Showing posts with label astronomy stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label astronomy stuff. Show all posts

Earth Natural Music

Dawn chorus refers to a phenomena that occurs during sunrise and with proper but unsophisticated equipment, you can hear a music played by the Earth.


The music is believed to be generated by interaction between high energy electrons that trapped in the Earth's magnetosphere and electromagnetic field from solar wind. Well, ignore the scientific jargon for now, chill and listen to the song of the earth.

P/s: I'm not grasping the how this music is created just yet. But you are welcome to read about it here and here.




Source: Here.

How The Universe Was Measured

In space exploration, there are terms where researchers use in order to determine the distance of a star from earth. The two most common terms are astronomical unit, which is equivalent to approximately 150 million kilometers or the mean distance from earth to sun, and the other unit is light year, which is the distance of light travel by a year or 9.5*10^13 kilometers.

The video below shows how the distance of two stars between universe is measured. The video used only simple terms and people with no scientific background can also understand this. Give it a whirl.


There might be several terms such as Parallax, Standard Candle or Doppler effect which you might want to Google in order to understand the video better. Kudos to whoever involves in creating this wonderful video. 

Source: Here

Arecibo Message

The search for extraterrestrial life began long time ago but it may be due to some conspiracy that we don't know, the existence of this life has not been proved yet. Nevertheless, human keep sending message in the form of radio waves to see whether an outer space life can detect and decode it or not.

The above picture isn't just a picture, but rather a message that was broadcasted from Arecibo radio telescope towards M13, a globular star cluster located 25 000 light years away. Scientists predict that Earth has to wait for 50 000 years for the reply.

The message was created by Dr Frank Drake, the creator of Drake Equation with the help of few other people including Carl Sagan, an American astronomer. The message consists of seven parts which generally explain about life on Earth.

The parts are:

  1. The numbers 1 through 10. (white)
  2. Atomic number of Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Phosphorus, the elements that make up Deoxyrebonucleic Acid. (purple)
  3. The formula for sugars and bases in nucleotides of DNA. (green)
  4. Number of nucleotides (green) and the basic double helix structure of DNA. (blue)
  5. Graphic figure of human, dimension of the average man and human population on Earth in 1974. (red)
  6. Graphic of the solar system. (yellow)
  7. Graphic of Arecibo radio telescope and the dimension of the transmitting antenna dish. (bottom purple)
The message was encoded in binary in which it must be arranged in 73 rows and 23 columns for the string to make any sense. The binary string is as follows.

00000010101010000000000
00101000001010000000100
10001000100010010110010
10101010101010100100100
00000000000000000000000
00000000000011000000000
00000000001101000000000
00000000001101000000000
00000000010101000000000
00000000011111000000000
00000000000000000000000
11000011100011000011000
10000000000000110010000
11010001100011000011010
11111011111011111011111
00000000000000000000000
00010000000000000000010
00000000000000000000000
00001000000000000000001
11111000000000000011111
00000000000000000000000
11000011000011100011000
10000000100000000010000
11010000110001110011010
11111011111011111011111
00000000000000000000000
00010000001100000000010
00000000001100000000000
00001000001100000000001
11111000001100000011111
00000000001100000000000
00100000000100000000100
00010000001100000001000
00001100001100000010000
00000011000100001100000
00000000001100110000000
00000011000100001100000
00001100001100000010000
00010000001000000001000
00100000001100000000100
01000000001100000000100
01000000000100000001000
00100000001000000010000
00010000000000001100000
00001100000000110000000
00100011101011000000000
00100000001000000000000
00100000111110000000000
00100001011101001011011
00000010011100100111111
10111000011100000110111
00000000010100000111011
00100000010100000111111
00100000010100000110000
00100000110110000000000
00000000000000000000000
00111000001000000000000
00111010100010101010101
00111000000000101010100
00000000000000101000000
00000000111110000000000
00000011111111100000000
00001110000000111000000
00011000000000001100000
00110100000000010110000
01100110000000110011000
01000101000001010001000
01000100100010010001000
00000100010100010000000
00000100001000010000000
00000100000000010000000
00000001001010000000000
01111001111101001111000

The message was sent with the aim of demonstrating the ability of arecibo radio telescope, not with the aim to find intelligent extraterrestrial life. Though, we'll never know what will happen in the next 50 000 years, could we?

Source: Wiki.

Name and Meaning of Saturn's Moons (Part 1)

As we all know, Saturn has around 60+ moons or natural satellites. Most of them are given names but some are not due to the lack of the characteristics in term "moon."  


Moon names below are listed alphabetically from A to L. Enjoy.

Aegaeon - One of the three Hecatonchires, a hundred-hands giant that help the titans. 


Aegir - This sea giant is also King of the sea creatures in Norse Mythology.


Albiorix - Also known as Toutatis, the worshiped celtic god in celtic paganism


Anthe - Derived from the word Anthea in Greek, which means "flowery" and is used to symbolize spring


Atlas - A titan which was punished by Zeus to hold the celestial spheres on his shoulders. Modern understanding is that Atlas was punished to carry Earth on his shoulders. 


Atlas


Bebhionn - May derived from Bebinn, the goddess of beauty and seduction in Irish mythology.


Bergelmir - The frost giant that survived the blood flood after Ymir was killed by Odin. Bergelmir and his wife escaped the death and are believed to be the new ancestor of frost giant.


Bestla - The mother of the Gods Odin, Vili and Ve.


Calypso - A nymph in Greek mythology. She is famous because of Odysseus, a mortal man whom she tried to be with until the intervention from Zeus. 


Daphnis - This shepherd and flutist was the son Hermes and Sicilian nymph which was blinded by a Naiad after he cheated her.  


Dione - Mother of Aphrodites, the goddess of love and beauty. 


Enceladus - One of the Gigantes, the children of Gaia and Uranus. 


Epimetheus - the name means hindsight. Together with his brother Prometheus (foresight), they were the sons of Iapetus. 


Erriapus - From the Celtic mythology, Erriapus is believed to be the high god or the leader of the gods in celtic paganism.


Farbauti - Loki's father. 


Fenrir - A monstrous wolf which is believed to bit Tyr's right hand and together with Hati, they were foretold to kill Odin during the great battle, Ragnarok. 


Fornjot - The father of Aegi, Fornjot is believed to be the original ruler of Finland/Norway.


Read more about Saturn here.


Greip - One of two giantess. Daughter of Geirrod, and was killed by Thor along with other frost giants he could find after Geirrod tried to kill him.


Hati - is said to be the son of Fenrir, Hati chases the moon across the night sky and swallow this heavenly body during Ragnarok, which set Fenrir free to kill Odin. 


Helene - Most widely known as Helen of Troy or Helen of Sparta, the daughter of Zeus and Leda. Her abduction by Paris from her husband, Menelaus, brought upon the Trojan war.


Hyperion - One of the twelve gods of titans. He with his brothers, Krios, Koios and Iapetos conspire with Kronos to kill their father, Uranus when he descended to lie with Gaia. 


Hyperion, one of the original Titans of the Ancient Greece.


Hyrokkin - She was the giantess that help the Gods to move Hringhorni, Baldr's ship and the largest among them all to serve as the God's funeral ship. 


Iapetus - Also the son of Uranus and Gaia, the father of Prometheus is given the title "Titan of Mortal Life."


Ijiraq - A shape shifter from Inuit mythology, Ijiraq is believed to confuse Inuit people from entering their areas by being fatally deceptive. 


Jarnsaxa - A jotunn who happens to be Thor's lover and also the mother of Magni, Thor's son. 


Janus - A two faces god in ancient Roman religion facing eastward and westward. They are said to be able to look into the past and future at the same time. 


Kari - The son of Fornjot. Also the God of wind in Norse mythology. 


Kiviuq - An Inuit wanderer that travels across the north and with his supernatural powers, overcome the giants, spirits, cannibals, bear or sea monsters that obstruct his path. 


Loge - The germanize term of Loki, a weird God/Jotunn that sometimes creates troubles or help those in mischief. He's the father of Fenrir, Jormungandr, Nari and also the mother of Sleipner. 


Tom Middleton as Loki in the movie Thor 




Source of names: Here

Just Look at How Small We Are!!

Click on the picture to view larger version.


Source: Here

Einstein's Relativity Made Easy

A great video explaining Einstein's theory of relativity.


JUNO The Spacecraft

As most of you know, Juno is one of the famous movie about a teenage girl with unplanned pregnancy struggle in her life in order to give birth and send her baby for adoption. But no, we're not discussing about Juno the film, but Juno the spacecraft.

As most of you didn't know, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has sent a spacecraft whose purpose is discovering more about the planet Jupiter. The spacecraft was given the name Juno, following the goddess as well as wife of the God Jupiter who can see Jupiter's true nature even after thick cloud drew by him to hide his behavior. Read the meaning of the planet names here.


Juno was sent in order to gain data about the planet gravity field, magnetic field, planet composition, the solid rocky core, the presence of water and many more. Basically, to understand the secret of the husband, we ask the wife. Below is a video explaining what Juno does, its mission and the astrophysicists hope it can achieved.


Heaven's Declaration

Here's a collection of amazing astronomical pictures that might blow your mind away. Notice the shape that these events made. They may look like animal, people, things, depending on how you view it. Anyway, enjoy!

Beautiful Astronomical Picture

Upon gazing the stars at night, do you even wonder about the world? About the universe we live in? Certainly most of you did not. Well, here's the picture of beautiful astronomical event that we should see so that we can appreciate the beauty of the universe.


A giant looking hand trying to reach the hot supernovae explosion. 


Hubble's Metamorphosis


Lagoon Nebula taken not by Hubble Telescope, but by 20" telescope on Earth


The Bubble Nebula. 


The Whirpool, only at 23 million years away.


The Aurora Australis taken from International Space Station.


The Sprawling Carina Nebula.



Source: 

25 Astronomical Facts That You Should Know

1. The Drake Equation was used to identify the possibility of other living organism in our universe.

2. Group that is responsible for searching the extraterrestrial organism is called SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). They send a radio wave signal to outer space and wait for a contact to happen.

3. The supermassive black hole is said to be responsible for creating the galaxies. In fact, scientists now have proved that black hole exists in the center of every galaxies.

4. 100 000 light years are needed in order for sun to orbit the Milky Way.

5. The biggest star known in our universe is called Cygnus, or the Swan. This hyper giant star is almost a million times bigger than the sun.

6. Mars is red because it contains oxidized iron in its soil.

7. Big Bang theory started when Hubble telescope proved that the universe is expanding, which led us to believe that it was once stayed in one place.

8. Slingshot is a technique used by space probes in order to save fuel while on its journey to distant planets. It uses the nearby planet's gravity to catapult them away.

9. Ganymede, one of the many moons that Jupiter have, is the biggest moon known in our Solar System.

10. In Uranus, the winter caused darkness to last for 20 years. During summer, the sun will not set for 20 years and in autumn, the sun rises and sets every 9 hours.

11. Halley's comet was named after Edmond Halley. He discovered that the comet will come back and it really did, 16 years after he died. In fact, he was the first person to ever succeeded in predicting the arrival of a comet.
12. Yuri Gagarin was the first man ever to be in space.

13. Dog Laika was the first living creature to ever be in space in the first to die in space too.

14. The closest galaxy to our Milky Way is named Andromeda. Its only 2.5 million light years from Earth.

15. The geology in Mars, essentially the riverbed, led scientists to believe that there was once water flowing in Mars.

16. The cost of a spacesuit is 11 million USD.

17. The universe is believed to be 15 billion years. But the oldest star was found to date around 18 billion years ago. So either the calculation for that star is wrong, or the universe is older than that.

18. A mirror was left during the first moon landing to reflect the laser beam fired from earth to calculate the distance from the moon to the earth and is done with amazing accuracy.

19. Nicholas Copernicus was the first man to suggest that the Sun was at the center and the Earth is orbiting it. And he learned that not from watching the sun, but by learning ancient astronomy.

20. Titan on Saturn, Lo on Jupiter, and Tritan on Neptune are the three moons thought to have their own moon.

21. Neptune's Triton is the coldest place on solar system. It is estimated to be around -236 degree Centigrade.

22. A supernovae emits 10^44 joules of energy. (1 followed by 44 zeros!!)

23. The biggest asteroid in the Solar System is named Ceres, after the goddess of agriculture in ancient Roman religion.

24.  Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity (1905) shows that all measurements are relative, including time and speed. In other words, time and speed depends upon where you measure them.

25. The Milky Way belongs to a cluster of 30 galaxies called the Local Group, which is 7 million light years across.

Source: http://amazingspacefacts.50webs.com/index5.html

Name of The Planet and Its Meaning

1. Jupiter - Jupiter is the King of God in ancient Roman history. His Greek name is Zeus (now everyone's familiar with it). He has an eagle messenger, can throw a lightning bolt and with his ability, all other Gods are terrified with him. Nevertheless, Jupiter was a little scared with his wife, Juno. The word Jupiter means "Father Jove."



2. Neptune - Neptune is considered as the god of the sea. His Greek name is Poseidon, the one that carried a trident. In Roman history, Neptune was not considered as an important god as Romans are basically poor sailors.



3. Pluto - Pluto, or Hades in Greek, was given the title god of the dead. In ancient Roman, they believed that if they ever even whisper Pluto's real name, they afraid that he might notice and they'll die afterward. The underworld, where only the dead can enter, they must pass through the river of the dead called styx. They must first pay the ferryman Charon in order to cross the Styx and pass through Cerberus, the dog with three heads. It is believed the only one who survived when fighting the Cerberus is Hercules, the strongest man in the world.



4. Saturn - The father of Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. He was given the title God of time and his weapon is the scythe. His sons, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto represents the Air, Water and Death, which are three things that time can't kill. Nevertheless, Saturnine in English means serious and gloomy and its Greek name is Cronos.



5. Uranus - Uranus is the god of the sky and his wife, Gaia, is the goddess of the earth. This man and wife are the parent for Saturn. It is said that Uranus and Gaia was once having a big argument and then split apart. That is why the earth and the sky nowadays are separated.



6. Mars - Mars or Ares in Greek, was given the title God of War. He was also the son of Jupiter and the father of Romulus and Remus, although he left them to die when they were young and being adopted by a mother wolf. He was one of the most important figure to Romans as Romans were great soldiers. The name "March" was derived from Mars because that was the time where the soldiers started fighting again after the winter.



7. Venus - Also called the Aphrodite in Greek, Venus was the goddess of love in ancient Roman history. Venus was also the mother of Cupid and Aeneas. Venus promised Helen to Paris if he chooses her to be the fairest among Juno and Minerva in order to get the golden apple. Unfortunately Helen was married. So Paris carried Helen all the way to Troy where Helen's husband came with allies and Troy was destroyed. An irony for a Goddess of love.



8. Mercury - Be called Hermes in Greek, Mercury was the messenger of the Gods and was given the title god of travellers. Mercury was very skilled and he had a winged hat and sandals that helped him to move. His staff also has wings and snake winding around it. He managed to steal Apollo's cow and create a special shoes so that the cow would walk backwards. He also created a musical instrument called lyre but was given to Apollo after he found out that he was the one who stole his cow.



9. Earth - Other planets were name after Roman God and Goddess except for earth. The name Earth simply came from the German word "Erde" which means the ground. Among all the names, Earth was at least 1000 years old from when the naming took place.


All writing materials are taken from here.

The 12 Zodiacs

Hi. I know some of us may believe in constellation and astrology especially in the 12 zodiacs that can help you the general characteristics of a person. Below are the 12 zodiacs characteristics i wanna share with you guys, part of it is true but some just plain wrong. Anyway, enjoy!


The 12 zodiacs

The first sign of the zodiac has aggressive, assertive characteristics. Planets in Aries take on an initiating, fiery and highly active disposition. When positively aspect Aries can be accomplishing, highly self-confident, and apt to draw a crowd due to the pronounced leadership abilities. Daring, enterprising, courageous, highly spirited, and freedom loving - these are the qualities of an Aries.
People born under this sign are action oriented and extroverted. They tend to look outward with excitement and delight at the wonderful opportunities and adventure in the world. They are the ones who pave the way for others.
The negative side? Aries are the kinds who take on a selfish energy, ones who act too quickly and leap into situations head-first without proper preparation. Aries is the first to get things going and can be highly defensive. But what Aries lack in emotional restraint, calmness of thought and consideration for others is offset by boundless energy and enthusiasm. Romance, drama and daring fill the life of those born under Aries.


"The Bull" - First earth sign in the Zodiac.
This sign gives a financial and materialistic energy to planets which may reside in it. Taurus is money-minded, concerned with gains, profits, and has quite an aesthetic vibration tied to it as well. When well aspected, planets here can be expressed with a high degree of charm, beauty, and grace which is quite correct in form and structure. They have rich-tastes and a certain zealousness, yet are loyal to friends and often quite generous to those they hold highest.
On the negative side, this sign can exhibit a virtually unmoveable stubbornness and will be inclined to forsake everything to its powerful greed for materialism. Taureans are tenacious, sometimes inflexible and slow to change. However, once committed to a project they will hang in there and follow through to completion. Taurus planets express themselves in ways which portray their innate worth.


"The Twins" - Has the air sign in the Zodiac.
This sign has an active energy revolving around diversity and change. People born under this sign have a great drive to share perceptions with others, to listen and tell stories. Those located here have a cornucopia of expression and always find means to express themselves in new and different ways.
The positive side of Gemini has an adroit thought process tied to its energies and planetary vibrations have an understandable communicative expression tied to them. They are often quite versatile and able to do multiple tasks at once.
Difficult aspects make the negative Gemini inconsistent and unable to pursue a course of action long enough to derive any benefit from it. Though Gemini is honest in intent, those born under the sign can be fickle. Gemini 's planets always can find alternative ways for expression.


"The Crab" - First water sign in the Zodiac.
Cancer is a sign concerned with care, protection, and nurturing. It lends an emotional energy to planets and they tend to be expressed according to a feeling rather than due to logical thoughts. Positive aspects provide this sign with a parental and ambitious energy. Quickly changing mood swings make Cancer emotional, highly romantic and even tearful. A vivid imagination belongs to Cancer, as well as a keen memory.
Negative vibrations give Cancer an over-sensitive, clinging stance which does not respond to reason. Cancerians are often shy, sensitive and self-protective. This sign relates strongly towards domestic and family activities.


"The Lion" - First fire sign in the Zodiac.
Drama, pride, and commanding leadership are characteristics ingrained in Leo. This attention getting sign gives a royal and classy gloss to planets located within it. Favourable aspects enable planets here to be expressed in ways which draw respect and admiration. Proud and dignified, Leo can be emotionally passionate and professionally ambitious, a natural leader. Leo thrives best when surrounded by luxury.
Negative vibrations influence planets to put on too much of a show and demonstrate a great deal of arrogance. Leo is capable of success, but frequently lacks opportunity for it and therefore may be inclined to fight. In this sign, there is a great need for recognition, appreciation, and applause, to the extent that they may become disruptive in their efforts to command attention. However, Leo can also be very quiet and unobtrusive, nobly standing above the battle, refusing to be pulled into common conflict.
Leo is a sign concerned with creativity.


"The Virgin" - Second earth sign in the Zodiac
Work, devotion to duty, and an innate desire to be of service are characteristics associated with Virgo. Planets residing here are expressed in a systematic, methodical way which is laced with plenty of logical thought.
When positive, Virgo energy is projected with a precision designed to create perfection. This sign expresses a desire for ordering things, for sorting out, cataloguing, tidying and applying thought to matter. Another important aspect of this sign is a desire to be of service and to share work with others. Often Virgos are attracted to the healing arts or help professions.
On the other hand, negative aspects tend to scatter energy towards small almost meaningless trivial activities. Though Virgo lacks self-confidence, associates respect the intelligence and stability of those born under the sign. Physical fitness and health concerns are much a part to this sign's scenario.


"The Scales" - Second air sign in the Zodiac
Libra is primarily concerned with others. either through friendship, social affairs, or joint ventures such as marriage. This sign lends harmony and artistic expression to its planets, as well as a strong intellectual factor.
At its best, Libra is pleasing, fair, and a master at compromise. People born under this sign are thinker-linkers, with the ability to show how one thing is related to another, and with a talent for mediation and an aptitude for understanding others.
On the down side, Libra tends to wait to long to act, and finds it too difficult to initiate and carry out projects alone. Libra's danger is the tendency to be too reasonable, too understanding, too co-operative, and for this reason it can be taken advantage of. While Libra is good at offering opinions to others, those born under the sign tend to put off personal decisions. Libra is the great peacemaker of the Zodiac.


"The Scorpion" - Second water sign in the Zodiac
This sign is intense, secretive, and mainly concerned with handling other peoples resources and talents. Planets in Scorpio are expressed to the extreme limits of their energies and often have a fatalistic, all-or-nothing expression.
Positive expression enables Scorpio to survive with and make the best of the most dire situations, and they frequently find new uses for old and forgotten items. People born under this sign are intense, analytical, investigative, probing, digging, wanting to get to the bottom of things. Scorpios are inclined to great secrecy, but there are times when they can be exceedingly and courageously honest, and can appear to be cruel in their willingness to articulate difficult truths.
However, this sign can be much too forceful, manipulative, and destructive when expressed negatively. Scorpios have a tendency to make other people feel uncomfortable- their intuition is always at work probing the surface appearance of things, piercing the facade of human pretensions.
Scorpio's usually bring deep and lasting changes to all they encounter.


"The Archer" - Third fire sign in the Zodiac
Adventure, travel, and a continual desire to expand horizons are marked characteristics of Sagittarius. Planetary energy here is expressed freely and unrestrained.
At its best, Sagittarius is kind, generous, and projects its energies as an educator. People born under this sign have a great urge to share feelings, to share enthusiasms with others. Sagittarians are often gifted with administrative skills, with the ability to organise, to manage, to delegate responsibility, and to direct action.
At its worst, this sign is often involved in more than it can handle and makes promises it can't keep. Those born under the sign may find themselves personally over-burdened.
Sagittarius is quite concerned with principals, moral standards, spiritualism, and broadcasting opinions to the world at large. Often attracted to team efforts and sports.


"The Goat" - Third earth sign in the Zodiac
Ambition, reputation, and status are Capricorn's main concerns. Planets here take on a conservative hue, and are expressed with a plan geared towards control and management.
Wisdom and steadfast reality provide Capricorn with the ability to make steady progress over the long haul. This a no-nonsense kind of sign, earthy, practical, sensible, materialistic and often ambitious. Capricorn people are good trouble-shooters and crisis handlers, inclined to find solutions to problems rather than cry over spilled milk. People born under this sign have a capacity to develop skill in whatever field they chose to undertake.
However, negative energy gives this sign a scheming vibration and unwillingness to entertain new ideas. Practical to a fault, those born under the sign do well in business, but may lack emotional tenderness. Slow-moving Capricorn is unsuited to change but finds success late in life. Capricorn's are builders and strict followers of their perceived rules and regulations.


"The Waterbearer" - Third air sign in the Zodiac
Aquarius is a sign which relates to freedom, independence, and breaking new ground with progressive thoughts and ideas.
Uniqueness and inventiveness are given to planets here. Harmonious aspects enable Aquarius to be the best of friends with much in the way of excitement. People born under this sign seek to understand outer circumstances by drawing upon inner and subjective ideas. This is one of the 'sweet' signs and those under this sign are usually casual, easy going, not at all petty and very likeable.
The darker side prompts this sign to disdain rules or boundaries, and act too impulsively. Those born under the sign are compelled to move quickly and rarely relax. Eager to do right and driven by curiosity, Aquarius will work long hours, even to the detriment of personal health. Aquarius is a sign mainly concerned with doing things in its own special way.

Pisces
"The Fishes" - Third water sign in the Zodiac
Pisces is intuitive, psychic, and the most spiritual sign of the Zodiac. Planetary energies in this sign are expressed via inspiration and retain high artistic qualities.
Positive energy enables this sign to demonstrate a great deal of sympathy for those who are weak or hurt in some manner. This sign is empathetic and compassionate. It is so attuned to others that it often feels the other persons pain, sorrow and joy as though it were happening to them. Pisceans are imaginative, emotional and responsive to rhythmical flow such as dance and music.
The negative side makes Pisces too vague, deceptive, and prone to live in its own fantasy world. Pisces is a comforting sign, one eager to make self-sacrifices.

p/s: as you can see, the sign of the pisces is a bit different. The reason being is that the image given from the original side is broken. So i had to replace it. =)

source: as copied and pasted from http://www.empathys.co.uk/67.html

Planets Visible to Unaided Eyes.

Have you wondered how the planets aligned themselves and more importantly, how they were found to begin with? Well, it's not what i want to share with you guys today, just a provoking thought to feed our hungry mind. Anyway, in StarDate magazine, they announced that four of the planets in Solar System can be seen with naked eye on pre-dawn May 12th 2011. Read the short story here.


StarDate magazine is a magazine showing tips on skywatching, skymaps, photos, astronomy features and news. Unfortunately, i haven't found the reason as to why these planets are visible to our naked eyes. But i think the reason was their location is too close to each other, forcing gravitational pull to act upon each other. But sometimes, you've got to forget about the meaning and enjoy the ambiance once in a while. So, just take your cameras, and shoot some pictures!!!

Dark Energy and Dark Matter

The topic for today is about dark energy and dark matter. Well, if you're not familiar with outer space, then probably you never heard either terms, but even for those who know these terms, can't actually define it. Well, it's because of the complexity that came from the nature of the terms that make it difficult to define. Here, i'll try to explain my very best to you about what is dark energy and what is dark matter.

Dark Energy


According to wikipedia, dark energy is a hypothetical energy that permeates all of space and is the possible causes of universe expansion. Well, the term hypothetical means that no scientists have ever see the actual dark energy. They only look at the trails and signature of the cosmos before they conclude the possibility of other form of energy that exists in outer space. Kind of like black hole. You can't actually see black hole but the effect that it gives to surrounding body stars can't be neglected. 

The NASA Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe(WMAP) revealed a fact that all atoms in this universe only make up about 4.6 percent of the universe. The rest is believe to be divided into 23.3% dark matter and 72.1% of dark energy. Well, since the amount is so large, no wonder scientists try to understand them. Below is the chart showing the percentage of things that we have in our universe. 


Well, there are few theories that explain the existence of dark matter. Some people say that it is the property of empty space itself, while some chose to believe that it is a new kind of dynamic energy fluid, which gives opposite effects from normal energy and matter. The theorists called this quintessence. The last theory is that Einstein's theory of gravity is not correct. For me, i opt the third theory, but not to say that his theory is not correct, just imperfect. Probably someone will check Einstein's math and approach new method in providing new gravity theory.

Dark Matter


First of all, we know what dark matter is not more than we know what dark matter is it. First, it is as the term puts it, dark. Which by all mean says that it can't be seen. Well, at least not by using current technology. Dark matter is also not the dark clouds formed by normal matter, because these dark clouds are made up of matter particles called baryons. It is not dark matter because we can detect baryonic activities using radiation absorption that passes through them. Lastly, dark matter is not anti-matter because, as i explain to you last time, anti-matter will annihilate matter to release the gamma ray and so far, the dark matter does not has this property.



However, the possibility of the existence of dark matter can be explain using these two things, first is Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) and second one is Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). MACHOs is good in explaining dark matter in terms of isolated neutron stars which is very massive and very dark. MACHOs is said to emit gravitational pull and no light and is said to be viable candidate to test the existence of dark matter. The WIMPs on the other hand allows the possibility of large mass subatomic particles created in the right amount and the right properties to exist as dark matter after the big bang. Both theories has their own pros and cons. You can read the pros and cons here.

I think by now you understand the difference between dark energy and dark matter. Well, for one hand, the term itself gives you the different. First one is energy second one is matter. So there goes your obvious difference between these two terms. Anyway, if you can't understand any of this, just tell me and i'll try my best to explain it to you. For that, thanks for reading this!

Anti Matter: History and Achievement

Hi. I know most of you have heard about antimatter from friends, books, papers, news and etc. But have you tried to understand about it better? If your answer is no, then continue reading this post. If yes, go on and google other stuff that has more meaning to you. LOL.
A picture showing how the big bang theory works.
Antimatter existed as to counter matters that exist in this universe. The theory was during the big bang, all the antimatter and matter reacts together, annihilating one another. But due to some unknown reason, asymmetry exists between the production of matter and antimatter. That is to say, for every billion antimatters produced, there will be a billion and one matters produced. Hence, all the antimatters were annihilated during the Big Bang explosion, leaving the visible matters alone. Actually there's a math behind this theory that I couldn't understand, so i just picked up things that i could understand and tell this to you guys.

To begin with, lets start with the history of the antimatter first. Then we will look at what scientists have achieved in this past years after the discovery of antimatter.

History of Antimatter

The theory of antimatter first discussed in 1880 by William Mitch, a British mathematician and physicist. Somewhere between 1880 and 1890s, Karl Pearson, also a British mathematician theorized that there are positive and negative matter (a term where Pearson referred to as coining). 1898, a German-born British physicist Artur Schuster sent two controversial letters to Nature (journal for scientific discoveries) about the possibility of antiatom, and describe the possibility of atom and antiatom to annihilate one another in the early universe. Schuster's letters were more of a controversial and speculative thought, rather than a theoretical proposal that the first two mathematicians explained.
Paul Dirac
Karl Pearson
p/s: I tried to find picture of William Mitch, but couldn't find any. Sorry.

Modern theory of antimatter was given by Paul Dirac, a Swiss theoretical physicist in which while working with Schrodinger's Equation to study the electron, he predicted the possibility of antielectrons. This was later confirmed by the finding of antielectron itself by Carl D Anderson, and he named it positron (combination between positive and electron i think). After this important discoveries, the antimatter discoveries advanced once more with the discovery of antiprotons and antineutrons. The term antimatter came along with the discoveries of these antiatom in the year 1900s.
Diagram showing the differences between H and H-bar

Achievement

At first, only the antielectron, antiprotons and antineutrons were discovered. The question remained was is there going to be a complete antiatom? The answer to that was yes thanks to CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in 1995 when they artificially made the antihydrogen in their lab. The antihydrogen contains one positron and one antiproton. On Earth, antimatters are the most expensive thing a company can produce. The cost for 10 miligrams of positron can reach up to 250 billion USD and a gram of antihydrogen can cost you about 62.5 trillion USD. So far the creation of these antimatter is only about a billionth of a gram as this is the amount that is used in research laboratory. Still, it cost you around hundreds of millions swiss franc just to produce in that amount. 

The latest news in the discovery of antimatter is the creationn of antihelium-4, the weightiest antimatter ever created. Scientists claimed that this record will likely stand longer, as because it is far and out of reach of today's Earth technology. Anyway, you can read the rest of the news here because it's hard for me to explain all the things there. On the other hand, since the cost of producing antimatter is too high, scientists believe that they can exploit the antimatter exists in Van Allen Belt (if there's any). Sincerely, i do hope that they can find the way to produce antimatter better because of the vast energy it hold when giving out a reaction with matter.

Van Allen Radiation Belt

Astronomy News

Hi everyone. Today i'm going to share with you guys some news in astronomy. I bet you pretty much now what astronomy is, so i'm not going to elaborate on the meaning and stuff. Just enjoy!

1. A Galactic Rose
Interacting galaxies forming rose-like structure.
In conjunction with the Hubble's Space Telescope 21st anniversary after its deployment into space, astronomers release this photogenic picture taken by that telescope in 2010. The galaxies are believed to be interacting because of the gravitational pull from one galaxy with another. The first galaxy, called UGC1810 is heavily distorted because the gravitational pull from neighbouring galaxy, called UGC1813. 

To read the rest of the news, you can visit here and try to understand what trigger this interaction and learn how the we can interpret what happened there only by using colors visible in our telescope and data. 

2. Existence of Life Inside Black Holes

This is pretty much unexpected. Well, first because as we know it, black holes have a strong gravitational pull that give effects to whatever things around them. But a Russian cosmologist, Vyascheslav Dokuchaev life could exists inside a black holes because of their specific unique characters. The black hole as scientists know it, that deep inside the rotating, charged black hole and past the event horizon, things will switch back to what could be considered normal. At least, the normal here being that the photons can orbit the singularity. 

A picture showing the effects of black hole on surrounding bodies.
You can read the rest of the existence of life forms here. And as extra reading material, i think you should read about the nature of black hole and try to make conclusion(s) on your own. 

3. WISE 

In 2009, NASA launched a Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer or WISE to help us understand about our universe better. Its mission was to map the entire sky with infrared light and is hoped to give an improved resolution and sensitivity from its predecessor. WISE is already out of duty (more on went to hibernation actually) from February 2011. And as for right now, WISE has sent us more than 2.7 million images ranging from faraway galaxies or asteroids near Earth for astronomers. 

Among of the things that WISE discovered are 20 comets, more than 33 000 asteroids in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which is located 28 million miles away from our Earth. Scientists believed that in near future, WISE will delivers more informative data in which the astronomers and cosmologists can give a new insight in understanding this universe. 
WISE before its mission to go to space

The las sky snapshot by WISE before it went for hibernation

The Andromeda galaxy, nearest galaxy to the Milky Way captured by WISE
I think that is all, besides i'm already late for class. Hope you enjoy and if you have things to ask or an idea for me, just throw it in comment section. Thank you.