Comments on: Astro info overload!

By: Supersized Starlinks

Supersized Starlinks — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:38:48 +0000

[...] meeting in Seattle. Here are two posts from Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomy, with some highlights: part 1, part [...]

By: DrivethruScientist

DrivethruScientist — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:48:43 +0000

SGU got cancelled?! I was just wondering when the next episode would come out …

By: The Yorkshire Sceptic

The Yorkshire Sceptic — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:55:05 +0000

Missing Stargate? You could try an unofficial spin-off ~ Stargate, the Fifth Generation. If interested, here’s a link:

http://www.pandemonium.me.uk/stargate/sg5ghomepage.htm

By: Sam H

Sam H — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:50:49 +0000

The only Stargate I ever saw was the original movie and snippets of SG-1, so I can’t comment on SGU.
But antimatter in a TERRESTRIAL lightning storm? Not millions of light years away? We have A-mat right freaking HERE on the third rock from Sol ?!!

(cue piano)
“I love the cosmos, I love the endless void,
I love the planets, I love the radio noise,
I love the systems, in every galaxy -
(cue chorus)
BOOM-DE-YADA, BOOM-DE-YADA, BOOM-DE-YADA, BOOM-DE-YADA…”
(you fill in the rest)

Couldn’t help myself . But hey, the universe is JUST AWESOME.

By: Kaptain K

Kaptain K — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:18:55 +0000

Add my vote to the “ticked about SGU” roster!

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:32:56 +0000

I don’t know. The scientist on SGU was such a giant a**hat that it kind of turned me off. I know they need to generate conflict in order to create interesting story lines. However this is a fine line to walk, especially when the “bad guy” is on the home team.

By: réalta fuar

réalta fuar — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:11:20 +0000

Thank all that is holy (or isn’t) that SGU WAS cancelled. What a derivative piece of crap. Even calling it Stargate cheapened the memories of the very good AND very well liked series that preceded it.
The winter AAS meeting is almost always fun. Last year’s was the largest astronomy meeting in the history of the planet.
On another note, doesn’t one have to not just have their tongue firmly embedded in their cheek but to actually have swallowed their tongue to describe their writing as “Pulitzer-level ” without actually having won one? Seems as though that would actually insure one of never winning one…….(my apologies if I somehow missed the announcement).

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:04:03 +0000

Caprica was cancelled as well as SGU. Bummer. NOW what the heck am I going to watch?

Gary 7

By: Andy Taylor

Andy Taylor — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:49:09 +0000

I am the biggest SGU fan. I can’t believe they canceled it either. You can thank sites like http://www.sgusucks.com that helped the show get canceled. I’m a full-time worker and full-time college student so I don’t get to watch it when it’s on and I have to wait till I get home to watch it on my DVR. Every episode left me wanting more and I couldn’t wait till the next one. I wish there were more people like us who felt the same way and we could start a letter writing campaign to get the show reinstated. I actually liked the plot and it’s sad that there are people out there who actively try to sabotage other peoples favorite TV shows. Oh and the other stuff you wrote sounds cool too. Nice joke about the supermassive black hole.

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:24:58 +0000

And speaking of stargates, imagine the interferometry you could do by connecting two telescopes that orbit different stars!

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:09:14 +0000

Speaking of a 3D effect, has anyone thought of putting a satellite at Neptune (where the associated parsec is close to 100 c-yr) so we can get some really good parallax?

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:35:48 +0000

That image from Planck resembles a false color image of the earth’s clouds.

By: AJKamper

AJKamper — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:46:05 +0000

#2:

Electrons don’t travel through electric wires, either. IIRC, an electron in a wire moves a couple millimeters before bouncing into the next one. The electricity is more like a wave of energy being propagated through it.

Electrons are TOTALLY matter–and positrons antimatter.

By: CB

CB — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:45:25 +0000

@#2 Dr. Goulu
and ok, an electron has a mass, but you wouldn’t say that “matter travels through electric wires”, right ?

I sure would say the particular kind of matter called an electron travels through wire, especially if I was trying to explain the difference between the speed at which electrons travel through a conductor, and the speed at which electric potential (electricity) travels though a conductor.

A positron is a type of antimatter. So what’s the problem? That it isn’t every kind of anti-matter, that only a subset of antimatter was created? Would you say that you own a car, even though it’s only a subset of all possible cars?

By: mike burkhart

mike burkhart — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:37:46 +0000

I have to admit this is the best image of the Orion Nebula I’ve seen . To my eye it looks like a smuge of light ,in my telescope on the highest mangifaction it looks like a triangluar cloud of gas.(roughly trianglar)

By: Ethyachk

Ethyachk — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:26:59 +0000

SGU canceled is so depressing.

At least a terapixel is pretty sweet.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:17:35 +0000

I feel your pain for Stargate:Universe as well.

By: Phil Plait

Phil Plait — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:14:04 +0000

D’oh- I wrote “petapixel” when I meant “terapixel”. I fixed it.

By: Dr. Goulu

Dr. Goulu — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:00:06 +0000

well, “antimatter” is a bit of an overkill for the positrons (i.e. anti electrons) that were actually detected… According to wikipedia “matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass”, and ok, an electron has a mass, but you wouldn’t say that “matter travels through electric wires”, right ?

By: Adam Slagell

Adam Slagell — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:30:07 +0000

I think that is a terapixel