Great Collection Of Astronomical Articles And Pictures
Great collection of astronomical articles and pictures
More Posts from Astrotidbits-blog and Others
What are comets made of?
What is the next step for hacktivists, radical or not. What’s 4Chan, what’s Anonymous and what’s the next thing? What’s the real deal - Ray Johansen gives his views.
Revolutionaries are always controversial. Some get proven right, some as a doing bad, some seen as doing equal amounts of both.The truth is complex. So we let Ray give us his views.
As part of our transparent process, we’re making some of our research interviews available for all. Check out both our Transparently Unedited interviews on our YouTube channel where you’ll and also find other awesome clips from a diverse set of characters.
The Drake Equation (sometimes known as: Green Bank equation or the Green Bank Formula)
The Drake Equation is a formula that may calculate the possibility of contactable extra-terrestrial alien species.
Proposed by Frank Drake in 1961, the Drake Equation is a probability argument that would estimate how many contactable, active and communicable alien species there are in our Milky Way.
The Drake Equation is, as follows;
N = R* • fp • ne • fl • fi • fc • L.
In this equation, N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible.
R* = the average rate of star formation in our galaxy.
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations)
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space
The Drake Equation acts as a summary of which we can expect to communicate (if at all) with those who are extra-terrestrial. The last four parameters: fl, fi, fc and L, are not known and are very hard to estimate, with values ranging over many orders of magnitude.
Therefore it is not a direct measurement of when we will communicate but a roadmap towards creating and estimating the means necessary to communicate with our space buddies.
Will it be appropriate to tip “robot handlers,” as when they were “delivery people”? Or will the robots pool their tips, and give their handlers a small cut?
When the wrong yoghurt is delivered two hours late and left dripping in the rain, will it be the robot or the handler who gets fired?
Just askin’.
Ted Chin
open parachute during tests for Mars Science Laboratory
What’s Up for March 2017?
What’s Up for March? The moon hides red star Aldebaran and crescents dazzle after dusk.
On March 4 the first quarter moon passes between Earth and the star Aldebaran, temporarily blocking our view of the star. This is called an occultation.
The occultation begins and concludes at different times, depending on where you are when you view it.
The event should be easy to see from most of the U.S., Mexico, most of Central America, the Western Caribbean and Bermuda.
Observers along a narrow path from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Hartford, Connecticut, will see the moon “graze” the star. The star will disappear and reappear repeatedly as hills and valleys on the moon alternately obscure and reveal it.
As seen from Earth, both Mercury and Venus have phases like our moon. That’s because they circle the sun inside Earth’s orbit.
Planets that orbit between Earth and the sun are known as inner or inferior planets.
Inferior planets can never be at “opposition,” which is when the planet and the sun are on opposite sides of Earth.
But inferior planets can be at “conjunction,” which is when a planet, the sun and Earth are all in a straight line.
Conjunction can happen once when the planet is on the opposite side of the sun from Earth and again when it’s on the same side of the sun as Earth.
When a planet is on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, we say it is at “superior conjunction.” As the planet moves out from behind the sun and gets closer to Earth, we see less and less of the lit side. We see phases, similar to our moon’s phases.
Mercury is at superior conjunction on March 6.
A few weeks later, the planet emerges from behind the sun and we can once again observe it. By the end of March we’ll see a last-quarter Mercury.
On April 20 Mercury reaches “inferior conjunction.”
Brilliant Venus is also racing toward its own inferior conjunction on March 25. Watch its crescent get thinner and thinner as the planet’s size appears larger and larger, because it is getting closer to Earth.
Finally, look for Jupiter to rise in the East. It will be visible all month long from late evening until dawn.
You can catch up on solar system missions and all of our missions at www.nasa.gov
Watch the full “What’s Up for March 2017″ video here:
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Eclipse News at AstroTidbits
Don’t know how to prepare for the coming total eclipse of the sun? Get some info at http://www.astrotidbits.com and be ready.
Jupiter’s swirling clouds around the Great Red Spot. NASA/JPL.
