https://www.livescience.com/oumuamua-unidentified-aerial-phenomena.html?utm_source=notification I thought this had left. Where is Elon Musk when we need him?
Well, I think a comet is a solar system body. My understanding is that this object's velocity indicates that it is not from this solar system and will leave this solar system never to return. I hope we're more ready for the next one. Getting a sample or even just a super close look at something from outside our solar system would be interesting.
Not according to the Chairman of Harvard's Astronomy Department. Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life ... - Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com › Extraterrestrial-First-Intellig... In this passionately argued, visionary book, astrophysicist Avi Loeb urges us to abandon the arrogant fantasy that we are the only sentient life form in the universe.
I think this one was natural, but it was very suspicious in its movements, and I have heard rumors that previously huge, strangely shaped space objects were censored by NASA.
It was raised as a possible explanation by the Professor concerned, then refuted by other astronomers shortly afterwards as more of the evidence was reviewed. As far as I am aware the Proffessor himself no longer considers his 'artificial object' theory to be the best fit for the data.
WHY would NASA do that? Public interest in space is their whole reason for being. OTOH I can't help but think that one of the only good and sufficient reasons for our nearly complete abandonment of the Lunar Space Program in the early 1970s is that someone there told us to stay home. Yes, it COULD be cost and the fact that we can do nearly everything we could on the moon on a Space Station but still, we spent what was surely a trillion dollars in today's money to get there and then just NEVER went back and established ANYTHING after 6 small missions. We were supposed to have whole International COLONIES there by now. What the **** HAPPENED?
A bit before my time. If you want to go with the "someone there told us not to go back to the moon" go for it. I have also heard rumors that the moon program went on for a time in secret and they brought back alien stuff including the body of an orange woman. Look up Apollo 20.
Sorry, but that's not true. The Loeb hypothesis has been challenged but not refuted, and Loeb has not changed his view.
I knew it had been argued against by other astronomers (the majority in fact) who regard hypothesis other than the claim it was a discarded solar sail as being far, far more likely but havnt seen any further claims by Loeb re: his theory since he first broached it. Nothing recent anyway.
Here is a fairly recent inteerview: https://futureoflife.org/2021/07/09...at-filters-and-superstructures/?cn-reloaded=1 I think it shows that his central concern on the subject is the initial response from astrophysics - that the "alien" hypothesis was discounted for want of exceptional evidence, instead of these scientists being more open to all hypotheses. One might wonder why the alien hypothesis has this initial barrier to consideration. His argument is supported in part by noting that a good number of the current hypotheses are exceptionally unlikely as well.
NASA = government A close relative was a career NASA "deep space" scientist beginning with the first Apollo moon landings. I learned early on not to bother asking him questions [he wouldn't answer]... not even about comets being currently discussed in the news. When I emailed him to ask about Comet Holmes mysteriously flaring, he told me he "knows nothing" - yet he was one of NASA's planetary, meteor, asteroid, comet experts. Then weeks later out of the blue he answered my Comet Holmes email again, cc other NASA people only to refer to a seemingly unrelated SETI article. Back in the 80s I asked him why we stopped manned moon landings and he did manage to give me a few words... that it was "political" that the government was now mainly interested in "lower space" [I assumed he meant the Space Shuttle program.] .
I don't understand your comment here. Are you blaming him for not knowing the answer when you initially asked it? Is that something you would blame a scientist for? Are you complaining that he obviously spent time researching the question you asked, thus later having an answer??? Lower space means Earth orbit. That includes ISS, Earth orbiting telescopes, telecommunications, the large range of sensors used to examine Earth's surface in support of Earth related sciences, agriculture, politics, temperature, etc. Your guy was right. Much of what NASA does is controled by congress. Congressional decisions concerning what NASA does are law - they are not up for NASA scientists to determine. It is not NASA that decides whether NASA will send humans to the moon.
As you said... you didn't understand. Why don't you try reading it again and maybe that will change. .
Because of his NASA expertize, he also advised congressional committees in Washington DC relating to government grants to university programs. .
I read it more than once already. The idea of accusing a scientist of saying he doesn't know something hits me as a total misunderstanding of science.
Great! Congress needs to be aware of what the opportunites are. Did he point out that China is rapidly approaching our R&D expenditure and will pass us in the next few years at the rate we're going? Did he mention their international leadership in the renewable energy industry?
What would be the reason for going there again? Humans flying around space is a gigantically expensive engineering problem, reducing what we can spend on science in space.
Yes yes, I know that, but still we ought to have SOME humans in the loop, somewhere. Or maybe not I note with interest that we just recently found water on the moon, and this I am told can enable us to make rocket fuel in space, which would make Space exploration a good deal less expensive.
I believe there is a ton to do toward learning more about our solar system and the universe. And, a bunch of that could require humans in space - which is super expensive engineering, not science. There are lots of opportunities for science. I think one of the big ones is that we need to assemble (and eventually manufacture) our telescopes, space ships, etc. in space. I assume that will require a very different kind of space station. The moon is no substitute for that, because the moon requires landings and launches just like Earth based manufacturing requires.
First of all... he had a secret clearance and probably he didn't answer, didn't answer clearly, or didn't want to encourage me asking more questions for that reason. Second... and this is very interesting... but take as it is because this is all I know. When I emailed him I asked him about what was in the news at that time... how Comet Holmes mysteriously flared while in the "arm of the constellation Perseus" [actually it was in the area of the asteroid belt.] He emailed back that he knows nothing. So I forgot about it until weeks later out of the blue he responded to my email again [RE: Comet Holmes] and cc a few other NASA people. All he said in that email was to pay attention to the second half of a SETI article link he gave. The SETI article was called "Aliens Apart" and basically said the universe is so vast and spread apart that even if there were other solar systems with planetary intelligent life the distance alone would keep us apart. That SETI article said nothing about Comet Holmes... but at the beginning of the second half there was a joke about aliens causing havoc in Perseus' arm !! .
