Moving the Earth: Could this be a Global Warming Solution?

References, sources, and further reading can be found here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/moving-the-earth-could-this-be-a-global-warming-solution/

To read the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/moving-the-earth-could-this-be-a-global-warming-solution/

APOD: 9/16/13 - Cygnus Loop

Following several hundreds of millions of years of sustaining nuclear fusion, massive stars exhaust their supply of the necessary fuel - signaling the beginning of the end of the life of a massive star.

What happens next is one of the most profoundly violent celestial events, capable of releasing more energy in a single second than sun-like stars can throughout their entire lifetime - called a supernova. Whilst destructive, these events can produce some wildly spectacular nebulae.

This is an example of one, called the Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula). The nebula formed after a shockwave propagated through the material ejected during the supernova - subsequently heating up the surrounding material - causing it to glow.

The nebula, which covers an expanse of space that is 6 times larger than the full moon, can be found approximately 2,500 light-years from Earth (the estimate varies) in the constellation of Cygnus. Astronomers believe the supernova ignited some 5 to 10,000 years ago. To put that in perspective; the light from the event first arrived on Earth whilst the last ice age was coming to an end.

References, sources, and further reading can be found here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/apod-91613-cygnus-loop/

Waste in Space You’ve heard of The Circle of Life, but how much do you know about The Circle of Waste? On the International Space Station, nearly all of the wastewater produced by the crew (sweat, urine, bathwater, etc.) is filtered through a recycling system and converted back into clean water. Naturally, this includes the wastewater that is produced by the rats. In fact, on the Space Station, a complement of 72 rats equals about one human in terms of water reclamation. That’s right; astronauts drink rat pee. To learn more, see %URL

You’ve heard of The Circle of Life, but how much do you know about The Circle of Waste? On the International Space Station, nearly all of the wastewater produced by the crew (sweat, urine, bathwater, etc.) is filtered through a recycling system and converted back into clean water. Naturally, this includes the wastewater that is produced by the rats. In fact, on the Space Station, a complement of 72 rats equals about one human in terms of water reclamation.

That’s right; astronauts drink rat pee.

To learn more, see http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/waste-in-space/

Laika: The First Earthling in Space Her name was Laika. She was the first Earthling to enter space, and she was the only living creature who was sent without a recovery system in place. Learn about her at %URL

Her name was Laika. She was the first Earthling to enter space, and she was the only living creature who was sent without a recovery system in place.

Learn about her at http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/laika-the-first-earthling-in-space/

What Would our Solar System be like if our Sun were Half its Mass?

Either way you look at it, it would be like terrible, horrible, no good, very bad badness.

But to be a bit more specific, let’s talk about what would happen if our Sun—the Sun as it actually exists—suddenly decreased in mass, plummeting from 1 solar to mass to a mere .5 solar masses. In order to understand what impact this decrease would have, you need to have a basic understanding of how mass is related to gravity. Essentially, an increase in mass means an increase in gravity, while a decrease in mass means a decrease in gravity. So if the Sun spontaneously lost half its mass (gasp, shudder, the horror!) then its gravitational pull on Earth would lower. Since the Sun's pull would be weaker, our orbit would increase.

To read the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/what-would-our-solar-system-be-like-if-our-sun-were-half-its-mass/

APOD: 9/15/13 - New Look at Saturn's Rings

This incredible newly-released image shows Saturn's majestic series of rings from a new perspective - one you've likely never witnessed before.

The image, which was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera, takes a look at the sunlit side of Saturn's rings - showing them from about 17 degrees about its ring plane. The Cassini division is also pretty noticeable - this gap is generated by one of Saturn's tiny moons - Mimas - which clears the region of the tiny bits of debris that make up Saturn's rings.

At the time of the picture's taking (on June 15, 2013), Cassini was situated merely 657,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) from Saturn - with each pixel representative of 37 miles (or 60 km). The overall clarity of each ring can be attributed to one of the wide-angle camera's onboard tools, which captures light at near-infrared wavelengths.

References, sources, and further reading can be found here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/apod-91513-new-look-at-saturns-rings/

A Screaming Star: Swift J1644+57

Have you ever heard a star scream?

Neither have scientists, but they have come close. 3.9 billion light-years away, there is a star getting ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. Every 200 or so seconds, this star releases bursts of light that scientists liken to cries of torment as it nears the end of its life.

As a star approaches a black hole, the outer layers of the star are stripped away and the star is ‘spaghettified’. The stripped material begins to orbit the black hole and forms a region known as the accretion disk. The material continues to spiral into the black hole in the same way water is drained from the sink. Just as water closer to the drain ‘orbits’ faster, so does the material in the accretion disk orbit faster as it gets closer to spinning into the black hole. The only difference is that this material orbits so quickly, it is super heated and, as a result, some of it is ejected back into space in two massive jets.

Death Cries of a Dying Star:

So, if you could hear the stars last calls for help, what would it sound like? When this particular frequency is converted to sound, it would make an ultra-low D-sharp. This isn’t a unique situation either, similar pulses have been seen from matter as it is gobbled up by both large and small black holes. Rubens Reis, one of the project leaders, says, "This is telling us that the same physical phenomenon we observe in stellar mass black holes is also observed in black holes a million times the mass of the sun, and also for black holes that were previously asleep (not consuming matter). It speaks to the invariant nature of physics, which I think is very beautiful."

References, sources, and further reading can be found here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/a-screaming-star-swift-j164457/