tagged w/ andromeda
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The so-called “queen” of the sciences, cosmology, is founded upon the myth that the weakest force in the universe—gravity—is responsible for forming and shaping galaxies, stars and planets. But even if this were true, gravity remains unexplained. How it works is a mystery.
Newton gave us a mathematical description of what gravity does. Einstein invoked an unreal geometry to do the same thing. Newton had the sense to “frame no hypotheses” about how gravity worked. Einstein made it impossible to relate cause and effect—which means that the theory of general relativity is not physics! How, precisely, does matter warp empty space? The language is meaningless. But this hasn’t stopped scientists declaring a law of gravitation with a ‘universal’ physical constant—‘G.’
For many years now, astronomers have been reporting that supermassive black holes — several million times the mass of the Sun — exist in nearly every galaxy.
The thoughtless followers of Einstein have fashioned God in their own image as a mathematician but “He” is much smarter and avoids high school howlers like the gravitational “black hole.” Yes, a theoretical “black hole” exists—and it sucks the very heart out of astronomy and astrophysics.
The question for the Electric Universe is therefore: If black holes don’t exist, how do we explain recent observations at the center of our own Milky Way?"
Explained at article.The so-called “queen” of the sciences, cosmology, is founded upon the myth... more
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by Dr. Jeremy Dunning-Davies
"As more and more money is being requested for scientific experiments which are becoming more and more elaborate, it becomes increasingly important to attempt to explain the basic theory behind the work involved to those who, in the end, pay the bill - YOU - the members of the general public.
Many look on in awe and wonder when told of the Large Hadron Collider. They have little idea what it is or, in reality, what those in charge hope it will do but are carried along on a wave of, quite probably, genuine enthusiasm from those involved. The lack of knowledge, though, is emphasised by the genuine fear felt by some at the belief that, when switched on, this powerful machine would produce a black hole that would swallow up the Earth.
Ridiculous as this may sound, there were people who did believe this and were genuinely stressed by the day of the switch-on. The cost of this machine, as well as the enormous cost of running and maintaining it, are almost beyond the comprehension of many members of the general public.
For over a hundred years now, scientific thought seems to have been held in the vicelike grip of two theories - relativity and quantum mechanics. However, what of the qualms concerning these two theories?"
The article explains.by Dr. Jeremy Dunning-Davies
"As more and more money is being requested for... more
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For those who haven't noticed, this year is "The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)." The International Year of Astronomy will involve 135 nations and thousands of events around the world. It marks the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei.
However, astronomers have little to celebrate in 2009. They have usurped the role of the church and cast out a modern-day Galileo!
Astronomers are repeating the mistakes of the Roman Catholic Church in Galileo’s day by refusing to accept what telescopes are showing them. The fear is the same — of having cherished dogma swept away, and with it their authority. It seems to be the nature of authorities to nurture and perpetuate self-serving myths.
Dr. Halton Arp is a modern ‘Galileo,’ in our midst. He was regarded in his early career as a leading young astronomer, but he made the poor career move of proving the Big Bang never happened. Like Galileo, he did this by diligent observation. He showed that Edwin Hubble’s intuition about the nature of the universe was simple and correct:
“..if redshifts are not primarily velocity-shifts, the picture is simple and plausible. There is no evidence of expansion and no restriction of time-scale, no trace of spatial curvature, and no limitation of spatial dimensions.”
— Edwin Hubble, Observational Approach to Cosmology, Oxford 1937.For those who haven't noticed, this year is "The International Year of... more
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Our two nearest large neighbours, the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies, appear to have grazed each other about 2.5 billion years ago – and a worse collision is on the horizon. The findings lend weight to the theory that big galaxies grow by gobbling smaller ones.
Remnants of galactic cannibalism have been found strewn about our own galaxy in the form of stellar streams, spaghetti-like strands of stars that were ripped from orbiting dwarf galaxies when they came too close to the Milky Way.
These observations support the "hierarchical" model of galaxy formation, in which big galaxies form when smaller ones merge.
But as a testbed for the theory, the Milky Way has a significant drawback: We can't see all of it at once. "The problem with the Milky Way is that we are inside the Milky Way," says Alan McConnachie of the NRC Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics in Victoria, Canada, lead author of the new work.
So astronomers turned their gaze outwards, to our near-twin, the Andromeda galaxy. They made the largest-ever map of the galaxy's stars using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. The map extends 500,000 light years from the centre of Andromeda, more than 10 times the distance of our sun from the centre of the Milky Way.
Stellar immigrants
Even at the farthest edges of the galaxy, bright stars abounded. Because most of the star-forming gas is concentrated at the centre of the galaxy, these stars probably weren't born there – they're likely immigrants from dwarf galaxies that fell into and became part of Andromeda.
The map also showed stars in bright streams and clumps that were also likely ripped from dwarf galaxies that once orbited Andromeda. Some of these were already known, but several of them are new. These observations lend weight to the hierarchical model. "It's a nice vindication of a lot of the ideas of how you form galaxies in general," McConnachie says.
"This is a very nice paper. It will be very valuable for models of galaxy formation," says Andrey Kravtsov of the University of Chicago. "It may be for a long while the best picture we have for evidence of hierarchical buildup of galaxies."
'Pulled apart'
The study also shows that Andromeda's reach extends even farther than expected. The Triangulum galaxy is the next-largest local galaxy after the Milky Way, and it sits about 1 million light years from Andromeda. It's large enough and far enough away that it is not considered a mere satellite of Andromeda – but that won't save it from the larger galaxy's voracious appetite.
"The Triangulum galaxy appears to be eaten by Andromeda," McConnachie says. "That was completely unexpected."
The map showed a trillion-kilometre-long tentacle extending from Triangulum towards Andromeda – "exactly the sort of feature we expect to see for a galaxy being pulled apart by the gravitational effects of a bigger galaxy," McConnachie told New Scientist.
It also revealed that both galaxies' stellar discs were warped by their close encounter. Previous observations had found that Triangulum looked like a perfect spiral if you only looked at its stars, but its disc of hydrogen gas was extremely distorted. The discrepancy between the warped gas and the pristine stars is one of Triangulum's biggest mysteries.
Warped disc
The new observations show the stellar disc is warped if you look at very faint stars.
"It's not until you look at really, really faint light levels that you can actually see the mess that has also happened to the stars," McConnachie says. "Whatever caused the gas warp also warped the stars, and we suggest that could well have been this interaction with the Andromeda galaxy."
To figure out when and how the galaxies met, McConnachie and his colleagues ran computer simulations of their possible trajectories. The one that best fits the galaxies' current positions shows them grazing each other at a distance of 130,000 light years around 2.5 billion years ago.
Click link...Our two nearest large neighbours, the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies, appear to... more
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In an obvious response to the Obama Presidency, the Andromeda Galaxy has begun swallowing dwarf galaxies near it, much as Big Government threatens the freedom of crackers everywhere.In an obvious response to the Obama Presidency, the Andromeda Galaxy has begun... more
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Some of the hottest hot-shot pilots in space opera are women. It's a longstanding tradition in science fiction to show women taking the controls of starships, space fighters and star-cruisers, and here are our favorite badass female cockpit jockeys.
Even as more women are becoming astronauts and getting to pilot the space shuttle, science fiction has shown tons of women taking the helm.Some of the hottest hot-shot pilots in space opera are women. It's a longstanding... more
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Scientists have long thought the Milky Way was smaller than another galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy. It looks lik the good ol' Way is much stronger and larger than previously thought. This could mean the Milky Way will collide with Andromeda much sooner - but don't worry, you've still got a few billion years to figure out an escape plan.Scientists have long thought the Milky Way was smaller than another galaxy, the... more
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In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earth's surface to the outermost reaches of the universe on a grand tour of the cosmos, to explore newborn stars, distant planets, black holes and beyond.In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earth's surface to the outermost... more
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Michael Crichton, 66, a writer and filmmaker whose enormously popular and entertaining novels such as "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain" explored the limits and consequences of science, and who also created the long-running television medical drama "E.R.," died of cancer Nov. 4 in Los Angeles...
Michael Crichton, 66, a writer and filmmaker whose enormously popular and entertaining... more
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