For the other Astronuts out there

Comet Pons-Brooks' Ion Tail​

Image Credit & License: James Peirce​

Explanation: Comet Pons-Brooks has quite a tail to tell. First discovered in 1385, this erupting dirty snowball loops back into our inner Solar System every 71 years and, this time, is starting to put on a show for deep camera exposures. In the featured picture, the light blue stream is the ion tail which consists of charged molecules pushed away from the comet's nucleus by the solar wind. The ion tail, shaped by the Sun's wind and the comet's core's rotation, always points away from the Sun. Comet 12P/Pons–Brooks is now visible with binoculars in the early evening sky toward the northwest, moving perceptibly from night to night. The frequently flaring comet is expected to continue to brighten, on the average, and may even become visible with the unaided eye -- during the day -- to those in the path of totality of the coming solar eclipse on April 8.
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Tomorrow's picture: thousands of galaxies​

 

The Coma Cluster of Galaxies​

Image Credit & Copyright: Joe Hua​

Explanation: Almost every object in the featured photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured here is one of the densest clusters known - it contains thousands of galaxies. Each of these galaxies houses billions of stars - just as our own Milky Way Galaxy does. Although nearby when compared to most other clusters, light from the Coma Cluster still takes hundreds of millions of years to reach us. In fact, the Coma Cluster is so big it takes light millions of years just to go from one side to the other. Most galaxies in Coma and other clusters are ellipticals, while most galaxies outside of clusters are spirals. The nature of Coma's X-ray emission is still being investigated.

Tomorrow's picture: millions of stars​

 

I've decided to start considering the Milky Way as a Solar System and distant Galaxies as nearest solar systems to us.

 

More like burbs, little enclaves that make the residents feel safe, all set in the Outback.

 

And a universe or so.

 

Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri​

Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco and Mirco Turra​

Explanation: Globular star cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5139, is 15,000 light-years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter. It's the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way. With a yellowish hue, Omega Centauri's red giant stars are easy to pick out in this sharp, color telescopic view.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space​

 

The above shows the complexity of stellar interactions, especially at the galaxy level. Take that up to the galaxy mega-clusters and you have trillions of stars, many with their own solar systems, interacting over huge distances. This ain't rocket science, folks, it's MUCH more complicated than that.

 

Pardon my French but For God's Sake !

"Life as we know it could exist on Venus, new experiment reveals."

The headline leads you to the thought, "Wow, they made a miraculous discovery", but in real-life just another BS sucker gotcha' . Further if you waste your time this appears : ""It doesn't mean that life there will be the same as here. In fact, we know it can't be," Sara Seager,"

I read another article yesterday that proclaimed : Scientists have made Diamonds even harder ".
Only to read a few sentences further " Using computer simulation ", I not only lost Interest but blocked the freaking website from my feed.

 

Tabloid journalism, the prostitution-level of news.

 

Only if we consider that some higher intelligence has attained a minimum of a hundred additional IQ points compared to us. Hopefully a ten fold increase to our mediocre current state of intellect.

I'm seriously considering relinquishing my voting privilege and passing that down to my Heirs. Let them take the blame : which is currently an incomprehensible idea totally devoid of understanding. Let them make the excuses for bad decisions, change the course set over 200 years ago and I'm prepared to sit back in my recliner or rocking chair and watch the effects whatever they may be.

 

I'm not sure we've found intelligent life YET.

As for life elsewhere, consider that we're the only species on this entire planet, and maybe entire solar system, with what we would call "intelligence". I doubt we'll find a lot of intelligent life and I'm not sure at all that we'll find more in this galaxy. It's a wild fluke that we can do what we do. Life doesn't need much intelligence, if any. We might not recognize another intelligent race if we met it.

 

Let me put it this way: What some call a pet, my Border Collie mix is far superior in intelligence to me. Tell her to go to the Lake to get a drink "Since your panting" and she does. She dashes to the shed to not necessarily see what I'm doing but to reinforce what she's taught us : give her a treat. To always have ready at all times. After which I say, " Now go back to the house" and she does. Somehow and it couldn't possibly be due to our upbringing of such a dumb dog we automatically have a treat by the door. Whether she's going out or returning inside she stops - looks and waits until she receives said treats.
yeah we Humans ain't that smart

 

Who built your car? The factory worker or his dog?

 

Yes, intelligent life has to be intelligent.

 

Since we see Intelligence only in comparison to ourselves anything that cannot meet our concept isn't necessarily 'dumb'. Animals have survived longer than we have and communicate amongst themselves, maybe we're to stupid to talk to them.
In the big scheme of things Man-made material items are convenient but not necessarily.