Astronomy

How cool! A surfer dude has come up with the Theory of Everything. If it pans out, it will mean that all known particles and cosmic laws are the products of facets of one super particle, called "E8".

It is too bad that it is very difficult to see Comet McNaught, since it is absolutely amazing. The comet made a close approach to the sun and is now emerging from the other side. Space Weather has great information on it.

The Delta Aquarid meteor shower will be tonight and tomorrow night. And check out the pictures of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

• They are finding things out about Pluto's moon Charon by watching it pass in front of a star.
  
• Mars may never have been warm enough to support life.
  
• A star with a dusty cloud around it could conceal rocky planets like Earth forming, and hitting each other.
  
• Google Moon is up... but hit the zoom bar to zoom all the way in for a bad joke. I wonder if in 2008 the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter can spruce up the images at all.

At long last, the voyager spacecraft has officially left the Solar System and crossed in to interstellar space, reports The Register. Fascinating that that '70s technology is still sophisticated enough to teach us so much.

And in Science Fiction news, Slashdot reports that Lucas may be considering another Star Wars prequel. As long as he doesn't write it it might be interesting...

Incidentally, a law professor reviews the Imperial destruction of Alderaan and sees if it is defensible under Just War Theory. (hat tip: CC)

Also, National Geographic magazine surveyed a couple of extraterrestrial experts to evaluate how realistic the science of Star Wars is. It's an interesting read. (hat tip: Slashdot)

So, while Heather was on the phone with her sister making nefarious preparations for my birthday, I decided to take a gander at the skies. Venus was quite beautiful, in Virgo I think, and was quite beautiful. I was able to bring out the full disc of the planet, in all it's ivory beauty. It's the first time I was able to get the Barlow lens to work... the movements of this telescope are crude, without the ability for subtle adjustments (or so it seems at that magnification). But I think that if I get used to it, it'll get a lot easier.

I am quite excited. Heather rented out the Arlington Planetarium for an hour and we're having a bunch of people coming to it for an hour presentation of images from the Hubble.

A good week for astronomy for me. Cool!

I think it is very cool that they may have found that the expansion of the universe is happening because gravity is leaking out through extra dimensions. And radio astronomers have detected a completely dark galaxy.

A good article in the post about the astronomers who look for objects that could collide with the Earth from the WaPo. I don't think there is any real insurance policy against impact events except planetary diversity - having a redundant planet for safety's sake. A tough sell for the taxpayers.

It's been a busy month for news of the Cosmos:

• In 2029 there will be an asteroid that will fly close enough to Earth that it will be visible to the naked eye (hat tip: slashdot).
  
• Astrophysics may have found the dark matter in the universe (again, slashdot).
  
• Check out this incredibly beautiful nebula formed from the stellar outburst of V838 Monocerotis (again, slashdot).
  
• Reports of life on Mars were premature.
  
• Fascinating news about the structure of Titan from the Cassini-Huygens probe.
  
• The gigantic "star flash" is detailed here.