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| TheCompost |
 Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 5:07 pm |
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Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Posts: 1500
Location: That beats Banagher and Banagher beats the devil
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Astronomy is obviously completely fascinating and mind boggling. But one of the things I love about it is when you compare the mundane, banal crap that makes up part of our human existence with the total craziness of the universe and all the shit that goes with it. For example last week I forgot to drop back some DVDs and was charged a late fee. As I begrudgingly paid the charge I failed to acknowledge that the Milky Way is moving at a speed of about 1000 kilometres per second towards a region of space 150 million light years away called the Great Attractor.
The light bulb in my jacks went causing me to become quite vexed. Such was my vexation that I completely forgot the fact that the Pistol Star is the most luminous star known - 10 million times the power of the Sun and as big as the size of Earth's entire orbit around the Sun.
I called directory inquires for a number and they forgot to forward me the text. While calling them again in a state of agitation I failed to release that
a neutron star has such density that a teaspoonful of its matter would weigh more than all the people on Earth.
I once very much regretted starting a ridiculous thread on a website called metalireland.com I was so consumed with regret that the notion that the most distant galaxy ever observed is estimated to be around 13,000,000,000 light-years away never crossed my mind.
I banged my toe on the end of the bed and wanted to stab a small woodland creature in the face such was the pain I was in. Indeed the pain was so great for those few seconds that I forgot I was a human being on a weird as fuck planet over 4 billion years old. And someday I’m gonna croak and become s stinky rotting pile of goo. |
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| Hauk |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:19 pm |
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Joined: 25 Apr 2007
Posts: 641
Location: Na Sceiri, gContae Fhiongail.
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That's a mad opening post alright, but the scale of it all is boggling.
Got my scope around this time last year, and it was well worth it. |
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| MULLAN Extraordinaire |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 6:48 pm |
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Joined: 14 Jun 2005
Posts: 4149
Location: In a pint glass.
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| Thinking too much will send you insane. Just pay the fee. |
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| Danny-Q |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:17 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jul 2009
Posts: 1520
Location: In a cage, on antibiotics.
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| Post of the year so far for me. |
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| Lugga Music |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:19 pm |
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Joined: 03 Jun 2007
Posts: 249
Location: España
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and that goo will coincidentally nurture a supreme batch of spores which will later on breed a monster and hence galaxies will form in someones own back garden,behind the couch, in a corner of their ceiling or across the back of their hand......... and there was me almost forgetting that I did an astronomy course a few years ago in Dublin and twas fascinating and still is.
I was in the Sahara desert last year and slept outside.
Most amazing night sky ever, you could almost touch the stars with the total lack of light pollution. |
Last edited by Lugga Music on Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:00 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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| Narthex |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:59 pm |
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Joined: 30 Sep 2005
Posts: 881
Location: Aberdeen
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Animation showing the relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and other larger stars:
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| KillerVoodoo |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:15 pm |
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Joined: 18 Sep 2008
Posts: 443
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Yup post of the year for me too. Fair play!
All this stuff blows me away like the below:
I also like the science end of it as well. I mean the great attractor..fuckin hell like...they're fairly certain there are supermassive black holes at the center of each galaxy (which would explain the spirals of galaxies). Again a great post and hopefully a great thread!! 
Oh and I almost forgot, Bill Gates - forever the man never to be beaten intends to stamp google earth and maps into the ground with this site: http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/Home.aspx |
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| >>UniBr0w<< |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:18 pm |
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Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1662
Location: On a small world, west of wonder.
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Reading about such matters at the moment and it never fails to inspire and perplex. Einstein's theories alone are enough to keep one occupied for hours on end; relativity, spacetime and the idea of matter and energy being different forms of the same thing are all incredible ideas to ponder. For example, the matter that makes up the body of an average human adult has enough potential energy to equal the explosive force of 30 large hydrogen bombs 
If you want to learn more about the universe and have no idea where to start, I wholeheartedly recommend picking-up Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything". It's a handy little rough-guide that's gentle on the mind and great to read. Bryson has a knack for presenting a general, informative overview of a subject in enjoyable novel-esque form. |
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| Byron |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:25 pm |
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Joined: 10 Sep 2005
Posts: 2933
Location: Somewhere complaining about something
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| I have the Feynman lectures on Physics myself. Also anything by Michio Kaku is well worth the read/viewing. |
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| colmtesticles |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:39 pm |
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Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 4833
Location: www.myspace.com/nephridiumband
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| KillerVoodoo |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:44 pm |
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Joined: 18 Sep 2008
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Byron wrote: I have the Feynman lectures on Physics myself. Also anything by Michio Kaku is well worth the read/viewing.
Cheers for that, I had been trying to remember Michio Kaku's name for ages...was wrecking my head. What a man! |
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| Danny-Q |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:55 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jul 2009
Posts: 1520
Location: In a cage, on antibiotics.
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Byron wrote: I have the Feynman lectures on Physics myself. Also anything by Michio Kaku is well worth the read/viewing.
The Feynman lectures are truly fuckin epic.Spark up a splif and watch away! |
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| Byron |
| Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:22 pm |
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Joined: 10 Sep 2005
Posts: 2933
Location: Somewhere complaining about something
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Danny-Q wrote: Byron wrote: I have the Feynman lectures on Physics myself. Also anything by Michio Kaku is well worth the read/viewing.
The Feynman lectures are truly fuckin epic.Spark up a splif and watch away!
I have the lectures on audio so I can do some "studying" over the next few months when i'm not in college. I've also been a follower of string theory etc for the last few years. It's all amazingly interesting but a lot of new agers seem to have hijacked the whole thing. They use the "observer effect" in Quantum Physics to declare proof that we are affecting our surroundings through our mere presence and/or thoughts.  |
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| Countjeremiah |
| Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:01 am |
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Joined: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 1489
Location: Into the Crypts of Rays
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| mishima |
| Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:56 am |
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 3344
Location: In space, no-one can hear you smeg.
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Countjeremiah wrote: astronomy has always fascinated me. can anyone recommend a good book on the subject?
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