A stunning new photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope of The Coma Cluster. For more information, check out the full story on Wired.
All text © 2009 Gary William Murning
Cosmology.
Estimated to be no more than three times Jupiter’s mass, the planet, called Fomalhaut b, orbits the bright southern star Fomalhaut, located 25 light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish).
Fomalhaut has been a candidate for planet hunting ever since an excess of dust was discovered around the star in the early 1980s by the US- UK-Dutch Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS).
via ‘Hubble directly observes planet orbiting Fomalhaut’ by EurekAlert – RichardDawkins.net
A truly amazing discovery. 25 light years! Wow. For once I am uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
There are many beautiful things in this universe of ours (if you don’t believe me, you could start by looking at my new picture on the About page… well, maybe not!), but the Lagoon Nebula has to be up there — literally — with the best of them.
In the constellation of Sagittarius, this classic deep-sky object is also known as Messier 8 or M8 for short. Named after the French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier it is a stellar nursery approximately 4,100 light-years away from Earth. And it’s beautiful.
Click here to see what it looks like and here to read more information.
“Both the LHC, and the space program, are vital if the human race is not to stultify, and eventually die out. Together they cost less than one tenth of a percent of world GDP. If the human race cannot afford that, it doesn’t deserve the epithet, human.”
I wasn’t going to write or post anything else on this subject as, frankly, all the doomsayers, conspiracy theorists and end of world prophets are beginning to get up my nose somewhat. I appreciate the hits they’re giving me, but I’d rather they were reading my novel samples instead! LOL
However, I today read this piece on BBC News’ LHC introduction and felt I had to quote at least part of it. The piece in question is an interview with Professor Brian Cox — the physicist, I believe, responsible for the Atlas experiment, a significant part of the work that will be done at the LHC. He pretty much says, with far more knowledge and authority than I, what I’ve been repeatedly trying to say over the past week or so.
“Q: Safety Concerns
Cern have been confident in the prediction that there are no major risks associated with the LHC’s operation. How robust is this prediction? In particular, how reliant is it upon unsupported theoretical assumptions? (Chris)
Okay, so how do we know this thing won’t make planet Earth implode then? (Stephen)
A: Let me answer all of these at once.
The LHC has absolutely no chance of destroying anything bigger than a few protons, let alone the Earth. This is not based on theoretical assumptions.
It is, of course, essential that all scientific research at the frontiers of knowledge, from genetics to particle physics, is subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny to ensure that our voyages into the unknown do not result in unforeseen, perhaps dangerous outcomes.
Cern, and indeed all research establishments, do this routinely and to the satisfaction of their host governments. In the case of the LHC, a report in plain English is available here:
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/Safety-en.html
For the record, the LHC collides particles together at energies far below those naturally occurring in many places in the Universe, including the upper atmosphere of our planet every second of every day.
If the LHC can produce micro black holes, for example, then nature is doing it right now by smashing ultra-high energy cosmic ray particles into the Earth directly above our heads with no discernable consequences.
The overwhelmingly most likely explanation for our continued existence in the face of this potentially prolific production of black holes is that they aren’t produced at all because there are either no extra dimensions in the Universe, or they aren’t set up right for us to see them.
If black holes are being produced, then next on the list of explanations for our continued existence is the broad theoretical consensus that sub-atomic black holes should fizzle back into the Universe very quickly, billionths of a second after they are created in a little flash of particles via a process known as Hawking radiation.
In other words, they evaporate away very quickly indeed. This process, which is perhaps Steven Hawking’s greatest contribution to theoretical physics, is on significantly firmer theoretical ground than the extra dimensions theories required to create the little black holes in the first place.
Even if Hawking is wrong, and therefore much of our understanding of modern physics is also wrong, the little black holes would be so tiny that they would rarely come close enough to a particle of matter in the Earth to eat it and grow.
And even if you don’t buy any of this, then you can still relax in the knowledge that we have no evidence anywhere in the Universe of a little black hole eating anything – not just Earth but the Sun and planets and every star we can see in the sky, including the immensely dense neutron stars and white dwarfs, remnants of ancient Suns that populate the sky in their millions and which because of their density would make great black hole food.
So – the only theoretical bit is in the proposition that you can make little black holes in the first place. From then on, observation tells us that these things either (a) don’t exist – the most likely explanation; or (b) exist, but do not eat neutron stars and are therefore harmless, probably because they evaporate away very quickly indeed!
I am in fact immensely irritated by the conspiracy theorists who spread this nonsense around and try to scare people. This non-story is symptomatic of a larger mistrust in science, particularly in the US, which includes intelligent design amongst other things.
The only serious issue is why so many people who don’t have the time or inclination to discover for themselves why this stuff is total crap have to be exposed to the opinions of these half-wits. (BC) “
I especially like that final paragraph! Well said, Brian.
The full interview can be seen here, with an interactive introduction to the LHC here.
Well, it seems that my post from last month, Tenth of September 2008 — The End of the World?, is currently the Hawt post on WordPress (well, it was… briefly!) I think this means it’s the top post, or one of them, something like that. 
I’m sitting here watching my stats with my mouth open. The hysteria that seems to have prompted the number of hits that this post is getting is, frankly… well, words actually fail me. I’ve been discussing this for days, watching the cyber-panic grow and grow, and it’s starting to get rather exhausting LOL. Consequently, I’ve closed comments on the post in question and will only be letting a limited few through on related posts. I don’t like doing this, but I haven’t time to moderate it as much as I like to and I think most points have been covered adequately.
Now, can someone please tell me something to take my mind off the subject! I’ve got colliding particles coming out of my ears (not literally, of course… that really would be something!)
“Hurray for the European Court of Human Rights. It has rejected an emergency injunction to block the Large Hadron Collider from turning on on 10 September. It’s the latest legal case brought against the LHC by scientists who fear that the world’s largest particle accelerator will produce fearsome entities that could destroy the Earth.”
New Scientist Short Sharp Science Blog: Why the world WON’T end on September 10.
Now there is definitely money to be made here. A little mercenary of me, perhaps, but if my recent hits are anything to go by there seems to be a genuine fear/concern that the Large Hadron Collider really could mark the beginning of the end for us all.
In the past twenty-four hours or so alone, my last post on LHC has had in the region of 200 hits — nearly 500 since it was written on August 17.
Therefore, in the spirit of one who would wish to soothe and reassure these worried souls, I’m wondering if there are any T-shirt designers out there looking to make a quick profit with me. I’m envisaging nice, gaudy colours — “LHC” on the front and on the back, in blood-red letters, “We’re All Going to Die!”
Hell, we could even go for a full range of merchandise! Action dolls of the leading scientists involved? That say, “Jesus Christ! Run like hell, everyone, it’s just sucked up my clipboard!” when you pull a little cord at the backs of their necks? A scale model of the LHC — the MLHC (Mini Large Hadron Collider) — which produces mini-mini-black-holes? The possibilities are endless!
Christ, I didn’t realise this whole end of the world thing could be so dammed exciting!
Anyone fancy an end of the world mouse mat?
Better still, read your free sample of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts here. And then pre-order/buy The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts before we all become ghosts ourselves !
Striking evidence has been found for the enigmatic “stuff” called dark matter which makes up 23% of the Universe, yet is invisible to our eyes.
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Cosmic crash unmasks dark matter.
Pah! I knew it was there all the time.
Finally it’s here. Well, just about.
On the tenth of September next month, the Large Hadron Collider will finally (possibly!) get kickstarted, booted up — or whatever the hell it is they have to do to get a collider doing what it’s supposed to do.
“This major milestone in the LHC project will be covered live by international broadcasters. UK media organisations will be at CERN and at a simultaneous media event in London.
“CERN will webcast the startup (the link is on the CERN “first beam” page).” — for more see here.
Now that has to be worth watching. Why? Well, if some people are to be believed, the work of the Large Hadron Collider could in effect cause the end of the world/universe. Mini black holes may be created (fact) and they will grow and grow and grow, just like Alice, until we are all gobbled up (not fact.)
What LHC will largely be doing, in fact, is smashing together tiny particles called protons. When these particles collide, new particles are created. The scientists working at LHC are hoping to find a new particle called the Higgs. In short, the LHC will be asking some of the big questions about the universe, such as:
“How did our universe come to be the way it is?
“The Universe started with a Big Bang – but we don’t fully understand how or why it developed the way it did. The LHC will let us see how matter behaved a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang. Researchers have some ideas of what to expect – but also expect the unexpected!
“What kind of Universe do we live in?
“Many physicists think the Universe has more dimensions than the four (space and time) we are aware of. Will the LHC bring us evidence of new dimensions?
“Gravity does not fit comfortably into the current descriptions of forces used by physicists. It is also very much weaker than the other forces. One explanation for this may be that our Universe is part of a larger multi dimensional reality and that gravity can leak into other dimensions, making it appear weaker. The LHC may allow us to see evidence of these extra dimensions – for example, the production of mini-black holes which blink into and out of existence in a tiny fraction of a second.” – for more see here.
So make a date to be here at 8: 30 a.m. UK time on the 10th of September 2008. It should make for interesting viewing. I can’t wait to see the black hole gobbling up downtown Geneva!
(EDIT: Get Your End of the World T-Shirts Here!)
(EDIT: Important update here. READ THIS, PLEASE!!!)
(EDIT: Possibly of further interest.)
(EDIT: Another important update here. READ THIS, PLEASE!!!)
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