Mystery object may be our first visitor from another solar system. Scientists believe it's from interstellar space because it had no close approach by one of the large planets to sling it into our inner solar system, it's estimated to be about 1200 ft in size and not a comet. Mother-ship?
Mystery object may be our first visitor from another solar system. Scientists believe it's from interstellar space because it had no close approach by one of the large planets to sling it into our inner solar system, it's estimated to be about 1200 ft in size and not a comet. Mother-ship?
A) How did none of the orbiting telescopes take pictures of the object?
B) How far off are we from having a system where small drones can be sent out from the ISS or an unmanned satellite that’s purpose is when an object comes within reach, we can launch said drones to intercept and retrieve data?
C) I’m blown away this is being hailed as “first space rock known to come from elsewhere in the galaxy.”. I mean, given the vastness and unpredictability of space, is this really the FIRST large rock to wander through our solar system since we’ve been able to track them more efficiently from somewhere else?! I would’ve thought this happens far more often.
A) Space telescopes have very very narrow fields of view. Unless it was tasked on this small spot, it would never see it. This motion would have been first spotted probably with a large FOV imaging device based on Earth. It is moving very very fast. Imagine looking through a paper towel tube, trying to spot an aphid fly by.
B)Again, it is moving very fast. Watch the animation, relative to the speed of the planets. We have no way of moving that fast. Our fastest probes take years sling shoting off of other planets to achieve a velocity a fraction of how fast this is moving. So,we are a long way off.
C) Our solar system is not very dense, yet compared to the space between solar systems it is full of activity. Empty space is incredibly vast. The fact we haven't detected something in the 100 or so years we would have spotted it doesn't surprise me.
If you haven't watched Powers of Ten, I suggest you do, to see just how the scales we are dealing with.
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A) How did none of the orbiting telescopes take pictures of the object?
As Fuzz explained Hubble..etc. can't track close fast moving objects, Telescopes like Keck with 10 meter or larger mirrors coupled with wide view camera's are needed to follow such an object, the pic below shows our speedy alien craft in the middle and the shrieks of light are actually background stars.
The fact we did see this makes me wonder if this type of event is more common than we ever thought. In all my hours and hours and hours of watching videos and reading science docs, I can't recall a warning around something like this. Space is so vast. Wow. Imagine if that thing hit a planet!
The fact we did see this makes me wonder if this type of event is more common than we ever thought. In all my hours and hours and hours of watching videos and reading science docs, I can't recall a warning around something like this. Space is so vast. Wow. Imagine if that thing hit a planet!
At 1200 ft it wouldn't be a good day if you're within 500 miles or so but it wouldn't be a global catastrophe either
A) Space telescopes have very very narrow fields of view. Unless it was tasked on this small spot, it would never see it. This motion would have been first spotted probably with a large FOV imaging device based on Earth. It is moving very very fast. Imagine looking through a paper towel tube, trying to spot an aphid fly by.
B)Again, it is moving very fast. Watch the animation, relative to the speed of the planets. We have no way of moving that fast. Our fastest probes take years sling shoting off of other planets to achieve a velocity a fraction of how fast this is moving. So,we are a long way off.
C) Our solar system is not very dense, yet compared to the space between solar systems it is full of activity. Empty space is incredibly vast. The fact we haven't detected something in the 100 or so years we would have spotted it doesn't surprise me.
If you haven't watched Powers of Ten, I suggest you do, to see just how the scales we are dealing with.
Appreciate the response but I have at least one potential issue with it. Regarding:
A) Without more info, from watching the video I’m left with the impression we had been tracking it for quite some time before it swung by Earth and through our solar system. If so, even if you’re right about our orbiting telescopes field of view making them impractical, are you telling me with confidence that there’s nothing on or around our planet we could’ve focused on the object for a lengthy period to give us a better image?
B) I fully understand and believe that. Wish we were a lot further ahead with our space traveling abilities but it is what it is.
C) I can believe the possibility exists but it just surprises me that large debris doesn’t travel through or near our solar system from somewhere else more often.
The video gives the impression that it has been tracked for a long time, but what they do is they take a few observations to figure out it's seed, and change in positioning, then extrapolate backwards the track of the object using astro-physics models. So if you were to see the data points, they probably only have a few from when the object is nearby, the rest of the track is inferred by it's current position and previous locations. It is also why they aren't 100% sure it is from outside the solar system. They need more data points to establish it's past position better. It is quite small, so I don't think they would have spotted it very far away.
I'm not saying their is nothing we could have spotted it with, I'm saying I have no reason to doubt we didn't, because of it's size, velocity, and the capabilities of our scopes.
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Origins-of-life researchers have hypothesized that a chemical reaction called phosphorylation may have been crucial for the assembly of three key ingredients in early life forms: short strands of nucleotides to store genetic information, short chains of amino acids (peptides) to do the main work of cells, and lipids to form encapsulating structures such as cell walls. Yet, no one has ever found a phosphorylating agent that was plausibly present on early Earth and could have produced these three classes of molecules side-by-side under the same realistic conditions.
TSRI chemists have now identified just such a compound: diamidophosphate (DAP).
The sky is vast and the telescopes can't see everything at once. so its often extremely lucky when we spot something like this and usually because we were studying something else and it popped into view.
I think the question of probes is a problem based around speed and early warning.
While it sounds cool to fire off probes, without a lot of advanced early warning most of our probes like voyagers take years to decades to cross the solar system. To intercept something like this we'd probably would have had to see it in the late 90's to intercept it.
Its different with predictable objects like comets, you can plan the arrival of those by a calender. But this thing was an unexpected object.
We'd need to come up with a much faster engine technology to be able to do interceptions, and probably have scanner systems at the edges of the solar system to be able to detect these objects.
I would almost expect that there are very few extra solar system objects because most objects are caught in the gravity shadow of their own solar system and don't have the ability to escape that.
I expect that the areas between systems are fairly clear of large debris.
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The most advanced of these human brain organoids — no bigger than a lentil and, until now, existing only in test tubes — pulse with the kind of electrical activity that animates actual brains. They give birth to new neurons, much like full-blown brains. And they develop the six layers of the human cortex, the region responsible for thought, speech, judgment, and other advanced cognitive functions.
These micro quasi-brains are revolutionizing research on human brain development and diseases from Alzheimer’s to Zika, but the headlong rush to grow the most realistic, most highly developed brain organoids has thrown researchers into uncharted ethical waters. Like virtually all experts in the field, neuroscientist Hongjun Song of the University of Pennsylvania doesn’t “believe an organoid in a dish can think,” he said, “but it’s an issue we need to discuss.”
Those discussions will become more urgent after this weekend. At a neuroscience meeting, two teams of researchers will report implanting human brain organoids into the brains of lab rats and mice, raising the prospect that the organized, functional human tissue could develop further within a rodent. Separately, another lab has confirmed to STAT that it has connected human brain organoids to blood vessels, the first step toward giving them a blood supply.
Our universe should not exist, CERN antimatter study confirms
Quote:
One of the deepest and most enduring mysteries in the study of the universe is why anything exists at all.
It really shouldn’t, not according to the best current physics. What really should exist is nothing but a flash of light. And yet, just look around. There is stuff everywhere. Physicists do not understand why, and after a major new discovery out of Europe’s nuclear research program, they are still in the dark.
in the middle and the shrieks of light are actually background stars.
