i bet this is gonna be long.........i'd pack a bowlski one thing i wish is that all the questions about our universe will be answered in my lifetime. probably a common desire, i know. i am only 22 and just realizing the truth behind time and how much we have and dont have left. i find myself getting over-excited about things that are out of my control and out the time frame i am willing/able to patiently wait for. a good example would be the New Horizons mission that launched last year to Pluto, Charon and the Kuiper belt. it is such an amazing thought that someday soon enough i will see a true color picture of Pluto!! i am too young to remember the hype from the Voyager spacecrafts.... but i have indeed done research on them. i cant wait to feel the excitment cosmos lovers felt when they first saw a detailed picture of Jupiter, or the hexagonal storm on one of Saturn's poles. i have been following the debates waged over Pluto's classification in our solar system and as a direct effect, i have gained a rather large interest in Pluto. not neccesarily only Pluto, but its moon Charon, Eris (2003UB313) the Kuiper belt in general, and other trans-neptunian bodies. i personally agree with the new classifications that deny Pluto is planet "tag" and give it its own classification as an "dwarf" planet or ice dwarf. basically because there are too many small bodies in our solar system to be calling all of them planets. the number would go from 8 to over 10. theres even asteroids that would be big enough to fit into the classifications that would make them planets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_definition_of_planet all this also makes me think.... about what is BEYOND the face value of the cosmos. i have never taken physics and am quite insuffecient when it comes to all the laws, properties, and mathematics associated with physics and our universe. however, my brain is an infinite swimming pool in which a hose pouring in knowledge can never turn off. i feel an urge to know as much as possible about what interests me. and often, things that dont interest me. however, i was watching a show the interested me very much... and it got me thinking a lot. it was called, "The Hawking Paradox" and it was about Steven Hawking's theories about blackholes and the parodox of where the matter goes once it passes through the even horizon, and his trials and tribulations leading up to and during his career as a physicist. also how he had created a theory that proved his own theory wrong. one he worked on for like 30 years. this was a topic i knew a little about and it intrugues me. i had already had a passion for learning about whats beyond our universe and what was before the big bang. that passion led me to gain an interest in the theory of parallel universes and the 11th dimension. obviously, a lot of info about this topic is not proven fact and are just theories. albiet theories made by some of the smartest motherfuckers on the planet about the craziest shit going. having said that, it is worth saying that there is no picture of the 11th dimension and its shape/size/what it consists of is not definatly known. the thought of parallel universes is often brushed off a absurd by the people who figure this stuff out. no one knows what happens at the event horizon of a black hole. but after watching that show and thinkin a lot (with the help of some good haze and some even better mushrooms of the magic persuasion), it felt as if my mind climbed up a wall from a lower plateau to one above. although, looking up there are many more plateaus to traverse and more walls to climb up. here goes what i was thinkin about... one of the theories i've heard about parallel universes says that there is a vast multiverse of membranes that are unbelievabley wide and atoms thick. these membranes form a large variety of shapes and their surfaces ripple like waves. from time to time these membranes collide creating unmeasurable explosions which in turn create universes. they say that at the first instant of the big bang, the universe was all energy. one question about the universe is where did all the energy in the universe come from. it makes sense to me that the energy is contained in the membranes. and as the collide, thier surfaces are rippling so they collide many times... each smaller explosion creating clumps of energy that come together to form one massive explosion of titanic proportions... duh, the big bang. and each individual collision throws out separate clumps of matter forming the first hydrogen clouds, the first galaxies and then the first stars. makes sense to me. that would answer another question about what caused the big bang. obviously, answers to such difficult questions almost always create more questions. like the why/what/when and wheres about the multiverse and the membranes. i dont neccesarily agree with all the myths about parallel universes. for example....there could be a universe exactly like ours but only minute details are different.... such as the color of your cell phone.... or one dead fly. however, i suppose it could be cossible that they can have different laws of physics... or to different degrees. something i feel i've said here 100 times is that this one scientist lady thought about how weak gravity was compared to other forces. the example used was how a small magnet can lift a paperclip right off the ground... directly beating gravity. she wondered if our universe was getting either the leakage from an adjacent universe, or what was left as a result of our leakage. makes sense to me. but what about black holes. black holes are really trippy. all those laws of physics i dont know about go all screwy. i read somewhere that a person viewing another person crossing the event horizon would see the person getting vaporized. going from whole to millions of individual molecules of matter in nanoseconds. the crazy ass thing is that the person going through the event horizon wouldnt see/feel anything out of the norm. (or something close to that) I guess their brain would be instantly destroyed and stuck on the thought of being a whole unit self. (or something close to that). to the best of my knowledge, due to a black holes immense gravity nothing can espace its suction. not even light. when matter reaches the edge of the blackhole, the event horizon, it is instantly disected into its individual molecules and energy, i think. Steven Hawking said in one of this papers that matter disappeared. to most physicists this was ridiculous because it goes directly against heir laws.... matter can not disapper (in so many words). he then said that it doesnt disapear. that it is funnelled back into the 11th dimension.... which is the membrane. the 11th dimension is undetectable and its probably going through me right now. but its just energy so, yea. i think black holes have jets shooting out of the poles, similar to quasars, that shoot out energy at an astonishing lop-sided ration from out:in. i bet the energu released goes into the 11th dimesion like the super smart people said. so it doesnt jsut disappear. makes sense to me. but like before and again, questions answered and questions spawned. i dont know anything for sure. man.... it would be awesome just to see a picture of Pluto..........................................
Ah yes. Cosmology is fun, thought provoking and sometimes just plain confusing But anyways, here is Pluto, the recently demoted planet...
Sometimes I get a little shiver when I think that I actually stand a chance of setting foot on Mars. Sure, chances are against me - but we are sooo close to doing things that the ancients never even imagined were possible. They seriously could need geologists among their teams in my lifetime - just the possibility boggles my mind. We get so caught up in life here, but there is a whole universe out there - how can we not be spending our energies looking up?
yea, i have that pic of Pluto as well. i cant wait to see what exactly forms the dark regions and the light regions. they say its similar to what a snowy mountain would look like. not jus the pretruding ground.... the way snow is covering some parts and rock is showing through others. what would be awesome is to see the temporary atmosphere created by the warming of Pluto when it comes closer to the sun on its egg shaped orbit. or to see that atmosphere snow back down on the surface as methane or nitrogen or carbon dioxide snow/ice. i remember not too long ago, the best picture of Pluto was a false-color photo. it was similar to the one zylark posted, but it had shades of blue and purple instead of the colors seen on this one. if i had the chance to learn or experience one single thing about the universe and nothing else, ever, ....... it would have to the chance to be in a space shuttel/craft, weightlessly floating from window to window, jumping from a look back at the spec that is earth, to the spectacle that is Jupiter and its moons, and hopefully (with a little magnafications) saturns rings. to be in that position atleast once would make it somehwat bearable if i were never able to view/learn about the cosmos again. but lets hope that wouldnt happen..... lets hope i am looking at Jupiter on my way to the Andromeda galaxy and beyond...................
someone's been watching "the universe"... really? You'd want to be confined to our own solar system if you could only experience one single thing about the cosmos? If I could have anything, I'd want to go to the closest stellar planetary system and see what other planets and stars look like outside the regions of our solar system. May i suggest reading "The Big Bang" by simon singh and "Origins" by neild deGrasse tyson.
brilliant title. brilliant. oh wow yes. brilliant. or all immediately. and thus when u have that, you'll know enough to "not know" alot of it, and instead opt for only that which you need. ... last night... i was a spherical being, like a doughring, and i knew i was all, and all that had previously seemed "other" especially those seemingly malevolent aggressors, became but a joke, and i became aware that there has to be a minimum of 27 "dimensions" for it all to make sense... then some time later, i woke up, the effects of the THC mostly worn off. when it's good shit, you know.
oh heck, i was gonna make a new thread for this, but what the heck, you'll get a kick outta it here. http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...15&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3 * sorry for hijacking. * the opening anecdote susinctly depicts my stance on many an issue.
[quote name='dynasty']someone's been watching "the universe"... really? You'd want to be confined to our own solar system if you could only experience one single thing about the cosmos? quote] hellz yea i watch the universe... among many others..... for some reason i felt like one of the only people who even knew about the universe series on the history channel. they advertised poorly (imo) and gave up once the series started..... but every episode is great. many of my individual interests that make up my obsession with the universe as a whole begin when i see a 5 minute snipit on a t.v. show. then i continue the research online/library where ever. btw...the universe show isn't the only source of information on the universe.... and niel degrasse tyson often frequents the universe.... never read his book but i watch his show, Nova... on channel 132 on I.O. (whatever the fuck the channels name is) of course i wouldn't want to be stuck in our solar system............ the spacecraft i would be looking out of would hopefully be on the way to the andromeda galaxy....... the whole 'finite universal experience' would be passing jupiter on my way there..... i hope if i had the chance to do anything i wouldnt just fly to an empty area a few tens of thousands of miles away from jupiter and chill there. however i am quite fascinated with what would happen when smokin a bowlski in zero-G. physically and mentally and the smoke itself what if ur last cosmic request was to go to an exo-solar planet..... and when u get there u get vaporized by a concentrated laser beam from some crazy ass aliens ray-gun?? then u'd be shit outta luck. however if i had the chance, i must say i would absolutley take it. i'd be willing to bet that 50% of aliens are chillin. p.s....thanks digit.... i thought of that title when i actually was