Lovely
sun we have folks. There is a sunspot on it at the moment that is large enough
to swallow six of our planet Earth. The
giant spot was captured on camera by NASA’s SDO, Solar Dynamics Observatory. It
grew to this size in just less than 48 hours, and due to some of the magnetic
fields within it pointing in opposite directions, creating an unstable configuration;
it is a prime target to create solar flares. And being the loving and
compassionate person I am, my first thought was the fun this would have created
if it had happened last year, say on dec. 17th or 18th,
with all the end of the world Mayan stuff going on with some people. Not that I
would have laughed; forever. Okay, I’d still be laughing.
Are
the secrets of dying stars being carried around by us in our technology every
day of our lives now? Apparently it is. Here
is what is going on. We have recreated here on Earth, the way magnetic fields
behave around the dying suns known as white dwarfs. We actually managed to pull this off in a lab
here on earth, using devices made of silicon laced with phosphorous, which is
quite similar to computer microchips. These are rated in Tesla strength. Earth’s
surface puts out 30 – 60 millionths of a tesla, where as a white dwarfs field
can reach 100,000 tesla. So basically,
if you put something like a magnet in the middle of new york city, with this
field, everyone with a pace maker would have to evacuate immediately. Even
creating a field in a lab at 1,000 tesla, lasts for only a fraction of a
second, and you end up buying all new equipment, as it basically gets fried
beyond repair. They used a 30 tesla field to see how atoms react in such a
field. Very interesting article actually. Well worth checking out as well.
Speedy
little stars aren't they. By last reckoning, our star is moving through space
at around 52,000 mph. Not too bad for a big flaming ball of burning gas. But
she’s slow, especially compared to what has just been found. Now imagine a
binary star system getting sucked in by a black hole. The one star gets eaten,
while the other gets thrown out. That is the theory of six stars recently found
with masses similar to that of our star Sol. Now these are moving at a bit
faster speed. Like around 2 million mph. They are hoping that by studying these
stars, they can learn more about the type of stars that are formed at the
galactic heart of our galaxy, and help estimate the size of the black hole that
resides there. Any way you look at it though, those are moving at a pretty fair
clip by our reckoning. The speed of these stars actually makes them gravitationally
unbound from the galaxy itself.
The Klingons will apparently be showing up in the new Star Trek Into Darkness. J.J. Abrams talks about it shortly in a video segment which I will post a link to. And thankfully, it sounds like they will be only enemies, and not any of this Worf stuff. I like Worf, but lets keep at least a bit of the original timeline in effect here. I mean, come on now, they are klingons.
And for all interested, here is a pic of Princess Leia in a supposedly never before seen picture in that slave costume. Same site, different page is all. Okay, even I have to admit, she looks freaking hot in this picture. Really hot. But green slave girls, and half cat women still look better in my book. I did warn you all that I was weird. Enjoy the link.
That's it for this week folks. I could go on as usual, but I can only do so much on a page, so I look around for things I think will be interesting, in the areas of space science, science fiction and fantasy.
2 comments:
And the reason I don't have the mars rover update, is that I am waiting for the tests to be done before I dealt with that one.
Thought I'd better clear that up, since it is a highlight, but just no info yet.
NP Kall, the run down as a whole works for me.
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