Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

The Space Thread

Wondered if we had any keen stargazers or any with interests in all things space on here. Might be an age thing but in the last couple of years it has become a real new interest of mine.  A bit niche for a football forum I know but thought there might be one or two on here with an interest!

Wondered if people had been following the Mars Perseverance Rover; some incredible footage coming out regularly from that. Will we see a manned Mars mission in our lifetimes and/or a return to the Moon? What do you reckon?
«1345678

Comments

  • Avenging Angels, great song
  • edited November 2021
    Love it mate.  A lot of my reading and listening in my spare time is dedicated to all things physics and the Universe.  Listening to a great a podcast at the moment that gets 2 episodes released every week called Daniel & Jorge explain the Universe.  A bit American and once I got used to their ‘banter’ I was bowled over by some of the topics they cover.  They look at everything from the very small right up to the very big.  A great episode recently on the biggest mountain in the Universe.  

    The Planets by Brian Cox was superb (like everything he does).  I haven’t started Universe yet, it’s on my to do list.  

    Haven’t so much got into star gazing myself as of yet, but maybe one day. 

    NASA, the ESA and CERN all have some very exciting missions/projects  planned in the next couple of years.  If the human race had shown the sort ingenuity and approach they have to discovering space to addressing climate change, we’d all be in a much better place.  There’s a horrible irony about looking for and potentially colonizing other planets when we can’t even look after this one.

    Long may space exploration continue and I can’t wait to learn of what we find out next.  Was reading an article about a potential ‘9th planet’ in our solar system the other day 🤯
  • Very timely thread. I've really got into learning about the universe over the last few weeks. Watching a lot of Brian Cox, listening to podcasts and reading as much as I possibly can.

    On the subject of the 9th Planet in the Oort cloud. Some believe that it is a planet that is pulling in objects into its orbit, and others believe it to be a black hole in it's very early stages, no bigger than a golf ball. Fascinating stuff. 
  • There are few certainties in science, but one fact of which we can all be certain is that one day we will die
    Our atoms won't disappear, they will return to the Earth.
    Some will become parts of the living future.
    But they will carry no imprint, no memories, no knowledge of the pattern once known as you.
    In five billion years our Sun will cease to shine.
    Our planet will die in the searing heat, engulfed by the dying star.
    The atoms once known as you will be ejected out into space.
    In billions of years they may become parts of new solar systems with their own stories to tell
    The great cycle of stellar death and rebirth offers a sort of limited immortality.
    Whether that's comforting is up to you.
    But ultimately nothing will survive.
    It will all be gone
    In the far future there will come a time when time has no meaning as the Universe expands and fades.
    Our descendants isolated on an island drifting in ocean of dark will watch as the galaxies evaporate away
    How does that make you feel?
    Yet something remains in the darkness.
    An idea.
    Science is the ultimate exercise of reason.
    And our reason confirms deep down what we've always known.
    Whether human or star, life is precious and fleeting
    We are collections of atoms that can think who discovered this deep truth.
    We must understand the Universe will spend an eternity in darkness after a brief period of light
    Meaning is not eternal.
    And yet meaning exists today because the Universe means something to us
    We must understand that life is precious and fleeting.
    In doing so we will come to recognize the true value of ourselves, our fellow humans and our civilization
    The choice before us is not between immortality and eternal darkness.
    The laws of nature have made that choice.
    But we do get to choose how long we want to survive.
    How long do you want the human race to survive?
    There will come a time when we're forced to choose: do we destroy our planet or protect it?
    Do we live together or fight amongst ourselves?
    Do we expand, explore, do we carry our shared hopes and dreams outwards to Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and onwards to the limitless stars or do we avert our gaze from the Universe beyond and allow all memory of our world to be lost too soon?
    Do we close our minds and seek refuge in the ingorant dark of the cave or do we embrace curiosity and love of knowledge of our fellow humans, of our rare world and of the infinite and wonderful things yet to be known?
    & yet Baileys ball will still be floating about somewhere out there….
    It might go on to form the nucleus of a new planet
  • Space is extraordinarily fascinating, terrifying, awestricking and bewildering at all once. 

    Show me someone who truly believes that in that impossibly vast, completely unfathomably, infinitely varied universe, filled with trillions upon trillions of stars, each with their own planets and each planet with it's own ecosystem, atmosphere and resources, that we are alone and no other life exists, and I'll show you a fool
  • edited November 2021
    There are few certainties in science, but one fact of which we can all be certain is that one day we will die
    Our atoms won't disappear, they will return to the Earth.
    Some will become parts of the living future.
    But they will carry no imprint, no memories, no knowledge of the pattern once known as you.
    In five billion years our Sun will cease to shine.
    Our planet will die in the searing heat, engulfed by the dying star.
    The atoms once known as you will be ejected out into space.
    In billions of years they may become parts of new solar systems with their own stories to tell
    The great cycle of stellar death and rebirth offers a sort of limited immortality.
    Whether that's comforting is up to you.
    But ultimately nothing will survive.
    It will all be gone
    In the far future there will come a time when time has no meaning as the Universe expands and fades.
    Our descendants isolated on an island drifting in ocean of dark will watch as the galaxies evaporate away
    How does that make you feel?
    Yet something remains in the darkness.
    An idea.
    Science is the ultimate exercise of reason.
    And our reason confirms deep down what we've always known.
    Whether human or star, life is precious and fleeting
    We are collections of atoms that can think who discovered this deep truth.
    We must understand the Universe will spend an eternity in darkness after a brief period of light
    Meaning is not eternal.
    And yet meaning exists today because the Universe means something to us
    We must understand that life is precious and fleeting.
    In doing so we will come to recognize the true value of ourselves, our fellow humans and our civilization
    The choice before us is not between immortality and eternal darkness.
    The laws of nature have made that choice.
    But we do get to choose how long we want to survive.
    How long do you want the human race to survive?
    There will come a time when we're forced to choose: do we destroy our planet or protect it?
    Do we live together or fight amongst ourselves?
    Do we expand, explore, do we carry our shared hopes and dreams outwards to Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and onwards to the limitless stars or do we avert our gaze from the Universe beyond and allow all memory of our world to be lost too soon?
    Do we close our minds and seek refuge in the ingorant dark of the cave or do we embrace curiosity and love of knowledge of our fellow humans, of our rare world and of the infinite and wonderful things yet to be known?
    & yet Baileys ball will still be floating about somewhere out there….
    It might go on to form the nucleus of a new planet
    Created by Charltoniomite.
  • I don't profess to understand it all but love all the stuff that Brian Cox, Jim Al-Khalili, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, etc. do for the BBC. Astronomy is on my list to find out more about when I eventually get to retire.

    The leaps in video technology have made it so much more accessible than it was when I was a kid. 
  • edited November 2021
    The fact we know more about space than we do about what’s under our own oceans both intrigues me and terrifies me at the same time…
  • Sponsored links:


  • I still miss the space shuttle, incredible machine that came and went in my life time, not to mention the Saturn V, different era but amazing. 
  • If all the spacefaring nations worked together we could probably put a human on Mars in the next ten to twenty years. However competition itself seems to drive space exploration just like it did in the time of empires. Either way it would be incredible to see in our lifetimes.
  • Ross said:
    The fact we know more about space than we do about what’s under our own oceans both intrigues me and terrifies me at the same time…
    Do we?

    We know very, very little about the universe.

  • edited November 2021
    .
  • Gribbo said:
    Avenging Angels, great song
    Prefer Female of the Species myself.
  • Anyone just getting into Astronomy should watch Universe on iPlayer. 5 parter from Brian Cox. Very easy to understand and the soundtrack and visuals are stunning. All of his BBC stuff is blinding.
  • A few years back I went to the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, it was a day well spent and would highly recommend going to visit when it's on.
  • Wondered if we had any keen stargazers or any with interests in all things space on here. Might be an age thing but in the last couple of years it has become a real new interest of mine.  A bit niche for a football forum I know but thought there might be one or two on here with an interest!

    Wondered if people had been following the Mars Perseverance Rover; some incredible footage coming out regularly from that. Will we see a manned Mars mission in our lifetimes and/or a return to the Moon? What do you reckon?

    Can you recommend a good telescope for me?

    I keep forgetting to order one.

    I wish I lived in a fresh air countryside and had the constellations solidified in my head.

    I'm a long way away from retirement so there's always time!
  • Sponsored links:


  • bobmunro said:
    Ross said:
    The fact we know more about space than we do about what’s under our own oceans both intrigues me and terrifies me at the same time…
    Do we?

    We know very, very little about the universe.


    Dark matter and dark energy.

    We still don't have an answer and probably never will.

    Dark energy is basically just an opposing force of gravity, where the net force certainly doesn't equate to 0
  • .
    Okay I give up, is it a star or a planet? 
  • When do we predict a next man or woman on the Moon or even on Mars? If this thread is going long enough it could be a decent sweepstake :)
  • edited November 2021
    Funny enough been watching the JJ Abrams doc series UFO.
    We are definitely not alone!


    The whole concept of a 'light year' still manages to blow my mind every time.
  • Dave2l said:
    bobmunro said:
    Ross said:
    The fact we know more about space than we do about what’s under our own oceans both intrigues me and terrifies me at the same time…
    Do we?

    We know very, very little about the universe.


    Dark matter and dark energy.

    We still don't have an answer and probably never will.

    Dark energy is basically just an opposing force of gravity, where the net force certainly doesn't equate to 0
    We know very little, but we know a lot about what we don't know!
  • The enormity of the subject matter just  blows my mind.

    The vastness and  infinate possibility mean there must be life out there surely,  however the vastness and infinate possibility also mean we are unlikely to survive to ever meet another civilisation, let alone a collection of molecules at the bottom of an alien ocean.
  • The enormity of the subject matter just  blows my mind.

    The vastness and  infinate possibility mean there must be life out there surely,  however the vastness and infinate possibility also mean we are unlikely to survive to ever meet another civilisation, let alone a collection of molecules at the bottom of an alien ocean.
    This is one of the fascinating concepts for me.  The size we are makes it very difficult to comprehend both ends of the scale.  

    As to intelligent life, as you say the sheer vastness and time the universe has been in existence makes it extremely unlikely we might cross paths.  I think I remember Brian Cox saying in one of his documentaries that there was something that happened by absolute chance at one point in the biological evolution in of life on this planet that lead to us.  So putting habitable worlds aside, you’re also looking at some fluke biological and chemical evolutionary moment at some point in time, with the right conditions to get us to where we are today.  

    To his point I think he backed it up by saying that you could do the maths and maybe you’re looking at 4 exoplanets that could harbor life per galaxy.  Something to do with the Drake equation I think 
  • Patrick Moore and Carl Sagan sparked my imagination as a kid and I’ve been fascinated ever since. Brian Cox and Robin Ince did a show in Tunbridge Wells a few weeks ago; it was very good (apparently just a warm up for a stadium tour next year-or was that a joke?!)
    I have (auto)biographies of all the Apollo astronauts and was lucky enough to meet Alan Bean in Houston a few years ago.
    Since we won’t survive on Earth forever, (and therefore we’ll have to leave The Valley eventually!) our future is out there among the stars and every step we take in that direction is a positive one.
Sign In or Register to comment.

Roland Out Forever!