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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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 Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:34 am Post subject: Genuine Space Science Mystery |
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http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/28244844.html?pageSize=0
I appreciate this article doesn't describe scientists as baffled or scrambling to explain. I always hate that in normal news reporting. Scientists do not scramble around to explain something in an attempt to preserve their image of being all knowing. When they're confronted by genuine mysteries, they get excited, very excited and freely admit they don't know jack. Science is done when you find something you don't know jack about.
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| Now you don't see it, now you do. Something in Bootes truly in the middle of nowhere � apparently not even in a galaxy � brightened by at least 120 times during more than three months and then faded away. Its spectrum was like nothing ever seen, write the discoverers, with "five broad absorption bands between 4100 and 6500 Angstroms and a mostly featureless continuum longward of 6500 Angstroms." Even the cause of the spectral features is unknown. |
This could well be the first discovery of a new stellar object in a long, long time. Amazing. |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:53 am Post subject: |
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Wow that's pretty significant, could be a spaceship of enormous proportions that exploded out there.  |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:04 am Post subject: |
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| PeteJB wrote: |
| Wow that's pretty significant, could be a spaceship of enormous proportions that exploded out there. |
Could be god creating a new universe! |
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itaewonguy
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:21 am Post subject: Re: Genuine Space Science Mystery |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
Scientists do not scramble around to explain something in an attempt to preserve their image of being all knowing. When they're confronted by genuine mysteries, they get excited, very excited and freely admit they don't know jack. Science is done when you find something you don't know jack about.
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You need to stop talking for other human beings! You act like all scientists are equal in their beliefs and their emotions and mannerism!
Next you are going to tell me, scientists don�t conduct lethal experiments on humans for the advancement of science! You going to tell us that all scientists are all totally ethical and moral?
It�s not the first time a scientist has lied to win a prize! And it won�t be the last ok!! |
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ernie
Joined: 05 Aug 2006
Location: asdfghjk
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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| uh oh. this thread has taken a turn for the worse. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject: Re: Genuine Space Science Mystery |
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| itaewonguy wrote: |
| mindmetoo wrote: |
Scientists do not scramble around to explain something in an attempt to preserve their image of being all knowing. When they're confronted by genuine mysteries, they get excited, very excited and freely admit they don't know jack. Science is done when you find something you don't know jack about.
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You need to stop talking for other human beings! You act like all scientists are equal in their beliefs and their emotions and mannerism!
Next you are going to tell me, scientists don�t conduct lethal experiments on humans for the advancement of science! You going to tell us that all scientists are all totally ethical and moral?
It�s not the first time a scientist has lied to win a prize! And it won�t be the last ok!! |
Well obviously scientists have differences in personality. Einstein, for example, was a cad in his personal life-uncaring and distant in his relationships, treated his wife like a servant and more besides.
But in dealing with the subject of science itself Einstein wasn't particularly arrogant. He made blunders and had to admit it freely.
Science tends to have a humbling effect, as you are trying to understand things much bigger than ourselves and the unknown is part of the appeal. There's still plenty of egos in science, but those egos are usually displayed against people not so much against nature. It's been a very long time since anyone claimed that our knowledge of any major field was complete. |
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yawarakaijin
Joined: 08 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| PeteJB wrote: |
| Wow that's pretty significant, could be a spaceship of enormous proportions that exploded out there. |
Could be god creating a new universe! |
If the object is really 11 billion light years away than it is a universe that god has already created
That kind of stuff really blows my mind. With light year distances like that it really is like looking back in time. The only problem with that is, because of the distance and the time it takes the light to reach us, we will NEVER see the universe how is really is NOW. It boggles the mind really. |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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It's all relative though, there is enough "stuff" out there in the universe for us to observe. Some of it is close, some of it is far. Just about everything can be examined in one way or another because it's so vast.
But come on. This is inbetween galaxies. In a scientific world, this should be pretty big news. It's the first object spotted/known to exist in the void of space between the galaxies. Even the numbers behind that are impossible to think about, the distances and the size. |
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yawarakaijin
Joined: 08 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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| PeteJB wrote: |
It's all relative though, there is enough "stuff" out there in the universe for us to observe. Some of it is close, some of it is far. Just about everything can be examined in one way or another because it's so vast.
But come on. This is inbetween galaxies. In a scientific world, this should be pretty big news. It's the first object spotted/known to exist in the void of space between the galaxies. Even the numbers behind that are impossible to think about, the distances and the size. |
From reading the actual article it doesn't that the scientists are 100% positive it is outside a known galaxy. It could just be a very faint one.
I wonder if what wasn't witnessed was a black hole consuming the final remnants of its host galaxy. That might explain the energy discharge and the lack of a surrounding detectable galaxy.
If it truly is extra-galactic that would be amazing. I mean nothing is supposed to exist there right? Either a truly incredible event has taken place or we have to rethink a few of our concepts on the make up of the universe, truly exciting. I wish there were a more indepth article in more laymans terms. Those figures and equations were totally beyond me. |
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Jandar
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Where's Carl Sagan when you need him? |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| yawarakaijin wrote: |
| PeteJB wrote: |
It's all relative though, there is enough "stuff" out there in the universe for us to observe. Some of it is close, some of it is far. Just about everything can be examined in one way or another because it's so vast.
But come on. This is inbetween galaxies. In a scientific world, this should be pretty big news. It's the first object spotted/known to exist in the void of space between the galaxies. Even the numbers behind that are impossible to think about, the distances and the size. |
From reading the actual article it doesn't that the scientists are 100% positive it is outside a known galaxy. It could just be a very faint one.
I wonder if what wasn't witnessed was a black hole consuming the final remnants of its host galaxy. That might explain the energy discharge and the lack of a surrounding detectable galaxy.
If it truly is extra-galactic that would be amazing. I mean nothing is supposed to exist there right? Either a truly incredible event has taken place or we have to rethink a few of our concepts on the make up of the universe, truly exciting. I wish there were a more indepth article in more laymans terms. Those figures and equations were totally beyond me. |
No, there are things that exist outside galaxies. Of course, not very much is outside of them. For one thing, plenty of the so called dark matter must exist outside of galaxies. Also, I do recall reading an article about some brown dwarfs having been found along with some isolated stars outside of one of the nearby galaxies. |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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Stars that drift outside of their host galaxies are quite possible in theory, and dark matter can be found everywhere. But this was no star. I like the above posted idea that it's the "end" of a galaxies life. After all, new research suggests that each galaxy houses a giant black hole at it's centre. Will the universe end up as simply a mass of black holes? What happens when black holes encounter each other? Ah, drives you nuts when you know the answer is never going to appear.  |
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Thedudeabides
Joined: 15 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| it was probably just aliens testing their brand new Particle collider |
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yawarakaijin
Joined: 08 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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| PeteJB wrote: |
| Stars that drift outside of their host galaxies are quite possible in theory, and dark matter can be found everywhere. But this was no star. I like the above posted idea that it's the "end" of a galaxies life. After all, new research suggests that each galaxy houses a giant black hole at it's centre. Will the universe end up as simply a mass of black holes? What happens when black holes encounter each other? Ah, drives you nuts when you know the answer is never going to appear. |
I also kind of liked the theory at first but I think I wildly oversimplified. I mean, black holes emit certain kinds of radiation do they not? I imagine if this were a giant black hole that had just finished gobbling up its galaxy the scientist would be able to tell that. Only thing I can think of is a star going supernova, but that isnt supposed to happen outside a galaxy is it? I imagine that in the end it might turn out to simply be a huge supernova within a , for some unexplainded reason, abnormally faint galaxy. |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:41 am Post subject: |
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| Either that or it's simply a new kind of phenomena out here that has never been seen. |
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