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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

JCC The All-New, All-Different JCC Astronomy Thread

Discussion in 'Community' started by jp-30, Jul 16, 2010.

  1. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
  2. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

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    Oct 4, 1998
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  3. Darth_Voider

    Darth_Voider Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 4, 2015
    I watched Jupiter with my telescope on Saturday evening (the planet was in opposition to sun then) and I saw the four Galilean moons as well as Jupiter's cloud belts.
    I think I even saw the Gread Red Spot.
     
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  4. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012
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  5. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    Enceladus now officially has "the conditions necessary for life" after the confirmation of hot vents on the ocean floor


    https://www.yahoo.com/news/saturn-moon-necessary-conditions-harbor-life-nasa-194220235.html
     
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  6. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
    It's too bad funding for landers to the moons of the outer planets keep getting removed.
     
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  7. yankee8255

    yankee8255 Force Ghost star 6

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    May 31, 2005
    I'll see you on the dark side of ... Pluto

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. Darth_Voider

    Darth_Voider Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 4, 2015
  9. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
    It's hard to imagine what life would be like on a world 6.6 times our mass.
     
  10. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
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  11. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    Lord Vivec , I know you really don't think colonization of worlds beyond Earth is feasible... but let's say, 150 years from now, we've established a sustainable and growing colony/civilization somewhere else within the Solar System. Which world seems the most likely? Titan? Mars? The Moon? Enceladus? Upper atmosphere of Venus? Europa? One of the other Galilean moons? Somewhere else?
     
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  12. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

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    Apr 17, 2006
    Honestly? I can see a moon base being used like the current ISS is used. A small moon colony is feasible to do basic research with a lot of automation and a few astronauts on a rotating schedule. It's a "colony" i guess but not in the sense you're hoping for. There won't be much in terms of nonessential personnel there. I really just don't see anything beyond that distance.
     
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  13. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    Why don't you think anything beyond the Moon is possible?

    * Titan is large enough to have strong gravity, a magnetic field and atmosphere to protect from radiation (in addition to probably building bases underground) and nearby Enceladus could be used to extract water if Titan lacks it (I don't think water has been found there yet, but it seems much more abundant than people believed 20 years ago)
    *Europa has its own water, bases there could also bury into the surface
    *Mars has at least some water, and bases there could also bury into the surface

    I can just see some eccentric billionaires, the successors of Elon Musk, trying to found bases there (or a major power that's feeling particularly nationalist once it's possible, such as China to prove they've surpassed America)... just to say they did it, and to rent to grant-winning scientists and wealthy tourists.
     
  14. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

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    Apr 17, 2006
    The distance is too far. Even Mars is too far for this. The moon is close by enough that in the state of an "emergency", by the 2100 you could probably get things up there real quick, maybe a day's time. What happens for Mars though? When Mars is on the other side of the Sun? Or any of the farther moons and planets? These would truly have to be self sufficient colonies on a world hostile to human existence. Think about all the hurdles that would entail, and then ask yourself "why?" Why have a Mars Colony. What is the benefit to it?
     
  15. Blackhole E Snoke

    Blackhole E Snoke Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Apr 26, 2016
    With the speed that AI and robotics are advancing right now, it won't be long until there is very few things that a human could do on a mission to another world that a robot couldn't do, and and many things a robot could do that a human couldn't. With quantum computing, AI will be be able to make decisions for itself on missions, adapting to situations like we do. When a robot and AI can do that, there will only be disadvantages to having humans on a mission to other worlds.

    Robots will be Earth's species that colonises other worlds, not humans.
     
  16. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
    Why don't you think they could become self-sufficient, especially if they have their own source of water? Startup costs would still be very high, with robots sent first to build power generators, build factories for more robots and other products, transport animals and plant seeds to get a food source started, come up with a water extraction system, and build safe underground dwellings for humans... but it could become self-sufficient. And once you have one self-sufficient base, it's easy to spread on that world.

    I think the demand will always be there, including for those who have the means, especially for countries (and eccentric billionaires) wanting to prove they can do it, and have an escape route if anything goes wrong on Earth, etc. In addition to that, mining resources and shipping them back to Earth could be an economic benefit in the future.
     
  17. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

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    Nov 20, 2012
    But will the Wi-Fi be efficient there? That's all that matters.
     
  18. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

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    Oct 13, 2003
  19. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
    Makes you wonder what the sky looks like in a filament. True we can only see a few thousand stars with the naked eye but we can make out the glow of the Milky Way.
     
  20. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
    So, the WOW! signal has been solved. Maybe.

    A pair of comets

    Read the whole thing. There is a dispute.
     
  21. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
  22. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
    I just think the duel telescope at the end of this is cool as hell.

     
  23. Cynda

    Cynda Jedi Master star 4

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    Dec 20, 2014
    The New Horizons mission wasn't just for observing Pluto two years ago. It turns out there are many advantages to putting a telescope, even one as small as LORRI, outside the dusty inner solar system; you can much better observe the extragalactic background light as well as other KBOs besides its January 2019 target.

    Also there's this weird quasar, OJ 287, that just might be a massive binary black hole system, at least that's the current theory to explain observations. This past February its emission flared all the way up to TeV gamma rays! However, the predicted dates for next flare are for when the sun is close in the sky, so telescopes won't be able to point at it...except for New Horizons. :D
     
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  24. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

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    Apr 3, 2002
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  25. Cynda

    Cynda Jedi Master star 4

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    Dec 20, 2014
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