Summary FORA.tv Studios and Whole Earth Films present Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, speaking to Blaise Zerega, President and CEO of FORA.tv, about his book Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
For twenty-five years SETI has been looking for proof of extraterrestrial life, and as the program's senior astronomer, Shostak explains it's entirely possible that before long conclusive evidence will be found.
About this Talk In keeping with the theme of TED2008, professor Stephen Hawking asks some Big Questions about our universe -- How did the universe begin? How did life begin? Are we alone? -- and discusses how we might go about answering them.
Stephen Hawking's scientific investigations have shed light on the origins of the cosmos, the nature of time and the ultimate fate of universe. His bestselling books for a general audience have given an appreciation of physics to millions. Why you should listen to him: Stephen Hawking is perhaps the world's most famous living physicist. A specialist in cosmology and quantum gravity and a devotee of black holes, his work has probed the origins of the cosmos, the nature of time and the universe's ultimate fate -- earning him accolades including induction into the Order of the British Empire. To the public, he's best known as an author of bestsellers such as The Universe in a Nutshell and A Brief History of Time, which have brought an appreciation of theoretical physics to millions. Though the motor neuron disorder ALS has confined Hawking to a wheelchair, it hasn't stopped him from lecturing widely, making appearances on television shows such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Simpsons -- and planning a trip into orbit with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. (He recently experienced weightlessness aboard Zero Gravity Corporation's "Vomit Comet.") A true academic celebrity, he uses his public appearances to raise awareness about potential global disasters -- such as global warming -- and to speak out for the future of humanity: "Getting a portion of the human race permanently off the planet is imperative for our future as a species," he says. Hawking serves as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, where he continues to contribute to both high-level physics and the popular understanding of our universe. "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." Stephen Hawking
This is what an observer on the Moon would see if she stared at the Earth for roughly fifteen days. It really does make you wonder what Selenite astronomy would be like. This was made with Celestia with the start date as 1 October 2006. Note that as the Earth stays in the center of image, libration is not visible, except in the motion of the stars.
Scientists on the Cassini mission to Saturn are poring through hundreds of images returned from the 10th September 2007 flyby of Saturn's two-toned moon Iapetus. Pictures show a white hemisphere resembling snow, and the other as black as tar. Images show a surface that is heavily cratered, along with the mountain ridge that runs along the moon's equator. Many of the close-up observations focused on studying the strange 20-kilometer high (12 mile) mountain ridge that gives the moon a walnut-shaped appearance. This flyby was nearly 100 times closer to Iapetus than Cassini's 2004 flyby, bringing the spacecraft to about 1,640 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the surface. The moon's irregular walnut shape, the mountain ridge that lies almost directly on the equator and Iapetus' brightness contrast are among the key mysteries scientists are trying to solve. The return of images and other data was delayed due to a galactic cosmic ray hit which put the spacecraft into a precautionary state called safe mode. This occurred after the spacecraft had placed all of the flyby data on its data recorders and during the first few minutes after it began sending the data home. The data flow resumed later that day and concluded on Wednesday. The spacecraft is operating normally and its instruments are expected to return to normal operations in a few days.
1944 Peenemunde, Germany. Testing of the new V2 missiles. Color footage with original captured sound.This is a clip from the Collection "1919-1947 Between two post-wars: steps in the fate of Germany".
Historic movie taken from rocket as it goes from the ground into space. Original soundtrack. On Oct. 24, 1946, a Nazi designed V-2 rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico, USA. Its 35mm movie camera recorded its ascent by snapping a new frame every second and a half. The rocket reached an altitude of 64.94 miles (103.67 kilometers). Then, as planned, it fell back to Earth at 500 feet per second and slammed into the ground. The metal cassette which held the film remained intact. The launch was made possible because the US military and intelligence services had smuggled hundreds of Nazi scientists into the country in an project codenamed "Operation Paperclip." At the time, the Russians were also grabbing up as many Nazi scientists as they could. It was the beginning of the space race. Some of the German scientist gained recognition and honors in America until their pasts were discovered.
BBC Horizon The Death Star 44 min 23 sec - Jun 17, 2007 Out in deepest space lurks a force of almost unimaginable power. Explosions of extraordinary violence, are blasting through the Universe every day. If one ever struck our Solar System it would destroy our Sun and all the planets. For years no one could work out what was causing these awesome explosions. Now scientists think they have identified the culprit. It's the most extreme object ever found in the Universe; they have christened it a 'hypernova'.
Extrasolar planets were first confirmed to be orbiting pulsars PSR B1257+12 and PSR B1620-26. These discoveries were announced in 1992 and 1993 respectively. The first extrasolar planet to be found orbiting a normal star, 51 Pegasi b, was first discovered to be orbiting 51 Pegasi in 1995.
Note that the masses of the planets are (for the most part) lower bounds only. If a planet is detected by the radial velocity method, no information is gained about the inclination of the planet's plane of orbit around its star, and a value for this is needed to calculate the mass. It has become customary to assume arbitrarily that the plane is exactly lined up with the line of sight from Earth (this produces the lowest possible mass consistent with the spectral line measurements).
There are 264 planets listed — 251 orbiting normal stars (61 in multiple planet systems, and 190 in single planet systems), 4 orbiting pulsars, and 1 orbiting a brown dwarf. 252 planets were found by radial velocity or doppler method, 31 were found by transit method, 1 by direct imaging, and 5 by timing method.
