Technica Cornucopia

[passedpawn]

If you're a complete knurd and have been regretting never getting a telescope... this is the thing for you. I don't have one (yet, believe me, it's on its way). Just buy. It's $450 on amazon. I do have a big phat telescope now, but this thing can easily do 95% better what I can do with mine.

For anyone who really gets interested...

Ignore the dwarf scopes, for now
The S30 from the same company has a smaller viewing angle, better sensor, some additional features... but don't do it. Get the S50

Celestron makes a much better digital scope, the Origin. It's way more $$. I'd suggest getting the Seestar for now, and wait until this digital scope thing settles.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

lol. but in reality, dark matter was a fudge factor to make the math work. i wonder how many of those sort of jumps have been done to make the math work.

Math doesn't lie. Math is telling it exists. The great thing is when we "discover" what it is it's verifiable. There will be an eloquent solution/equation. Then you have all the propellor heads say "yea. Of course"

I wanted to do post graduate in physical electronics. First quarter was the realization you either get it or you don't. I think I went from C- to A+. It came to effect when working thru a problem. Oh yeah E =mc2. No big whoops.

Other realization was a discussion with the professor in deciding to enroll. He informed me there's no money in physics. He looked quite depressed in his decision. Great teacher tho

Also, E = mc2 isn't that old....

Now my interests have turned to quantum mechanics as a hobby. I have a friend who's on the cutting edge. A lot of theories out there

 

[passedpawn]

No, the math has problems. So a fudge factor was applied. Fudge = dark matter. Neil de Grasse Tyson agrees, if you know him.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Fudge is a constant C. Chocolate

I've found it interesting that Earth could be the center of the universe. It's just the equation is ugly

There's also evidence in the bending of light as we go further in time with your initial post. It's something out there.

I find it interesting in the simplicity of a lot of things. As the answer is almost philosophical in the end. Einstein always returned to simple. Maybe this is the leap where we get fancy. Inner me says simple. Even the idea of parallel universes. I do miss the days where everything was an equation to me.

#IveBeenDrinking

 

[mac_1103]

When Newton's math didn't work, he said it was God.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Agreed.

 

[shoengine]

No, the math has problems. So a fudge factor was applied. Fudge = dark matter. Neil de Grasse Tyson agrees, if you know him.

Not saying anyone is right or wrong, but I avoid the celebrity scientists.

https://www.astronomy.com/science/how-vera-rubin-confirmed-dark-matter/

 

[passedpawn]

Not saying anyone is right or wrong, but I avoid the celebrity scientists.

https://www.astronomy.com/science/how-vera-rubin-confirmed-dark-matter/

Yep, me too. Turns out, Neil is 75% astrophysisist, 25% political looking for any sort of payday. I don't blame him. I could name a bunch of other similars.

 

[day_trippr]

"Three Gorges Dam In Space": China Reveals Plans To Build Giant Power Station In Earth's Orbit​

https://www.iflscience.com/three-go...ild-giant-power-station-in-earths-orbit-77633

 

[doug293cz]

"Three Gorges Dam In Space": China Reveals Plans To Build Giant Power Station In Earth's Orbit​

https://www.iflscience.com/three-go...ild-giant-power-station-in-earths-orbit-77633

What could go wrong with a 10's or 100's of Megawatt focused power beam? What is the required area of the collection "antenna" to absorb that kind of power without vaporizing? What is the projected cost per KWH, and how does it compare to terrestrial based solar arrays?

"Though we have greatly improved on solar power in the last few decades, there is one ambitious way we could potentially give it a real boost; moving solar panels slightly closer to the Sun."​

​

Let's see - 22,370 mi / 83,000,000 mi = 0.00027 => 0.027% closer to the sun. That should be worth a few hundred billion dollars.

"... and the fact that it could move around the Earth, perpetually collecting sunlight."​

​

"... geostationary orbit 36,000km (22,370 miles) above the Earth."​

These two are kinda mutually exclusive. And, moving around the earth would require multiple ground stations to collect the "downloaded" power. Some of these ground stations would have to be outside of China.

"The energy collected in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can be extracted from the Earth."​

Gotta be talking many terawatts here. or maybe even more. I'd really like to see the analysis for this.

Brew on

 

[day_trippr]

But...there are US based efforts that might be revealing with time.
For instance: https://www.spacesolar.caltech.edu/
And experiments already conducted in space by the Naval Research Labs (pdf): https://aerospace.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/Vedda-Jones_SolarPower_20201006_0.pdf

Cheers!

 

[doug293cz]

View attachment 866916



But...there are US based efforts that might be revealing with time.
For instance: https://www.spacesolar.caltech.edu/
And experiments already conducted in space by the Naval Research Labs (pdf): https://aerospace.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/Vedda-Jones_SolarPower_20201006_0.pdf

Cheers!

Pretty sure commercial scale fusion will be available before space based transmission of power to earth on a commercial scale.

Brew on

 

[shoengine]

What could go wrong with a 10's or 100's of Megawatt focused power beam? What is the required area of the collection "antenna" to absorb that kind of power without vaporizing? What is the projected cost per KWH, and how does it compare to terrestrial based solar arrays?

"Though we have greatly improved on solar power in the last few decades, there is one ambitious way we could potentially give it a real boost; moving solar panels slightly closer to the Sun."​

​

Let's see - 22,370 mi / 83,000,000 mi = 0.00027 => 0.027% closer to the sun. That should be worth a few hundred billion dollars.

"... and the fact that it could move around the Earth, perpetually collecting sunlight."​

​

"... geostationary orbit 36,000km (22,370 miles) above the Earth."​

These two are kinda mutually exclusive. And, moving around the earth would require multiple ground stations to collect the "downloaded" power. Some of these ground stations would have to be outside of China.

"The energy collected in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can be extracted from the Earth."​

Gotta be talking many terawatts here. or maybe even more. I'd really like to see the analysis for this.

Brew on

The constituencies of the atmosphere does attenuate energy from the sun. I have no idea how much, but since they can do stuff like propel a spacecraft using only photons while in space, I'm willing to give this sort of thing some leeway

 

[doug293cz]

The constituencies of the atmosphere does attenuate energy from the sun. I have no idea how much, but since they can do stuff like propel a spacecraft using only photons while in space, I'm willing to give this sort of thing some leeway

I'm aware of atmospheric absorption. I was commenting about a particular piece of technical nonsense that calls the credibility of the article into question. Also, it seems like it would be a lot cheaper to just install more solar panels on the earth to make up for atmospheric absorption and cloudy day effects.

I've not seen anything about photon propulsion that indicates it provides enough force to manipulate a satellite's orbit on a continuing basis.

Brew on

 

[shoengine]

I'm aware of atmospheric absorption. I was commenting about a particular piece of technical nonsense that calls the credibility of the article into question. Also, it seems like it would be a lot cheaper to just install more solar panels on the earth to make up for atmospheric absorption and cloudy day effects.

I've not seen anything about photon propulsion that indicates it provides enough force to manipulate a satellite's orbit on a continuing basis.

Brew on

Gotcha. I was commenting on the slightly closer to the sun piece, which I think is significant because they are going to be outside of the atmosphere. My photon comment was not related to the strange description of a geostationary orbit that also moves around the Earth.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'm aware of atmospheric absorption. I was commenting about a particular piece of technical nonsense that calls the credibility of the article into question. Also, it seems like it would be a lot cheaper to just install more solar panels on the earth to make up for atmospheric absorption and cloudy day effects.

Bear in mind... Most journalists--even "science" journalists--may not actually know what they're talking about.

I.e. you bring it up with your "moving closer to the sun". Umm... If in geostationary orbit, half its orbit would be while it's farther away from the sun than the Earth. So, it's only "closer" half the time. As we know, the value of it is that it's outside the atmosphere, not that it's closer to the sun. Which the writer ALSO says, so it makes little sense to have said the first bit about putting the panels "closer".

That said, a geostationary orbit still, in a very real sense, moves around the Earth. Its movement relative to a spot on the equator is zero, but it's still circling the earth in its orbit. And a geostationary orbit would have almost 24 hours a day of full and direct sunlight. On Earth, the solar panels are typically in darkness roughly half a day, and even when there is sunlight, during morning/evening time the solar panels are less efficient due to the angle of the sun being less direct and having more atmosphere in the way. In a geostationary orbit, there would be very tiny bit of the orbital arc where the Earth would occlude the sun, but for every other minute of the day the solar panels would be receiving fully direct 100% sunlight--so for the bulk of the day they wouldn't even suffer the morning/evening issues we have within the atmosphere.

All that said, this is probably just China posturing with a crazy idea of what they might do scientifically and for many reasons both technological AND economical, isn't something they will actually do.

 

[passedpawn]

Pretty sure commercial scale fusion will be available before space based transmission of power to earth on a commercial scale.

Brew on

Preach it brother. It's so obvious, I hate repeating it.

 

[passedpawn]

Math doesn't lie. Math is telling it exists. The great thing is when we "discover" what it is it's verifiable. There will be an eloquent solution/equation. Then you have all the propellor heads say "yea. Of course"

Knowing there is a gap in our knowledge, and eliminating that gap through knowledge, are two completely different things.

In fact, there are likely things we CANNOT understand, thus not attainable. I don't mean we haven't figured it out yet... I mean the entire math of it would not make any sense to us in any way. Our hubris is limitless I think, and the idea that there are things we cannot understand is unacceptable to some. But I get it, heck I've been married 36 years.

Adding a fudge factor like "dark matter" is fine with me. It helps us get past our limits.

 

[passedpawn]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7405975/

Yea, I recently did the deep dive on the relationship between moon, month, and menses.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

You're in trouble!!!!!! For your own safety delete this post!!!!!

 

[passedpawn]

You're in trouble!!!!!! For your own safety delete this post!!!!!

haha. but srsly, I often think about the evolutionary connections between all things, human and astronomic.

 

[day_trippr]

Robot pollinators!

https://thedebrief.org/mit-unveils-...e-way-toward-the-rise-of-robotic-pollinators/

 

[shoengine]

Knowing there is a gap in our knowledge, and eliminating that gap through knowledge, are two completely different things.

In fact, there are likely things we CANNOT understand, thus not attainable. I don't mean we haven't figured it out yet... I mean the entire math of it would not make any sense to us in any way. Our hubris is limitless I think, and the idea that there are things we cannot understand is unacceptable to some. But I get it, heck I've been married 36 years.

Adding a fudge factor like "dark matter" is fine with me. It helps us get past our limits.

The fudge factor might need assume revising.

https://www.space.com/the-universe/...g-of-the-universe-apart-new-research-suggests

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Robot pollinators!

https://thedebrief.org/mit-unveils-...e-way-toward-the-rise-of-robotic-pollinators/

The robots are coming to replace humans

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/humans-bees-china_n_570404b3e4b083f5c6092ba9

 

[day_trippr]

https://www.techradar.com/pro/etern...llions-of-years-now-holds-a-full-human-genome

 

[day_trippr]

My will is going to leave my brain to a picnic

The Human Brain May Contain as Much as a Spoon’s Worth of Microplastics, New Research Suggests​

​

 

[shoengine]

https://www.techradar.com/pro/etern...llions-of-years-now-holds-a-full-human-genome

Destroy every last copy before the aliens recreate us!

Although it is currently not possible to synthetically recreate humans, plants, or animals from genetic data, there has been some progress in synthetic biology. Thus, the preservation of genomes using 5D memory crystals could one day play a critical role in reviving extinct species (such as us) in the distant future.

 

[mac_1103]

Destroy every last copy before the aliens recreate us!

Surely any civilization sufficiently advanced to recreate life forms would know better.

 

[sibelman]

Our hubris is limitless

this.

 

[day_trippr]

https://www.reuters.com/world/china...on-research-facility-analysts-say-2025-01-28/