Hubble telescope makes new discovery

AP on Yahoo ^ | 11/16/06 | Matt Crenson - ap

[EQAndyBuzz]

I watched a show last night about crop circles. Made me wonder.

Are there people from Cal Tech going out with architectural drawings and doing this for kicks or is there an alien culture using earth as a giant etch-o-sketch?

[from occupied ga]

Dark energy could be some property of space itself, which is what Einstein was thinking of when he proposed it. Or it could be something akin to an electromagnetic field pushing on the universe. And then there's the possibility that the whole thing is caused by some hitherto undiscovered wrinkle in the laws of gravity.

And, if the government just takes enough tax dollars from people who have absolutely no interest in whether or not the universe is expanding at a constant rate or not and would far rather spend the money that they earned on things that are of importance to them, then this "important" mystery might someday be solved.

More importantly PhDs in astronomy will be supported even though they cannot make a living selling their skills in a free market marketplace.

[hosepipe]

[ If there were no minds to think of God would God exist? ]

Ah a trick question.. Depends on whether a mind is a brain or a spirit?..

If a brain then a mind is a mental consruct....
If a spirit then a mind is a spiritual construct and brain is a mirror..

[from occupied ga]

You have the wrong end of Mikulski. The stuff she comes out with originates at the terminal end of her digestive tract.

[mutley]

"Because the physics of supernova explosions is extremely well-known

Yeah, right."

That got a notice from me too. Not just known, or well known, but extremely well known.

Why not, certainly and surely, positively and undoubtedly, absolutely extremely well known.

[Soaring Feather]

Great article, thanks!



A mysterious place, our universe
as mystery after mystery opens it's face
new data, new images leaves one
in great awe of the magnificence of space.

The Hubble Telescope one of the greatest tools of the ages.

[betty boop]

Extra dimensions. I believe QFT and GR are both correct. There is experimental evidence of the quantized nature of the gravitational field. If all that is the case, it implies that there are more dimensions than the four we measure.

Fascinating, Physicist! Thank you so much for the informative essay/posts.

[jpsb]

thanks for taking the time to post that.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

PING for later read.

[Jeffrey_D.]

May the Force be with you!!!

I need more coffee, this is entirely to deep on one cup!

[RadioAstronomer]

Thanks for the ping. I am glad they are planning to service Hubble. I just hope they really do!

[Physicist]

The apparent acceleration cannot be verified regardless of what either of us believe at this point.

Ah, so it's the observation you don't like. Either you have in mind some specific flaw in the technique, or you simply don't want the universe to behave in that fashion and infer that they must have made a mistake.

I'll assume it's the former. Why won't this technique give a reliable measurement of the change in the Hubble parameter--I can't call it the "Hubble constant"--over time?

[Physicist]

I hear you. Many a slip from the cup to the lip.

[RadioAstronomer]

No kidding. Sigh.

[betty boop]

On tiny scales, nature makes particles behave according to curiously rigid rules. For instance, negatively charged electrons trapped around a positive nucleus under the pull of the electromagnetic force cannot have any energy they want -they have to fall into a set of distinct energy levels....

In the same way, the pull of gravity should make particles fall into discrete energy levels. But because gravity is extremely weak on small scales, the effect has been impossible to spot. "To be able to measure it, you need to suppress interference from all the other fields...."

What an ingenious experiment, Physicist! Thank you so much for the link.

[AndrewC]

"article written by a scientifically illiterate journalist" placemarker

[TXnMA]

Why? Because it doesn't fit your medieval interpretation of Genesis?

[kinoxi]

In fact it's very rare for anyone to use relativistic calculations for any problem that isn't entirely hypothetical as it's never needed in everyday encounters with physics or engineering. I would suggest you check your facts before you post. Good night.

I suggest you read the article and look at the topic at hand before you post. This is not "everyday" physics. Shifting the subject doesn't prove a damn thing.

[kinoxi]

Why? Because it doesn't fit your medieval interpretation of Genesis?

What the hell are you talking about?

[TigersEye]

Ah a trick question.. Depends on whether a mind is a brain or a spirit?..

I really didn't intend it to be a trick question. I'll admit it might be a koan though I'm not sure what technically makes a question a koan...so. Your answer is quite interesting however. Certainly not ordinary.

If a brain then a mind is a mental consruct....

I don't consider the brain to be mind or the generator of mind. I view mental constructs as coming from mind so I don't know if I could consider mind itself a mental construct. I can't rule that out though, my understanding is not refined enough to, but probably not. I do see brain as a mental construct.

If a spirit then a mind is a spiritual construct and brain is a mirror..

To me spirit is just understanding/awareness itself. Mind is just a reflection in the mirror and the mirror is the ground or the true nature of reality. Pure awareness beyond conceptualizations. So I would have to say that spirit is the mirror and mind is just a reflection.

I see brain as just a squishy computer that runs the body. A really really impressive computer though if just a touch glitchy and more than a tad dangerous. ; )

So, to sum that all up, I do see mind as a construct. Or put another way; a conceptual reflection of the non-conceptual reality that underlies everything. I guess that means that I haven't perfectly agreed with either of your possible views of mind so I can't pin you to either one and ask you to answer on that basis. Guess I'll just have to continue contemplatin' it on my lonesome. :^(