It's not that there is a 'war' on... it's that there are a bunch of non-scientists walking around saying they're 'creation scientists'.

You're absolutely correct, there is no research being done on 'young Universe'... but there is also no science being done to prove 'old Universe'. Science is done by taking small bits of knowledge that have little gaps, and filling those gaps in. We didn't figure out the half-life of Rubidium in order to prove the age of the earth, we figured out the half-life of Rubidium to figure out the half-life of Rubidium. Some other scientists had taken measurements of the natural occurrence of elements and their isotopes in various parts of the world. And then more scientists apply the knowledge acquired in both fields and try to find out what it tells us.

I agree, you absolutely should question scientists with an agenda, but I've NEVER heard a non-christian suggest that there is scientific evidence for the earth being younger than 4-5 billion years old. You want to cast doubt on scientists by saying that there are millions of dollars and reputations on the line, but this reasoning is more destructive if you aim it at the young-earthers: Their religion has made explicit claims as to time-spans that occurred 'in the beginning'... their religious leaders have made explicit claims as to the literalness of the Bible. And most church leaders have been explicit that other denominations of Christians may not be allowed into heaven... So you have a large group of individuals who are not only risking their reputation, but what they believe is their eternal soul, on something that they didn't discover, but have worked backward to find evidence to prove that their book is correct.

Young-earthers each, individually, have much more to lose than scientists. And let's be clear... religions have enough money to staff up scientific R&D labs and fund their own research if they wanted. In fact, the Vatican DOES have it's own, world-renowned observatory. So, how old does this Priest thing the Universe is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OwWqrXGtrRs#!


So, to be clear, it's not Scientists vs. Christians. It's Scientists AND Christians vs. People Who Don't Trust Science.

And I expect this. Christians have long fought against persecution, and it thrived while it was being persecuted. Now that it's the dominant religion, many of the teachings have lost their luster. Members who believe that the Bible has something personal to say to them will pick up on the persecution aspect, which was intended to help those in the year 200AD... not 2012. So they make up bogey-men and pick a fight with anyone who says something that isn't explicitly allowed in the Bible (and is convenient for them)... hence the anti-Gay-Marriage protests, but no anti-shellfish protests.

You're a product of your environment, shinyblurry... you're as predictable as Islam producing suicide bombers... and just as pathetic in your misunderstanding of the Universe.

"Let's burn down the observatory so this will never happen again!!!"

But of course. Silly me. I knew that.... I was just excited.

And yeah, what is special is the altitude -- a dry place high up so not as much atmosphere between the antennae and what they are watching.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^bareboards2:
I love that they are approaching the idea of an observatory in a different way. Not one huge telescope but an array.

The idea of antennae array has been around for a long time, so I don't know what is so special about these exactly. I mean, remember contact, when she goes to the desert...and there were like dozens of antenna? That was a antennae array, and there are several space array systems in the world...and any radio telescopes can be linked up to form an array with some effort. The real step, I'm guessing, is in the most dry desert in the world. It is compared to a mars-scape.

Edit: Grammar...sometimes I think I need a lobotomy

>> ^bareboards2:

I love that they are approaching the idea of an observatory in a different way. Not one huge telescope but an array.


The idea of antennae array has been around for a long time, so I don't know what is so special about these exactly. I mean, remember contact, when she goes to the desert...and there were like dozens of antenna? That was a antennae array, and there are several space array systems in the world...and any radio telescopes can be linked up to form an array with some effort. The real step, I'm guessing, is in the most dry desert in the world. It is compared to a mars-scape.


Edit: Grammar...sometimes I think I need a lobotomy

I love that they are approaching the idea of an observatory in a different way. Not one huge telescope but an array.

Fact 1: An estimated (the number may be higher) 1.6 planets per star in our galaxy
http://www.space.com/14200-160-billion-alien-planets-milky-galaxy.html

Fact 2: 100 billion galaxies:
We know there are that many, because we've seen them. The hubble space telescope was pointed at a tiny , random black spot in the sky (where no stars from our own galaxy was blocking the field of view) and found 10000 galaxies in that tiny spot about 1/12millionth of the sky. Extrapolating that out, we get that there are atleast 100 billion galaxies, and each of them contains hundreds of millions of stars.

Fact 3:The moon has its own gravity.
Well duh...

Fact 4: 8 Planets in our solar system.
This is of course very well documented. You can see several of them on any given night. One of them , Venus will infact pass directly in front of the sun in a few days, on the 6th of June! That also happened in 2004, but the next one wont be for another 105 years! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus

Fact 5: There were galaxies in the early universe. These have been seen by the Hubble telescope and other observatories:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_formation_and_evolution

Fact 6:The earths tilted axis causes seasons: http://www.khanacademy.org/science/cosmology-and-astronomy/v/how-earth-s-tilt-causes-seasons

More later..

Those are the dudes...
>> ^vaire2ube:

tumbleweeds
anyways...
http://science.slashdot.o
rg/story/11/12/20/2337213/undersea-neutrino-observatory-to-be-second-largest-human-structure

*tumbleweeds*

anyways...

http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/20/2337213/undersea-neutrino-observatory-to-be-second-largest-human-structure

Seems similar to one I got a few years ago:

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issed by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to ny house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it's valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log on to the internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

"SOHO watched as a fairly bright comet dove towards the Sun in a white streak and was not seen again after its close encounter (May 10-11, 2011). The comet, probably part of the Kreutz family of comets, was discovered by amateur astronomer Sergey Shurpakov. In this coronagraph the Sun (represented by a white circle) is blocked by the red occulting disk so that the faint structures in the Sun's corona can be discerned. Interestingly, a coronal mass ejection blasted out to the right just as the comet is approaching the Sun.

Scientists, however, have yet to find a convincing physical connection between sun-grazing comets and coronal mass ejections. In fact, analysis of this CME using images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows that the CME erupted before the comet came close enough to the solar surface to interact with strong magnetic fields."

From the artist:

"This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide. Spain’s highest mountain (@3715m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world’s best observatories.

The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies.

A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April (bit.ly/​g3tsDW) and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.

Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32."

— Terje Sorgjerd

run an observatory in your backyard with it

After this video was released, scientists at Purdue University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and UC Berkeley working independently came up with estimates between 50,000 and 100,000 barrels per day, 10-20 times BP's official estimate of 5,000 barrels per day. A spokesman for BP responded "We've said all along that there's no way to estimate the flow coming out of the pipe accurately".

If those scientists were right, it would mean that the amount of oil released exceeded the Exxon Valdez spill in the first week. We're now about a month in.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525

>> ^mxxcon:

>> ^rgroom1:
is there a time frame for how long that solar event took?

i think that's realtime, not timelapse


No way that's real time. Just think about the scale of that eruption...

There are some videos of similar events on YouTube with timers.

This one lasts around 10 hours: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSM7wtfSWXk

( More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_prominence )

Your video, The first Sun images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.