NorthernLights Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Who knows what's there now? When you look into the sky you're always looking at history. Even when you look at the sun, you're seeing it as it was 8 minutes ago, so when you look at the night sky, there's a good chance a few of them have went supernova, but the light from that event just hasn't reached us yet. The scale of it totally baffles me. Take lightspeed for example. 186,000 miles a second. To put that into context, light could travel round the Earth 7 times in one second. Now just think for a second how fucking fast that is. Then think on the fact that, going at that speed, it would take over FOUR YEARS to get to the nearest star to our sun. Baffling. About the more stars in our galaxy than grain of sands on Earth, that's true. There's also more GALAXIES in the observable universe than there are grains of sand on Earth. Since this post has been rather serious, here's a pleasing picture of Jessica Jane Clement: There are some good websites that really show just how vast the distances and scales are. http://www.distancetomars.com/ http://htwins.net/scale2/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beermonkey Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 It's the biggest thing in the, well, universe, so let's fucking discuss it. I'm an utter space geek and I'm not ashamed to admit it. What things about the cosmos do you particularly dig, fellow forummers? I love the sheer mind blowing scale of it. I love it's extremities, such as Gamma ray bursts, supernovae, Pulsars, Neutron stars, hot Jupiters, the lot. Share your love of space, chums. I want to know where god lives ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Any M-Theory fans on here? There's certainly a few holes in it, and it comes in and out of fashion depending on what the recent scientific observations are, but for me it's one of the only ways we can (with current thinking) explain the problem with gravity being so weak. Interestingly though, and despite the Universe being as vast as it is (and there are some argument that the Universe is maybe not as big as we think, it's still bloody big of course) it's at the quantum level that will provide the answers to why the whole thing operates as it does.I still have problems accepting inflation though, the very early universe where the only thing that existed was energy. It seems to me to be a wee bit of "well this theory is about the best fit we have". I was very lucky to spend some time speaking to a professor Cole (or was it Coles, can't remember) who spent time working with Stephen Hawking, and I got a chance to ask him about the big bang, what was before and what will ultimately be. Even now, some 10 years later, I struggle to fully grasp some of the stuff he told me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 I want to know where god lives ? Kinda hard to pinpoint exactly where a mythical beardy flying man in the clouds would live, tbh. How about some Universe extremities facts, P&B? Pulsars for example. namely PSR_J1748-2446ad. Might have a shitey name, but it's the fastest spinning Pulsar we know about, rotating 716 times a second, has a mass almost twice that of the sun and is only around 16 km across... At it's equator, it's spinning at around 70,000 km a second. Hot Jupiters. Basically, planets the size, or mass of Jupiter that are far closer in orbit to their parent stars. Because of the gravitational forces here, wind speeds have been observed at between 6 and 7 THOUSAND mph! Gamma Ray Bursts are flashes of radiation usually associated with stars going super or hypernova. So powerful, they release more energy in a few seconds than our sun will in it's entire 10 billion year lifespan... Just getting warmed up, P&Bers, I've plenty more to bore you with! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Oh, and if anyone want to really confuse themselves, read up about antimatter recurssivity. It's a mental theory that everything that is now, what has ever been and what will ever be is the result of one electron travelling back and forth through time. This all comes from the very simple yet not fully explained observation that every electron has the exact same properties. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boghead ranter Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 The universe fascinates me. The sheer scale of it is incomprehensibles. Looking at stars on a clear night is one of life's pleasures. Anyone who believes that in the depths of space no other planet sustains life, is a moron The best part about it is the scale of it. There are times I've sat down and just thought about it and it's really impossible to try and get your head around. There is so much there that we'll never know or understand. I genuinely can't understand why people don't accept that somewhere out there, the chances of there being other planets which have the ideal conditions to promote other intelligent life forms are great. They generally have no idea just how many possible eventualities there are in the universe. And it's difficult trying to explain to them why they should keep an open mind that it's possible, even probable. Even if we never find them. They best analogy I've heard is that if you take a body the size of Earth to represent the Universe and your house to be Earth, then what we've observed in our universe to this date wouldn't even stretch to our own back garden. The universe fascinates and scares me, though, I've never actually done a great deal of research into it. I can't get my head around the sheer vastness of it. I keep saying to myself that it can't be infinite, that there must be an edge somewhere. But if there's an edge, there must be an outside (or an inside), and if there is, what's on the other side? Any time I do go to try an learn a little bit, I never seem to get any further than pictures taken by Hubble, and get mesmerised and never get any further. best view I ever had of the night sky was from out in the middle of the desert in Egypt, thoosands and thoosands of stars on show. The lassie I was with took a picture, I pointed out it probably wouldn't come out, she said, "it's ok, I had the flash on" She'd lovely knockers though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjc Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Who knows what's there now? When you look into the sky you're always looking at history. Even when you look at the sun, you're seeing it as it was 8 minutes ago, so when you look at the night sky, there's a good chance a few of them have went supernova, but the light from that event just hasn't reached us yet. The scale of it totally baffles me. Take lightspeed for example. 186,000 miles a second. To put that into context, light could travel round the Earth 7 times in one second. Now just think for a second how fucking fast that is. Then think on the fact that, going at that speed, it would take over FOUR YEARS to get to the nearest star to our sun. Baffling. About the more stars in our galaxy than grain of sands on Earth, that's true. There's also more GALAXIES in the observable universe than there are grains of sand on Earth. Since this post has been rather serious, here's a pleasing picture of Jessica Jane Clement: I'd fcuking smash that. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgecutter Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 the chances of there being other planets which have the ideal conditions to promote other intelligent life forms are great. That might be true, but the incredibly jammy sequence of events to allow life to evolve or even exist are much, much, much smaller. If you've got an hour to spare and you're interested in the subject, the BBC's Power of the Planet - Rare Earth episode is worth hunting down (that's part of the Iain Stewart series). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjc Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Oh, and if anyone want to really confuse themselves, read up about antimatter recurssivity. It's a mental theory that everything that is now, what has ever been and what will ever be is the result of one electron travelling back and forth through time. This all comes from the very simple yet not fully explained observation that every electron has the exact same properties. Is that where "parallel universe" theories come from? Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjc Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 When experts talk of life elsewhere in the Solar system do they base their theories based on our laws of physics & environment? We only need look at creatures we've discovered in various extreme condition here on Earth (live volcanoes, deep ocean trenches etc) and how species have evolved to adapt to such environments. I hope Prof. Brian Cocks logs in on one of his aliases as this thread is taylor made for him. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confidemus Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 I'd fcuking smash that. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app Extraordinary, is she not? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) Is that where "parallel universe" theories come from? Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app Yeah, the basic idea is that instead of being a self contained universe, we are merely a set of different universes all existing on a membrane (hence M Theory). Now you could debate whether these universes are all in the same "place", as in they intersect our observable universe, or are they in some way separated.Humans have evolved to exist within 4 dimensions (the standard 3 dimensions plus time) so why would we perceive any others? So in a sense all the dimensions could exist "here" and they are interacting all around us and we wouldn't notice them. The reason that this theory has been picked up is the problem with gravity. Despite being a dominant factor within the universe, you can argue that while gravity is capable of altering the speed of light (a big debate can be had about that one) it is also a very, very weak force. In physics there are 4 main forces; radioactive strong, radioactive weak, electro-magnetic and gravity. You can do a simple test to show how weak gravity is. We all know that the gravity of the Earth attracts us to it's centre, you jump you come back down again, however take a simple fridge magnet and attach it to the fridge door what happens? It sticks, right? Now look at the actual mass of the earth compared to the mass of the magnet. Despite having an infinitesimally smaller mass than the earth, the magnet (using the electro magnetic force) is able to defy gravity and keep the magnet attached to the door. With that in consideration, the question is why is gravity so weak in comparison to the rest of the forces. One theory is that gravity isn't weak at all, it's just that it's distributed throughout the separate dimensions, where the other forces are specific to this universe. Edited May 25, 2013 by Ric 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Pete Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I'd fcuking smash that. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app If by "smash that" you mean squirm your way through 3 seconds of fumbling penetration before shuddering to a quivering climax and then sobbing and apologising then yes, yes you would. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeeperDee Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 If by "smash that" you mean squirm your way through 3 seconds of fumbling penetration before shuddering to a quivering climax and then sobbing and apologising then yes, yes you would. The most obvious showing of mental projection I have ever seen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Pete Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 The most obvious showing of mental projection I have ever seen. As a married man, I've been trained that sex is wrong and not to be undertaken in, therefore I have no desires of the sort as they have long since been browbeaten out of me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geedub-MFC Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I like this big guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 That might be true, but the incredibly jammy sequence of events to allow life to evolve or even exist are much, much, much smaller. If you've got an hour to spare and you're interested in the subject, the BBC's Power of the Planet - Rare Earth episode is worth hunting down (that's part of the Iain Stewart series). I've seen it. Power of the Planet is probably my favourite non-Attenbourogh documentary series of all time. The sequence is extremely remote, I agree. But the sheer vastness of the universe and the number of environmental possibilities this creates, whilst not infinite as such, is too large to comprehend. As for the guy who asked earlier what lies beyond the edge of the universe, well.....that's what I can't get my head around. There has to be something, there can't physically be nothing, how do you quantify nothing, and how can the universe continue to expand into the realms of nothing, if there's nothing there to expand into? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjc Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 If by "smash that" you mean squirm your way through 3 seconds of fumbling penetration before shuddering to a quivering climax and then sobbing and apologising then yes, yes you would. Don't judge others by your own standards. I'd like to think I'd manage at least 30secs before that happened! Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeeperDee Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) I like this big guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris There are interesting comparisons in size with that star and our own sun. That sums it up perfectly for me. Our sun is absolutely fucking tiny compared to VY, and compared to our sun we are miniscule. Edited May 25, 2013 by SweeperDee 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjc Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 As a married man, I've been trained that sex is wrong and not to be undertaken in, therefore I have no desires of the sort as they have long since been browbeaten out of me. I feel your pain Dude....if indeed your empty shell allows you to feel pain. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Pie & Bovril mobile app 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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