Astronomy

Looking For Help with the Task of Physics

2012-02-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

Physics is not an easy lesson, examples such as the theory of relativity. The relativity is time to clarify a very important issue. Relativity is very varied. What to us seems like billions and billions of years, perhaps in another dimension last only one second. In fact, the stretch of a very long period of time from the beginning to the end of the world, in another dimension last only an instant. Physics of relativity is confusing to most students. They feel even more depressed if given relativity homework, but nobody could help to do. Most of them choose not to do and end up getting a poor grade for physics.
Behavior of students who did not make the homework arise because students are always caused by irregular usually does not have the ability doing task or job that has given him. Many students also have learning disabilities. They also have an inability to learn to use it as a cover for the mistakes they forget their homework. Actually there is a way to resolve this. The best way is to find a tutor on the internet. Students can get their help on any subject. Sites that can go to get help all the problems of physics is PhysicsExpert.com. Students can use their services to help with their Astrophysics homework and other physical materials.
There are many resources available to help with the housework just a click away on the internet. PhysicsExpert.com provides teachers with all the different content of the subjects they teach. They provide the theory and implementation of a clear idea about the topic and have them share with students. Students usually have little knowledge about their topics through Wikipedia, but for different information in different languages from different experts they need to go to homework help online. Many teachers also recommend students to refer to the homework help online to complete astronomy homework. This may be a little injustice to students from the standpoint of understanding and discovering the meaning of the topic itself but to save the children, they are advised to follow the homework help online.

Comparison Car Insurance Quotes to Find the Best Product

2012-02-27T19:53:00.000-08:00

Insurance is used as a medium to minimize losses. One type of insurance in the context of this example is car insurance. Many people who feel the dilemma of when they will choose what insurance they will use. There are different ways how you can find insurance for your car. One great way to discover you are comparing car insurance quotes offered by several insurance companies. By comparing, you can find some discount schemes available to any group of such people, old drivers, students, government officials, etc., which you can find it easily.
First, you may have in and out of the insurance company to find the types of products that fit your needs. But this time, only to sit back at home you can do all the work. Use the Internet to find car insurance comparison website.

Through car insurance quotes online you will find the best price, comparison car insurance quotes and better company. The first step you should start by going online to the websites of providers of car insurance quotes so that you can get a free quote from some of the best companies. You can use compare car site to help you in the right to find insurance company.

Select the Price of Life Insurance as Required

2012-02-26T23:41:00.000-08:00

Insurance in principle works like an umbrella, which is ignored when the dry season and will be very useful when the rainy season, but it does have an umbrella with you just have to feel safe? Then the question was how much do you have an umbrella? Or how strong are these umbrellas? of course you would not know it before the umbrella is in use, but you certainly have enough knowledge to pick the best of both and then you buy it so do not regret in the future.

Some people underestimate the importance of life insurance. Rational an investment decision in the selection of life insurance companies is now widespread and provides attractive bargains. Maybe there is a whole lot of data about insurance online today. Some of them are providing cheap life insurance, and some valuable offerings. This gives plenty of room to choose from various companies for the best selection. Choose the coverage that is actually useful when needed. Many insurance companies will not provide the low cost long term benefits that you want. Be careful before buying! You certainly do not want bad things happen in your life, but to buy life insurance is a solution if all of a sudden something bad happens in your life.

How to effectively solve emergency financial problems

2012-02-26T23:30:00.000-08:00

More and more people find it increasingly difficult to manage personal finances and family. Finally, many people who were in debt. Whatever your financial situation, I'm sure you've been trying to get money and prosperity. Even some people who are desperate, 'upside down' to the bone to achieve inner and outer well-being. And because the modern lifestyle makes a lot of spending increases that create financial problems. How to cope with personal financial problems and family? Financial problem increase if you have an emergency such as illness or accident that requires quick cash. Loans can help you in this condition, but what kind of loan that suits your condition? The answer is payday loans. Payday loans are typically used adjacent to the pay day to come, and this is usually done to pay for the needs and various other costs is extra emergency. Payday loans given to loaners are proportional to the amount of cash they are going to be. All payday loans are expected to be paid by the borrower until the next payday. Payday loans are given to the loaner is a modest amount of cash. Fast loan payment will be deducted from the salary at the time of next payday lenders arrived. Compensation amount of the loan will depend on agreement from the lender and loaners.

Homework is not difficult anymore

2012-02-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

School is never out of homework. There is never a student who does not complain when teachers give homework. Homework has always been considered something unpleasant because it can reduce the time to play them. Homework is one of the instruments used in the learning of teachers. Through the provision of homework to the students expected the process of achieving the goal of learning goes both ways, at school and at home. At times like this era of technology which can all be done online, homework can be solved through the help of online services. Ease of online facilities can quickly help trouble homework students, one of the services that can help in trouble homework can be accessed via my homework.com which will be ready to help students in homework. By internet access which will assist students in completing homework in various subjects. Math, physics, biology, economics can be resolved. Not only help students, but also can help students of university complete the project. Students do not need to confuse for help because many online services that will help. For example, you are computer engineering students who have difficulty completing programming project on php program, you just need to access php online help. Are you difficulty completing the programming project on c program? You only need to access c experts help. Ease of online services should be utilized optimally.

Raid Data Recovery Services

2012-02-21T20:36:00.000-08:00

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks refers to a data storage technology in the computer used to implement fault tolerance features on computer storage media, especially hard disks by using data redundancy, either using software or hardware RAID unit separately. These technologies share or replicate data into a separate hard disk. RAID is designed to improve data reliability and increase performance from the hard disk. RAID is also an organizational memory disk that can handle multiple parallel disk access and system redundancy is added to increase reliability. This work produces a resultant velocity parallel to the disk faster.

RAID data recovery attempt to overcome the logical damage such as power outages that can cut half the disk is writing data through the process. This could lead to difficulties in handling and reading the data and can be corrected through software-based solutions. A physical damage to the hard drive can be repaired with RAID recovery techniques. For example, replace the damaged parts of the disk to make it more readable or collect and arrange the remaining data to disk image file. Do not let your data is lost makes the production stopped. There is a quick way to restore your business activities as before. data recovery Los Angeles can restore the data quickly so you immediately result in cash back. Emergency services they provide, always ready when you need a fast data is returned. If you need some help to improve your RAID data please visit here.
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Prepare Some Equipment before Playing Paintball

2012-02-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

Paintball is a sport that increases adrenaline and can relieve stress. This game was very enjoyable, but you also have to pay attention to your safety when playing. Paintball game will not be able to walk without support by the paintball equipment used to play. The most basic paintball equipment such as: Paintball marker: that is a major part of the game used to mark an opposing player. Paintball markers must have a hopper to save a bookmark with the ammo. Paintballs: ammunition used in the marker, paintballs spherical gelatin capsules are made from non-toxic substances and other water-soluble, and dyes. Masks or goggles: Masks are safety devices that players must be in use when the game takes place to protect them from the paintballs. This mask to cover the eyes, mouth, ears and nostrils of the wearer, and masks are also to protect the throat. Every sport requires a certain protective gear. In the game of paintball, gear helps prevent scratches, bruises and loss of vision during the game. Equipment and supplies that you are using does not have to be expensive, which is important to have sufficient quality to provide safety. Paintball gear is a term that includes all the supplies you need to prepare and at the time paintball games take place. Supplies include: guns, ammunition, masks, clothing, safety equipment and belt.
Paintball gear is the need for paintball players. In every sport, gear and other accessories are always necessary. This equipment not only ensures the safety of players but they also allow players to feel comfortable and make the game safely and effectively. In paintball, paintball gear and accessories should be considered before you actually play the game. Several types of paintball games require appropriate clothing and shoes. Players must use sturdy shoes and be protective because when playing paintball requires a lot of action to run.
Players should always consider their own safety and the safety of other players. Eye protection is a priority when playing paintball. All players must give priority to safety and the policies established by the field so that they can play with fun and out of danger. When choosing paintball gear, in addition to the benefits of the tool itself, we must also consider the price and efficiency of the apparatus. Before buying, we should have a reference type of equipment in accordance with the paintball game we will play.

Choosing the right rehab center for you

2012-02-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

Opiate based drugs such as morphine and heroin is really threat to the younger generation. When addicted, people will do things to get what their wants to use the drug more and more. This is the one social problem. When someone starts an addiction, rehabilitation is needed. Programs for rehabilitation centers are various. This is because the opium addicts are also addicted to different types. At each center provide spiritual-based treatment program as a holistic program, faith-based programs such as the catholic drug rehab. The selection of the program depends on the patient's needs.

Opium has evolved into a variety of drugs are all addictive. Darvoce opioid is analgesic that used as a local anesthetic and antitussives, but more often used to treat mild pain. Almost the same as methadone, these drugs cause addiction. If someone is abusing drugs, that person will have a dependency. If this happens, then that person needs darvocet drug rehab.

Besides Darvoce, another derivative of opium is Dilaudid. This drug has a wide circulation in the market. This drug is a morphine derivative that is usually prescribed for pain relief and cough medicine. In fact, Dilaudid is the strongest and most effective antitussives on the market today and can only be purchased with a prescription. However, these drugs have been abused that ultimately lead to addiction. That's why, now that many rehabilitation centers that offer recovery that offers dilaudid drug rehab. If you need information about the rehabilitation center that fits your needs, you can contact the recovery center Delray. This rehabilitation center provides counseling by phone. You can contact them whenever you want.

TV Lift: Save Your Space

2012-02-14T20:18:00.001-08:00

You want to buy a bigger TV. But, you are confused where the place to put it because your house is looks crowded with antiques. Do not worry. Technology is increasingly sophisticated. You can still buy a big TV but the placement does not spend a room of your home. Why do not you try TV lifts? These tools really meet all your needs. You can save space when using this tool. Because if not in turn on the TV. You can hide this TV in the ceiling or can be attached to the wall.

Using a tv lifts does have many advantages. You can change the position where you want to watch. So placement is not monotone as if using a regular TV shelf. TV lift has a touch of style and design is very elegant. It can be used as interior space design. Using a TV lift does have pride. You can show off to your friends when your TV suddenly appeared from the floor or ceiling.

Before buying a TV lift, of course, you should consider the following things that you do not regret buying it. Choose the appropriate size of TV lift with your TV. I recommend you to choose a TV lift in tvliftshop.com. This store offers a 3 year warranty for every product. Service provided is very good and did not disappoint the buyer. You also will be helped by a technician from the store when you're having trouble in installing TV lift.

Be Dare to Take Business Line Of Credit

2012-02-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

Limited capital has always been one obstacle to doing business. Novice businessmen are always faced with the constraints of capital to start their business. Not infrequently, back and forth and doubt make the venture succeed nevertheless. When it hit the capital, then filed a Business Line of Credit to a bank to be one solution to the capital needs are met. But unfortunately the banks are not willing to give business loans only because we are small business owners who have not had a previous history of the line of credit.

I met some friends, they actually want to go into business, but fear haunts them. They fear what if it does not work or even later bankrupt. They are attached to the convenience of the employees that they considered much safer because his salary was fixed. Why do not you try looking for Small Business Loans in ezunsecured.com to start your own business? To start a business at a young age, it takes courage, unyielding spirit, capital, and dreams.

Ezunsecured.com is provider a small business credit that can help you achieve your dreams. Ask business loans here. Only a matter of hours, you will get the capital you want. As an office employee such as yourself who have no savings or collateral to apply for loans for small businesses, ezunsecured.com is the right place. The company provides Unsecured Loans that you can exploit. So you do not need to worry, you need only a little courage. Take advantage of small business start up loans from the company to build your business.

Write an Essay for a Master's Degree Entrance Examination

2012-02-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

To get a good job, a college graduate with a Bachelor's degree is usually considered to continue his studies to graduate level. It is increasingly felt, that the education level of Bachelor is not sufficient, especially having a life plan to become a teacher or lecturer. The higher level of education you achieve, the more favorable position you are working in the education sector. That's obviously been proven! I know several colleagues who, after graduating doctor so casually, an exclusive position, sought a lot of people, it has been waiting patiently. There is a dean, so head masters program, so the department head, and there is even an office chair could reach the president. The test of master or doctor admission, in addition to a general matter, it is likely got about to write an essay. So easy to write an essay in which I think is important is the structure of the essay itself, the type, we'll talk later. But sometimes, people seek the services of an essay writer who provide help with writing service.

You can choose the model you want to write an essay. The important thing you should know what you write. If you want to write about cause and effect essay you should know how to write a good cause and effect essay. If you want to write about cause and effect essay, you should focus on a condition or situation and ask why? Cause or whatever the result (Effect). But if you choose a deductive essay, you should also know how to write a deductive essay? When you're writing a deductive essay, you must take the facts and make conclusions from them. You will need a premise or topic ideas.

Life Style: Plastic Surgery for Beauty

2012-01-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

Like any trends that shape, the latest trends come and go in the world of plastic surgery. With the increasing emergence of technology and operating techniques are increasingly turned into a more perfect, also increasing the number of people who choose the latest procedures of plastic surgery in order to support the beauty of women and men. One of the changes the surprise is the tremendous increase in popularity of surgical procedures in order to give women instant beauty that had been dreamed of. It can be seen from the emergence of mini tummy tuck, which is useful for people who have problems with areas in the lower abdomen.
The technology also causes the procedure to take the attention of connoisseurs of liposuction plastic surgery, whereas the technique of laser liposuction has become the latest trend next. Not only the laser is much more secure, this procedure takes a lot less healing. With traditional liposuction, patients would probably need to undergo two weeks of recovery time. But with a new laser treatment, many patients can return to activities within just a few days. One of the places that I recommend is a California liposuction.
Overall, the various types of plastic surgery for beauty women has increased from what had happened fifteen years ago, and the latest trends as a whole may be increasingly popping up. Through the new procedures, techniques that are not too invasive, and the price is more economical, we can see the plastic surgery world will evolve in the coming years as more number of people who have a desire and funds to get the procedures they want. Especially now that are popular people are breast augmentation surgery. Be careful with the material used was separately breast enlargement surgery. Surely you do not want your cosmetic surgery be a disaster. Come to the right place like California breast augmentation.

Earn Money with Web Business

2012-01-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

What is Cpanel? For the layman about creating a website, must be confused when you first want to learn to make your own website. Cpanel is a series of menus on a web hosting that is used to set all the main activities of website creation. Cpanel functions, among others, to upload your website files, manage (edit, delete, etc.), set up email accounts, check web site visitors, manage domains that are connected with your hosting, check error, and so forth. In essence, this Cpanel is a web page private is used to manage everything, with regard to your real website. Cpanel is personal, that only you know your own Cpanel. If you work as a team in the creation of websites, meaning that to know is the people within the team. But if you work alone, do not occasionally give your Cpanel password to others. Cpanel is a hosting control panel software is the most widely used worldwide. With Cpanel you will very easily manage your hosting such as adding / deleting email addresses, create a sub domain or add a new domain, add databases, etc. If you want to earn money with web business, try to start with web hosting. For beginners, they usually chose to use the services of a hosting provider to get the best web hosting. Before ordering, try to pay attention to hosting details for your next comfort and safety.

Selecting a Quality Telescope Mount

2011-10-06T05:05:00.000-07:00

For most, a person's very first telescope will be a reasonably priced telescope that was the part of an all-inclusive discount package, including the telescope itself, along with one or two eyepieces and a mount and tripod. Yet ordinarily when stargazing enthusiasts go shopping around, with regard to their second telescope, these individuals usually are a good deal more familiar about the things they want out of their telescope, and regularly will purchase each and every one of these telescope parts singularly to ensure they are all best for what exactly it is they want out of their telescope. Because of this, the more highly experienced buyers really should know what to search for when deciding on, mounts, eyepieces, and other telescope accessories.

The telescope's mount is the actual device that is located on the tripod (or in some cases, on the ground that permits the telescope's inclination as well as direction to be fine-tuned. It is essential to realize what constitutes a quality telescope mount when aiming to get the best mount suited for your requirements. When you consider that each and every tiny movement is greatly amplified while observing stars through the viewfinder it is essential that the actual mount be steady and secure enough to support the telescope that it belongs to, as shaky, loose supports can certainly render even the best telescopes inadequate.

In addition, a good quality telescope mount needs to enable the user nice smooth and accurate command over the alignment of the telescope. This is typically necessary because as you're observing the night sky it is important to have the capacity to track planets and stars, conveniently and precisely without the telescope wobbling around shakily.

The last and remaining aspect that is definitely present in a high-quality telescope mount is the portability. This basically involves the mounts being smaller and as stowable as they possibly can in addition to light in weight. While a great many sturdy telescope mounts acquire their solidness as a result of how much they weigh, there are numerous light-weight designs which reach equal amounts of solidity by means of excellent engineering and design instead of simply just utilizing a large mass.

Outside of those elements really the only additional factor to make certain of would be that the type of telescope mount you've chosen works with the scope you're planning on making use of. There are many types of telescope mount that mainly fit into two categories (Altazimuth and Equatorial), this includes German equatorial mounts, fork mounts, and Dobsonian mounts, to mention a few. Additionally there are numerous variations and sizings of each type. A number of these types primarily operate well with certain kinds of telescopes and so before you buy make sure that your choice works with your telescope. In addition numerous telescope mounts incorporate digital Go-To star locators that will easily align your telescope to an object or planet that you have picked within its catalogue as well as keep track of the earth's spinning as the evening moves along. You will have to determine if this function is a thing which you find necessary enough to invest your money in.

How to Choose a Great Telescope Without Spending a Fortune

2011-10-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

Dear reader, by the end of this article you will know how to spot a great telescope in the market, the right price for it, and where to get it. So let's get started, shall we?

Buying a telescope is not that hard, you want to look for great quality lenses (buy a really cheap Chinese telescope and you will put your eyes and eyesight in severe danger) and some good magnification for the bucks you pay.

The job of a telescope is to gather light, not to zoom in on far away objects as many people think. A telescope is a light rays sponge!

There are 3 telescope categories out there:

* Refractors: The cheapest of the bunch (under 500 USD), well suited for beginners, they can help you see the moon with some good detail, and maybe spy on your neighbor next door. They are basically long tubes resembling what pirates used to hold to view long distances, but more powerful. Great to buy as a gift for your kid.

    * Reflectors: Reflectors have a lot more light gathering powers, they can sometimes get really big, but they are usually smaller than refractors. They can help you see the moon in great detail and even Mars and Venus in somewhat good detail. They are priced between 500 to 1000 USD, and they are great if you got some experience under your belt. They also come bundled with software that allow you to calibrate them automatically to spot different objects in the sky.
    * Catadioptric or Cassegrain: These are the best of the bunch and obviously the most expensive, they cost over 1000 USD and you can see the rings of Saturn. Their power is just awesome! Most of them come with electronic eyepieces so you can take and download pictures of your observations on your computer. And of them are also motorized, so they have some amazing stability. If you can afford them, these are your number one choice.

What to avoid:

    * Second hand telescopes. If you buy a broken telescope it will cost you more to fix it than buy it new.
    * eBay: eBay sells some ugly Chinese imitations of the real things that can actually hurt your vision. It's better off if you tried Craigslist, find someone that sells a telescope close to you, pay him a visit and check the telescope out.
    * Products with no reviews around the Internet. Before you try anything visit a website like the one on the bottom of the article, or Amazon.

How much to pay and what to expect to see:

    * Under 500 USD you will see as far as the moon
    * Over 500 and under 1000 USD you will see the moon in all it's glory, and maybe close planets in sometimes good detail, plus constellations.
    * With over 1000 USD, you will see as far as the rings around Saturn and you can even get special filters that allow you to watch the explosions on the sun.

So that's it basically,

   1. Decide on the price,
   2. Read some reviews, to get an idea about the quality of the instruments and a feeling about what is the normal price to pay,
   3. Buy from a respectable seller, such as Amazon on-line, or any specialized shop around you
   4. Avoid Chinese telescopes like the plague!
   5. And last but not least buy a book about star gazing, that can help you point your telescope to interesting objects in the sky!

Observing the Moon

2011-09-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

Our moon is a good astronomical target for stargazers for many good reasons. First of all it is very straightforward to identify. If you can't find it in the sky, it probably simply means it is not currently there in the sky, whether because it's a new moon or because it's already set behind the horizion. Secondly it is the nearest thing for us to view here on Earth, and is the only object other than the Sun that may be observed as something besides a dot of light using the human eye alone. This permits us all to examine its surface area with good detail with optical aids that are offered to everyone. The very best telescopes are typically not even a necessity to watch the Moon, merely a pair of binoculars or even just just the naked eye.

The initial thing you ought to know about viewing our Moon is its cycle of phases. The moon moves around our planet nearly every 4 weeks. During this period the Moon's position in regards to the Earth and Sun changes, and consequently the way in which it looks illuminated from our perspective fluctuates as well. While the Moon is in back of the planet Earth, we perceive the total lit up portion of the Moon; this is called a full moon. Since it circles around the our planet, over time less of the Moon's illuminated exterior will become visible to us on Earth. During this time period the Moon is regarded to be waning. As it is waning it's going to pass through the stages referred to as Gibbous, Quarter, and Crescent, each exhibiting less and less of its lit up area, until finally it gets to the New Moon phase. During this time period the Moon is positioned in between our planet and the Sun and therefore is not visible in the evening sky. After that, it starts the waxing phase and goes through the above mentioned phases, this time in the opposite direction, until finally it's full again.

Many people would certainly believe that the best stage to head out stargazing for the Moon would certainly be the Full Moon phase, this is really incorrect. Watching throughout the Full Moon is actually considerably stressful on the eyes, because at this time it can be seven percent as luminous the Sun. Observing throughout the Full Moon is additionally not optimal since hardly any dark areas tend to be present on the surface of the Moon and as a result its physical appearance is likely to appear washed over.

Viewing through the intermediate Moon phases is undoubtedly optimal, given that the shadows developed by the perspective of the Sun makes all the features stand out at the observer and creates excellent contrasts on the Moon's exterior. The best quality contrasts can be seen along side the terminator, or the term for the separating line between the dark and illuminated parts of the Moon.

The Moon's surface is full of numerous interesting features which are superb to observe. The most widely known elements may just be the many craters which are found on the Moon. These craters were created by asteroids many years ago from the creation years of the Moon and our planet. Additionally, you will notice massive darker sectors upon the Moon, called Mare, which is latin for "seas". These are not really waters but instead great areas of rock made from volcanoes. In addition, the same as the Earth, the Moon has a variety of various mountains and valleys which can be seen too. It is best that you find a map of the moon, in order to identify and read about the individual topographical features found on the Moon.

Our Earth Would Not Be The Same Without Our Moon

2011-09-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

In the earliest days of civilization we knew nothing about the Moon. It was considered a god chasing the sun in an endless race across the sky. Today we know much more than the ancients. We can speculate how the Moon was formed and what the Earth would have been like without the Moon. It turns out that our Moon had a much bigger role in the development of life than anyone ever thought.

The Earth was only about 50 million years old when, according to the Giant Impact Theory, a planet the size of Mars struck the young Earth, sending massive amounts of material into orbit. For a while Earth was a ringed planet but eventually the material condensed into our Moon. Our moon has the largest relative size compared to its orbiting planet than any moon in the solar system. This makes the Moon unique and the effects were dramatic, to say the least.

The Moon was a mere 15 to 20 thousand miles away when it formed out of the debris left by the collision. It coalesced quickly, forming around 4.25 billion years ago. The Earth didn't even have its oceans which formed 3.8 billion years ago. During the time when Earth was a water world the moon was still very close; perhaps only 50 thousand miles away. The tidal effects were extreme with tides reaching thousands of feet high. The effect of these tidal waves was to slow the rotation of the Earth. A rotation of 6 hours per day eventually became 24 hours. We don't know exactly when this current speed was achieved but it probably made a difference on how life evolved.

Land masses grew as time went on and the moon moved further away, substantially subsiding the tidal effect. Still, the tides were relentless, stirring and mixing the materials for life with regularity. How and when life started remains a mystery but the Moon certainly played a role in any scientific answer.

Another aspect which allowed life to form was the stabilization of our rotation axis. The Earth is tilted on its axis 23.5 degrees and remains at that angle because of our moon. Without this stabilization the Earth could have tilted as much as 90 degrees. Each year the north pole would either point directly at the sun or receive no sunlight at all. Life might never have gotten a foothold if the climate exhibited such wide shifts like that.

Another benefit of having a large moon was to have a shield protecting the Earth from impacts. True, Earth has taken many hits which tested the breaking point of life but take one look at the moon and it becomes clear many major impacts were prevented. Any one of those impacts could have disrupted the chain of events which led to the formation of our species.

So the next time you gaze at the moon either with your telescope, binoculars or just looking up, remember that conditions would be very different on Earth without it. By slowing the Earth's rotation and stabilizing our rotation the moon gave us a mild and dependable climate perfect for life as we know it to thrive.

The Different Varieties of Telescope Mounts

2011-09-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Much like the actual telescopes themselves, the mounts that they sit on can be bought in many different styles and versions, and plenty of enhancements and improvements have impacted the many designs which we see these days in telescope mounts.

Telescope mounts usually are classified into two fundamental varieties; Equitorial Mounts and Altazimuth Mounts. The primary difference amongst the two types is related to the motion scheme of each. Altazimuth Mounts have two motions, one in the vertical, down and up axis, and the other is in the horizontal left and right direction. The actual name comes from the mixture of the terms altitude, alluding to the down and up movements and azimuth, the right and left movements, to generate the word altazimuth. These kinds of telescope mounts, include the most user-friendly adjustments, at least for novices. Quality altazimuth telescope mounts will come equipped with fine adjusting controls which allow one to easily modify the alignment belonging to the telescope for accurate observing. Dobsonian telescopes happen to be sizable telescopes that necessitate a unique form of altazimuth mount named, quite appropriately, a Dobsonian mount. They are platform based mounts that do not use a tripod and rest entirely on the floor in order to accommodate these types of large scopes.

The other primary group of telescope mount is referred to as the equatorial mount. Similar to the altazimuth style of mount it offers two directions of motion, but they're lined up in line with the track of the spinning of our planet. This way, to maintain a celestial object in the eyepiece as the Earth rotates, just one alignment dial has to be adjusted. The second path of motion as a result, is simply used for initially finding the heavenly targets, not tracking stars with in the field of view. This quality makes an equatorial mount perfect for continued viewing and stargazing. In addition equatorial type mounts are necessary for astrophotography, because the prolonged camera exposure times that are necessary for astrophotography require that the star tracking method travel in along with the planet's spinning as it is happening, not in steps in two different directions.

There exist two main kinds of equatorial telescope mount; first the German equatorial telescope mount, and second the fork mount. The German equatorial type mount attaches to the outside of the tube of a scope and spins on an angle which is dependent on the latitude belonging to the observer. This specific mount is identifiable by the counter weight which is present on the opposing side of the equatorial mount from the scope in order to obtain greater steadiness.

The second type is the fork mount which is an uncomplicated and secure telescope mount which settles the scope amongst two arms. While this design and style is far more secure it truly only is functional with compact bodied scopes, making catadioptric telescopes the best scopes for this mount. A German equatorial type of mount is required for both reflecting and refracting type telescopes. This kind of telescope mount is perfect for Go-To computerized telescope mounts which can quickly find and keep track of stars for you.

The Big Bang's Metaphysical Baggage

2011-09-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

When anyone ponders the origin and evolution of our Universe, the science of cosmology, one is confronted with the Big Bang theory - the Big Bang event. So, what did the Big Bang do, or didn't do; what was it, or wasn't? And, most importantly, should you put any credibility into the Big Bang scenario seeing as how 1) nobody was around to witness the event, and 2) the scenario, as given by the standard model, is grossly in violation of the very laws, principles and relationships of physics that you'd expect cosmologists to support. Are there any solutions that are out-of-the-box that can reconcile the Big Bang event without violating what scientists should hold most dear? I can think of two!

For those of you unacquainted with the Big Bang scenario, in the beginning (13.7 billion years ago) the Big Bang event created our Universe - all of space and time; all of matter and energy; all from a volume less than a standard pinhead! Now for the objections!

THE BIG BANG VIOLATES BASIC PHYSICS

1) Standard Big Bang violation number one - the Big Bang didn't create time:

The concept of time is nothing more than a measurement of rate-of-change. If nothing ever changed, the concept of time would be meaningless. Now change suggests there must be at least two events. Event One happens; Event Two happens. The change is that difference between the state of play identified with Event One and the state of play identified with Event Two. That change equates into a time differential. Event One happens at a time separate and apart from that of Event Two. Event One if it's the cause of Event Two, must have happened prior to Event Two. Event Two in turn, can act as the cause of Event Three, and so on. Translated, there was no first event; there was no first cause. There was no first event because there had to be a prior cause that caused that event. There was no first cause because there had to have been an earlier event that caused that cause.

Now the Big Bang event was both a cause and an effect. As a cause, the Big Bang caused the subsequent event, the kick-starting of the evolution of our Universe. As an effect, well something prior to the Big Bang must have acted as a cause of the Big Bang effect. Translated, that cause must have been prior in time to the Big Bang; therefore there is such a thing as a before the Big Bang and therefore the Big Bang event could NOT have created time. Taken to its logical conclusion, there could never have been a first cause; there could never be a first effect, therefore time is infinite since the chicken (cause) and egg (effect) paradox is only solvable by postulating infinity.

2) Standard Big Bang violation number two - the Big Bang didn't create space:

This supposition is easily disposed of. Can any handyman reading this think of any possibility of how they could create something, anything, be it building something from scratch, or writing words on paper, or even thinking those words or thinking about building something, without there being pre-existing space, be it space in your garage, space that exists in your exercise book, or the space that exists between your ears that conceives of building X or writing Y? No? Nothing, but nothing, springs into reality, even if only a nebulous mental reality, without there being pre-existing space. The Big Bang is a reality. It had to have been created in a reality. Any reality has a space or volume component. Therefore, the Big Bang (creation of our Universe) event happened in pre-existing space or volume; therefore the Big Bang event did not, could not, have created space. You can not create your own space, the space you yourself exist in. It's sort of like giving birth to your own self. It's a paradox.

3) Standard Big Bang violation number three - the Big Bang didn't create matter/energy:

One of the most cherished conservation principles, drummed into every science student, from junior high through university, is that matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but only changed in form. Also, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but only changed in form. Post Einstein, the two have been combined, since matter can be turned into energy and vice versa. However, the central bit is creation. Creation from nothing (or destruction into nothing) is not allowed - except for some unfashionable reason at the Big Bang according the standard model of cosmology. Why this should be the sole exception to the rule is quite beyond me.

Now there is such a thing as creation of virtual particles from the vacuum energy (quantum fluctuations). However that's not a free lunch (something created from nothing). It's the conversion of energy to mass (as per Einstein's famous equation) and the virtual particles can annihilate each other and return back into energy. I just thought I'd better mention that in case some bright spark considered that process a mini version of the Big Bang. It's not as in this case the creation (and annihilation) of virtual particles would be just a very, very tiny bang that violates nothing in terms of the conservation of matter and energy.

4) Standard Big Bang violation number four - the Big Bang wasn't a pinhead event:

The Big Bang wasn't a quantum event: The Universe is expanding, ever expanding. That's not in doubt (see below). Standard model cosmologists now play that expanding Universe 'film' in reverse. Travel back in time and the Universe is contracting, ever contacting. Alas, where do you stop that contraction? Well the standard model says when the Universe achieves a volume tinier than the tiniest subatomic particle! When (according to some texts) the Universe has achieved infinite density in zero volume - okay, maybe as close to infinite density and as close to zero volume as makes no odds.
Translated, in the beginning the Universe was something within the realm of quantum physics!

Now just because you can run the clock backwards to such extremes, doesn't mean that that reflects reality. How any scientist can say with a straight face that you can cram the entirety of not only the observable Universe, but the entire Universe (which is quite a bit larger yet again) into the volume smaller than the most fundamental of elementary particles is beyond me. Either I'm nuts for not comprehending the bloody obvious, or the standard modellers are collectively out of their stark raving minds. Actually I suspect the latter because they are caught out in a Catch-22. They are between the proverbial rock and hard place.

Now if cosmologists really believe the entire contents of our Universe was crammed into a small space, even one larger than quantum-sized, then of necessity you have our embryo Universe nicely, and tightly, confined within a Black Hole! Nothing can escape from a Black Hole (except Hawking radiation, but that leakage is so slow it's like having just one drop of water come through your roof over the duration of a category five hurricane). So you can't have a Big Bang that releases our Universe from its Black Hole prison. So there! The Big Bang had to have been of such a size that a Black Hole was not part of the picture.

CORRECTIONS TO THE BIG BANG STANDARD MODEL

1) Correction number one - the Big Bang was a macro event:

I'm not out of my stark raving mind, so it's the standard modellers that are totally nuts. Now that's easy to say, but basic everyday logic backs me up. Let's start with the notion that it is impossible to achieve infinite density. There is a limit, a finite limit, to how much stuff you can cram into how much space there is available (which is what density is - mass per unit volume). Once that limit is reached, any more stuff added on will not increase the density any further, just increase the volume. Keep on keeping on piling on the stuff and it won't take very much stuff that's value added to increase the volume beyond the realm of the quantum. Once beyond that boundary, you're in the realm of the macro, and macro means sizes above that of a pinhead.

In this case, I suggest the ultimate size was multi-billions of pinheads worth. Regardless, macro rules the Big Bang. In our reverse-the-expanding-universe film, try imaging doing that with an expanding hot air balloon. If you reverse that inflation, do you stop when the balloon is devoid of air (the sensible thing to do), or do you continue the contraction until the balloon is smaller than the full stop at the bottom of this sentence's question mark? Of course you don't go beyond the point of commonsense, yet that is what the standard modellers have done. Further, they insist we swallow their lack of commonsense (not of course that that is actually suggested by them), hook, line and cosmological sinker.

2) Correction number two - The Big Bang spewed out matter/energy into existing time and space:

If the Big Bang event was a 'spew' event, an event which must have had both pre-existing space and time coordinates (if you spew, you do so at a particular place at a particular time), and if matter/energy can neither be created or destroyed, then of necessity the Big Bang spew (of matter/energy) happened I repeat in already existing space and time. Nothing could be more obvious.

BIG BANG EVIDENCE

If the Big Bang is so apparently wrong on so many fundamental counts, then what's the positive evidence for it? What prompts cosmologists to advocate the standard model?

1) Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR): If you have a massive hot explosion (like the Big Bang), and all that heat energy expands and expands, then you'd expect the temperature of the area occupied by that energy to drop, the temperature ever decreasing as the volume that finite amount of energy occupies increases. As the energy expands it gets diluted and thus cools, but can never reach an absolute zero temperature. And that's just what we find on the scale of the Universe. There's a fine microwave energy "hiss" representing a temperature a few degrees above absolute zero that's everywhere in the cosmos. That's the diluted heat energy of the very hot Big Bang - well it has been a long time and is now spread throughout a lot of volume. That microwave "hiss", called the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), was predicted way before it was discovered, and one bona fide way of confirming evidence for a theory is to make predictions that are born out by experimental observations.

2) Composition of the Universe: At the theoretical but expected temperatures and pressures of the Big Bang, you might expect a certain amount of some interesting nuclear chemistry to take place and generate various substances. Particle physicists used to calculating such things predicted the relative amounts and types of stuff the Big Bang event would generate, and the theory matches observations to a high degree of accuracy - nearly all hydrogen and helium will be created by a ratio of roughly three to one. All the rest of stuff (very, very minor amounts relative to hydrogen and helium) that we know and love (like oxygen and iron and gold, etc.) was synthesised via the conversion of hydrogen and helium to those heavier elements by nuclear fusion processes - cosmic alchemy - in stars and often resultant supernovae, not in the Big Bang.

3) Expansion: If you have a large explosion, a really big bang, a violent vomit event, you'd expect the bits that received the most oomph, the bits with the most energy would be expelled the fastest; other bits with less energy would lose the race (if this were a track meet). And thus the bits of spewed stuff spreads out - fastest in front, like a marathon run. A bacterium on one of these bits would see every other bit moving away from it. Some faster bits are outpacing the bacterium inhabited bit; the bacterium occupied bit is outpacing and leaving behind the slower bits. If the bacterium assumes it is standing still, then both the faster and slower moving bits appear to be receding away from it. The bacterium observes all other bits moving away from it at speeds proportional to their distance from it. The bacterium might assume from all of this that its bit was a special bit - the centre bit - but we can see that's not so. Any bacterium on any of the bits would conclude the same thing. They too would be wrong. Does that mean there was no centre? Of course there was. Equally incorrect would be the conclusion that there was no centre - there was, the site of the original big spew.

Substitute our local gravitationally bound bluster of galaxies as the bacterium's bit; all other external galaxies and clusters of galaxies that have no connection to our local galactic group are the other bits, and there's your analogy. Do we observe these other galactic bits to be moving away from us at velocities proportional to their distance from us? Yes indeed; you bet we do; spot-on!

As an alternative, let's look at a marathon analogy. We have this long distance marathon that starts off with say 1000 runners at a specific point in time and space. The finishing line is at a 150 mile radius out and the runners can run in any direction they choose. They, for the sake of this analogy, run at 15, 12, 9, 6 or 3 miles per hour. Let's look at the relativities from the point of view of the middle runner, the one running at 9 miles per hour. After one hour he sees the 15 mph runner six miles ahead running at a relative velocity of 6 mph; the 12 mph runner 3 miles ahead with a relative velocity of 3 mph; the 6 mph runner 3 miles behind also at a relative velocity of 3 mph; and the 3 mph runner 6 miles behind with a velocity relative to our 9 mph runner of 6 mph - that's assuming all took off and headed in one direction.

But if the 9 mph runner looks at those running in the exact opposite direction, the anti 3 mph runner is 12 miles behind with a relative velocity between them of 12 mph; the anti 6 mph runner is 15 miles away with, you guessed it a relative velocity difference of 15 mph; the anti 9 mph runner is 18 miles distant, relative velocity 18 mph; the anti 12 mph runner is 21 miles away at 21 mph relative velocity; the anti 15 mph runner is 24 miles away and moving away at 24 mph. Translated, there is a direct correlation between how far away the various runners are, and how fast they are running, which you can graph for verification. After two hours the distances between any two runners moving at different velocities will have doubled; after three hours trebled; after four hours quadrupled, and so on, though each runner is maintaining their respective velocities. Again, the relationship holds for each runner; each runner might think themselves in the centre as all other runners appear to be moving away from that runner's point of view, yet it's not the case that any runner is the centre - yet there was a centre when the starting gun went off.

Now kindly note that there is nothing in that trilogy of evidence for the Big Bang that requires that event to have: 1) created time; 2) created space; and 3) to have been a quantum-sized happening.

WHERE'S THE RECIPE BOOK?

The ultimate recipe book that would support the Big Bang event's causality with the creation of time and space; the origin of matter and energy, has yet to be written by those advocating that very point of view.

There's no recipe to the best of my knowledge for how to cook up a batch of time!

Equally there's no recipe for how to bake a cake of space!

How do you mix up a quark salad or a neutrino soup when there's nothing in the pantry to start off with? Can anyone please give me the recipe?

From an equally empty supermarket you apparently can produce a kinetic energy pie. I want to see the recipe for that!

The Universe, it has been said, is the ultimate free lunch. But a lunch still needs a recipe book. When physicists, astrophysicists and cosmologists can actually write and publish such a cookbook, well then its Nobel Prizes all around. Till then, I think they should veer away from statements about the creation of time, space, matter and energy from nothing. Till then, my mantra remains "there is no such thing as a free lunch".

BEFORE THE BIG BANG

While I'm convinced there was a before the Big Bang, the nature of that 'before' is vague at best since the transition between before the Big Bang through the Big Bang to after the Big Bang is unknown (at present anyway), since the relevant equations break down into pure nonsense under those extremes. What's probably reasonable is to call whatever existed pre Big Bang a 'universe', maybe a 'universe' within a larger Multiverse. If conservation laws have any meaning, that 'universe' (within a Multiverse perhaps) contained the same amount of stuff (matter and energy) as ours does though the mix might have been different. This pre Big Bang 'universe' certainly consisted of volume (space) and change (time). What's less certain is whether that 'universe's' laws, principles and relationships of physics were the same as ours. If not, just about anything goes. It's probably more reasonable and constructive to assume their physics is our physics. Translated, to answer Einstein's famous question, God, or Mother Nature, had no choice in the matter about how to construct or arrange a universe.

WHAT CAUSES EXPLOSIONS?

What caused the Big Bang explosion? Okay, we have a pre Big Bang 'universe'. Something happened there that caused our Big Bang explosion. What causes explosions (ultimately a lot of kinetic energy) and could they be up to the task of causing our Big Bang spew?

Well fine particulate matter like coal dust or equivalents when in the presence of oxygen and ignited can violently explode and expand. Still, that's hardly a sufficient means to create our Universe. However, that's a form of chemical energy, and under the right conditions, chemical energy can be released quickly enough that for all practical purposes you have an explosion - think of gunpowder, a firecracker, sticks of dynamite, hand grenades or their mature equivalents, conventional bombs dropped from aircraft, or even the mini controlled explosions that drive your automobile engine and hence your car. You also have other explosive mixtures, like when sodium hits water, and there are lots more to boot, often the staple of high school chemistry classes. However, chemicals are very inefficient in terms of being converted to energy. Hardly any of the matter gets converted to energy. Chemical energy is not the way to proceed to generate a really big, Big Bang.

Then there is nuclear energy. Atomic energy can be controlled, released steady-as-she-goes, as in electricity-generating nuclear power plants or facilities. Or, nuclear energy can be released in real quick-smart fashion, as in uncontrolled reactions that result in ka-booms that produce mushroom clouds as in thermonuclear weapons; the A-bomb, the H-bomb, etc. Energy is released when atomic nuclei are split apart (fission) or rammed together (fusion). It's the former that produces our electricity; both can power up those mushroom clouds. Its fusion that powers our Sun (and all the other shinning stars), which in simple form is just one gigantic bomb continuously going off. Only the Sun's immense inward gravity contains the explosion (outward radiative pressure) keeping it confined to the circular disc we observe in the daytime sky. Alas, fuel eventually runs out, in petrol tanks and in stars. In stars, when the fuel is finally consumed, gravity wins. Stars collapse slowly, or if originally massive enough, really suddenly. These massive stars implode; rebound and explode - a supernova is born. But even a supernova pales in comparison to what the Big Bang must have been like, for even supernovae in particular, and nuclear energy in general, while more efficient in converting matter to energy relative to chemical energy, still would fail any efficiency audit.

If you want to pass the matter-to-energy efficiency exam, there's only one game in town: matter meets antimatter! Matter-antimatter reactions produce the most efficient means known to humans of generating explosive energy - 100% efficiency to be precise. Translated, 100% of the matter (and the antimatter) gets converted to energy. No leftovers. If a little bit of matter can generate a massive amount of energy in ultimately what amounts to a relatively highly inefficient nuclear fusion process, imagine what a massive amount of matter meets antimatter could generate!

One could image a super-lump of matter merging with an ever-so-slightly-less super-lump of antimatter. That would in theory result in a super-ultra violent explosion (the Big Bang) but giving us, our Universe, its matter dominance (over antimatter) that we observe. However, I strongly suspect that such super-sized lumps would have to be so massive that they would turn into Black Holes first, and the merger of two Black Holes, even one each of matter and antimatter, just gives you a larger Black Hole. All annihilation hell might be going on inside, but since the explosion can't escape the pull of a Black Hole's gravity, it's of no consequence.

Still, as the most efficient means of generating explosive kinetic energy, getting the biggest bang for your buck, matter-antimatter annihilation needs some further thought and consideration. Is there a way of generating a Big Bang via the matter-antimatter component of a prior, pre-Big Bang 'universe' without the massive lumps?

AN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL

So what if there is more than one expanding pre-Big Bang 'universe', say a pre-Big Bang Multiverse that contains lots of expanding 'universes'. Some of these 'universes' are, like our own Universe, matter dominated. Some however are antimatter rich. Now say one of each start to intersect at their expanding boundaries. There will be very little direct meeting of the two minds since the matter (and antimatter) is spread thinly. It's like you can have two galaxies collide without there being any actual collisions between the stars contained in each, because the distance between those stars is vast relative to the sizes of the stars. What does rule the roost however is the gravitational force. Slowly, but surely, the intersection starts the slow but sure collapse of all the stuff. Eventually, the bits get close enough where a few matter-antimatter annihilations take place, but that oomph drives more bits into each other's arms and so you quickly get a chain reaction yet one that transpires in a medium still tenuous enough and a region without sufficient density to form a super-sized lump and a harmless Black Hole. Might that matter-antimatter chain reaction manifest itself as a non-quantum, macro Big Bang - our Big Bang?

Whether this scenario is plausible or even possible I know not, but it has a nice feel to it; it just might be. Even if not, it might suggest a seed for the next generation of cosmologists, or those currently more cosmologically savvy, to pursue.

YET ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE

Lastly, here's a wicked curve ball. What if the Big Bang is a theoretical impossibility of physics pure and simple, despite the observational evidence? There's only one way I know of to generate convincing impossibilities - virtual reality; a simulated universe where there need be no connection at all between what you observe and what theoretically caused the various things that you observe. My scenario: the expansion; the CMBR; the ratio of hydrogen to helium, are all simulated.

Our reality, our Universe including the Big Bang (and ultimately you) is nothing but a computer-generated program, software created by some entity, probably extraterrestrial. Having set up the parameters, it's just a matter of hitting the 'start program' key and seeing what happens. We humans have already done this sort of activity so there's nothing implausible about this possibility.

Now I've often wondered if some great extraterrestrial computer programmer specializing in generating virtual reality worlds and universes would leave enough clues to his (its) 'subjects' that they in fact were just software generated virtual beings in a simulated universe. One such type of clue would be no way those virtual creations could reconcile observation with theory, as in the case of the Big Bang.

For another example we have observations of four physical forces yet no theory which unites the three quantum forces (electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force) with the one classical force - gravity. There is no viable theory of quantum gravity despite thousands of physicists searching for one over many generations now. It's like there are two sets of different software running the Universe.

One of the many Big Bang 'in the beginning' predictions of theoretical things is magnetic monopoles - magnets with either a south pole or a north pole, but not both. Alas, we've never ever found and confirmed the reality of even one monopole. So strange is that that a new concept states that the very early Universe underwent an additional oomph of very rapid inflation which so diluted the created monopoles that there are no longer any monopoles in our neck of the woods. That does appear a bit like clutching at straws.

You have a 120 order-of-magnitude (that's one followed by 120 zeros) discrepancy between the observed vacuum energy and the theoretical value of the vacuum energy.

You have particles that behave both as a wave and as little billiard balls - observed but theoretically impossible in classical physics.

Speaking of particles, there are three fundamental properties of particles (like the electron, neutrinos, the numerous quarks, etc.) and their anti-particles (like the positron). They are charge, spin and mass. Despite the relatively large number of particles (including the equal and opposite anti-particles), there are only a few allowed values for charge and spin, values pretty much confined to the infield. But, for some reason, the mass (usually expressed in equivalent energy units - Einstein's equation again) of the various particles are not only scattered throughout the ballpark but are all over the map. They take on values (albeit one value per type of particle) over many orders of magnitude without any apparent pattern or regularity or relationship between them - and nobody has the foggiest idea why, not even a validly theoretical idea. Nobody can predict from first principles what the masses should be. It's like someone just drew a few dozens of numbers out of a hat containing multi hundreds of thousands of values and assigned them to the few dozens of particles willy-nilly. Something is screwy somewhere because something so fundamental shouldn't be so anomalous.

In the real world, the macro world, the classical world, no two things are identical down to the last microscopic detail - you are unique; every bacterium is unique; every house, den, nest, and ant hill is unique; so is every baseball and grain of sand. In the unreal world, the micro world, the quantum world, all fundamental particles of their own kind (i.e. electrons or positrons or up quarks or photons) are identical to the last measurable detail. Why? Who knows! But a possibility from the simulated universe is that there is one software code or sequence of bits and bytes for each type of fundamental particle. So every time that sequence is used, you get that type of entity and only that type.

There are constant reports of physical constants that aren't - constant that is. That's totally nuts!

Then you have observations of quasars with vastly differing red-shifts (measurements of their recessional velocities) yet quasars which appear to be causality connected.

In physics, time travel to the past is theoretically possible - though damned difficult in practice. However, that means that those time travel paradoxes are possible, even likely. Paradoxes like going back in time, say ten years, and killing yourself (which is a novel way of committing suicide), means you couldn't have existed to go back in time in the first place in order to kill yourself, which means you're not dead so you can go back in time and murder yourself, etc. What kind of physics is that? Curiouser and curiouser.

Any and all miracles, Biblical or otherwise, are explainable as easily as saying "run program".

More down to earth, you have multi-observations of things like the Loch Ness Monster, those highly geometrically complex crop circles, and ghosts, yet there's no real adequate theory, pro or con, that can account for their observed existence or creation.

All up, perhaps some cosmic computer programmer/software writer whiz with a wicked sense of humour (a trickster 'god'?) is laughing its tentacles off since we haven't been able to figure it (our virtual reality) out. Of course maybe the minute we do, the fun's over and 'Dr. It' hits the delete key and that's the way the Universe ends - not with a Big Crunch, nor with a Heat Death, but with a "are you sure you want to delete this?" message! "Yes".

Celestron Astromaster 70az - A Good Telescope to Test Your Interest in Astronomy

2011-08-18T04:58:00.000-07:00

Best beginner telescope? Buying a telescope can be tricky if you don't know what you want.

The night sky is a wonder to behold and offers up countless questions as to our own place and purpose within the universe. Space, science-fiction and astronomy often proves to be a source of fascination for kids in particular. A clear night sky is truly an incredible spectacle to observe with or without a telescope. But if you can purchase the best telescope that you can afford for yourself or your kids, then you are so much closer to discovering a world of wonder! You are also closer to understanding a little bit more about life itself.

Today, it is possible to start off the hobby of astronomy with a relatively small budget. Telescopes are coming down in price all the time. Make sure that when you start looking for the best telescope possible that you take into account some important factors.

The size of the telescope isn't always a good signal as to if a telescope is good or not. Eyepieces that can be purchased additionally can often be a better investment for a slightly cheaper telescope than a telescope claiming to be super-powerful.

If you can get a telescope with a mount included then that's worth considering as mounts sold separately can be fairly costly.

How much light pollution do you have in your area? Will it be suitable to have a telescope in your garden or will you need to consider heading out into the countryside to get the best views.

Do you want to take photographs with your new telescope?

Check the attachments it has to determine if a camera can be mounted on it. Maybe you want to buy a computerized telescope so that you can download the images directly to your PC. If you are starting out then you probably want to test the water. The Celestron Astromaster 70az is a very good starter telescope. It offers a very straightforward solution if you literally want to unpack and get on with viewing the stars. There are very simple instructions on how to construct it without the need of tools and there are no fancy knobs or buttons to confuse the first time user

The Celestron Astromaster 70az refractor telescope is great for both adults and kids. It is at the lower end of the budget so will suit anyone who want's to try out astronomy on a less serious level. This is a telescope designed to give the first time user a taste of what a great hobby astronomy can be. This is a bit like buying your first bike. Once you've mastered the art of using a telescope you'll probably want to upgrade to a more powerful level.

It is ideal for stargazing and also land and sea viewing. It comes with a sturdy mount, 2 eyepieces, Starpointer finderscope and a host of other features. It is extremely easy to set up and there are no tools required to construct the telescope. Basically, it is straight out of the box, a few easy bolts that can be attached with your fingers and out into the garden.

What will you see with your new telescope?

Well, you can expect to view a large selection of spectacular sights with a telescope at this level. Of course, the first thing you'll point your Celestron Astromaster 70az at will be the Moon which you'll see in a very high definition. Then you'll be able to see Mars, Jupiter with Jupiter's moons, Saturn, Venus, Orion Nebula and that is just name a few. At this level you can't expect to see stunning images but you'll be extremely impressed at what details are possible to witness from your own back yard.

The Starpointer viewfinder is very helpful in locating stars and planets. There is a useful CD Rom which contains 'The First light software' which is very useful for new astronomers. For a telescope of this price and level the Astromaster 70az has a great focal length and all in all a very sturdy design.

Can Black Holes Evaporate?

2011-08-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

Black Holes are astrophysical objects that are so massive, that have gravity so high, that their escape velocity (some seven miles per second on Earth) exceeds the ultimate cosmic speed limit - the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). Since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, nothing (matter and/or energy) once inside a Black Hole can ever get out again - or so the seemingly ironclad logic went.

However, that's all according to classical physics. A physicist by the name of Jacob Bekenstein came up with the idea of applying quantum physics to these objects (upon a suggestion by his mentor John Wheeler - who incidentally coined the phrase "Black Hole"), and once that was done, well lo and behold, these objects apparently exhibited entropy, and therefore had a temperature and therefore must radiate and therefore can vomit out stuff. His ideas were mulled over and over again and finally agreed to and expanded on by the celebrated astrophysicist/cosmologist Stephen Hawking. That stuff that a Black Hole can regurgitate now goes under the name of Hawking radiation, or to give credit where credit is due it is technically Bekenstein-Hawking radiation. However, it's usually just called Hawking radiation so I'll stick with that convention.

Of course if Black Holes have a temperature, then they must follow the same laws of thermodynamics as any other object with temperature. One key point in thermodynamics is that energy exchanges between objects are at least partly determined by one object's temperature compared to another object's temperature. The temperature of a hot cup of coffee will stay hot longer the higher the temperature of the environment that surrounds that hot cup of coffee. A Black Hole's temperature must be compared to whatever temperature surrounds that object when considering the fate of the Black Hole. So how does a Black Hole get temperature?

In retrospect, how this happens is obvious (as are all great ideas when applying hindsight).

There is no such thing as the perfect vacuum. That could only be achieved at a temperature of absolute zero where and when everything is 100% frozen stiff. Alas, such a state violates one of the most fundamental principles of quantum physics - the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle - where it is impossible to know both the momentum and position of anything with 100% precision. If something were at absolute zero, frozen stiff and standing still, you'd know both the momentum (which would be zero) and position (at a standstill) of that something with absolute precision.

Since there is always a minimum state of energy anywhere in the Universe (something above absolute zero), and since energy and mass are equivalent (Einstein's famous formula/equation), then that energy state, the false not-quite-absolute-zero vacuum, the vacuum energy*, can generate mass - virtual particles. However, the particles come in matter-antimatter pairs, which usually immediately annihilate and return to their former pure energy state. BUT, and there is always, a BUT - there's an exception to the rule - that normal state of affairs can be thwarted.

The vacuum energy, that which can generate particle-antiparticle pairs, exists everywhere where existence has any meaning. Part of that existence is an area called the event horizon**, which is a concept related to the concept we call Black Holes. These cosmic objects all have an event horizon which surrounds them.

The event horizon surrounding a Black Hole is that somewhat fuzzy region that separates the region (below the event horizon) from which gravity rules over the speed of light, and that region (above the event horizon) where gravity's escape velocity can't quite dominate that speed of light velocity. I say its "fuzzy" since it's not razor sharp, albeit nearly so.

The vacuum energy is part and parcel of the space surrounding the event horizon, above, below and spot-on. Now, what if that vacuum energy generates a pair of virtual particles, one each popping into existence above the event horizon; one below the event horizon. Then, the particles will be unable to annihilate and recombine into pure energy. One will stay within the Black Hole. The other, being above the event horizon, can be dealt a 'get out of jail' card. And thus, slowly, ever so slowly, but ever so surely, these cosmic sinks loses mass, thus energy, and they evaporate.

Here's the general picture. Black Holes can only radiate from the event horizon region which, in a very large cosmic sink is going to be very cold because it's not radiating very much, so initially only things like the mass-less photon escapes. Assuming there's no incoming to replace the loss, the cosmic sink shrinks, and as it gets smaller it warms up slightly (that's what things that shrink tend to do) and can radiate particles with small mass - say neutrinos. When the cosmic sink is tiny, it's very warm, in a relative sense, and it can go out with a 'bang', maybe emitting an electron or positron which is way more massive. When there's no more Black Hole, the vacuum energy still produces at random virtual particle pairs, but there's no more event horizon from which to separate those virtual particle pairs and thus its all back to normal - the two annihilate and return to their vacuum energy state. That's where the popular accounts end. End of story. The ultimate fate of Black Holes will be to evaporate via Hawking radiation, even if it does take trillions of years.

Alas, the written texts forget to mention that radiation emission (and other forms of emitted stuff) is a two-way street, not a one-way street. Black Holes can acquire stuff, as well as radiate stuff. If deposits exceed withdrawals, then these cosmic sinks will always have a positive 'stuff' balance and thus won't fully evaporate. Now this is perhaps why Hawking radiation hasn't been observed. The tiny amount of Hawking radiation (outgoing) will be swamped by the greater, many orders of magnitude greater, amounts of incoming radiation and other stuff impacting the Black Hole.

Forget these universal sinks (and their massive gravity) for a moment and concentrate on Planet Earth. Even at night, you see lots of suns - stars. You see them because they are radiating photons - particles of electromagnetic energy of which visible light is a small part. In fact you only detect a tiny fraction of visual photons because your visual detection devices (eyes) aren't that efficient. Optical telescopes pick up a lot more of them, but they're still just as real. You are also being hit by photons in the infrared, the ultraviolet, in radio wavelengths, X-ray photons, gamma-ray photons, etc. Though Earth's atmosphere shields us from some of these photons (ultraviolet photons are far greater in number at the top of our atmosphere than at the bottom), you still get impacted by multi-billions of them; Planet Earth many orders of magnitude more. Some of the photons get reflected back into space; these don't add to Earth's energy/mass balance. Overall, there are roughly one billion photons for each and every fundamental particle with mass, like electrons and neutrinos.

Now in addition Earth (and you too) gets hit with cosmic rays, neutrinos, and cosmic dust. Even if you luck out, Planet Earth gets impacted by meteors and other outer space debris, sometimes debris large enough to not only hit the surface but do considerable damage. Planet Earth's mass increases by many tons a day, all due to Earth's sweeping up of the interplanetary dust and small rocks that intersect Earth's orbit. The trillions of neutrinos that hit us are so ghostly that nearly all pass right through you and the entire planet as well despite them having a tiny amount of mass, so as far as our planet is concerned, they are of little significance.

Now what about a Black Hole? Clearly these objects aren't isolated from the rest of the cosmos and other objects therein. If you were just outside the event horizon you'd 'see' photons (of all wavelengths) because you'd see stars and galaxies, etc. just like you can locally. Neutrinos would still pass right through you on their way to their doom once passing through the event horizon. The Universe is full of interstellar and intergalactic atoms and molecules and dust and of course lots of larger stuff a Black Hole can snack on. Black Holes will sweep up stuff just like Earth does, only more so since it has more gravity with which to grab hold of stuff with, and also because once caught there's no escape for the cosmic fish. Unlike Earth, everything that crosses that event horizon, that hits the cosmic sink, won't be reflected back (like photons). Neutrinos that can pass through light-years worth of solid lead without even 'breathing hard' will be imprisoned when they try that trick in a Black Hole's inner sanctum. And of course atoms, molecules, interstellar dust, the big chunks will also get imprisoned.

But we can imagine an idealized cosmos where all Black Holes have swallowed up all existing radiated particles (photons), all the atoms, molecules, the dust and all the bigger stuff - all those stars and planets; asteroids and comets; even all that mysterious 'dark matter'. So you have a cosmos of just universal cosmic sinks and the vacuum energy (well maybe a few bits and pieces escaped, but so few to be of no consequence). Of course there is one further logical extension. cosmic sinks can swallow other cosmic sinks. Black Holes can merge to form bigger Black Holes. The final product is that the cosmos consists of one Black Hole - the Mother of all cosmic sinks - plus the vacuum energy! So you end up with one Black Hole left standing with nothing left to eat.

Okay, so the only scenario now possible is that this Mother of all Black Holes evaporates via Hawking radiation. It might take trillions upon trillions upon trillions of years, but evaporate it does. Since matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed, once the Mother of Black Holes has finally gone 'poof', the Universe is right back where it started from - full of stuff from photons to fundamental particles which them undergo chemistry to form atoms and molecules and stars and planets and perhaps life - and new Black Holes!

Perhaps this is a new and improved version of a cyclic/oscillating universe! - But then again, maybe not. There's a fly in that ointment (but I had you going for a while back there!). That "idealized cosmos" was only a 'what if' thought experiment.

Firstly, it's actually very, very unlikely all the Black Holes in the Universe will ever merge together as long as the Universe keeps expanding. Since the galaxies are getting farther and farther away from each other due to that expansion, the collection of Black Holes contained within each galaxy keep getting further and further apart from other clusters of Black Holes contained within other galaxies. It's like the passengers in one car get more and more remote from the passengers in another car when each car is going at different velocities and heading in different directions.

Now the collection of all Black Holes in any one galaxy could well coalesce into one super Black Hole galaxy. You have a galaxy that instead of containing billions and billions of stars and debris and particles now consists of just one Black Hole - the car only has one occupant. You have a pure Black Hole galaxy, or a galactic sized Black Hole.

One might end up with a Universe composed of just these pure Black Hole galaxies, all spreading farther and farther apart over time.

But secondly, there's another fly in the ointment. All the space that separates these pure Black Hole galaxies from each other isn't a perfect vacuum, quite apart from the vacuum energy. All the radiating stars and stuff may have been gobbled up within each galaxy, but all of interplanetary space, all of interstellar space, and all of intergalactic space, isn't pure vacuum. There's still the 'it's everywhere, it's everywhere' Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR).

So what's this CMBR? If you have a massive hot explosion (like the Big Bang event is alleged to have been), and all that heat energy expands and expands, then you'd expect the temperature of the area occupied by that energy to drop, the temperature ever decreasing as the volume that finite amount of energy occupies increases. As the energy expands it gets diluted and thus cools, but can never reach an absolute zero temperature for reasons already noted. And that's just what we find on a universal scale. There's a fine microwave energy "hiss" representing a temperature a few degrees above absolute zero that's absolutely everywhere in the cosmos. That's the diluted heat energy of the very hot Big Bang - well it has been a long time since the Big Bang event (13.7 billion years worth of time) and that energy is now spread throughout a lot of cosmic volume. That microwave "hiss", called the CMBR, was predicted way before it was discovered. There's no doubt that it exists.

Since the CMBR is just photons with very long wavelengths, Black Holes could suck up the CMBR photons as easily as light photons. Removal of CMRB photons, already representing a temperature just slightly about the theoretical minimum - absolute zero - would mean the Universe gets even colder, which it would anyway since the Universe is ever expanding and thus available electromagnetic energy (photons) is ever diluting. Combining the two effects and the Universe is a chilly place indeed and will get even colder.

However, it's probably not possible for Black Holes collectively to swallow up all of the CMBR since there will come a point of diminishing returns. What happens when the temperature of Black Holes equals the temperature of the Universe at large - the CMBR? The answer is thermal equilibrium like when your hot cup of coffee cools off to room temperature. Input into Black Holes from the CMBR will equal output via Hawking radiation. For every photon emitted via Hawking radiation, a CMBR photon gets sucked in. What does that mean? It means a Black Hole can not evaporate.

What about very tiny (micro) Black Holes that are relatively 'hot'? Might they go 'poof' before thermal equilibrium is achieved? Will the contents of the Black Hole evaporate into the surrounding cosmos before they can equate to the surrounding temperature? The analogy might be like a hot drop of water could evaporate into the cold atmosphere before the liquid water drop can attain the temperature of its surrounding environment.

Even so, I still imagine that in the current matter and radiation dominated Universe, incoming would still exceed outgoing.

Of course if you could take a Black Hole, isolate and shield it from the rest of the cosmos and all that it contains, so all you have is the Black Hole and its internal energy (including the all pervading vacuum energy therein). An isolated Black Hole would be in a setting equivalent to putting it into an absolute zero temperature environment. If that's the case then outgoing would exceed incoming since there could be no incoming, and therefore that Black Hole would then radiate and slowly evaporate and eventually go 'poof'. BUT, and there's always a BUT, I can not envision any scenario where a Black Hole can exist in such a theoretical isolation. So, Professor Hawking is quite correct - in theory. In practice, in the here and now, input exceeds Hawking radiation output, and even in the unimaginably far distant future equilibrium will be established where input equals output.

*If it helps to conceive of the concept of the vacuum energy, here's an analogy. Think of the invisible but energetic atmosphere as the vacuum energy. Part of that atmosphere consists of invisible water vapour. But, all of a sudden, and for reasons that must have been mysterious to the ancients, part of the atmosphere undergoes a phase change into something you can see; into something solid - like a particle. You get mist/fog (clouds), rain drops, snow, sleet, hail, etc. Then, equally mysterious, those solid bits eventually undergo another phase change (evaporation standing in for annihilation) back to invisible water vapour in the equally invisible atmosphere. And so you have the invisible vacuum energy that generates particle-antiparticle pairs which annihilate back into the vacuum energy.

Comet Lovejoy - A Solar Survivor

2011-08-03T04:52:00.000-07:00

Comet Lovejoy is also known as C/2011 W3. It's a periodic comet discovered by Terry Lovejoy, an amateur astronomer. He discovered the comet on the 27th of November 2011. The path of the comet was predicted to head right through the Sun's corona, resulting in its destruction.

Predicted Demise

Many experts thought that the ice core of the comet wasn't massive enough to survive passing through the Solar Corona, considering it's several million degrees in there. The comet passed only 120,000 km up above the actual surface of the sun. Researchers thought the case was cut and dry, but were still very interested in getting to actually observe a comet passing through the suns corona, due to the possibility of valuable research from the event.

Reappearance

At 12:35 AM UTC time, on December 16th, the comet surprised everyone by reemerging from the sun. There were five separate spacecraft there to provide a video feed of the event. Two different NASA space observatories for Solar Dynamics, two different probes, and a microsatellite from Europe captured the miraculous rebirth of the comet from a variety of different angles.

In the video, you can see the comet wriggling as the tail enters into the sun. Some researchers say that it might be due to the comet's interaction with magnetic fields that exist across and through the atmosphere of the sun, but no one knows for sure why the tail moved in the way it did.

The unexpected rebirth of the comet will get continued coverage from video feeds, since scientists are interested to know what exactly the effect of moving right through the sun had on the comet. Some say that the core of Lovejoy must have been at least 500 meters in diameter to have enough sheer matter to not be instantly sublimated by the journey through the star.

The behavior of the comet as it moves back deep into the outer solar system, will give scientists clues as to how extensive the damage was, structurally. Some believe that the comet may now fall apart from the stress.

The interaction of comets and the Sun isn't yet well understood by scientists, so all such events bring well needed information to the community.

Sun Grazers

Lovejoy is part of a group of comets called "Kreutz Sungrazers." These are a particular group of comets that have orbits that take them very close to the sun. Some believe that they were originally one large comet that has broken up over time, perhaps from the closer encounters with the sun. the comets are often large enough to actually be visible to the naked eye when they pass near the Earth.

An Emerging Great Comet

At the time of writing the comet was displaying a tail of some 13 Degrees of Arc (more than 1/2 a hand span) This display is visible in the southern hemisphere. Initial photos have been coming out of Australia, showing the spectacular tail. Perhaps it might be as good as comet Mcnaught of 2007. Already it is much better than the well known Hayleys comet.