February 21, 2025
Hi, everyone. I know I haven’t posted in a while now (about three months).
Things happened. I’ll see if I can deal with that in a post this weekend before returning to regularly blogging about astronomy and etc.
Winter is still here! (In the northern hemisphere.) Going on walks and hiking in 3C windy weather only makes hot chocolate taste that much better…
☕️
November 23, 2024
What book are you reading right now?
I finished re-reading all my Usagi Yojimbo books a couple weeks ago (I’m a big Stan Sakai fan), so I got the thought that I should read his inspiration, Musashi (Sakai’s main character is an anthropomorphic bunny named Miyamoto Usagi).
While I was reading Musashi, I also started a Japanese manga series about classic literature from 600 CE to the 20th century. I’m on the first volume of 今昔物語 (Konjyaku Monogatari, usually translated as “Tales of Times Long Past”).
Last week, I began reading volume one of The Arabian Nights (also called Tales of 1001 Nights). This is a more recent (2008) translation of the entire tales, not just a sampling of the more famous stories (e.g., Aladdin, Sindbad, Ali Baba etc.). It’s likely to take me, uh…1001 nights?
Tales within tales within tales…
November 14, 2024
The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought.
Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say.
Cue the jokes in five…four…three…
“So, you mean there really is life in…ah…”
Note that this is not from new data. It’s a re-analysis of what Voyager 2 sent back decades ago. Basically, it just had a bad day, with magnetic storms screwing up the scan.
Still…
There could be moons there that could have the conditions that are necessary for life, they might have oceans that below the surface that could be teeming with fish!
I think this is a bit of an exaggeration…
November 13, 2024
Jas Tiruvuru, business development manager for Orbit Fab in the UK and Europe, said the company was aiming to successfully demonstrate the technology in space by 2027.
“This will essentially be the first ever satellite to satellite refuelling demonstration funded here in the UK,” she said.
“Once we’ve proven that we can refuel to two spacecrafts we’ll be able to unlock a huge market potential.”
You know, maybe it’s just me, but I think 2027 may be a little optimistic. Just like the figure given in the article for how much the satellite sector will be worth in the future.
Aren’t there too many satellites already?
I’d like to see how this would help us colonize the solar system.
Actually, I’d like to see how they plan to get fuel up there in the first place.
Maybe my novel’s idea of using certain moons of Jupiter or Saturn as giant space gas pumps might help? 🪐
November 12, 2024
The Taurids meteor showers get their name because the shooting stars appear to stream from a point in the sky where the Taurus constellation is located. Taurid meteors can be seen from pretty much anywhere on the planet except the South Pole.
I waited too long to post this! The meteor shower peaked last week, but might still be visible. The Orionids ended already (they appeared to fall from, you guessed it, the constellation of Orion, while the Taurids came from Taurus.
If you can’t see them, not to worry: the Leonids are on their way from next week (falling from, right again, Leo).
Very imaginative, these names. At least it makes them easier to spot. ☄️
November 12, 2024
Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood.
The researchers argue that “if” trees could be planted on Mars…
OK, just stop right there. I’m pretty sure Mars will struggle to support even grass, let alone trees.
And the argument that, due to a lack of oxygen, flammable wooden structures in space would not be in danger strikes me as a bit ludicrous…surely there would be oxygen inside the wooden structures?
And, you know, I do think I’ve seen this before some where…nah…
November 12, 2024
Hey, everyone. It’s been a while since I posted anything. Things just got way too busy.
I hope you look forward to a bunch of articles about space!
October 8, 2024
Yesterday, I wrote a (what I thought was a) rather benign post about Earth’s new “mini-moon,” a tiny asteroid that will orbit us for about two months.
Within hours, Faceturd flagged it as “spam.” It was blocked from my FB page because it “tried to get likes” and etc.
First off…so what? Is’t the point of FB to get “likes”? Nobody sees the post otherwise, right?
Second…it was about a mini-moon! All of three people on WordPress saw this! I seriously doubt this went viral. How does sharing a blog post constitute a “violation of community standards”?
And then it occurred to me….FB is merely trying to corner the market.
It is a monopoly. Pure and simple.
They’re terrified that the recent veto by the Gov of Cali on their control of the internet will not actual stem the anger against their control.
And so they assert it.
FB must go. It must be destroyed. It must be regulated, divided, monitored, and controlled as a utility by the government.
This is censorship, pure and simple. Zuckerberg et al are trying to control who writes what, who posts what, who spreads information about what.
Pure and simple
%&$#% YOU FACEBOOK!
I write what I want. This is not rocket science.
Then again, only an anti-scientific company would understand this.
October 7, 2024
The scientists hope to learn about the asteroid’s surface composition and how fast it rotates, he said. Those observations could help researchers figure out its origin, which in turn could shed light on other asteroids, including ones that could be dangerous to Earth.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/mini-moon-asteroid-to-orbit-earth-temporarily-rcna172264
This is of course not the first “mini-moon” to have been discovered. These are wandering asteroids that get trapped briefly by Earth’s gravity well before being flung back into space.
Read the article for more information about the “school-bus sized” 2024PT5!
September 26, 2024
According to Thorne, who served as a consultant on the science of Interstellar, quantum mechanics could hypothetically explain a way to time travel via wormhole. So far, it’s a thought experiment that leads to the conclusion that you’d lose information along the way—not very practical.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a62175728/interstellar-travel-wormholes
First off, I’m incredibly annoyed at the way WordPress has screwed up the “quotation” function. It seems they are more focused on encouraging bloggers to use AI to write.
Uh. I don’t need AI. I blog. The end. WTH is the point of using AI to write my thoughts? It’s already being trained to USE my blog in the first place! Idiots.
OK. Second, the Popular Mechanics article I’m linking to is entitled “Interstellar travel is possible if we break into a higher dimension, scientists say.”
Only, that is NOT what scientists say. It’s still a thought experiment!
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