The lowest note ever played

It is "played" by the Perseus Cluster, and it is a Bb 57 octaves below middle c.

In 2003, astronomers detected the deepest note ever detected by mankind in the cosmos, a B♭, after 53 hours of Chandra observations.[6] No human will actually hear the note, because its time period between oscillations is 9.6 million years, which is 57 octaves below the keys in the middle of a piano.[6] The radio waves appear to be generated by the inflation of bubbles of relativistic plasma by the central active galactic nucleus in NGC 1275.

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NASA vs. Air Conditioning the Desert?

Dollars are fungible (and see here). So what's the better value? Space exploration or a 10 year military occupation? Believe it or not, the U.S. has been spending a similar amount on each, year after year. Come to think of it, does endless war have any value to anyone other than politicians and military contractors?

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Terrifying landing on Mars scheduled for Monday morning

The seven minutes of terror will begin very early Monday morning. According to Boston Herald:

Touchdown was set for 10:31 p.m. PDT. NASA warned that spotty communication during landing could delay confirmation for several hours or even days.
Here's more on this daunting technological feat:

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Idiot Astronomy

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku must be a fairly smart guy in some respects. After all, he is a Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York. What he had to say yesterday on CNN was idiotic, however, and to the extent that he demeaned the scientific method , he should be ashamed for making all scientists look like buffoons. I just happened to see a CNN "news" show as I was preparing lunch yesterday at my workplace kitchen (there is a TV hanging on the wall). At the end of one news segment, it was announced that we should stay tuned because there is new evidence of an ancient galaxy indicating that there are advanced civilizations living on other worlds.  What??? This announcement immediately sent up red flags.  I asked co-workers, "Who is the crackpot who is going to make these claims?" After the commercial ended, we met the crackpot: Michio Kaku. [More . . . ]

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