again in concert.

The hump of the show was borne by Now Until the Hour, the heaviest and most brutal band that came out that night, and probably that will ever play the Vault. I can never say enough about these guys, with their new album finished and ready to grace our ears, I’m sure their fan base will continue to grow across the Twin Cities. Did I mention that they use absolutely no curse words in their lyrics? Thats right all you parentals out there, NUTH is totally safe and constructive for your kids to be listening to, especially if you want them listening to music about brutal things like death, dying, and destruction. Rock on bitches.

Anyways, the fourth band was The Fall into Black. Once again they put on a terrific show, and I always love to see them live because their stage presence is so amazing. They also attract some pretty fine women, way to go boys (no that was not a reference to the afore mentioned teenage girls).  i could ramble on about these guys but it would all be the same old news, however, in talking with the band it sounded like they were busy working on new material, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that shit because I know that its going to kick ass.

Once again, headlining the show was Vessels for our Ghost. And how deserving of that position they are. I especially enjoyed the change of lighting they used, simple, but dramatic, it was a good contrast from the rest of the bands and made the band seem that much larger than life. On top of playing an amazing set, free of the minor hang-ups that plagued them the last time I saw them, they were able to get the crowd moving in a way that not even the Fall into Black managed. The final song of the show culminated with the most enjoyable small-venue mosh pit experience in my life and I am truly grateful for all of the fans and other metal heads out there that made it possible.

So whats in store now? Well thats simple, THREAT SIGNAL. Just got their new album and flipped through it, so far so good, but that is just a teaser. I promised a double donger review with both Threat Signal and Dethklok, and I intend to deliver. This is in spite of the fact that Dethalbum II’s release was pushed back to the 29th of this month. Trust me you wont want to miss this battle royal of two clashing metal styles, there will be blood lots of blood.

Until then, Autumn, you just got bageled.

id Software’s upcoming game Rage uses asteroid Apophis as the scene setter for a post apocalyptic world. (id is part of Zenimax now, which also owns Bethesda, who did Fallout, a similar scene but done with nuclear weapons…)

Is this even close to being realistic? No, because of multiple reasons.

You can check out the list of impact risks maintained by NASA here.

Apophis is zero on the Torino scale. The Torino scale is a balanced impact risk number, from zero to ten. There’s one one on the list at the time of writing. Apophis also has a 270 meter estimated diameter and not a very high velocity, 6 km/s.

We can use the impact effects calculator here for some gauging of what would happen. Even if we assumed it to be dense rock and the impact velocity to be 17 km/s, there wouldn’t be that huge effects (although they could be big locally).

Assuming it hits the ground, at 300 km distance from the impact site you would get a mild earthquake, and a sound as loud as heavy traffic. At 100 km you’d get a stronger earthquake, 6.7 on the Richer scale, and the fireball would be 4 times as bright as the sun. (Still probably no direct skin burns). You would get some sparse gravel ejecta at 100 km which means you wouldn’t want to be outside, but only very little dust ejecta at 300 km.

The main takeaway message is that since the asteroid is so small, the damage would not be widespread. You could not really destroy even two large cities with one. Hence no apocalypse.

If it hit the sea (likely), it could create a tsunami, and that could generate more damage to humans, depending on where it struck (this I don’t know very well), but the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and China Sea are probably very bad. The 2004 Tsunamis triggered by an undersea earthquake killed over 200,000 people.

It’s still very much worth observing and developing technology to prevent large asteroid strikes. It’s just that the public doesn’t seem to have any handle on what the effects are like.

Apophis

Asteroidul a fost descoperit în luna decembrie a anului 2004, dar informaţia nu a fost făcută publică până în prezent, anunţă Evenimentul Zilei. Potrivit specialiştilor, în timpul următorului ciclu de rotație, în anul 2029, asteroidul ar putea să ne lovească planeta.

Momentul exact al coliziunii ar putea să fie în luna aprilie a anului 2029. Cercetătorii sunt de părere că asteroidul ar putea să cadă în oceanul Pacific, la 500 kilometri vest de Santa Monica.

Chiar dacă asteroidul ar ocoli Pământul în 2029, el ar reprezenta o amenintare numai şapte ani mai târziu, în 2036.

Deşi se cunoştea existenţa acestui asteroid încă din 2004, astronomii au ales să amâne anunţul. Tot în acel an a avut loc valul tsunami în Indonezia, iar comunitatea ştiinţifică a considerat omenirea prea înfricoşată la acea dată pentru alte ştiri de acest fel.

Cu o rază de aproximativ 270 metri și o masă de 2.1 x 10 milioane de tone, Apophis este cel mai mare corp extraterestru care ar putea să treacă atât de aproape de Pământ sau chiar să-l lovească.

Începând din 2004, astronomii cercetează asteroidul şi caută modalităţi de deviere a cestuia.

Dice: “abbiamo deciso che nei prossimi 50 anni la temperatura della terra non crescerà più di due gradi”

PS considerando che negli ultimi 150 anni la temperatura è aumentata (forse) di 0.6 °C ci sono buone probabilità che anche senza fare una mazza la terrà non si scalderà più di tanto…spero che Apophis ci colpisca

“I am Apep which thou hast awakened.”

The name Apep appears in three Holy Books – Liber LXV, Liber VII, and Liber LXVI. He is also found as Hoor-Apep in Liber DCLXXI.

Apep was known as Apophis in Greek. In the glossary of the Initiation in the Aeon of the Child, Gunther lists Apep as: “The great serpent, enemy of Ra, the sun God. In the Holy Books, Apep signifies a form of destruction, prerequisite for change.”

It was interesting that he came after the Invocation of the Heart girt with a Serpent. The vision was of a rising serpent being crowned in the clouds, which I understood as the symbolic union of the kundalini with the Sahasrara.

Liber XC does mention: “My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.”

Crowley references “Energized Enthusiasm” as “one of the classical methods of arousing Kundalini.”

Again from Liber ABA: “The central channel is compressed at the base by Kundalini, the magical power, a sleeping serpent. Awake her: she darts up the spine, and the Prana flows through the Sushumna.”

[...]

“There is the lotus of three petals in the Sacrum, in which the Kundalini lies asleep. This lotus is the receptacle of reproductive force.”

[...]

“The two-petalled lotus of the pineal gland receives the nourishment needed by thought, while above the junction of the cranial structures is that sublime lotus, of a thousand and one petals, which receives the influence from on high; and in which, in the Adept, the awakened Kundalini takes her pleasure with the Lord of All.”

And finally one more: “The Serpent which is coiled about the Crown means many things, or, rather, one thing in many ways. It is the symbol of royalty and of initiation, for the Magician is anointed King and Priest.

“It also represents Hadit, of which one can here only quote these words: ‘I am the secret serpent coiled about to spring; in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one; if I droop down mine head and shoot forth venom, there is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one.’

“The serpent is also the Kundalini serpent, the Magical force itself, the manifesting side of the Godhead of the Magician, whose unmanifested side is peace and silence, of which there is no symbol.

“In the Hindu system the Great Work is represented by saying that this serpent, which is normally coiled at the base of the spine, rises with her hood over the head of the Yogi, there to unite with the Lord of all.”

“The serpent is also he who poisons. It is that force which destroys the manifested Universe. This is also the emerald snake which encircles the Universe. This matter must be studied in Liber LXV, where this is discussed incomparably. In the hood of this serpent are the six jewels, three on each side, Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire, the three holy elements made perfect, on both sides in equilibrium.”

Crowley did write to Achad that the purpose of magic is to arouse your kundalini.

El asteroide de la foto es Apophis un pedrusco con una magnitud absoluta H=19.5 (esto significa que tiene mide más o menos medio kilómetro) y su masa esta estimada en 210 millones de toneladas. Fue descubierto en 2004 desde el Kitt National Peak Observatory, en Arizona (EE. UU.)

Pertenece al grupo de los asteroides Atón (Apophis tiene un periodo orbital de 323 días, y su trayectoria le lleva a atravesar la órbita de la Tierra dos veces en cada vuelta al Sol).

Le pusieron el nombre de Apophis porque dos de los descubridores (Tholen y Tucker) son fans de la serie de televisión Stargate SG-1, y en las primeras temporadas de la serie, el principal enemigo de los humanos es un alienígena llamado Apophis cuyo principal objetivo es destruir la Tierra.

En un principio, según los datos existentes, se dijo que el asteroide pasaría muy cerca de la Tierra el 13 de Abril del año 2029, e incluso que había la posibilidad de que chocara con ella. Con los datos obtenidos posteriormente, se dedujo que el asteroide no chocaría, aunque si pasará muy cerca.

En esta foto se puede ver que pasara entre la tierra y la luna, a una distancia de 37660.7 kms del centro de la Tierra, o lo que es lo mismo a 32395.5 Kms de Madrid. Hay que tener en cuenta que la distancia media entre el centro de la Tierra y la Luna es de 384.400 Km.

Aunque en el 2029 esta descartado que nos pueda impactar, la aproximación a la tierra hará que el asteroide modifique levemente su trayectoria y aumente las probabilidades de impactar la próxima vez que se crucen nuestros caminos (en el 2036) alcanzando la alarmante probabilidad de impacto contra la tierra del 3%, siendo esto muchísimo, solamente pensar que la probabilidad de que os toque un primer premio en los Euromillones son de 1 entre 76 millones.

En el siguiente mapa se puede ver donde se calcula que seria el impacto, si se da el caso de que llegue a impactar en el 2036 (por lo menos impactaría lejos de España XD).

El 6 de mayo de 2006, cuando el asteroide se encontraba a 42 millones de kilómetros de la Tierra, astrónomos de la NASA volvieron a medir su velocidad mediante el radiotelescopio de Arecibo, Puerto Rico. El resultado fue diferente al esperado en 6 milímetros por segundo. Esta corrección, aunque parezca diminuta, con el tiempo será lo bastante grande como para que la trayectoria del asteroide sea diferente a la calculada inicialmente, reduciendo el peligro de impacto con la Tierra.

El 4 de abril de 2008, comenzó a propagarse por el mundo una falsa noticia: un adolescente alemán de 13 años había corregido a la NASA en las probabilidades de colisión de Apophis con la Tierra y la NASA había pedido disculpas y aceptado su error.

Pero al final toda la historia resulto ser un bulo, pues posteriormente la NASA ratifico su cálculo, y niega haber tenido algún contacto con el joven alemán. Cuando Donald K. Yeomans (Supervisor del Solar System Dynamics Group) contactó con el chaval para pedirle una copia del informe, el niño aseguró que un virus había borrado su disco duro y que la única copia la tenía el jurado del concurso (en el que se presentó y ganó). Y ahí quedo todo.

Los japoneses (que son unos cachondos) han hecho un video creado por ordenador de como seria el impacto de un asteroide (mucho más grande que el susodicho), aquí os lo dejo:

Con el pedrusco este habrá que esperar al 2013 año en el que se podrán hacer nuevas mediciones (ahora lo tapa el sol), pero tranquilos que ya hay proyectos para impedir que impacte.

Propicios días a todos xD.

Vía: Organización Salmantina de la Astronáutica y el Espacio (OSAE)

Más información en:
Wikipedia Apophis
Astrofotos
Nasa
Ojocientifico

Escuchando: Aerosmith – I don’t wanna miss a thing
(De la banda sonora de la pelicula Armageddon XD)

Take a glimpse at this:

I was skimming through the few channels that are available in my TV set at home here for background sound while reading the day’s paper (do people do that? erk).  So I was thinking if I were to read the paper, I’d have to find something somewhat boring on the TV to switch to so that I wouldn’t pay much attention to it, because my main objective was to merely make it as ‘background sound’….  So I clicked the remote to HISTORY CHANNEL. haha..thinking something boring was on.

.

Well, I could tell you that I had put the paper down altogether!

.

..all the stars and the galaxy visuals mesmerized me…

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Anywho..The TV documentary on was called ‘UNIVERSE’.  It talked a lot about asteroids out there in our galaxy, its orbits, the kinds of asteroids and all that.

While watching the show, I realized how small we humans are.  How large ALLAH has created this universe.  If HE wanted to get rid of us, anytime HE could ‘flick’ an asteroid, which is a tiny speck in the universe, at our planet here…and BAM! We’d could be gone in a split second!  ALLAH is the ALMIGHTY.

…

And at its climax the documentary talked about asteroids’ contacts with our planet Earth.  Then did it explain NASA’s estimation of a killer asteroid named APOPHIS (meaning ‘the destroyer’) to hit Earth in 2036 causing MAJOR geological damages, affecting a huge part of the world.

After watching the documentary, I went straight to the PC here… and yahooed and googled here and there to read more on this APOPHIS asteroid.  OK, probably you all have heard about this, because the discovery was made in 2004, 5 years ago, but hey..this is new for me.. so bear with me

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Here’s another video with some facts.. (do ignore the language in the beginning of the vid)

…OK, quite frightening isn’t it?  Whether APOPHIS will actually collide onto Earth’s floor or not in 2036..   Only ALLAH truly knows.  Scientists all over the world could do their researching and all, but whatever it is, the whole thing’s HIS deal.  But let’s make it a reminder that we could be gone any day.  Anytime.  The Resurrection (Al-Qiyamah) has its time:

He questions: “When is the Day of Resurrection?” At length, when the sight is dazed and the moon is buried in darkness, and the sun and moon are joined together that Day will Man say; “Where is the refuge?”

Al-Qiyaamah (75): 6-10

There are many other ‘prophecies’ predicting humans will be gone sometime this century, but again, that’s ALLAH’s deal.  Our deal is to be ready for The Day.

Oh ALLAH,…I’m only a small, weak, inferior creation of YOURS.  Look at me, just glancing at he stars and planets YOU’ve made into existence makes me tremble with fear of YOUR Greatness.  Fear of YOUR wrath.  Oh ALLAH, do keep away YOUR fury upon me, because I am not strong enough to face it.  I am inferior, Oh ALLAH…I know…yet I don’t know how I could confront YOUR fury.  Oh ALLAH, please help me in making preparation for the Day of Judgment, for I do fear YOUR wrath, oh ALLAH…do have mercy on me, help me in gaining your ultimate blessing…

AMEEN.

READ MORE:

NASA:Predicting Apophis’ Earth Encounters in 2029 and 2036

Study: Still a Chance Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2036

Back in December 2004, there was some concern that the asteroid known as Apophis 99942 might strike the planet in 2029. However, further number-crunching ended up eliminating the remote (approximately 3%) possibility and, as a result, I was forced to convert my asteroid shelter into a curbside taco stand. Then came the suggestion that come 2029, Apophis 99942 would be passing through a gravitational keyhole that could put it on a collision course with Earth in 2036! Since then, however, the probability of an impact has been downgraded to a 1 in 45 000 chance, forcing me to transform my asteroid shelter yet again, this time converting it into a backyard recording studio where I laid down some tracks for my first hip hop album (PB and Jamz drops September 3^rd, G.).

Apophis 99942 ended up engendering a fair amount of discussion about what our governments should be doing to better identify, track and deal with near-impact asteroids. Amidst all the chatter, however, there some questions I found myself asking: Who discovered Apophis 99942? What was their story? And, most importantly – Could we hold them accountable for the actions of their little asteroid?

Sadly, the answer to the last one is no. The answer to the first one is astronomers (and Stargate fans) Dave Tholen and Roy Tucker. As for the answer to that middle question, read on…

Roy: We’re delighted to give your readers some insight into the mysterious realm of asteroid astronomy. Out of the world’s population of six billion people, there are probably only a couple of thousand who are so serious about the subject that they will spend significant time and effort pursuing their interest. Since Dave is a professional and I am an amateur, we can provide both perspectives.

Let me start with some prefatory information that might help with some of the questions. A lot of information about asteroids is available in astronomy books and on the web so I won’t cover the basics. A good website to visit is that of the Minor Planet Center, http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html. Until the 1990’s, asteroid research was the almost exclusive domain of professional astronomers. As a young amateur astronomer in the 1960’s, the idea of discovering an asteroid was a wild flight of fantasy. However, with the advent of CCD imaging technology, the advance in home computers, and the availability of precise star catalogs on CDROM, it became possible for amateurs with modest instrumentation to make valuable contributions to asteroid research. Indeed, amateurs often enjoy some advantages over professionals such as having a telescope available to them at any time. A 14-inch aperture amateur telescope with a CCD camera is equivalent to a 120-inch telescope in the days of photographic imaging. With such modest instrumentation, one may detect stars a million times fainter than the faintest star you can see with the unaided eye in a dark sky. Not bad for puttering around in the back yard.

When an asteroid is first discovered, it receives a provisional designation based upon the year and half-month of the year. This is detailed at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/info/OldDesDoc.html . At the time of discovery, the motion of an asteroid is very poorly known and only very crude estimates of the orbit may be made. As time goes by, the motion becomes better known and the orbit may be refined. When the orbit of an asteroid is known sufficiently well, it is given a permanent number and may then be named. In the early 1990’s, there were fewer than 10,000 numbered asteroids after almost two hundred years since the first discovery. Because of amateurs and large professional surveys, there are now over a quarter million numbered asteroids and hundreds of thousands of known objects as yet un-numbered.

Besides discovery and tracking, there is much that can be learned from carefully measuring brightness and color with the passage of time as the asteroid rotates and appears in other parts of its orbit. The color may be used to indicate mineralogical composition and the rotation rate and pole orientation can tell a story of how terribly tiny forces have acted upon the body over the four-and-a-half billion year history of the Solar System. In few other fields of scientific research can amateurs be such full partners with professionals.

Near-Earth Objects are asteroids and comets that can closely approach the earth. There are four general classes of Near-Earth Asteroids. Amor asteroids have orbits that lie entirely outside the orbit of the earth but can approach as closely to the sun as 1.3 Astronomical Units or AU. The AU is equal to the average distance between the earth and the sun, about 93 million miles. Apollo asteroids have average distances from the sun greater than that of the earth but may approach the sun more closely than the earth. As a result, the orbit of such an object crosses that of the earth and an impact is possible. Aten asteroids have average distances from the sun less than the earth but can also cross the earth’s orbit and pose a hazard. Finally, the Apohele asteroids have orbits entirely inside the orbit of the earth and are harmless. Long-period comets such as those depicted in “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact” are a special hazard since they cannot yet be detected at great distances from the sun and may suddenly appear and threaten impact with warning times of perhaps months or weeks.

As of this June, Dave and I will have been acquainted for thirty years, since the summer of 1979 when I was a summer student at Kitt Peak Observatory and he was a graduate student in planetary sciences at the University of Arizona. At that time, Dave was sharing an apartment with another planetary sciences graduate student who decided to go home for the summer. Realizing that I needed a place to stay in Tucson that summer and Dave needed a temporary replacement roommate to help with the rent, a mutual acquaintance introduced us. Due to our shared interests in classical music, Star Trek, and all things astronomical, we became fast friends.

Our first observing collaboration was making observations of David’s first asteroid discovery, 1981 VB, now numbered and named (3124) Kansas. He had discovered the object while making other observations but was not able to gain access to a telescope and follow up during a critical period some days later. I was working at the Multiple Mirror Telescope at the time and was able to obtain the needed observations there on an engineering night.

Upon completion of my backyard observatory in the fall of 1996, Dave encouraged me to begin a program of measuring asteroid positions to help in determining their orbits more precisely. In the course of twelve years of asteroid observations with this backyard facility, I have discovered several hundred Main Belt asteroids, six Near-Earth Asteroids (three Atens, two Apollos, and one Amor), and two comets. Dave has been very helpful with his advice and orbital computations.

The sequence of events that led to the discovery of Apophis began when I started working at the University of Arizona’s Imaging Technology Laboratory in the fall of 2002 as a CCD characterization engineer. One of the instruments under development at the time was a prime-focus mosaic camera for the Bok 90″ telescope called 90 Prime. I quickly realized that this camera would be an excellent asteroid search instrument because of its wide field of view and ability to record very faint objects.

Dave has had a continuing program of looking for Near-Earth Asteroids in regions of the sky relatively near the sun. This observing strategy enhances the chances of finding Aten-class objects and is necessary for asteroids whose orbits lie entirely inside that of the earth. When the 90 Prime instrument became available for use, we submitted an observing proposal in support of his program that would require about an hour at the beginning of the night and at the end. Since Dave and his research staff member, Fabrizio Bernardi, are University of Hawaii people, they were listed as collaborators and I, as the University of Arizona participant, was designated the Principal Investigator and the certified Instrument Operator. This was a bit unusual since, strictly speaking, I am an amateur astronomer, not a professional.

Because of conflicting obligations at observing facilities in Hawaii, Dave and Fabrizio were not able to be present until halfway through the third night. Before arriving, they had requested that I follow up on an object they had spotted in Hawaii. The next day we examined those images to find the object he was looking for. I spotted a fast-moving object that I thought was his but he quickly concluded it could not be. We reported it to the Minor Planet Center to be listed on the NEOCP (Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page). Strangely, they concluded it was not sufficiently unusual in motion to be listed. Upon reporting the second night’s observations, it was designated 2004 MN4 and posted on the NEOCP. Because of an interruption due to weather and another, incompatible, observing program, we were not able to recover the object and report further observations. Because of the difficulties of observing at small solar elongations, there was no follow up from its listing on the NEOCP. It was upon its recovery in December of 2004, with an observational interval of six months, that it became apparent that this object could perhaps impact the earth in 2029.

We began considering a good name for the object as soon as it was numbered. 2004 MN4 was an Aten asteroid and a name of Egyptian origin is customary. However, after encountering the earth in 2029, the orbit will be changed to that of an Apollo asteroid and an Egyptian name would not be so appropriate. We liked the name “Apophis” because that is the Greek name for the Egyptian god Apep, who in Egyptian mythology was the enemy of Ra and repeatedly threatened destruction of the earth. This name seemed appropriate since the orbital motion of 2004 MN4 permitted repeated close passages to the earth (repeated threats) and the orbital evolution from Aten to Apollo. And, yeah, we’re Stargate fans. We had a few jokes among ourselves about the “SpaceGuard SG-1 team” (as opposed to Stargate) defending the earth. Another reason the name was a good match is that in Egyptian mythology, Apophis was always thwarted in his efforts to destroy the earth. At this stage of our technology, the human race can do something to prevent an impact if it indeed threatens.

The QA:

Thornyrose writes: “First, what is your area of expertise in the field of astronomy?”

Dave:  My doctorate is in planetary sciences, and I specialize in observational studies of small bodies, including asteroids,vcomets, and planetary satellites.

Roy: My background is in physics and scientific instrumentation. Professionally, I enjoy supporting astronomical research. For three years I pursued a graduate degree in planetary sciences and this has helped direct my amateur endeavors.

“Which other objects have you discovered and named?”

Dave:  1981 VB was discovered by me in 1981 and named “Kansas” in 1985 in recognition of the centennial of observational astronomy at the University of Kansas (my undergraduate alma mater).  The University has a 6-inch Alvan Clark refractor with “Alvan Clark & Sons, Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, 1885″ engraved on the brass baseplate.
1995 UU6 was discovered by me in 1995 and named “Almary” in 2002 in recognition of the golden wedding anniversary of my parents (Alfred and Mary).
1998 QM107 is one of our Centaur discoveries, so we needed to select a name from among the Centaurs to adhere to tradition, and “Pelion” was our selection.

Roy: As of the time of this writing, I am credited with 363 Main Belt asteroids, three Atens, two Apollos, and one Amor. I also have a couple of comet discoveries.

“Do you have any names you would like to bestow on a discovered object, and what type of object would you like to bestow those names?

Dave:  I’d love to bestow my name on a newly discovered comet!  But only one comet was discovered during our survey observations, and my postdoc Fabrizio Bernardi saw it first, so it’s known as Comet Bernardi.  At least it is a periodic comet.  I do have some other asteroid names in mind, and I have several unnamed asteroid discoveries available, but because all asteroid names need to be approved by a committee of the International Astronomical Union, it’s probably not a good idea to speculate here on what names I might be allowed to bestow on these asteroids.

Roy: I may only propose a name for an asteroid. Comets are named for their discoverers. I have only proposed a few names but for Main Belt asteroids I usually suggest names of amateur astronomers or notable scientists. Near-Earth Objects I have more fun with. Aten asteroids are usually given names of Egyptian deities or historical figures. I named my first Aten after Selqet, the goddess often depicted with a scorpion on her head and who provided protection against venomous insects. Since I live in the desert and occasionally find a scorpion in my house, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try and curry a little favor. My first Apollo was named for Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. An object that seriously threatens a destructive impact should get a really good name such as Ragnarok from Norse mythology, defined in the Random House College dictionary as “The destruction of the gods and of all things in a final battle with evil powers; Twilight of the Gods”. Whew!

“Astronmer Phil Plaitt is known as the Bad Astronomer. What nom de’guerre would you choose for yourselves?”

Dave:  Spaceguard SG-1, of course!

Roy: My friends have sometimes called me Mr. Aten for my propensity of finding relatively rare Aten asteroids. Other than than that I haven’t even thought about a nickname

“Thanks for all the work you do and for helping us marvel at how much there is out there beyond our own little pretty blue mudball.”

Dave:  You’re very welcome.

Roy: No thanks are necessary. I do this for the fun of it and I am delighted to be able to share some of the excitement and experience.

Shawna writes: “Questions for the astronomers:
- What percentage of your time working do you spend doing math? (I ask because I thought about being an astronomer in high school, until I realized the amount of math involved, so I decided to become a writer instead. But I still wonder exactly how much math is involved.)”

Dave:  Almost all of my time involves math to one degree or another, but I write computer programs to handle most of the tedious number crunching.

Roy: A fine piece of wisdom I encountered along the way is that your options are defined more by the classes you don’t take than by the ones you do. In the field of science, one would be seriously limited by having little knowledge of math. I use math in my astronomy and engineering work occasionally in the course of a day, but it may be anything from simple arithmetic to differential equations. A student may be intimidated but it is important to remember that it is all simple stuff, one simple thing built upon another simple idea. It’s just that it can be an awful lot of simple stuff that just takes time and effort to learn.

” – If you discovered a new M-class planet (or, you know, Earth-like planet for the non-Trekkies) and had free rein to name it whatever you wanted, what would you name it?”

Dave:  I haven’t really given that one much thought.  I’d probably try to have it be consistent with some property of the planet.  For example, if the planet was close enough to its sun to have a high surface temperature, I might call it “Vulcan”.  If it’s far from its sun and very cold, maybe “Hoth”.  If it’s dry and desert-like, maybe “Tatooine”.  Makes them easier to remember that way.  If I were really good at making up names on my own, I might have become a science fiction writer instead!

Roy: I could not resist selecting some name from science fiction that suggests the nature of the planet discovered such as “Arrakis” or “Barsoom” for a desert world.

” – What do you think are the chances of their being intelligent, sentient life elsewhere in our galaxy?”

Dave:  The more we learn about planetary system formation, the higher the chances appear to go.

Roy: When I think about the likelihood of life on other worlds, I think of quartz crystals. A quartz crystal is a fine example of how matter can arrange itself into an organized form when the physical conditions are right and enough time elapses. So, too, will life arise on worlds where the conditions are conducive and enough time passes. Bacteria and algae are probably the most common forms of life in the universe. The question of intelligent life in the galaxy depends sensitively upon how long an intelligent species can survive the consequences of its own technology. Will an intelligent species destroy itself or retreat into a comfortable virtual reality, never to re-emerge? Or, will it seek to explore the universe and know all that is knowable?

“What do you think are the chances of there being non-sentient, animal life?”

Dave:  About the same as there being sentient life.

 ” – What do you think is the better term for people from Earth: Earthling? Terran? Something else?”

Dave:  That’s sort of like choosing whether “sports” or “deportes” is a better term for athletic activities.  “Earth” is, I believe, an English term, whereas “Terra” is derived from Latin.  Both work for me.  Or you could even use “hoo-man” (with a distinctly Ferengi-esque pronunciation), though if we ever have descendants born on extraterrestrial worlds, that might not be sufficiently distinctive anymore.

Roy: I’ve always preferred the term “Terran” derived from the astronomical name for the earth, although it is very rarely used.

Ytimyona writes: Questions for Dave and Roy: 1) How far away do you live from your primary telescope? (I live in Cleveland and the astronomers at my school have to travel to Tucson, Arizona to collect data!)”

Dave:  I’m about 200 miles from my primary telescope, but I only have to walk upstairs to our remote observing room to collect data with it.

Roy: Well, being an amateur who lives near Tucson, I only have to go out into my backyard. http://gpobs.home.mindspring.com/gpobs.htm

 ”2) What inspired you to pursue astronomy?”

Dave:  I’d have to say that the first real impetus came from a particularly good high school teacher who taught the electronics, physics, and astronomy classes that I took.

Roy: In 1966, I read about something called the Zodiacal Light in a high school library astronomy book and decided to arise early the next morning to try to see it. I failed but I was captivated by the beauty and serenity of the morning twilight. It was as if I had the whole world to myself. It became my habit to rise early each morning to enjoy that experience. It was only a few weeks later that I accidentally witnessed the 1966 Leonid meteor storm as a result. I had quickly learned there is much beauty and wonderment in astronomy. I was addicted as if to a drug.

 ”3) What is your favorite scifi novel?”

Dave:  That’s a tough one.  Taking a dart and throwing it at the dartboard,I think I’ll say “Rendezvous With Rama”.

Roy: I have read so many wonderful stories but I guess the winner is Arthur Clarke’s “Rendezvous With Rama” if I must pick just one.

 ”4) What is your opinion on the possible existence of wormholes?”

Dave:  Until such time that science can prove that they don’t exist, I’ll accept the possibility that they can exist.

Roy: That is far outside my field of expertise but I am reminded of the wisdom of Wernher Von Braun, “Always use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest of caution.” Always there is the possibility of new discovery, new physics. Consider the consequences that have cascaded from the observation by Henri Becquerel that a particular type of rock would fog a photographic plate. In the 1920’s it was asserted by noted physicists that rockets could not operate in a vacuum and interplanetary travel was impossible. Only about forty years later there were footprints on the surface of the moon. I will not say it is impossible.

EdgarDerby writes: “Questions for Drs. Tholen and Tucker: 1. Given the US refusal to go metric any time soon, couldn’t we keep an imperial list of planets that includes Pluto?”

Dave:  I guess that depends on who you consider to be “we”.  Over twenty years ago, I wrote a computer program to compute ephemerides of solar system objects, with separate categories for planets, asteroids, and comets.  My collection of planetary orbits includes eleven objects.  One of those eleven is Pluto.  I don’t intend on changing that.

Roy: People can’t even decide on the definition of a ‘continent’. Why are Asia and Europe considered to be two continents? Maybe Greenland is a ‘minor continent’? I’ll continue to call Pluto a planet.

“2. Are Nico Marquardt’s numbers really that ridiculous?”

Dave:  I have not seen Nico Marquardt’s numbers directly, and I don’t want to trust any of the numerous sources on the Internet, because so many of them are so unreliable.  It’s particularly amusing to read web pages that claim to have gotten the story right, only to find an error in their story.  Let it suffice to say that Apophis isn’t going to hit in 2029, and anybody’s calculations to the contrary must be in error.

“Was it a probability of impact issue or a negligible effect from a satellite impact that made his calculation so unlikely?”

Roy: Dave is the orbital mechanic, I’ll let him comment on that one.

Dave:  Again, I have not seen Marquardt’s numbers directly, so it’s hard to say where the supposed error occurred.

 ”3. The largest of dwarf planets? Isn’t that like being the smartest guy in the dumb class? Seriously, guys, Tombaugh’d roll over in his grave if he hadn’t been cremated and shot into space (partially).”

Dave:  Pluto may not even be the largest of the dwarf planets.  Eris may the largest.  But let’s not go there.  I was one of hundreds of astronomers who signed a statement saying that we disagreed with the IAU decision and wouldn’t use their terminology.

Roy: I like to respond that Jupiter is too big to be a planet and it radiates more energy than it receives from the sun. It’s a small brown dwarf. Oh, you don’t like that? Fine, Pluto is a planet.

“4. Did you ever consider Anubis in naming (being fans, you likely know he once sent an asteroid on a collision course with Earth) or did you think it would be in rather poor taste if it turned out the thing would hit us after all?”

Dave:  Sorry, Anubis is already taken.  So is Hathor.

Roy: The name Anubis was assigned to asteroid 1912 a long time ago.

 ”5. Who is your second favorite Beatle?”

Dave:  None of the above!  My tastes in music run more toward the classical, though as a hobbyist musician, I’ve performed a wide variety of music, including orchestral, wind, and musical theater.

Roy: Oh, gee… I can’t even name all four. I can tell you my second favorite Jovian satellite is Europa.

“6. Look, confound the entire criteria! If we find some rock way out in the boonies of the Oort cloud that’s twice the size of Pluto and they wanna call it a dwarf, so be it. Let’s just keep this one, man(s). Seriously, guys, Tombaugh’d roll over in his grave if he hadn’t been cremated and later shot into space.

Dave:  Whoa.  Did we just experience a time loop, sort of like when O’Neill kept eating Froot Loops for breakfast over and over?  According to the IAU’s ill-advised decision, an Earth-sized object discovered 500 AU from the Sun probably couldn’t be called a planet right away, because we probably won’t know whether it has cleared out its zone around the Sun.  That’s one of the problems with the IAU’s definition.

Roy: No argument from me.

DasNdanger writes: “Questions for Dave & Roy: What are your thoughts on the Hubble vs its proposed replacements, the JWST & ATLAS Telescope, and do you think the latter (ATLAS) is just a dream that will be made obsolete before it ever comes to be?”

Roy: Hubble has accomplished many things. The benefits from the later telescopes would be correspondingly greater. Will there be the funding and national will to make them a reality?

Dave:  JWST is an infrared optimized telescope, thus compromising performance at ultraviolet wavelengths where Hubble can make  significant contributions to astronomy.  As I understand it, ATLAS would come closer to matching the wavelength coverage of Hubble, but reality often differs rather substantially from design, so I’m going to take a wait and see attitude.

“Thank you for your time.”

Roy: You’re very welcome.

Michael A. Burstein writes: “My question for Dave Tholen and Roy Tucker is a simple one: what can we do to convince our governments across the world to do more to track Near Earth Objects? Last I checked, we weren’t putting enough resources into protecting this planet. (I can’t be the only one who worries about a Tunguska-level event taking place over a populated area.).  Anyone interested in the global threat of asteroids should check out http://www.space-explorers.org and the PDF they have called Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response.

Dave:  Keeping governments informed is part of the answer.  Finding more objects like 2008 TC3 (the small asteroid that hit the Earth’s atmosphere over the northern part of Sudan) could also help to demonstrate that it’s not just science fiction.

Roy: It’s all quite true. The consequences of a major impact could be terrible but the chances are remote. An insurance actuary would recommend that expenditures of many millions of dollars a year would be prudent. However, how many people drive around without car insurance? Politicians prefer to gamble and spend the money on things that will get them more votes.

BeckettsPatient writes: “Questions for Dave Tholen and Roy Tucker: What was first: Interest in Science or interest in Science-Fiction?”

Dave:  Hard to say.  Star Trek debuted in 1966 when I was just eleven years old, but by then I had been exposed to basic science in grade school and can recall reading books on subjects like weather.

Roy: My oldest sister turned me on to sci-fi when I was about ten years old. Stephen Barr’s “I Am A Nucleus” was the first story I read. Later, it was an episode of Twilight Zone that helped me decide to get my B.S. in physics. The description of scientific things in the stories led naturally to an interest in science.

“How many astroids of to the earth dangerous-size are running through the neighbourhood of earth?

Dave:  About a thousand are dangerous enough to wipe out civilization as we know it.  Many more can cause regional damage.

Roy: Really dangerous asteroids would be a kilometer or larger in size.Objects that large could potentially cause major climatic effects worldwide for a year or more. Effects would increase with the cube of the diameter. It is expected that there are about a thousand such objects in the earth’s vicinity and about 80% of those are known. None of these known objects currently pose a serious threat. More numerous are the “city-busters” with sizes on the order of a hundred meters. There may be a few hundred thousand such objects and very few of them are known. Impacts from such  “Tunguska”-sized objects are estimated to occur about once every two hundred years, usually in some remote place or over an ocean.

“Do you know them all or do new ones keep popping up?”

Dave:  We know of 80 to 90 percent of them and are actively working on finding the rest to the extent it’s practical to do so.

Roy: The smaller, hundred-meter objects are observable with current instrumentation for usually a few days or weeks when they get close to the earth. Such periods of observability may occur only at intervals of decades. The current surveys find a few hundred a year. Better instrumentation is needed for the smaller objects. More money is needed to fund these searches. It’s the old “No bucks, no Buck Rogers” thing.

“Are you going to name more of them after SG1 villains?”

Dave:  Possibly!  Near-Earth asteroids with orbits smaller than the Earth’s are traditionally named after Egyptian gods, and quite a few of them popped up in Stargate SG-1.

Roy: Generally, the names would come from mythology. Since SG1 villians also have names from the same origins, they may be shared. You will likely find that many SG1 villians already have their name on a rock. A list of asteroid names may be found at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/MPNames.html. One of the rules of the asteroid-naming game is that names may not be pre-announced so I can’t reveal any names I might have in mind until the IAU (International Astronomical Union) naming committee approves the suggestion.

“What do you think about the end of SGA and the beginning of SGU?”

Dave:  It’s hard to comment on a series that hasn’t made it’s debut yet (SGU), but SGA probably ended prematurely, though perhaps another season might have revealed a decline that became evident in SG1 after Richard Dean Anderson stepped aside.

Roy: The Stargate stories are imaginative and the quality of the production is excellent. I’m glad the franchise continues.

David writes: “Question for Dr. Tholen and Tucker: if you had a faster than light ship which object in our sky would you like to visit first and why.”

Dave:  Pluto.  I’ve been studying that system for quite some time and really want to see it more detail without having to wait for New Horizons to get there in 2015.

Roy: It would be interesting to see the oceans of Titan. Actually, I’m pretty satisfied with a faster-than-light imagination. When thinking about visiting other worlds, I remember the words of the ship’s cook from the movie “Forbidden Planet”: “Another one of these brave, new worlds. No women, no beer, no pool halls. Nothing to do but throw rocks at tin cans and we have to bring our own tin cans.” It’s good to be able to stand on the surface of a planet without a pressure suit and feel the wind in my hair and the soft rain on my face. How many light-years would you have to travel to find another world where you can do that?

“If you could discover or prove anything in astronomy what would it be.”

Dave:  The existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Roy: To prove the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would be the ultimate accomplishment, I think.

“What do you consider to be the most accurant use of science that you have seen use in an episode and what was the most inaccurate use of science you seen us in Stargate.”

Dave:  With over 200 episodes made, that’s a tough one.  Trying to recall all the uses of science and to identify the most and least accurate taxes my memory.  I’ll have to rewatch all 200-plus and get back to you.

Roy: Please pardon me for not expressing an opinion about the most accurate use of science. If they have the science right, I can’t really easily assign an assessment of its correctness. Having a background in physics, I can do a lot of nit-picking about things like conservation of momentum and such. Please bear in mind that good theatre involves a willing suspension of disbelief and that sci-fi invokes the notion of as-yet-undiscovered knowledge. I would say the main thing that has stretched my willingness to suspend disbelief has been those instances in which characters have been ‘shifted in phase’ and become invisible and are able to walk through walls. If they can walk through walls, why do they not fall through the floor and begin to orbit around the earth’s center of mass? If they are applying their weight to the floor, can they stand on someone’s toe and make their presence known? If they can see while they are invisible, this is because light passes through their eye lenses and strikes their retinas. Why can no one see the dark pupils of their eyes? How can their eye lenses focus light and permit them to see? I suppose one can assert that light is also phased and that is how they are seeing but would phased light reflect off of unphased objects permitting them to see it? Maybe a little more hand-waving needs to be applied to explaining the phasing phenomenon.

“Do you think we will discover lots of earth type planets out there or do you think they are rare. How do you think until the first one is discovered.”

Dave:  I see no reason to believe that Earth-type planets are rare.  Astronomers have been finding larger planets at an impressive rate in recent years.  The similar discovery of smaller planets simply awaits the technology.

Roy: I think earth-sized planets with liquid water on the surface and orbiting a dwarf K to F type star are very rare. Such planets with multicellular life forms and oxygen atmospheres are very few in number. It may very well be that at any given time there are only two or three intelligent races in the whole galaxy. Think about that. You are an example of the rarest and most precious thing in the universe. I would not be surprised if earth-sized planets are found in the next couple of decades but an earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a suitable star is likely to be considerably more elusive.

“Which side if the debate are you on in argument over whether pluto planet or a dwarf planet. And if you agree it is a planet, should every object discovered be classed the same or should pluto be kept special and class differently from the rest.”

Dave:  It’s not like each object comes with a tag on it that says whether it’s a planet or a dwarf planet, so there is no right or wrong answer.  The debate has been over whether to change the existing labels.  Although Pluto has been the most commonly discussed “victim” of the IAU’s decision to change the definition of “planet”, the asteroids were also affected. Previously, the term “minor planet” could be used to refer to asteroids, but the IAU did away with that term as well.  When it became obvious in the 1990s that Pluto was one of many small bodies in solar orbits beyond Neptune, the debate started out over whether Pluto should be called a “minor planet”, just like the other Kuiper belt objects were being called.  That is, the debate was over whether Pluto is a “major” planet or a “minor” planet.  Somehow the debate morphed over the next decade to become whether Pluto is a “planet” or not.  Pluto’s physical and dynamical properties didn’t suddenly change overnight when the IAU made its decision.  It is still the same object in 2006 September as it was in 2006 July.

Roy: Most of my life, Pluto has been a planet. I’m very fond of the idea of Pluto being a planet. I could also argue the Jupiter is too big to be a planet and it radiates more energy than it receives from the sun, making it a self-luminous body. I’m also fond of having Jupiter called a planet. Let me continue pretending Pluto is a planet and I will continue pretending Europe and Asia are separate continents.

Crayonbaby writes: “I have questions. I just hope they’re not weird or stupid. 1) What university are the two of you associated? Do you teach or do research or both?”

Dave:  I am associated with the University of Hawaii.  Roy is associated with the University of Arizona.  In both cases, the association is via employment.  I am also associated with the University of Arizona as an alumnus (graduate school).  I both teach and do research.

Roy: I am a senior engineer at the University of Arizona’s Imaging Technology Laboratory. I am involved with the production of sensitive CCD imaging devices for research applications, usually in astronomy.

 ”2) Do you ever watch a television show and groan at how bad the science is? I sincerely hope that Stargate isn’t one of them.”

Dave:  Oh yes.  Movies too.  One of my favorite groaners is “You haven’t heard of the Millennium Falcon?  It’s the ship that did the Kessel run in 12 parsecs.”  Another groaner is the reference to “one to the twentieth power wattumunits” (name that episode!).  And ion drive being so much more advanced than warp drive.  And phaser beams that travel so slow that a person can move out of the way if they’re in an “accelerated” state.  I can’t recall any specific groaners associated with Stargate, though the reason they call it science fiction is because a lot of the stuff is just that, namely fiction.  I don’t get bent out of shape by transporters and inertial dampeners, even though they’re clearly fictional and not real science.  I do get bent out of shape by logical inconsistencies, and one of my favorite Stargate moments is when they took Star Trek The Next Generation to task for one of their logical inconsistencies.  In the episode “Wormhole Xtreme”, the Carter wannabee talks to Marty about a problem she has with the script. It says she can pass through tables and walk through walls.  Marty says it’s because she’s “phased” (shades of Geordi and Ensign Ro).  She then asks “Well, if I can walk through walls, then why don’t I fall through the floor?”  There’s a full 15 seconds of dead air while Marty looks at the other guy and the Carter wannabee tries valiantly to suppress a smile before  Marty responds with “We’ll have to get back to you on that.”  Absolutely hilarious!

But that’s not to say that Stargate hasn’t had some questionable moments.  For example, in the series opener “Children of the Gods”, we see a breeze fluttering the cloth over the stargate before any sign that it has been activated.  And there’s a lot of vibration associated with the stargate’s activation that we don’t see in later episodes.  And exactly how does Apophis manage to activate the stargate to return home after he abducts the female?  There is no ancient dialing device.  He doesn’t know how to use the Air Force’s improvised dialing device.  Looks like he simply pushes a button on some wrist device and voila!

I do appreciate it when science fiction programs try to pay attention to certain details, however.  The way the Star Fury was maneuvered in Babylon 5 was particularly well done.

Roy: I actually enjoy “bad” sci-fi and some of the finer examples I’ve collected make “Plan 9 From Outer Space” look like an Oscar winner. Take as an example “The Creeping Terror” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057970/) . In this story there are a couple of space monsters that go around eating people. However, the people must be very cooperative while they are being devoured. It’s hilarious! I object to things that are simply absurd, such as one movie that had Space Shuttles landing and being ready to launch again in a couple of hours.

“3) How do you spend your downtime? I hope it’s not to break out the telescope you have at home?”

Dave:  Sea level in Hawaii is a terrible place for a telescope.  I broke out my homemade six-inch telescope to monitor the expansion of comet Holmes, but I spend far more time working with the mountaintop research-grade telescopes.  Most of my downtime is spent in music performance, totaling hundreds of hours each year.

Roy: “Downtime” is when the skies are cloudy and I can’t observe. I catch up on my sleep then. When the skies are clear and the moon is dark, I’m looking at images. Each clear night yields about 600 images to search. 200 usable nights means about 100,000 to 120,000 images a year to look at. On week nights, it may be that I’ll only get five hours of sleep before I have to get up and go to work at my day job.

“4) I have many friends and family that are into that hobby. Do either one of you even have a telescope at home? It can’t compare to some of those monster telescopes on Mt. Wilson in California.”

Dave:  Actually, my homemade six-inch telescope is stored in my office. I often use it when teaching an introductory astronomy class, so it’s handier to keep it in my office.  And the biggest “monster telescope” on Mt. Wilson is only one-quarter the size of the biggest telescope on Mauna Kea!

Roy: I actually do most of my asteroid-searching from my backyard observatories. I have three different shelters housing five different telescopes. http://gpobs.home.mindspring.com/gpobs.htm

“Thanks so much!”

Roy: You’re very welcome!

Gaymede writes: Don’t know if he was before your time, but did either of you ever know Dr. Peter Millman? I used to deliver our library’s copy of Marsden’s Minor Planets Newsletter to him as soon as it arrived in the building [NRC/HIA-Ottawa]. He was a great guy!”

Dave:  I don’t recall ever meeting him.

Roy: I’m sorry but I never had the honor. Astronomy attracts some very wonderful people.

Michelle writes: “The asteroid being named after Stargate is the coolest thing ever! Questions for David and Roy: 1. You both appear (based on google anyway) to be observational astronomers. How do you and the theoreticals get along? Do mixed-astronomer cocktail parties quickly turn ugly over string theory etc?”

Dave:  Theoretically, I get along fine with the theoreticals.  But being a planetary astronomer, I know so little about string theory that I don’t get into any ugly debates about it at cocktail parties.

Roy: Not at all. Theoreticians provide “Big Picture” concepts that observers may then put to the test. For example, Einstein predicted that gravity would deflect starlight. At the time, that was a startling idea. Observers then used solar eclipses to prove the existence of the effect. Today, we have things like Dark Matter and Dark Energy. It’s very exciting!

“2. Do you think there’s any practical way to clear out all the space junk orbiting Earth?”

Dave:  Depends on what you consider to be practical.  It can be done, but it might be expensive.  Maybe we should have a student competition to see who can come up with the most cost effective way to clean up all the space debris.

Roy: A material called ‘aerogel’ has been used in spacecraft missions to capture high-speed dust particles (http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/aerogel.html). If there was a method developed to produce huge masses of the material in orbit, repeated encounters of junk with the aerogel would reduce the orbital energy of space junk until these unwanted objects eventually fell out of orbit. Unfortunately, it is likely that all orbiting objects would be affected, including working satellites, and this is a solution that would best be applied to clean up near-earth space in preparation for the construction of space elevators when that technology matures.

“3. Do you think the US manned space program is worth the cost, discovery-wise, vs robotic exploration and science?”

Dave:  We clearly get more science for the buck from robotic space probes, but I still think the manned space program is worth the cost.  The manned program provides so much inspiration to the next generation of scientists, and the manned program is necessary if we’re ever to colonize beyond the Earth, which is necessary for the long-term survival of the human race.

Roy: A robotic spacecraft returns more science for the money than a manned mission and it doesn’t risk human lives. However, humans will spread beyond the earth and we need to learn how to make these voyages. That is engineering and it needs to be mastered. If a little science gets done along the way, so much the better.

“4. I wanted to be an astronomer coming out of high school but switched to ero engineering after I found out a) you have to get a PhD and b) even if you get a PhD, the odds of getting a job in astronomy are small. Is that still true? Did I make the wrong choice??”

Dave:  There are jobs for astronomers holding masters degrees, but they’re not as numerous as the jobs for astronomers holding doctorates.  The odds of getting a job in astronomy depends on how good you are at what you do.  The good ones will get jobs.  Whether you made the wrong choice depends on how well you might have been able to do.

Roy: Each person has to make a choice of what is important and satisfying to do as a career in the context of his or her life. I had an established career as an electronic instrumentation engineer but I loved astronomy and planetary sciences. I decided to enter a degree program in planetary sciences to pursue this love. After three years of classwork, I had the education that I wanted and decided that I didn’t want to make a career of it. I bailed out of the program and resumed my engineering work to support myself. I continue to follow my love of astronomy as an amateur, but with greater knowledge and capability. Sometimes I regret not finishing the program but I think things have worked out well as an engineer supporting astronomical research and enjoying astronomy as an amateur for my own satisfaction.

“5. Will you be looking at the results coming back from the new Kepler planet-finder? I have friends who work on the science data processing.”

Dave:  Probably not in any great detail.  I expect to be busy looking at the results coming back from the new WISE and Asteroid Finder spacecraft for the next few years.  And here in Hawaii we have the Pan-STARRS sky survey gearing up to deliver terabytes of data each night.

Roy: We had some involvement with the development of the CCD imaging devices where I work but that is the extent of my connection to Kepler. I am only a member of the general public with regard to its results. I hope the mission is successful and they find lots of planets.

“Airelle writes: Questions for David and Roy: If I was a wanna be look-at-the stars,kind of person, what brand/strength of telescope would you suggest?”

Dave:  There’s no easy answer to that question without greater detail.  Some people prefer looking at star clusters, comets, nebulae, and other extended objects, for which a wide field of view is a primary consideration.  Others want to track faint asteroids, for which a large aperture is a primary consideration.  Some people hate to go through the trouble of setting up a large, heavy telescope and letting it take the time to properly come to thermal equilibrium so that it delivers the best images. You really need to take a long, hard look at how you want to use a telescope and then optimize your purchase decision.

Roy: A beginner can be very happy with a good pair of binoculars. After one has learned a bit about astronomy and how to find things in the sky, an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope is an excellent general purpose instrument. Good used instruments can be found online on such sites as Astromart (http://www.astromart.com/) and Cloudy Nights (http://www.cloudynights.com/).

“Do you think we are alone in the universe?”

Roy: I think the universe is full of life but intelligent life is likely to be very rare.

Dave:  At the moment, there is no direct evidence either for or against the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.  Having said that, I’d be surprised if we’re alone.

“I love looking at the night sky, how cool!”

Roy: I completely agree.

“thank you for your time.”

Dave:  You’re welcome!

Roy: You’re absolutely welcome.

Juliet writes: To Dave and Roy – I cannot begin to express how cool it is that you even get to name asteroids, let alone the fact that you named it after a Stargate character! I read an interview of Peter Williams, who played Apophis, and he was beyond stoked that you had done that. He kept saying, Apophis may defeat Earth yet!  So, questions. How do you live with your overwhelming coolness?”

Dave:  I rent myself out to people whose air conditioning has broken down. 

Roy: Ah, yes. It was difficult at first but I learned much from watching birds-of-prey, porpoises, and otters. Eventually, I reached an accommodation that worked for me.

“What is a typical day for you at work like?”

Dave:  Deal with email, answer questions from a student who has stopped by my office, deal with more email, fill out paperwork (amazing how our electronic world has increased the amount of paperwork that I need to do), deal with email, attend some meeting, deal with email, answer questions from another student who has stopped by my office, deal with more email.  I’m not joking!  The amount of email that I need to deal with has become oppressive.  I actually started keeping statistics.  Over the last five years, I’ve averaged 290 email messages every day.  Of course, 185 of those are filtered out as spam, but the other 105 wind up in my inbox, a few of which are also spam, but got by the spam filter.

Roy: Typical week day, clear skies, dark moon – Up at 5am to shut down the asteroid search instrument and begin transferring and archiving the image data. Eat breakfast and dress for work. Arrive at work at 7:30am , return home at 5pm. Begin calibrating and plate-solving the previous night’s images in preparation for looking for asteroids and comets. Have dinner while the software is working on the data. After dinner, I begin looking at images. Usually, I have music in the background while I work. The score to the movie “Transformers” is a current favorite. I am typically finished at about 11pm and I prepare for bed. I try to get to bed by about midnight.

“And this may have already been asked – If you were to discover something else to name (other than a mineral), what would you name it Stargate related or not?”

Roy: So far, I only get to name asteroids. Most commonly, I select names from mythology, history, scientists, and amateur astronomers.

Dave:  Actually, I have several asteroid discoveries awaiting name proposals, but the IAU committee frowns on making name proposals public because they feel like they’re having their hands tied.  Can you imagine serving on a committee that wants to disapprove of a name that has already been in common public use?  You might find a lot of discussion about “Sedna” along those lines.  So to avoid getting some of my colleagues upset with me, I prefer not to mention any possible names.  However, I can say that I have another asteroid ready for naming that falls into the category for which the names of Egyptian gods are traditional, so it would be easy to make it Stargate related.

“Btw, naming a mineral naquadah would be hilarious and awesome.”

Dave:  Wouldn’t that be fun!

Roy: Hmmm… Yes, it would. Not necessarily a mineral. Hmmm…

“Thanks for your time and I hope you get guest spots on Stargate Universe!”

Roy: You’re very welcome. I’m sure at some point they’ll need someone to portray an overwhelmingly cool character.  ;^)

“Silversi writes: Question(s) for Dave and Roy: http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/06-07/art/galaxies1.06-09-18.jpg > In the text along with this picture where you can see just tons of spirals to indicate galaxies, they indicate that what we see from these is like 13 billion year old-light. Do you think that our Universe really does still have so many galaxies in a single snapshot or that those galaxies might have since been destroyed (can a galaxy be destroyed? How would one cease to exist anymore?)? And with a slight Stargate twist do you think like all of them or like 3/4 or even 1/2 support some sort of life?”

Dave:  Most galaxies have so many stars in them that I’d be surprised if the majority of them didn’t have at least a few planets able to support some sort of life.  I suppose you could ultimately destroy a galaxy by using up all the atoms that can give off energy when fused to form a heavier atom.  But that would take a very long time.  Our own Sun can survive on its own hydrogen supply for over ten billion years.

Roy: Various lines of evidence suggest that it has been about thirteen billion years since the “Big Bang” or whatever event it was that marked the beginning of our universe. Galaxies are still occasionally forming in our current time. Some images were recently obtained that seem to show dwarf galaxies with active star-forming regions producing metal-poor stars, a sign of young galactic age. A young galaxy has mostly just hydrogen and helium and forms stars with those materials. As these stars age and eject much of their mass into space, they enrich the interstellar medium with heavier elements formed by nuclear reactions in the star’s interior. Later generations of stars formed from this material have greater abundances of these heavier elements or ‘metals’, indicative of advancing age.

Galaxies evolve principally by collisions with other galaxies. Galaxies may be torn apart or merge with the other galaxy. Our own Milky Way galaxy contains within it remnants of several absorbed galaxies, recognizable by the motion of groups of stars that is distinctively different from the neighboring stars.

I think we’ll eventually learn that life, at least simple forms such as bacteria and algae, is very common wherever conditions permit. Higher forms of life, including intelligent beings, are likely to be much rarer.

Silversi writes: Question(s) for Dave and Roy: If the milky way really does revolve around a black hole, like it’s theorized do you think that in say a hundred million years that our galaxy would be in danger of getting sucked in?  “How does it work for a galaxy to surround something like a black hole but to not move ever closer to eventually disappear inside it?”

Dave:  No; some mechanism would be required to dissipate energy, causing a star in a circular orbit around the center of the galaxy to spiral inward.  I don’t see that happening for most of the galaxy.

It’s just like the Earth not spiraling into the Sun.  The kinetic energy in the Earth’s orbit would have to be dissipated to cause it to spiral inward.  There are mechanisms that can do that for objects the size of dust grains, but not for objects the size of the Earth.

Roy: The stars of our galaxy are in orbit around the galaxy. They cannot be drawn to and consumed by the black hole at the center of our galaxy without transferring their angular momentum to other stars or massive objects such as clouds of dust and gas. Such events happen but only for objects very near the center of the galaxy. Some videos were recently released (http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2008/phot-46-08.html) that show the motions of stars in the very close vicinity of the massive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy over a sixteen year period. It can be seen that the stars are orbiting around something that is not visible. The rate of accretion of the matter in a galaxy is very slow compared to the lifetime of the universe. If you’re way out in the spiral arms like we are, it’s not something we ever have to worry about.

“One from Joe had me wondering as well What kind of instruments are used to detect extrasolar planets?”

Dave:  Mostly high-precision spectrometers that can measure tiny variations in radial velocity caused by a planet’s gravity pulling on a star as the planet orbits that star.  However, one extrasolar planet around the nearby star Fomalhaut has been directly imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Roy: I think there are four methods currently used: photometric detection of planetary transits, radial velocity variations, proper motion variations, and direct imaging.

I believe the very first claim of the discovery of an extra-solar planet was by the amateur astronomer John Goodricke in 1783 when he offered an explanation for the changing brightness of the variable star Algol. Some planets reveal their presence by passing in front of the star that they orbit and blocking some of the light that would otherwise come to us. This event is called a transit and causes the star to decrease in brightness while the planet is between us and the star. Such transit events can be recorded with relatively small telescopes equipped with a CCD camera or photoelectric photometer.

We say that a planet orbits around a star but in reality the planet and the star both revolve around the common center of mass or barycenter. This orbital motion can be detected spectroscopically due to the Doppler shift that it produces in the stellar spectrum. We can only detect the radial component of such motion, that part of the motion that occurs along our line-of-sight. If we look down upon the pole of such a system, we would see no variation. The maximum variation would be measured if we see the orbit of the planet edge-on.

Stars are actually moving through space and the nearer stars can actually be seen to be moving among their neighbors over time spans of years. This is called ‘proper motion’ and is usually very slow. The high-speed champion is Barnard’s Star and is moving over ten arcseconds per year (an arcsecond is approximately equal to the thickness of a dime at a distance of two football field lengths). A star is expected to move along a straight line. If one is seen to be moving along a wavy line, then it might be due to the presence of an unseen planet orbiting around it. The system’s barycenter will move along a straight line and we would see the star’s orbital motion around the barycenter.

Recently, the first direct image of a planet was obtained of a body orbiting the star Fomalhaut by the Hubble Space Telescope (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/fomalhaut.html). This is a monumental feat and the first of many such detections, I hope.

“When the rover was on Mars, I believe at one point they mentioned using the microphones to actually record sound do you know if anything ever came of that, or if they just dropped the idea entirely?”

Dave:  To my knowledge, neither of the Mars rovers had a microphone on board.  There was a microphone on the Mars Polar Lander, but that mission ended in failure.  The Mars Phoenix Lander has a microphone on board, and there were reports that NASA had given the go-ahead to turn it on, but I’ve not encountered any news reports about the results.

Roy: The Mars Microphone project is described at http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/marsmic/. The first one was lost with the Polar Lander and no data came back. The second one is looking for a ride.

“And just for good measure. Who DO you think would win in a fist fight between Ronon and Teal’c?”

Dave:  I would guess Ronan.  He appears to have more experience in hand-to-hand combat, whereas Teal’c has more experience with a staff weapon and a zatnicatel.  But neither would go down easily.

Roy: I’m sure they are equally matched and it could only end in a draw. Translation: I wouldn’t want to have either one of them upset with me for doubting his martial prowess. (Teal’c cocks an eyebrow and comments, “Indeed.”)

“Silversi writes: (Another) Question for Dave and Roy: Say for some crazy reason that Apophis was actually on a direct collision course with earth just dead on. Do you think the antics that they used in “Armageddon” or “Deep Impact” would work to divert it away? By blowing it up in the middle and hoping that it splits off and goes on either side of Earth?”

Dave:  A lot of asteroids appear to have interior structures that  might be best described as “rubble piles”.  So I doubt that a single nuclear blast would cleanly cleave Apophis into two pieces that would miss Earth to either side.  Most likely we’d get a whole bunch of smaller pieces.  If Apophis were disrupted far enough in advance of the impact, most of the debris would miss the Earth, and the fraction that didn’t might not survive atmospheric entry.  I think disaster movies such as those have their place in calling the public’s attention to the possibility of an impact, but I wouldn’t want to use them to educate the public on the science portrayed (surface properties of asteroids and comets, for example).  I do wish that half the box office profits could go to near-Earth asteroid research!  They could fund NASA’s current program for a century at the current rate of spending.

Roy: In the scheme of things, Apophis is a relatively small body about 400 meters across and about ten to the eleventh kilograms in mass. Before earth encounter in 2029, we only need to nudge it a little to prevent it from passing through a “keyhole” in space (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_keyhole) about 600 meters across, a fairly easy job for our current level of technology. After earth encounter and a hypothetical passage through the keyhole, we would have only about six years to push it a distance equal to the radius of the earth,something that may be beyond our capability. We’d be a lot happier doing something before 2029 if we need to.

Long-period comets are the most dangerous threat since we would have warning times of only about a year at the most and perhaps as little as a few months. If we face the prospect of an impact by a large comet, the use of some sort of nuclear device is pretty much our only option other than hiding in a hole. That’s the way ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Deep Impact’ portrayed the situation but in reality it’s not so much a matter of trying to deflect the object as much as choosing whether to get hit by a rifle bullet or a shotgun blast. Fortunately, such comet impacts are likely to occur on time scales of 100 million years. I don’t worry too much about it.

“What are your take on Disaster movies such as those?’

Roy: Impacts by astronomical bodies have been used as a story element for a long time and for many purposes. I think the earliest depiction of an asteroid impact was probably in the Bela Lugosi movie “The Invisible Ray” in which a powerful substance was provided to a scientist who had to make choices between good and evil. Impacts are sometimes used to threaten an end to civilization, as was also done in the 1951 movie “When Worlds Collide”, in order to explore how characters respond to the coming end of everything. Nuclear war has been used for the same purpose as in “On The Beach”. Disaster movies portray the responses of ordinary people to extraordinary circumstances. It encourages us to ask ourselves how we would handle such a situation. If well done, I enjoy such movies.