Macavity

Thanks! Was I the only one who thought (Albeit somewhat cogniscent of gravitational lensing): Aaaargh! lol. 🥳 Their "Ring Nebula" image... with the LONE edge-wise Galaxy (finally resolved as such) was less challenging! Relatable appeal? The central star sort-of answers my question re. the (v.approximate!) magnitudes of stuff. 😎

The redoubtable Maggie Aderin-Pocock on the "One Show"... "Blowing the minds" of the presenters (P'raps not too hard)! 🥳 Anyways... BBC2 (England) Tomorrow (Thu) 8 p.m to 9 p.m. "Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe" 😎 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00197px

Ah, "Ray diagrams" - Kudos re. above! Also the bane of many a Physics Student's life? 😅 (As with many things, can be "ignored" later!) But interesting... To include the EYEBALL? Nothing is trivial? I guess THIS shows how we, the short sighted, can re-focus the scope! Otherwise, the magnification is: (minus!) fo/fe... as D tends to infinity? (wibble) 😏

Quite so! Gone are the days when scientific firsts were "ugly folks" clustered round an oscilloscope at 2 a.m. waiting for some "blip" on the two traces to coincide. (True story. lol) 🥳 🇬🇧 "Oh... There it is... That's jolly good... Fancy a PINT, Chaps"? 🍻

Interested re. the what/where... Could I be of competition? lol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMACS_J0723.3-7327 But I see (or rather won't) it's in VOLANS... 😼 It would be interested in approximate magnitude though! 🙃

Never entirely sure on that one either, but! 😏

Mini "Neutron Star" discovered? Well, maybe not! But quite an eye-catching result anyway? Basically a "Tetra-neutron" (resonance) existing for 4x10-22s! 🥳 https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tetraneutron-four-neutron-cluster-physics-nuclear-forces The idea of a BEAM of "Helium 8" (with a lifetime 100ms) is quite fun too? That its geometrical arrangement of protons & neutrons can be studied etc. 😎

Cats are not very good at climbing DOWN from things! "The only way is up?". But they CAN usually find a way. 🙃 I was amazed when my "slightly portly", AGED Feline climbed up a round-rung metal ladder into the LOFT! Took delight in hopping from joist to joist (laughing at my clumsiness) as she avoided capture for an hour! 😼

A great source of possibilities. I sense Youtube Astronomy suffers from the same "pathologies" as Music (synth hardware) reviews! lol. But I am not cynical re. people who are prepared to put in effort to increase the knowledge of others on Youtube! (I do, at least, subscribe to some!) 😎 Aside: As another vehicle of info, I find that I am now "snowed under" by posts on TWITTER?!? I am only interested in SCIENCE news from "national labs" re. Particle Physics, Astronomy etc. I'm not interested in how you think that... Jeremy Clarkson was "right about everything" (sic). 🤣 I suppose there are many who like to emulate (or endorse) the "worldview" of their "heros"... "role models" etc. Me? I only care about (the!?!) Science. 🥳

Ah, Chemistry of Carbon homologues? - Ever interesting! In old terms, Carbon atoms have a "valency" Four. But you can form similar "organic" molecules (to those of life), with e.g. (tetravalent) Silicon. Or alternating atoms of valence THREE and FIVE - Covalently bonded Chains & Rings of alternating Boron and Nitrogen. "Cyclic" Borone-Nitrile(?) are physically almost the same (liquid boiling point etc.) as Benzene - C6H6 etc. 😎 The problem is, chemical stability, is mostly less. Carbon has only P-type orbitals to bond. As you "go down" the periodic table, atoms have extra (even the empty!) d-Orbitals, d-Orbitals etc. Other molecules can gain "purchase" on such atoms and bond-with or break up the molecule. Sadly "Arsenic based life" wasn't real. 😐 https://phys.org/news/2012-07-scientists-nasa-arsenic-life-untrue.html P.S. Don't mind me! Back in the day, there was a lot of enthusiasm for non-Carbon based lifeforms! I seem to remember, having "Phaser-ed" it, they "healed it" with a dab of Body Filler... Polyfilla? 🤣

For we Imaging Dabblers, the Bi-Color (UHC) images of e.g. the Veil Nebula are (neon) "electrifying"! That would have been (may yet be) my way to go! Then there's stuff about using "Synth Green" etc. But that's "another thing"? 😏 For some reason, the idea of double... or triple (fairly) narrow band filters appeals to me. That said, much vaunted, "filter design" is... serendipitious? 🥳

Interesting thought! It is not completely clear in the claims? Off topic: Having (like many?) spent a couple of years trying to kill/avoid VIRAL life (Never a "Hand sanitatiser guy"!) I used standard 75% "Pharma" alcohol (Ethanol). Hey - Don't 🍻 it! Evidently it is water content that makes it More Lethal than the 100%? P.S. Don't drink "100%" (dilute) because it likely contains benzene! 🙀

Those impressed by (terrestrial) "life finding a way" might enjoy: 😎 https://www.quantamagazine.org/inside-deep-undersea-rocks-life-thrives-without-the-sun-20200513/ Also those who hope for "E.T." in the solar system...and beyond... 🤫

A weird one - But I do rather agree on this! 🤫 Without ref., I would have called it a "Quasiparticle"? Such things are/were traditionally a useful device for explaining many Physical phenomena? I once spoke of Pomerons! lol. I DID learn Psuedoparticle applies to Fermions - Bosons are... "Collective Excitations"?!? 😏

This caught my eye a couple of days ago! Explanation for Dark Matter etc. Physicists discover never-before seen particle sitting on a tabletop 🥳 But: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_Higgs_boson (I see... I think!) 🙃 P.S. Ooer! https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=12936 😅

"A Planet That Defies All Logic"! Hard to know where to put this... But quite an entertaining Video? Still find it "Amazing stuff"... 😎 (You CAN also "look up" many of these planets on Wikipedia!)

Despite rumours, there isn't much crime around here. I cannot imagine anyone removing my "Skywatcher Pillar" from the observatory... silently... Unless they're into... TETRIS?!? 😅 Aside: I did THINK a bit about "securing" a Skywatcher Tripod. Replace the central M10(?) screw with an EYEBOLT! A length of chain... to a steel STAPLE screwed into the patio? 😼

Only just cleared "standard" retirement age, but can really relate. I've "outlived" both of my parents (in birth years) and "who knows"... now we are all... "living with the virus"?!? 😏 After looking through (laudable) Skywatcher STs, my small "Lightwave 60" is amazing! lol I have an ED80 as objective for a Solar Frankenscope. And there are some nice 4" f/7 ED 'fracs which could be "dual purpose" - With an appropriate *ERF Filter* "somewhere"... 🤔 I never feel "completely sure" re. (my own) collimation of Newts? But will keep my (lightweight) TS 8" f/4 as a "Video Lightbucket". 🙃

I see someone commented that a Lorenz-contracted Proton was still a sphere (not a disk). I'd have to think about that! 😅 The idea most mass of the proton/neutron is down to motion and confinement of (sea) quarks and Gluons is important. 😏 Sometimes less clear because the graph is (part) scaled... Visualisation is fun. I recently learned e.g. non-spherical nuclei consist of geometrically packed protons/neutrons... 😎 https://energywavetheory.com/atoms/nucleus-structure/ This may not be the definitive reference, but...

Clusters... Open & Globular. Double Stars. I like to imagine what it must be LIKE to live with more / closer stellar neighbours. 😎 (Some "Aliens" MIGHT never experience Truly Dark nights!)

(Solar Astronomy) Daytime CLOUDS? Mine seem to materialise directly in front of the Sun. I am sure there is a "scientific explanation"... Coastal Climate... Foehn Wind (?!?) The remaining 90% of the sky is CLEAR, but.... 😏 "Getting up early" works to some extent! But, from then on, it's a perennial battle. lol. 😐

Some of the more "esoteric" discussons on this sub-forum baffle me! 😅 But I hope that we "confused.com" are not discouraged from trying...

😅 ME TOO... in perpetuity? A typical *Particle Physics* PLOT shows "Bumps"... These impress even a casual observer? "Something has been discovered"! 😎 The "PINK bit" is the Higgs! The Blue bit, Z0 "intermediate vector bosons". 🤫 But the above can be "a bit boring" too? lol! And "hard to understand" for many! (Even initiates - on Good Day). But ya can't beat a good animation? 🥳

Before all this "Higgs Boson & Standard Model (Violation)" stuff, there was/is fun stuff re. Proton Struture (Quarks, Gluons etc.)! 😎 The above is sometimes hard to visualize (sic)... Terms can be obscure... High Q-squared? Bjorken-X (An Icelandic Rapper?) 🤔 Maybe if we think of (Astro) Resolution and Shutter Speed?!? 🥳 https://news.mit.edu/2022/visualizing-proton-through-animation-film-0425

Very impressive. Lovely location. 🙂 Reminded that my old Dad (Post Office Engineer) used Pythagoras to "get things square". He had some magic "triplet" based on a standard plot size of UK Telephone Exchanges?!? 😉 [3,4,5],[5,12,13],[7,24,25],[8,15,17],[9,40,41],[11,60,61],[12,35,37],[13,84,85],[14,48,50] [15,112,113],[16,63,65],[17,144,145],[18,80,82],[19,180,181],[20,99,101],[20,21,29]...