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on Gopher (inofficial)
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COMMENT PAGE FOR:
URI VLT observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS II
rbanffy wrote 1 hour 33 min ago:
We really need to be able to launch a sample return mission to
interstellar objects. Thereâs much unique chemistry to be uncovered.
reenorap wrote 3 hours 36 min ago:
An article said this is the 3rd interstellar object detected. Are we
detecting more interstellar visitors because they are getting more
common, or have our techniques improved over the last few years?
hnuser123456 wrote 2 hours 37 min ago:
These things are only a mile or two wide and at the distance of
Jupiter. They require extremely sensitive and high-resolution
telescopes to detect. There are probably many more of them that are
smaller and further.
synapsomorphy wrote 3 hours 28 min ago:
Entirely the second. When Vera Rubin starts reporting its regular
scans this will be made very clear because we'll probably find 10+
interstellar objects per year at minimum.
gus_massa wrote 3 hours 32 min ago:
We launched a new telescope, in 2017 IIRC, that can detect them.
aardvark179 wrote 3 hours 33 min ago:
Our techniques have improved.
tiahura wrote 4 hours 0 min ago:
So telescopes can see nickel being spread at .125g/mile from 200M miles
away?
DoctorOetker wrote 15 min ago:
for example, the element Helium (which had been presumed to exist as
a missing gap in the Aufbau model, but at the time not yet
discovered) was first discovered not on Earth... but in the Sun!
Spectroscopy confirmed the predicted spectrum. Once The element was
confirmed to exist on the sun, they started looking for it on Earth
and eventually found it on Earth as well.
dekhn wrote 2 hours 15 min ago:
Yes, in this case the telescope (array) is composed of many elements.
The scopes themselves are very sensitive (so they can detect minute
amounts of photons) and the combined array gives a much higher
resolution (ability to see things that are very small very far away).
astronomy technology has been improving rapidly and the VLT is one of
the best implementations for this kind of problem right now.
gus_massa wrote 3 hours 33 min ago:
An easy home experiment is to get a gas flame, like in the stovetop
that is blue and sprink a little of table salt. The important part is
the sodium that gives the flame a very strong yellow color.
Salts without sodium give other colors. IIRC cooper gives a green
color. This is used by firecrackers makers to get nice colors, and
also in the chemistry lab to detect the composition of some salts.
After studding this king of stuff for a few centuries, we have a very
good idea of how each element changes the color of the flame, or
absorbs some colors of the light that pass trough the mist.
StableAlkyne wrote 3 hours 56 min ago:
In the same sense that a weather radar can "see" mist dozens of miles
away, yes
There is so much more information available in the electromagnetic
spectrum than just the narrow range a human eye can see
exe34 wrote 3 hours 5 min ago:
my favourite today was this one: [1] measuring pressure with line
broadening!?!
URI [1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002...
JPLeRouzic wrote 3 hours 57 min ago:
I have a 135-year-old book by Camille Flammarion that explains how
astronomers were able to analyze the content of stars with
spectroscopy.
dylan604 wrote 3 hours 56 min ago:
To further the reading...
URI [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy
briffid wrote 4 hours 7 min ago:
So is it a spaceship or not?
LeoPanthera wrote 2 hours 40 min ago:
It is never aliens.
rbanffy wrote 1 hour 32 min ago:
Until it is. ;-)
rdtsc wrote 3 hours 38 min ago:
Why would do think it would be a spaceship?
lucky_cloud wrote 3 hours 13 min ago:
I doubt they're serious but some wackos thought Oumuamua was an
alien probe due to its unusual shape, and since this new
interstellar object is arriving shortly after Oumuamua has left it
must be the mothership.
I feel like it's more of a meme than a serious thing for most
people.
holoduke wrote 1 hour 39 min ago:
I am getting bombarded with yt videos about this object being
half the size of the sun passing our system with the planets
aligned in a 0.01% chance perfect geometry etc etc. millions of
views. It's incredible what people believe these days. Not a
grain of skepticism.
dylan604 wrote 1 hour 11 min ago:
Do all of the views necessarily translate 1:1 to the number of
people that believe it? Some people watch just to see what
kooky nonsense people are falling for.
rbanffy wrote 1 hour 30 min ago:
Science teachers have failed their students.
chatmasta wrote 2 hours 9 min ago:
It wasnât a wacko theory at first. The wackos are the people
who still believed it even after evidence emerged to the
contrary.
rbanffy wrote 1 hour 30 min ago:
There are many more rocks in our own solar system than there
are interstellar spacecraft. Assuming similar proportions
elsewhere makes us conclude itâs never aliens.
Bjartr wrote 10 min ago:
Heuristcs that almost always work are right up until they're
not.
URI [1]: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/heuristics-that-alm...
andyjohnson0 wrote 2 hours 23 min ago:
The Ramans do everything in threes.
exe34 wrote 2 hours 3 min ago:
I'm looking forward to the braking!
rbanffy wrote 1 hour 28 min ago:
The books, unfortunately, didnât stop on the first.
JPLeRouzic wrote 3 hours 57 min ago:
This is a report about the volatile composition of interstellar
objects (ISOs) passing through the Solar System.
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