In a study conducted in 2011 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, of American Adults Age 25 and over (Full-Time Workers), it was found that median annual earnings and degree of education are directly correlated.  http://www.ohe.state.mn.us/dPg.cfm?pageID=948  Its clear by looking at the graph that, as the degree of education goes up, so does the median annual earnings. This linear relationship bares a striking resemblance to the H-R Diagram, which is the diagram used in astronomy to predict the heat of a star versus its luminosity. As stars get older, they get hotter but dimmer, so there is a “main sequence”. However there are distinct outliers, such as Red Super Giants that get very cold and incredibly luminous, or White Dwarfs, which get very dim but extremely hot.

The earnings versus education diagram has a similar path. When people become more educated, they tend to earn more. This is the “main sequence” of the diagram. However there are people who never attain high levels of education, yet earn as much, if not more, than the most educated people in the country. This represents The White Dwarfs, if we relate Temperature to Median Earnings and Luminosity to Education. This would mean that people with high levels of education but low earnings represent the White Dwarfs. So in many ways, the H-R Diagram and the Education versus Earnings Diagram share a similar pattern.

One of the most difficult things about space travel is building a craft capable of traveling to far away parts of the solar system or galaxy. The cost of these missions is astronomical, (no pun intended) especially when you talk about traveling outside the solar system. Perhaps we could change that. In order to travel effectively to far away parts of the galaxy we must find a way to achieve a speed that is a significant fraction of the speed of light. One way to do that is by using solar sails. Solar sails use what is sometimes called “solar wind” to propel space craft. Solar wind is a kind of radiation given off by stars that is capable of exerting a physical force on objects. In fact, solar wind is the reason Mars no longer has an atmosphere, as it push all the atoms out of Mars gravitational pull.

Solar sails would be ideal because, first of all the would exert an acceleration force on a space craft, which would maintain that speed given the lack of friction in space, and secondly because solar wind, unlike rocket fuel, is free. by harnessing the suns solar wind we could easily accelerate a spacecraft to another star, where it would accelerate even more. This process would continue until the ship had reached a significant fraction of the speed of light.

Solar sails may seem like an incredibly new idea, but the idea has in fact been around for hundreds of years. Johan Kepler first eluded to the idea in the early 1600’s in a letter to Galileo after he discovered that comet tails are caused by solar radiation. He said that it may one day be possible to harness this energy for the purpose of space travel.

There are a few draw backs to solar sails however. For one thing, they would have to be incredibly massive to accumulate enough energy from solar wind to accelerate them a significant amount. Secondly, building something this large would be incredibly expensive, perhaps even more so than fueling a rocket. However, when it comes time to put human beings on long space journeys, unless some new invention comes to the fore front, I believe solar sails provide the best option.

Today I listen to a talk given by Dr. Gary Tabor, the Executive Director for the Conservation for Large Landscape Conservation. The lecture focused on efforts to conserve wildlife habitats in North America, especially focusing on the west coast and Colorado Basin. One of the most interesting things Dr. Tabor talked about was the efforts we are making to help animals cross large highways and roads. According to Dr. Tabor, roads, highways and railroads can be extremely detrimental to wildlife habitats because they cause a divide in the habitat over which animals are either unable, or too scared to cross. One of the ways we help animals to cross these man made boundaries is by creating land bridges or underpasses. These passages allow animals to cross boundaries and access parts of their ecosystem that would otherwise be cut off. Below is an example of one of these land bridges:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v1vUgBgKYCI/UAYGh2knxEI/AAAAAAAABdg/oE4Jwi5pEkw/s1600/The+Netherlands.jpg

While these bridges are a very inventive and effective way of maintaining habitats for wildlife, they are not a final solution to the problem. While they do seem to provide a safe way of travel for animals, they can sometimes become a bottle neck for these animals, where they may run into other animals. This can result in conflicts between animals that would never has arose had there been no bottleneck. In the lecture, Dr. Tabor showed a video of two bears who met on one of these bridges. They immediate began to attack each other.

These bridges also have one other, extremely obvious, flaw: some animals might not know where they are. Animals a few miles away from the bridge may be forced to cross the highway without ever knowing there is safe way to cross just minutes from them. The only way to fix this problem is to build many bridges all down the highway. Given the amount of highways, in America alone, that cut through endangered wildlife habitats, the cost of this project would be astronomical. Therefore it will be neccessary to find another way of getting these animals across major boundaries.

Two days ago (Sept. 30, 2013), NASA planetary scientists announced that they discovered an essential chemical in the process of making plastic on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. This ingredient is called propylene, which we combine with other propylene molecules to create polypropylene, which is one of the most common forms of plastic. But propylene is only one of the interesting chemicals found on Titan. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which discovered the propylene, also found, back in 1980, that Titans atmosphere also contains many other hydrocarbons, which are the family of molecules that make up fossil fuels. These molecules form on Titan when methane in the atmosphere is broken down by sunlight. The carbon atoms then reform into other molecules, including hydrocarbons. One of the most interesting among these hydrocarbons found on Titan is propane.

The idea of finding propane and other fossil fuels on Titan, or anywhere in our solar system, for that matter, is both incredible and terrifying. Scientific discoveries of this magnitude are always incredible, however, with our current dependence on fossil fuels, it is equally terrifying to think that we may have found a new, untapped source of hydrocarbons. It also brings about the question of how this will affect the idea of commercializing space. With oil being the perhaps the most sought after commodity on Earth, there is little doubt that oil tycoons will soon be forced to turn to a new source to supply the world with its insatiable demand for fossil fuels. Other planets could be an ideal source. All it would take is a unmanned spacecraft that could successfully land on Titan, equipped with machinery to gather fuel. The craft could even refill its tanks for the return flight home. While this would certainly lead to incredible advances in spaceflight and space exploration, it is hard to condone the idea of oil companies bringing even more fossil fuels into our atmosphere here on Earth.

Source:

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-finds-ingredient-plastic-saturns-moon-titan-145445605.html

In 2008, a Dutch entrepreneur named Bas Lansdorp sold the majority of his technology company and teamed up with Dutch physicist Arno Wielders to found the Mars One Foundation. Mars One, as it is known, is a non-profit organization with one goal in mind: to send humans on a one way mission to colonize Mars. If this does not sound crazy enough to begin with, Mars One does not even plan to send trained astronauts on this mission. As of August 31, the application for volunteers is officially closed, with 202,586 having applied from 140 countries. The only requirement to apply was being 18 or older. Eventually the applicant pool will be narrowed down to 40 people, who will then be trained in all the necessary for Mars survival, including technology maintainance, medical training, and skills in growing food on Mars. A public vote will then be held to determine which four applicants will be the first to make the seven month journey to Mars in the spacecraft Space X Falcon Heavy, an upgrade of Falcon 9. The Falcon heavy should be ready by 2014, although it will not leave for Mars until 2022.

This all may seem very possible at this point, but where the project falls far short is funding, of which they have none. The first one way trip is estimate to cost around $6 billion, with the other trips costing around $4 billion each. Mars One hopes to pay for this in part through money collected from applicants, who had to pay to apply. The rest of the money they intend to gather through a reality television show documenting the 40 applicants during the training process.

As of now, I have to say I do not see this project being successful. The technology is in place to accomplish this task, and interest in the project from the public is more than substantial, however, without a substance influx of cash, I just do not see this mission ever making off the landing pad. I believe this mission can only be successful with a gigantic grant from some government with amply money to throw into space exploration, which, in the current global economy, will be nearly impossible to come by.

Sources:

http://www.mars-one.com/en/

http://www.space.com/22758-mars-colony-volunteers-mars-one.html

War of the Worlds

     Written in 1898 by H.G. Wells, the novel War of the Worlds is one of the most critically acclaimed science fiction novels of all time. It takes place in Britain in the 1890’s, and reflects many issues of the culture. Since it was written it has been adapted into several movies, including the 2005 Block Buster hit directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. This novel reflects many themes about science and technology, however, the most important and prevalent of these themes is the argument between science and religion, a debate that is still relevant today. In this novel, H.G. Wells certainly backs the science side of this debate.

In the novel, H.G. Wells describes a world under siege from Martians. The book begins by describing Mars as an older planet, which has begun the process of cooling down. This drop in temperature freezes the oceans and makes the planet completely uninhabitable. As a result, the Martians are forced to find a new planet to live on. With Earth being the closest inhabitable planet, the choice is easy. The Martians load themselves into huge canisters and lift off for Earth. On Earth, the British astronomer Ogilvy has been studying the planet Mars. When he sees something resembling a shooting star come off the planet he is naturally very curious, and so he sets off to find the “meteorite”. Bringing a large crowd with him, he finds the crater created by the canister. While jostling for position at the edge of the crater, a shopkeeper loses his balance and falls in, bumping up against the canister, which opens, revealing the Martians. The Martians appear much like octopi, with heads and many tentacles, but no bodies. Then, without warning, a huge mechanical tripod rises out of the crater, firing a “Heat Ray” which instantly vaporizes forty on lookers. The unnamed narrator of the story, who has been watching all of this unfold, flees the scene, running home to his wife, where he manages to convince himself that the Martians are not a real threat. Later that night, an artilleryman appears outside the narrator’s house. He tells of how his entire artillery unit had been killed by the Martians. The narrator and the artilleryman decide to flee the town together, although they separate soon after fleeing. The narrator then meets the curate, a distraught clergyman who’s church has recently been destroyed. He is so emotionally disturbed that he can hardly control himself, and often has outbursts, in which he claims to be a guilty sinner.

At this point the book shifts from the story of the narrator to the narrator’s brother, who is living in London. When the Martians make their way to London, a large portion of the population decides to flee, including the narrator’s brother. This results in a panicked mass exodus of the city, with people moving as a crowd away from the city. One man is carrying a large bag of coins, which breaks open, spilling his money all over the ground. As the man bends down to pick up his coins, he is nearly trampled, and the narrator’s brother is forced to pull him out of the crowd to save his life.

Meanwhile, the narrator find himself, along with the curate, in an abandoned house on the edge of one of the craters created by the canisters. The narrator and the curate try desperately to avoid being discovered, however, the hysterical curate is unable to control his emotions, and begins to yell and scream. The narrator knocks him unconscious with the butt end of a meat clever, but it is too late. A robotic arm snakes into the house and drags the curate’s body out. The narrator manages to hide himself in the basement, where he remains for five days. When he does emerge, he decides to travel to London. When he finally reaches the city, he finds a pile of dead Martians, who had succumb to Earthly bacteria, which humans had been immune to for thousands of years. The narrator returns home and life begins to go back to normal.

One of the most important example of the debate between religion and science is the juxtaposition that H.G. Wells presents between St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and Crystal Palace, the site of the first World Fair. The narrator passes both these sites on his way to London, and finds them in very different states. When he passes by St. Paul’s Cathedral, he finds it completely razed, with only a pile of rubble remaining. The Crystal Palace, however, appears completely untouched and as immaculate as ever. The comparison between these two sites serves as a symbol for the state of religion, as opposed to that of science. The cathedral, for obvious reasons, represents religion in shambles, whereas the Crystal Palace, home of the first World Fair, which was essentially a exhibition of the greatest technological advances from every country on the earth at the time, represents science as perfect and untouchable.

The second example of the debate between religion and science that H.G. Wells illustrates in the novel is the comparison between the curate and the artilleryman. The curate, as a clergyman, represents the religious side of the debate, and the artilleryman, with his military mind for sound logic and reasoning, represents the scientific side. As we se throughout the book, the curate is good for little more than losing control of his emotions and crying out in guilt that he has sinned, a habit that eventually brings about his untimely end. Through the curate, H.G. Wells represents religion as a useless philosophy with no practical purpose.

The artilleryman, however, shows a very logical mind. When he and the narrator set out to flee the town in which the original canister landed, he insists they bring provisions and have an immediate plan. Without this thinking, the narrator would not have made it out of the town. The artilleryman represents the scientific mind as practical and malleable, allowing the artilleryman to survive the Martian attack.

However, later in the story, H.G. Wells throws a monkey wrench into this perfect comparison between the curate and the artilleryman. On the narrator’s trip to London, he bumps into the artilleryman, having separated from him after leaving town. The narrator finds the artilleryman to be much different from when he first met him. He drinks excessively, spends his days playing card games and making extremely grand and elaborate plans for the future, although never making any effort to execute them. This twist in the artilleryman’s character shows a different side of the scientific mind. H.G. Wells uses the artilleryman to show that, while religion is inherently flawed, and science serves as a better method to answer our questions about the world, perhaps science is not as perfect as we think.

These two comparisons between science and religion show us the perspective of H.G. Wells on this great debate. He clearly stands behind the scientific method, and shows no support for religion, asserting that religion is baseless and emotional, using guilt to control its followers, while science can thrive in any environment simply because it is based on facts and logical thinking. However, he does imply, through the metamorphosis of the artilleryman, that science is not perfect, and cannot leads to all the answers we seek. While the debate between religion and science will likely never be resolved, H.G. Wells does provide us with an interesting point of view on the subject.

One of the most interesting, and relatively recently discovered, features of the universe are quasars. Quasars are known for being the most luminous objects in the universe, as well as some of the most massive. In fact, despite being 2.4 x 10^9 light years away, the quasar 3C 273 is still visible with amateur telescopic equipment. But what exactly are quasars? Are they stars, or something quite different?

In short, quasars are something very, very different from stars. Quasars are huge masses of radiation that form at the center of gigantic active galaxies around supermassive black holes. In the most simple of terms, they are formed by the accretion of elements as they are sucked toward a supermassive black hole. On average, quasars are 10 – 10,000 times the size of the black holes they form around. For an artist’s rendering of a quasar, click the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Artist%27s_rendering_ULAS_J1120%2B0641.jpg

First discovered in the 1960s, by the astronomer Allen Sandage, quasars where only evident by the radio waves they emit. Eventually, these radio sources where tied to optical observations of what appeared, at first, to be faint blue stars. However, when spectra were attained of these mysterious objects. The spectra were like nothing ever seen before, with emission lines that defied interpretation. It was not until the 1970s, when accretion disc energy-production was beginning to be understood, that quasars were finally recognized for what they are. Their emission spectra where interpreted as being characterized by massive red shifts, an idea originally proposed by John Bolton in the 60’s.

This red shift is one of the most interesting properties of quasars. Red shifts are shifts in emission spectra caused by the stretching of wavelengths as an object moves away from the observer, or vice versa. This is also known as the Doppler Effect. The implication of the red shift characteristic of quasars is, of course, that the earth and all the quasars around it are moving away from each other. Based on its red shift, the above mentioned quasar, 3C 273 is believed to be moving away from the Earth at about 47,000 km/s. This information was very important at the time of its discovery, as it provided evidence for the theory of an expanding universe, which in turn supported the Big Bang Theory.

Quasars of some of the most interesting known bodies in our universe. These ominously bright objects are unique that can be viewed from billions of light years away with nothing more than an amateur telescope, a single one emitting a thousand times as much energy as the entire Milky Way galaxy.

All information attained from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasar

One of the most interesting geological sites in New England is Greenfield Massachusetts. Tucked between the Connecticut River and the Berkshire Hills, this area contains geological marvels from glacial evidence to the occasional dinosaur footprint. Check the link below for a map of the Greenfield area.

https://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&q=google+maps+greenfield+ma&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89e125f2515de343:0x9dc7b0ab2145abc3,Greenfield,+MA&gl=us&ei=jH0yUr3rG46xqAHp_YCACA&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQ8gEwAA

Greenfield has a very diverse collection of rock, displaying all three major rock types: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Of these rocks, perhaps the most interesting is the basalt deposits, which spilled out of the Eastern Border Fault, caused when the ancient continent Pangea split apart. This lava is extremely interesting because it contains radioactive material. Radioactive minerals, due to their half life, can be used to measure the age of the rock. This rock dates back to approximately 194 million years ago, placing it in the Late Triassic to early Jurassic era.

This, however is far from the most ancient information we have about the Greenfield area. In fact, we know that approximately 600 million years ago the entire Greenfield area was deep under the old Atlantic ocean, which is often called the Iapetus Ocean. It was not until 400 million years ago that Greenfield rose above the surface of the ocean, when the ancient continent Godwana, which is now part of Africa, collided with what is now known as North America. This collision of tectonic plates pushed Greenfield and much of the area around it up out of the ocean, transforming it into a huge mountain range the size of the Himalayas. Over time the area was eventually eroded into the flat plain it is today.

The thing that attracts most non-geologists to this are though, is the discovery of dinosaur footprints in the red sandstone that makes up the bank of the Connecticut River. These footprints are interesting because, although they clearly prove that dinosaurs were at one time present in the area, its hard to definitively prove the species of dinosaur. This is because, while footprints are common, there have been no findings of bones to accompany the prints. It seems likely, based solely on these prints, that the most common dinosaur was the Dilophosaurus. This 20 foot long, 6 foot tall dinosaur is known for leaving 12 to 18 inch prints. This species much resembles a miniature version of the infamous Tyrannosuarus. For more information on the Dilophosaurus, check out the link below.
http://www.myjurassicpark.com/dilophosaurus.html

In my most recent post I published a picture of Globular Cluster NGC 6652. In order to do this, I downloaded three pictures from http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/datasets/ , then I put them through an application called FITS liberator, which I downloaded from http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/download_v301/). Once I’d “liberated” the images in FITS, I opened them in Adobe Photoshop and layered them on top of each other. The next step was to download the “color composite” action for photoshop, which I got from http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/downloads_page/ , so that I could alter the colors. Finally, I changed the color of each layer to Red, Green or Blue, depending on the given wave length in the title of each picture. This process is the same as the process used to produce similar colored images of galaxies and nebulae. These images are called Hubble color composite images.

This is a Red, Green Blue rendering of Glodular Cluster NGC 6652