tagged w/ Universe
-
the Times published an excerpt from Stephen Hawkings' new book where the author discusses how the creation of the universe does not need a God explanation.
"Britain's most famous physicist sets out to contest Sir Isaac Newton's belief that the universe must have been designed by God as it could not have sprung out of chaos."-BBC
According to the article on the BBC (got paywall'd with the Times edition) Hawkings explains how with a law such as gravity, there is enough reason for a universe created through chaos and spontaneity, ""Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist."-BBCthe Times published an excerpt from Stephen Hawkings' new book where the author... more
-
-
Kedar Joshi talks about his theories (NSTP theory and UQV theory), including his idea that the universe is a non-spatial computer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDovYbxlxRAKedar Joshi talks about his theories (NSTP theory and UQV theory), including his idea... more
-
-
August 26, 2010
Telescope Detects Possible Earth-Size Planet
By KENNETH CHANG
Astronomers are quickly closing in on Earth-size planets elsewhere in the galaxy as they find planetary systems that look more and more like our solar system.
Scientists working with NASA’s Kepler satellite reported Thursday that they might have spotted a planet just 1.5 times the diameter of Earth around a Sun-like star 2,000 light-years away. If that planet is made of similar stuff as Earth, its mass would be three to four times as much.
“We’re still in the process of confirming this candidate is a planet,” said Matthew Holman, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, during a NASA-sponsored news conference on Thursday. Dr. Holman is the lead author of an article describing the discoveries that the journal Science published on its Web site.
This is the first announcement of a candidate Earth-size planet by the Kepler mission, which launched a one-ton orbiter in March 2009 to search for planets like ours. The planet was among more than 700 candidate planets that the team announced spotting in June.
The Kepler team also observed, more definitively, two Saturn-size planets around the same star, known as Kepler-9.
On Tuesday, a European team reported what may be an even smaller planet, with mass as little as 1.4 times that of Earth, around a star 127 light-years away.
In the past 15 years, astronomers have discovered close to 500 such extrasolar planets. At first, they uncovered huge gas giant planets that orbited extremely close to the stars.
But as detection methods improved, astronomers began to find planets closer in size to Earth and planetary systems that contain nearly as many planets as our solar system.
The Earth-size planet seen by the European astronomers appears to be one of seven circling the star, HD 10180, located in the constellation Hydrus. Christophe Lovis of the University of Geneva, who led the observations, said the group was certain about the existence of five of the planets, all about the size of Neptune, but squeezed into orbits closer to the star than Mars is to the Sun.
Dr. Lovis said they were slightly less certain about the smallest planet.
“For this one, we have about 1 percent false alarm possibility,” Dr. Lovis said. “For us, 99 percent is just not enough to be completely sure.”
The team also tentatively detected a larger, Saturn-size planet farther from the star.
Neither of the slightly-bigger-than-Earth planets is Earth-like. Both have orbits very close to their stars that would sear the surfaces.
“If one particular word can describe planetary systems today, it’s ‘diverse,’ “ said Douglas N. C. Lin, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who not involved with either team. “Planets are common, and their properties are diverse.”
Photo Caption: An artist’s rendering shows the two Saturn-sized planets discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission, which also found a planet sized similarly to Earth.August 26, 2010
Telescope Detects Possible Earth-Size Planet
By KENNETH CHANG... more
-
-
Edgar Mitchell experienced the little understood phenomenon sometimes called the “Overview Effect”. He describes being completely engulfed by a profound sense of universal connectedness. Without warning, he says, a feeing of bliss, timelessness, and connectedness began to overwhelm him. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/submit-an-article/2463-space-euphoriaEdgar Mitchell experienced the little understood phenomenon sometimes called the... more
-
-
worrg
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
This video is an interesting artist’s conception of what an asteroid impact might look like. The music of Pink Floyd accompanies all life on earth on its way into hell.This video is an interesting artist’s conception of what an asteroid impact... more
-
-
‘THE PEACE-FOR-ALL-PRAYER’ – THE YAJURVAEDA VERSE
[A].THE INTRODUCTION:
Today, we get dismayed when we notice the mindless killing of the fellow human by a fellow human in different parts of the globe.
Then, we read and see reports about the thousands of innocent people, animals, birds and other creatures being killed by the non-human disasters like the earthquake in different parts of the Earth. Your heart gets disturbed on seeing the visuals of the helpless people being drown in the flood-waters or the mangled bits of a crashed-aeroplane with the body parts of the dead human-passengers strewn all around and so on.
It seems the whole world has become restless and consequently the peaceless. Then, we quietly switch off our TV sets, Laptops, PCs, Transistors, FMs and put the newspaper away so as not to get our blood pressure increased due to all these tension-giving media reports about the seemingly a lack of the peace in our otherwise beautiful serene world.
Being persons with a conscience, we start praying for the peace for our human race on this planet Earth. But, should we stop at praying for the peace for the humans only?
[B].THE DISCUSSION:
Thousands of years back, the Indian spiritual-scientists called the Reshhes taught the human race to pray for the peace not only for the human race but all other entities in our world. This is shown amply by the following Verse Number 36/17 in the Yajurvaeda, through which the Reshhes prayed for the peace for all the entities in the cosmos:
“Dhouuha ShanteRaAntreksham Shanteha Prthevee Shanteraapha Shanteroshhadhayha Shanteha I
Vanaspatayha ShanteRaVeshvae Daevaaha ShanteRaBrhma Shanteha Sarvm Shanteha Shanteraeva Shanteha Saa Maa Shanteraedhe II”
The meaning of the above-stated Verse is as under:
“The Peace for the Dhuloka [Heavens], the Peace for the Antreksha [Universe], the Peace for the Prthevee [Earth], the Peace for the Jala [Water], the Peace for the Auushhadhee [Herbal Medicines], the Peace for the Vanaspate [Plants], the Peace for the Daevataa [Gods/Goddesses/Deities], the Peace for the Brhma [Absolute], the Peace for the Sarva [Everything/Everyone], the Peace for the Shaante [Peace] and my this Peace may exist forever.”
This Vaedika Peace-Verse shows clearly that the ancient Indian Reshhes considered everything like the Earth, Water, Plants, Universe, etc in this world as possessing the consciousness and accordingly an identity of its own.
THE BRIEF EXPLANATION:
1. If the peace for the Heavens [the abode of the Divine Entities] exists, we humans are benefitted, too because then these Divine Entities could help us much better instead of rather being busy solving their own peaceless state of affairs.
2. If the peace for the Universe exists, we humans stand to gain because then it would mean no need to worry about things like the meteors or the asteroids hitting our Earth and harming us or the Sun losing its heat, thereby causing loss of the precious insolation on the Earth and so on.
3. If the peace for the Earth exists, we would be spared of the calamities like the earthquake, etc.
4. If the peace for the Water exists, we would without doubt remain peaceful because this would mean surety of the drinking-water for everyone, the rainwater for our crops and consequently no peaceless problems like the Famine caused by a shortage of the food-grains, etc. and we would further be spared of the terrible problems like the furious floods.
5. If the peace for the Herbal Medicines exists, the herbal medicines would not die out and always would remain effective in wiping out the diseases from our life.
6. If the peace for the Plants exists, the plants always would live a normal life. The Plants would give us plenty of useful products and the greenery to enrich our life.
7. If the peace for the Gods/Goddesses/Deities exists, the world shall be ridden of the harmful bad astral entities and the negative energy around because then the Gods/Goddesses/Deiies would be able to focus their whole energy in fighting out these aforesaid evil forces.
8. If the peace for the Brhma [Absolute] exists, it would still be more beneficial for the whole world.
9. If the peace for Everyone in this world exists, there would be no humans-induced conflicts, skirmishes, battles, wars, killings, lootings or non-human calamities like earthquake, etc.
10. If the peace for the concept of ‘the Peace’ exists, this concept of the Peace always shall remain the prime in our life and the world. This would ensure that each and every particle or bit of the energy emitted the peace only in the world.
[C].THE CONCLUSION:
Dear Readers, you are requested earnestly to display the above-mentioned Peace-Verse in your Drawing Room, Dining Hall, Kitchen, Study Room, Bed Room, Halls, Classrooms, Conference-rooms, Office and public places prominently. Yours this big noble gesture may help usher in the positive vibrations for the Peace on this beautiful planet earth and in rest of the world around…!‘THE PEACE-FOR-ALL-PRAYER’ – THE YAJURVAEDA VERSE
[A].THE... more
-
-
Our galaxy is rich in Earth-sized planets
July 27, 2010 8:24 a.m. EDT
Planets may answer age-old questions
Editor's note: TED, a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading," hosts talks on many subjects and makes them available through its website.
(CNN) -- Since the time of Nicolaus Copernicus five centuries ago, people have wondered whether there are other planets like Earth in the universe. Today scientists are closer than ever to an answer -- and it appears to be that the Milky Way galaxy is rich in Earth-sized planets, according to astronomer Dimitar Sasselov.
Drawing on new findings from a NASA telescope, he told the TED Global conference in Oxford, England earlier this month that nearly 150 Earth-sized planets have been detected so far. He estimated that the overall number of planets in the galaxy with "similar conditions to the conditions that we experience here on Earth is pretty staggering. It's about 100 million such planets."
A Bulgarian-born scientist with Ph.D.s in astronomy and physics, Sasselov is a professor of astronomy and director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, which brings together scientists from many disciplines to explore how life began. He titled his talk at the Oxford conference: "On Completing the Copernican Revolution."
Until technology was developed to detect planets outside the solar system 15 years ago, scientists were only able to speculate about the existence of Earth-like planets. The new technology paid off in the discovery of some 500 planets.
The disappointing fact though was that very few of the newly identified planets were the size of Earth.
"There was of course an explanation for it. We only see the big planets. So that's why most of those planets are really in the category of 'like Jupiter,' " he said.
There was no indication that these large planets were suitable for life to begin.
"We were still back where Copernicus was. We didn't have any evidence whether planets like the Earth are out there," Sasselov said. "And we do care about planets like the Earth because by now we understood that life as a chemical system really needs a smaller planet with water and with rocks and with a lot of complex chemistry to originate, to emerge, to survive. And we didn't have the evidence for that."
In March 2009, NASA launched Kepler, a telescope-carrying satellite that can detect the dimming of light caused by a planet orbiting around a star.
"All the stars for Kepler are just points of light," Sasselov said. "But we learn a lot from that, not only that there is a planet there, but we also learn its size. How much of the light is being dimmed depends on how big the planet is. We learn about its orbit, the period of its orbit and so on."
The discovery of many potential planets means "we can go and study them -- remotely, of course -- with all the techniques that we already have tested in the past five years. We can find what they're made of, would their atmospheres have water, carbon dioxide, methane."
At the same time, Sasselov believes, scientists can make progress in the laboratory on better understanding how chemicals can produce life.
"And in one of our labs, Jack Szostak's labs, it was a series of experiments in the last four years that showed that the environments -- which are very common on planets, on certain types of planets like the Earth -- where you have some liquid water and some clays, you actually end up with naturally available molecules which spontaneously form bubbles. But those bubbles have membranes very similar to the membrane of every cell of every living thing on Earth. .... And they really help molecules, like nucleic acids, like RNA and DNA, stay inside, develop, change, divide and do some of the processes that we call life."
Copernicus is famous for the then-revolutionary idea that the Earth orbits the sun rather than that the universe is centered around Earth. But Sasselov pointed out that with the Copernican revolution came a humbling sense of mankind's insignificance in the universe.
"You've all learned that in school -- how small the Earth is compared to the immense universe. And the bigger the telescope, the bigger that universe becomes. ... So in space, the Earth is very small.
To demonstrate the minuteness of life on Earth, Sasselov took off his tie.
"Can you imagine how small it is? Let me try it. OK, let's say this is the size of the observable universe, with all the galaxies, with all the stars. Do you know what the size of life in this necktie will be?
"It will be the size of a single, small atom. It is unimaginably small. ... But that's not the whole story, you see."
The other dimension of life on Earth is time -- and life has existed for a good portion, nearly a third, of the time the universe is believed to have existed, Sasselov said.
"This is not insignificant. This is very significant. So life might be insignificant in size, but it is not insignificant in time. Life and the universe compare to each other like a child and a parent, parent and offspring.
"So what does this tell us? This tells us that that insignificance paradigm that we somehow got to learn from the Copernican principle, it's all wrong. There is immense, powerful, potential in life in this universe -- especially now that we know that places like the Earth are common. And that potential, that powerful potential, is also our potential, of you and me.
"And if we are to be stewards of our planet Earth and its biosphere, we better understand the cosmic significance and do something about it. And the good news is we can actually indeed do it. "Our galaxy is rich in Earth-sized planets
July 27, 2010 8:24 a.m. EDT
Planets may... more
-
-
-
Scientists discover monster star
Photo: The massive star is in the Tarantula Nebula, 165,000 light years from our galaxy.
By Moni Basu, CNN
July 21, 2010 5:54 p.m. EDT
(CNN) -- Imagine a star so luminous that it would burn the Earth up if it were anywhere near, a star that outshines the sun as much as the sun outshines the moon. A monster even in the abyss of space.
The star is not some scientist's celestial dream. Astronomers used a Very Large Telescope -- the instrument's official name -- to detect the most massive star discovered to date. In scientific lingo, it's a "hypergiant."
Led by Paul Crowther, professor of astrophysics at England's University of Sheffield, the team of astronomers studied two young clusters of stars, NGC 3603 and RMC 136a.
R136a1, found in the RMC 136a cluster, is 10 million times brighter than the sun and is the heaviest star ever found, Crowther said Wednesday, with a mass that is roughly 265 times more than the sun. It was born even heavier, with a solar mass of 320. Astronomers previously thought 150 to be the upper limit.
Several of the stars studied had surface temperatures of 40,000 degrees, more than seven times hotter than the sun.
R136a1 is rare and resides in another galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its home is more than 165,000 light years away from Earth's Milky Way galaxy. As such, said Crowther, it is not visible to the naked eye, nor with a rooftop telescope.
"Owing to the rarity of these monsters, I think it is unlikely that this new record will be broken any time soon," Crowther said.
Crowther's team used the sophisticated infrared equipment on the Very Large Telescope in a European Southern Observatory facility in Chile as well as data collected from the Hubble Space Telescope to detect the colossal star. The telescope is considered the world's "biggest eye on the sky" and is 8 meters (26 feet) in diameter.
The research was published in the current issue of the British scientific journal The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
"Unlike people, these kind of stars are massive when they are babies," Crowther told CNN. "They lose weight as they get older."
At over a million years old, the star is already middle-aged, Crowther said, and could easily be a poster child for WeightWatchers, having shed a fifth of its initial mass over time because of powerful winds.
In another million years -- a brief life span compared to the sun's 5 billion years of existence -- the giant star will probably explode as a supernova. It won't be noticeable on Earth because it's so far away.
Crowther, excited about the new find, had to find simple terminology to describe it to his 6-year-old son Billy. Billy, in turn, wanted dad to name the monster star after him.
That might have sounded a whole lot better than R136a1, but nonetheless, a star is born.Scientists discover monster star
Photo: The massive star is in the Tarantula... more
-
-
More doubts are surfacing about the existence of this undetectable phantasm.
In previous Picture of the Day articles about the existence of “dark matter” we noted that it is primarily an add-on to "Big Bang Cosmology.” The Big Bang is supposed to be what brought all matter and energy, including gravity, into existence. All modern cosmologists, with few exceptions, accept the theory without question.
NASA launched the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) on June 30, 2001. The instruments onboard the satellite were designed to measure temperature fluctuations theorized to exist in lower mass density regions of the Universe. Since the Big Bang theory does not account for such regions—matter and energy should be evenly distributed—WMAP was sent to confirm their existence.
According to conventional physics, dark matter is a necessary addition to their models since there is not enough gravity in the Universe to account for galaxy formation, or those galaxies assembling themselves into clusters. Galaxy clusters should have slowed down considerably over the last few billion years and not maintained such wild recessional velocities, some of which are said to approach the speed of light.
Astronomers came up with a dark (or undetectable) form of matter when they noticed stars on the edge of a spiral galaxy orbiting its nucleus with the same angular speed as stars closer to its center. As Newtonian mechanics insists, stars farther away from the center should be moving more slowly, so astronomers assumed dark matter was imparting extra velocity to them.Investigators have also tried for years to reconcile the amount of mass in the Universe with how fast it is expanding. Their only recourse has been to invent the existence of another undetectable force, “dark energy.”
As long ago as 2007, for example, serious reconsideration of dark matter theory was already published. Consensus astronomy presupposes dark matter organizing galactic structure. Dark matter (as well as dark energy) are thought to be necessary mathematical constructs in the astronomical community, because in their minds gravity is the sine qua non of all forces that govern galactic motion.
Recently, scientists from Durham University in Great Britain announced that the theories of dark matter and dark energy are most likely based on incorrect assumptions about WMAP observational analysis. Professor Tom Shanks noted: "If our results prove correct then it will become less likely that dark energy and exotic dark matter particles dominate the Universe. So the evidence that the Universe has a 'Dark Side' will weaken."
Those who consider Electric Universe theory have adopted a far different approach regarding the nature of the cosmos. Astrophysicist Hannes Alfvén elucidated his “electric galaxies” theory in 1981. Alfvén (a Nobel laureate) noticed that galaxies and their motions resemble a homopolar motor more than anything else. A homopolar motor operates because electric currents create magnetic fields, causing a metal disc to spin at a rate directly proportional to the supplied current.
Galactic discs act like the conductive plates in said homopolar, or Faraday, motors, named for their inventor, Michael Faraday. Gigantic Birkeland currents flow into galaxies, so stars in their discs are powered by those currents. Galaxies, in turn, receive their power from intergalactic Birkeland currents that are visible in space as filamentary structures traceable by their magnetic fields.
Birkeland currents are drawn toward each other in a linear relationship, with a long-range attraction potential 39 orders of magnitude greater than gravity. Dark matter and dark energy influences can be dismissed when electric currents flowing through dusty plasma are recognized as that which energizes and sustains clusters, galaxies, and stars.
Stephen SmithMore doubts are surfacing about the existence of this undetectable phantasm.
In... more
-
-
In this video animation, Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world.In this video animation, Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual... more
-
-
Planet of fire sprouts tail like a comet
Posted on July 15th, 2010
A blazing hot planet orbiting another star is sporting a long tail like a comet, astronomers using the Hubble space telescope have discovered. The alien world, unofficially nicknamed Osiris, is so close to its own sun that powerful stellar winds are sweeping its atmosphere out behind it.
It lies 153 light-years away from Earth and is slightly less heavy than our own biggest planet Jupiter. But it is constantly being roasted by its star as it speeds around it once every three and a half days.
Compare that to our own innermost planet, Mercury, which takes 88 days to orbit the Sun.
Officially labelled HD 209458b, the planet was first detected in 1999 when it passed in front of the star in the constellation of Pegasus, causing a tiny dip in the star’s brightness. Last month, astronomers reported that a superstorm was raging on the planet.
Now astronomers have used observations of subsequent transits to study the structure and chemical make-up of the world’s atmosphere by examining how starlight passes through it.
Studies with a Hubble instrument called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph suggest powerful stellar winds are sweeping the cast-off atmospheric material behind the scorched planet and shaping it into a comet-like tail.
The instrument detected the heavy elements carbon and silicon in the planet’s super-hot 2,000 degrees F (1,100 C or so) atmosphere. This detection revealed the parent star is heating the entire atmosphere, dredging up the heavier elements and allowing them to escape the planet.
Jeffrey Linsky, of the University of Colorado, who led the study, said: “We have measured gas coming off the planet at specific speeds, some coming toward Earth. The most likely interpretation is that we have measured the velocity of material in a tail.”
But although this extreme planet is being roasted by its star, Linsky believes it will not be destroyed anytime soon. “It will take about a trillion years for the planet to evaporate,” he said. The research is reported in the Astrophysical Journal.
A report last year claimed that HD 209458b had the basic ingredients for life in its atmosphere, although its physical circumstances would make it seem impossible for any life as we understand it to exist there. It followed previous claims of the detection of water.Planet of fire sprouts tail like a comet
Posted on July 15th, 2010
A blazing hot... more
-
-
For the last 12 years, Carter Emmart has been coordinating the efforts of scientists, artists and programmers to build a complete 3D visualization of our known universe. He demos this stunning tour and explains how it's being shared with facilities around the world.For the last 12 years, Carter Emmart has been coordinating the efforts of scientists,... more
-
-
Planck's first image of space, past and present
Xeni Jardin at 11:36 AM Monday, Jul 5, 2010
The European Space Agency today released the first image of space obtained by the Planck mission.
Shown above, the image includes emissions from dust in our own galaxy and faint ripples of the cosmic microwave background that is light left behind from The Big Bang.
This is the first all-sky map from the spacecraft, which will complete four surveys before its mission ends in 2012. A good explanatory article here on SpaceFlight Now (click on link).
(image courtesy ESA/ LFI & HFI Consortia; Thanks, Dave Clements)Planck's first image of space, past and present
Xeni Jardin at 11:36 AM... more
-
-
ThunderboltsProject — November 22, 2009 — The selections presented here are from the 78-minute DVD "Symbols of an Alien Sky," Episode One, now available from Mikamar Publishing.
An unsolved mystery: Why did archaic astronomical traditions always identify their most powerful gods as planets? And why did they insist that "Doomsday" occurred when these gods went to war?
http://www.mikamar.biz
Velikovsky wrote 'Mankind in Amnesia' and is also responsible for waking us up from it.ThunderboltsProject — November 22, 2009 — The selections presented here... more
-
-
ThunderboltsProject — May 20, 2010 — Presented here are the first glimpses of Episode Two in the series "Symbols of an Alien Sky."
Better get with the Electric Universe and Velikovsky or find yourself in the geocentric, flat earth category of history.ThunderboltsProject — May 20, 2010 — Presented here are the first glimpses... more
-
-
Every physicist is taught that information cannot be transmitted faster than the speed of light. Yet laboratory experiments done over the last 30 years clearly show that some things appear to break this speed limit without upturning Einstein's special theory of relativity. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/your-details/405-faster-than-lightEvery physicist is taught that information cannot be transmitted faster than the speed... more
-
-
worrg
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
This Video is Amazing!!! I seen it on Youtube and since I like these type of Universe Mystic cosmic stuff maybe you guy's might as well like it. If you wanna give your idea's and thought's on it. give a little piece of your mind and share a comment. By the way Skip-Can't do he stole this & other ideas & stories of mine...Skipcando Your an asshole you anti-christ.Thank you.Day2Day1nSociety. http://www.twitter.com/Day2Day_GodStarThis Video is Amazing!!! I seen it on Youtube and since I like these type of Universe... more
-
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC3V8DGxIak So is Nibiru real? Do you guys agree or disagree on the notion of the world ending in 2012, or is this just some big hype like the y2k? And let's say there really was a Planet X (NIBIRU) coming in the next four years? What's on it and what's gonna become of the human race? Are we gonna survive and get on with our day to day lives or is this society gonna crumble and fall like the towers of Babylon? Hmmmm? I guess we won't know until we start seeing the first real stages of this notion and internet hype? Until then we just go on with our lives in this society which we call normal? But what can we really call normal? No one knows. Just be happy, live free and fight for love, peace, happiness, and no globalization - everyone is their own person. And everyone has their own thoughts and dreams and wants, needs, brain, skills, form of style, feelings and maybe, just maybe one day everyone can live in harmony. I pray for it to happen. Well let me know what you think. I'm new to this site and wanna make a difference and wanna hear what people think. Thank you, I'm just me, Day2Day1nSociety-Christopher Cluney again thank you. --I even wrote the original one that is presented on that idiotic thief's,((So-called Skip-Can-do aka The-Skid-mark-Can'tdo)),Profile he stole the story from me & put it on his profile that's why I stop being his friend & that's why he hasn't wrote anything else because he's a thief & liar...Plus I wrote the other story on his profile as well...Thank you.. I just wanted the truth to be shown,& yes I did originally write this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC3V8DGxIak So is Nibiru real? Do you guys agree or... more
-
-
Does the truth ever change? The question is profound, because what we "know" to be "true" never seems to stop changing. The earth was once flat, the Sun once revolved around the earth, and the Milky Way was once the only galaxy. Of course, these "truths" were never actually true, but they were widely held beliefs that were accepted as "facts".
Historically, the line between belief and fact was often blurred by religious interpretations. Today, a similar confusion arises when scientific hypotheses are misrepresented as fact. The popular theory holds that the universe began 13.6 billion years ago with a Big Bang. This primordial explosion gave birth to a vast cloud of matter from which arose all of the celestial objects now observed. Out of a local concentration of matter, the Sun and its planetary companions congealed. And for several billion years, little has changed within our cosmic neighborhood.
This big picture of the universe also includes highly speculative -- and invisible -- phenomena such as black holes, dark matter, and dark energy. For too long, the scientific establishment has presented these speculations as "things we now know to be true", and media in this country have shown little or no inclination to question them. But increasingly, we see signs that this is changing. Evidence arguing against the sacred cosmological dogmas continues to mount, and many independent voices insist that theoretical science is now following a dead-end path.
Recently, one of the country's most popular science and technology websites, Wired.com, outlined a serious challenge to a key tenet of modern cosmology. Reporter David McCandless authored the article, "They Sing the Comet Electric", which noted the successful predictions registered at the Thunderbolts.info website prior to the climax of NASA's Deep Impact mission -- the collision of an 820-pound projectile into Comet Tempel 1. These predictions were based on the belief that comets are electrically charged bodies, and not the "dirty snowballs" of popular theory. If comets are proven to be electrical in nature, this could force the most dramatic re-assessment of cosmological theory since the age of Copernicus and Galileo.
McCandless displayed an even-handedness and candor rarely seen in popular media. Most journalists, perhaps afraid of falling out of NASA's good graces, are far less likely to think independently, and tend to accept official statements from mainstream theorists as unquestioned truth (see CNN's space "coverage" for a prime example of this). Not so with McCandless, who thoroughly investigated the Deep Impact event, and imparted the facts in a fair and balanced light.
McCandless wrote: "Prior to the July 4 impact, the Electric Universe group published a detailed chain of events they expected to see when Deep Impact struck comet Tempel 1...
"The prediction said there would be two impact flashes: a small flash as the projectile penetrated the comet's electrified atmosphere, followed by a huge impact flash that would be 'unexpectedly energetic'. And that's exactly what appeared to happen on July 4, in an impact that astonished NASA investigators."
The full article may be read here: http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,68258,00.html
Not surprisingly, not a single NASA scientist was willing to comment on a specific prediction by the Thunderbolts group. The one naysayer who was willing to go on the record -- Dr. David Hughes, professor of astrophysics at Britain's University of Sheffield -- offered only a dogmatic assertion advocating the dirty snowball theory. "The inside of a comet has a typical temperature of minus 100 Celsius", he stated. "Electricity on the surface of a comet? Forget about it. It's not a contender". Hughes further stated that for astronomical material to be charged electrically, it must be in the form of hot ionized gas.
more at link...
Oh, the Electric Universe matters.Does the truth ever change? The question is profound, because what we "know"... more
-
