astronomy

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RvTV95XBeo, in There's A New Record For The Fastest Human-Made Object: 394,736 MPH! - The Autopian

Something finally beat the manhole cover we yeeted off the planet in the 50s? Impressive.

Ilovethebomb,

Yeah, but the manhole cover was in atmosphere at the time.

ChaoticNeutralCzech, in NASA's latest ISS deorbit plans revealed in contract notice
@ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de avatar

Hmmm… private operators’ space stations in low earth orbit. What could go wrong?

ubermeisters, (edited )
@ubermeisters@lemmy.world avatar

Take a look at the world around you and tell me who’s fucked up more historically, private entities or governments? I feel like the answer is governments. I don’t know about yours, but MY government can’t even make up a fucking BUDGET, and you want them doing shit in space? No thanks. Let’s let the people with passion, experience, and the right pay take care of it.

kalkulat, (edited )
@kalkulat@lemmy.world avatar

who’s fucked up more historically, private entities or governments?

Historically, private entities … not even close. Governments are far more open to scrutiny. Entities pay well to keep their fuckups hidden. You have dig into the hundreds of books written about them to learn the documented facts. How many workers did Ford have shot? (Why did Hitler give him a golden award?) Why did the German dye-makers move their factories to New Jersey, then China? Why was noone willing to insure the early nuclear reactors … so the government had to?

ubermeisters, (edited )
@ubermeisters@lemmy.world avatar

Option 1: government does it

  • Government makes plan
  • Government takes bids for contractors to do the work
  • Lowest bidder that can get a senator some decent head at dinner gets the contract
  • Earth shattering kaboom

Option 2: Private Sector does it

  • Several companies See potential business opportunity
  • Companies innovate in an arms race to develop better platforms and technologies
  • Costs for the entire industry go down as a result of innovative solutions coming to market
  • Financial investments from external sources due to increased traction enable faster development and more rigorous testing
  • Earth shattering applause
BluJay320,
@BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

So why is our healthcare absolute shit?

ubermeisters, (edited )
@ubermeisters@lemmy.world avatar

Because our representatives allow themselves to be purchased. See bullet point 3 above, and try to keep up please

BluJay320,
@BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Because privatization (and capitalism in general) opens the door for greedy corporations to squeeze every bit of profit they can out of something. And skirt regulation or oversight in the process

ubermeisters,
@ubermeisters@lemmy.world avatar

because because because because (ad nauseum) - the law allows it. that’s on the government. We can fix that. No, I don’t know how, and if I did, I would be screaming it from the rooftops.

BluJay320,
@BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

No, it’s on the corporations for doing whatever shitty things they can get away with.

No corporation has the interests of the people in mind. Only their wallets.

ubermeisters,
@ubermeisters@lemmy.world avatar

We’re definitely had a fundamental impasse here

BluJay320,
@BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Fair enough. Agree to disagree

knfrmity,

Way to miss the forest for the lichen on the trees.

ubermeisters,
@ubermeisters@lemmy.world avatar

Take some old man’s beard and shove it up your ass for me all right

Maeve,

I wanted to vomit when I read that.

niktemadur, in New JWST data confirms, worsens the Hubble tension

So: they thought the discrepancy had to do with possible errors in the measurement of Cepheid Variables as standard candles, when extrapolated with the more luminous and usually distant Type Ia Supernovas as standard candles, but JWST just confirmed that previous measurements of Cepheid Variables have in fact been correct and reliable.
Is this an accurate summary of the article?

SeventyTwoTrillion, in New JWST data confirms, worsens the Hubble tension
@SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net avatar

This article’s explanation is good:

Over the last several years, cosmologists have had to grapple with an unyielding conundrum. The expansion rate of the universe, also known as the Hubble’s constant (H0), has two different values depending on how you measure it, either with the echo of the Big Bang or with stars and galaxies. Researchers have now improved the precision of the second method, making the tension so much worse.

One of the key elements of the measurements is the calibration of Cepheids stars. The true luminosity of these stars fluctuates over a defined period, so by measuring said period and the brightness we see, it is possible to work out the distance of these objects. You could do the same with a distant lightbulb as long as you knew what wattage it was.

The method using the Cepheids is known as the cosmic distance ladder, and it has an estimated value of 73 kilometers per second per megaparsec (a megaparsec is equivalent to 3.26 million light-years). This means that if two galaxies are 1 megaparsec apart, they would appear to be moving away from each other at a speed of 73 kilometers (45 miles) per second.

“Our study confirms the 73 km/s/Mpc expansion rate, but more importantly, it also provides the most precise, reliable calibrations of Cepheids as tools to measure distances to date,” senior author, Richard Anderson, from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, said in a statement.

By using the cosmic microwave background, as measured by the European Space Agency’s Planck space telescope, the expansion rate is 67.4 ± 0.5 km/s/Mpc. The discrepancy of 5.6 km/s/Mpc could either signify that there is an issue with the way we measure things, or that there is something deeply wrong with our understanding of the universe.

"Suppose you wanted to build a tunnel by digging into two opposite sides of a mountain. If you’ve understood the type of rock correctly and if your calculations are correct, then the two holes you’re digging will meet in the center. But if they don’t, that means you’ve made a mistake – either your calculations are wrong or you’re wrong about the type of rock,” explained Anderson.

“That’s what’s going on with the Hubble constant. The more confirmation we get that our calculations are accurate, the more we can conclude that the discrepancy means our understanding of the universe is mistaken, that the universe isn’t quite as we thought.”

rah, in Spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are surprisingly rare. Astronomers may finally know why.

Downvoted for click-bait title.

theodewere, in Scientists Have Simulated What It Might Be Like to Plunge Into Uranus
@theodewere@kbin.social avatar

They created atmospheric analogs using mixtures of gasses similar to those found on Neptune and Uranus, and subjected their probe to equivalent speeds up to 19 kilometers per second.

now that's a wind tunnel, wow

shalafi, in Saturn's Rings Will Temporarily Disappear From View in 2025

I’ll have to try the telescope! It’s not very powerful, but I know I’m on Saturn because it’s a clearly oblate blob. At that time, it’ll be a round blob?

nezbyte, in When NASA Used an RC Tiger II to Drill into Space Shuttle Tires -

Visit the NASA page if you want to see a picture of the Tire Assault Vehicle without scrolling.

nasa.gov/…/cv-990-landing-systems-research-aircra…

Blaster_M, in Enceladus has all the raw materials for life, researchers say

How many decades to us having an Enchilada outpost?

Crackhappy,
@Crackhappy@lemmy.world avatar

Lol. Your autocorrect typo is hilarious.

HurlingDurling,

Who said it was a typo? I want to go to the enchilada outpost

Crackhappy,
@Crackhappy@lemmy.world avatar

Mmmm enchilada

LibsEatPoop, in Should Astronauts Be Allowed to Eat Each Other If They’re Starving?

This is freaking hilarious. I might buy this book just to read more of this:

“Imagine you’re stranded on the Red Planet with three crewmembers,” Seedhouse, a professor at Daytona Beach’s Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University wrote. “You have plenty of life-support consumables but only sufficient food to last one person until the rescue party arrives. What do you do?.. One day, while brewing coffee for breakfast, you realize there are three chunks of protein-packed meat living right next to you.”

… the biggest of the Mars explorers should sacrifice themselves first because they “both consume and provide the most food.” He went on to provide a “weirdly detailed look” at how to cut up one’s fellow humans if necessary.

“We don’t know where Seedhouse would fall in the buffet line because we couldn’t find his height and weight online,” the authors wrote, “and honestly we’re scared to ask.”

In “Survival and Sacrifice”… readers will also find… a photo of ten astronauts smiling in space alongside the caption: “In the wrong circumstances, a spacecraft is a platform full of hungry people surrounded by temptation. Is it wrong to waste such a neatly packaged meal?”

Great marketing.

BeefPiano, in The Moon is far older than we thought, scientists say

Huh? We just got a new moon a couple weeks ago!

KingGordon,

We have moon at home.

Rally, in NASA will reveal what OSIRIS-REx brought back from asteroid Bennu on Wednesday

Love all the jokes lines so far. But I am really excited to see what was delivered.

Gargleblaster,
@Gargleblaster@kbin.social avatar

What if an intergalactic porch pirate got to it first and it's just an empty box?

Rhaedas,
@Rhaedas@kbin.social avatar

"A case with four stones in it! Not one or two or three but four! Four stones! What the hell am I supposed to do with an empty case?"

Techmaster,

Maybe we’re the porch pirates and it turned out to be a glitter bomb and a bunch of fart spray.

scottywh,

I think the jokes are fucking lame and I’m also excited for the news.

Hotdogman, in India fails to re-establish communication with its Moon probe - EFE Noticias

That’s 2 things they killed this week.

Ghyste, in Asteroid hit by NASA spacecraft is behaving unexpectedly

Paywall…

Pratai,

Thanks for the heads up.

Carvex, in Most planets in the Universe are orphans without parent stars

Well yeah, planets get launched from their parent star gravity field during initial solar system formation all the time. There could be hundreds of small planet sized rocks slinging by each other in every direction before a stable disk formation forms. Bye bye, IceBall#768!

notfromhere,

Reminds me of the movie Dark City

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