Comments on: Sundanity http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:26:53 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Rogue Medic http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/comment-page-1/#comment-172475 Rogue Medic Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:36:47 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/#comment-172475 Zero Kelvin (0Kelvin) is the high score. :-) Zero Kelvin (0Kelvin) is the high score. :-)

]]> By: Awesome http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/comment-page-1/#comment-172105 Awesome Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:05:06 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/#comment-172105 Two cents incoming! Even if the science coming from manned and unmanned missions were equal, I'd say we should still send people to Mars, for the exact reason Phil gave in the article. People need inspiration. For instance, we, as a nation, are hurting for aerospace engineers. All the people who grew up watching Sputnik and Apollo are getting ready to retire now, and there just aren't enough new people to take their place. Manned missions can capture the public's imagination in a way that robots can't, and when the loss of a $1-mil tool bag can grab more headlines than anything else from that mission, I'd say we need to step it up a bit. Two cents incoming!

Even if the science coming from manned and unmanned missions were equal, I’d say we should still send people to Mars, for the exact reason Phil gave in the article. People need inspiration. For instance, we, as a nation, are hurting for aerospace engineers. All the people who grew up watching Sputnik and Apollo are getting ready to retire now, and there just aren’t enough new people to take their place. Manned missions can capture the public’s imagination in a way that robots can’t, and when the loss of a $1-mil tool bag can grab more headlines than anything else from that mission, I’d say we need to step it up a bit.

]]> By: JoeSmithCA http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/comment-page-1/#comment-172078 JoeSmithCA Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:05:05 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/#comment-172078 I figured out the trick, just keep the gas moving. Slowly as first then spiral just far enough away and fast enough with dozones of supernova(e?) until the gas is pressed into an uber tiny dot. As long as the gas is still moving it won't create any stars. Once it stops moving, the little dot will form into a chain of 80 or more stars. Not exactly real world stuff, I think a chain of 60 or so massive explosions like that compressing all that gas wouldn't make a chain of stars, more likely a really big black hole :) Hmmm StarFormation 2? :) I figured out the trick, just keep the gas moving. Slowly as first then spiral just far enough away and fast enough with dozones of supernova(e?) until the gas is pressed into an uber tiny dot. As long as the gas is still moving it won’t create any stars. Once it stops moving, the little dot will form into a chain of 80 or more stars.

Not exactly real world stuff, I think a chain of 60 or so massive explosions like that compressing all that gas wouldn’t make a chain of stars, more likely a really big black hole :)

Hmmm StarFormation 2? :)

]]> By: MarkAH http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/comment-page-1/#comment-172052 MarkAH Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:01:45 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/#comment-172052 Aharon Eviatar Says: April 6th, 2009 at 8:38 am As a still active albeit veteran planetary scientist, I would like to comment that what is not needed is more manned flight circuses, but real science done by robots. Are you saying that science would not get done if we sent people to Mars? I think better science would be done. A person there would see things that could be missed by scientists looking through a monitor a couple hundred million kilometers away. We are explorers by nature and some day we will be able to explore the solar system the way our ancestors were able to explore this planet a few hundred years ago. And to call the manned space program a "circus" belittles what they do and the contributions that they make. Aharon Eviatar Says:
April 6th, 2009 at 8:38 am
As a still active albeit veteran planetary scientist, I would like to comment that what is not needed is more manned flight circuses, but real science done by robots.

Are you saying that science would not get done if we sent people to Mars?
I think better science would be done. A person there would see things that could be missed by scientists looking through a monitor a couple hundred million kilometers away.

We are explorers by nature and some day we will be able to explore the solar system the way our ancestors were able to explore this planet a few hundred years ago. And to call the manned space program a “circus” belittles what they do and the contributions that they make.

]]> By: rob http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/comment-page-1/#comment-171917 rob Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:38:41 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/#comment-171917 "suck it, phil"-- i hope this refers to phil collins. “suck it, phil”–

i hope this refers to phil collins.

]]> By: Aharon Eviatar http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/comment-page-1/#comment-171916 Aharon Eviatar Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:38:18 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/#comment-171916 As a still active albeit veteran planetary scientist, I would like to comment that what is not needed is more manned flight circuses, but real science done by robots. Mars is a great example and I can say from experience that Voyager, Galileo and Cassini are doing more for science than all the manned flights together. We also need to get DSCOVR into orbit and that apparently is going to happen. As a still active albeit veteran planetary scientist, I would like to comment that what is not needed is more manned flight circuses, but real science done by robots. Mars is a great example and I can say from experience that Voyager, Galileo and Cassini are doing more for science than all the manned flights together. We also need to get DSCOVR into orbit and that apparently is going to happen.

]]> By: Spiv http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/comment-page-1/#comment-171889 Spiv Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:11:32 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/05/sundanity/#comment-171889 Well, he's around here somewhere. I can hear his theme music. Well, he’s around here somewhere. I can hear his theme music.

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