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A few curious facts about the Universe
- 1. A few curious facts about the universe Peter Household Cork City Library 12 Jan 2016
- 2. The sky 9 pm tonight
- 3. The sky 7:15 am tomorrow
- 5. Stars projected on the dome of heaven
- 6. The Seven Sisters 410 light years distant
- 8. Quasar appears as it did 12.7 billion years ago Universe was 7 % of present age > James Jeans
- 9. The solar system to scale ?
- 10. Dimensions of solar system If the balloon is the Sun, how big is the Earth ?
- 12. Dimensions of Milky Way Balloon Sun, peppercorn Earth Earth-Sun distance 40 metres Distance to nearest star? 11,000 km
- 13. Proxima Centauri 4.22 light years
- 14. Dimensions of Milky Way Balloon Sun, peppercorn Earth Earth-Sun distance 40 metres Distance to nearest star? 11,000 km
- 15. trying to grasp the size of space
- 16. trying to grasp the size of space
- 17. trying to grasp the size of space
- 18. trying to grasp the size of space
- 19. trying to grasp the size of space
- 20. Gravity Isaac Newton 1687 Albert Einstein 1915
- 21. The earth bending the fabric of space
- 22. It is my task to convince you not to turn away because you don’t understand it. You see, my physics students don’t understand it either. That’s because I don’t understand it. Nobody does. Richard Feynman c. 1963
- 23. Early humans evolving their brains 150,000 years ago
- 24. Comet 67P – Mission Rosetta, 2014
- 26. Phoenix digging on Mars 2008
- 27. Victoria Crater Mars 2007
- 28. Ethics of space exploration
- 29. terraforming Chris McKay (NASA): The moon was never alive. Mars is dead. The question in my mind is - should we bring it back to life?
- 30. Europa – warm ocean? Picture: Galileo 1994-2000
- 31. Titan Dry bed of methane river? Water and hydrocarbon ice. Circus Maximus – laboratory for life? Picture : Huygens Jan 2005
- 32. Tongue fish – they cook but they don’t cook → Extremophiles
- 33. Extra solar planets Exoplanets first, 1995 270 (July 2008 ) nearly 2000 (20 May 2015)
- 34. 20th March 2015 about 9:30 am at Blackrock Castle, Cork
- 37. Only about 4% of the total energy density in the universe can be seen directly About 22% is thought to be composed of dark matter The remaining 74% is thought to consist of dark energy
- 38. The last 100 years 1920’s There are other galaxies 1929 … and they are receding (Hubble) 1940’s Big bang theory 1980’s Dark matter - 10 times ordinary stuff 1994 Amino acid in interstellar cloud 1995 Extra-solar planet 1994-2000 “Galileo” mission to Europa July 2015 New Horizons at Pluto
- 39. The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce and endows it with some of the grace of tragedy. Steven Weinberg
- 41. Cork Astronomy Club lectures, observing, study, library, outings own telescope not required meetings held at UCC Library collection for members here
Editor's Notes
- Poets, seafarers, farmers, astronomers,- rationalised by the IAU 1933 divided the symmetry into 88 areas
- The Flight of the Earls, one of the most celebrated - and lamented - episodes in Irish history, occurred on 14 September 1607 = 408 years ago
- Actually 443ly distant, according to NRAO astronomers in 2014. so in 1607 light arriving here in 2015 had already been going since 1573
- Here’s a nice diagramme of the solar system – sadly it’s hopeless!
- Moon would be between Mercury and Pluto
- Gravitational force between 2 protons 40 powers of 10 smaller than their electrical repulsion
- limits of understanding Does time exist – physics – dark matter and energy – matter just an impurity Julian Barbour 21/7/08 “The more I think about it, I would say that despite all the incredible successes of cosmology, we don't really have a clue what is really going on in the universe.” Only about 4% of the total energy density in the universe (as inferred from gravitational effects) can be seen directly. About 22% is thought to be composed of dark matter. The remaining 74% is thought to consist of dark energy,
- 20th century physicist Richard Feynman in a lecture to a non-technical audience (about 1970?):
- How long would it take you to fall down this 1 km high cliff on Comet 67P, the target of ESA’s Rosetta mission? According to UCC’s Prof Paul Callanan, an hour and a half. perihelion on 13 August 2015, 10 year journey. Landed Nov 19, 2014
- Politics and ethics come into astronomy I don't think we can terraform Mars, if terraforming is, as it was originally defined, making Mars suitable for human beings. But what we could do is make Mars suitable for life. Planetary protection Chris received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human exploration. Chris been involved in research in Mars-like environments on Earth, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and the Atacama desert to study life in these Mars-like environments. His was a co-I on the Titan Huygen's probe in 2005, the Mars Phoenix lander misson for 2007, and the Mars Science Lander mission for 2009. So I'll answer, "Yes! We can bring Mars back to life." How? Well, the biggest problem is warming it up. We know how to warm up planets, we're doing it on Earth. In fact the same sorts of things would work on Mars.Should we do it? Well, that gets down to a question that we've never had to face on Earth before: the distinction between nature and life. On Earth there is no meaningful distinction between nature and life, even in the remotest, coldest deserts.We see that distinction for the first time when we look beyond the Earth, when we look at the moon. There's nature; there's no life. When we look at Mars, we also see nature, probably no life. It's different from the moon, and we lack the word that distinguishes between something that's dead, and something that was never alive. The moon was never alive. Mars is dead. The question in my mind is - should we bring it back to life?
- Jupiter -> Europa Theoretical calculations suggest a layer of liquid water, <- tidal heating. Origin of life here? Hydrothermal vents? Prime work was done by Dr. Margaret Kivelson at the University of California, Los Angeles. As it orbits giant Jupiter, the moon is periodically stretched and compressed like an accordion. Brown gunge? Picture exaggerates brownness Prof Richard Butler UCG doubts, viscous salts, TV pictures of entities swimming around in clear waters under the Antarctic ice cap of this planet
- [Saturn] 50% water, -179oC, atmosphere 1.5 earth pressure. A utopia for the study of life (Butler). Winds, methane lakes, methane drizzle. Aerial photo showed definite signs of a river channel, characteristic of river erosion on earth. Winter lakes Met a biochemist who told me methane can support life, there are microbes on earth that live in it. Circus Maximus crater may have remained hot for up to 1,000 earth years following huge impact. So here is a lab for the study of life formation, aborted after 1,000 years. Organic material detected in atmosphere
- Tongue fish 1977 Alvin – Dr Robert Ballard 2007 (now Prof of Oceanography, present in 1977) interviewed “Probably the biggest biological discovery ever made on Earth” “as a visual spectacle, it's like something from another planet." Tongue fish – boiling water, salt – mouths of underwater volcanoes – Dr John Dower University of Victoria – Mariana Arc 1000 km S of Japan – 2004 – 100/m sq, pool of molten sulphur roiling boiling we have no idea what they are doing there - acidity like sulphuric acid Geologists had never seen such a molten sulphur pool, 80 to 100 oC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6212716.stm Chemistry of the water – sulphur rich, sulphur plumes .
- Callanan : In 1985, if you had said to astronomers “20 yrs from now we’ll have found 250 extrasolar planets”, they would have laughed