NASA - Solar Probe Plus - 0 reviews [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

Buckle your seat belts, NASA might be going to the sun. The sun is probably the most noticeable thing in the sky. Over the course of human history many theories have sought to explain it, people have even worshiped it as a God. Even today in our modern age there is very little that we actually know about the sun. NASA's Solar Probe+ may attempt to explain some of these mysteries.

Can a Wormhole Generate its Own Magnetic Field? | Universe Today - 0 reviews [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

Ah yes, wormholes. The stuff that that dreams are made of. The universe is a vast place. The distances involved when talking about traveling to other galaxies are completely mind-blowing. In most cases it would take several lifetimes to travel to even the closest galaxies to us. Now, enter the wormhole. This mythical object makes vast distances null and void by allowing us to take shortcuts through space and time. But are they really possible?

Missing matter found in deep space - Yahoo! News - 1 reviews [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

I'm surprised this is not on the front page of every news website. This is a completely different way of looking at the universe and the way it is tied together.

Will Mars Astronauts be put in Suspended Animation for the Journey? | Universe Today - 0 reviews [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

The Universe within 14 billion Light Years - The Visible Universe - [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

Here is your daily dose of feeling really insignificant.

Asteroid 99942 Apophis 2004 MN4, impact countdown clock - [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

Asteroid 99942 has a slim chance of impacting the Earth in 2036. If you are like me and you are really really excited about this, you can set this page as your browser home page so that you know exactly how long you have until doomsday.

Damn Interesting - Space Radio: More Static, Less Talk - [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

This is a fascinating article about the possibility of finding life on other planets in our galaxy. What I thought was particularly interesting about it was the interactive Drake Equation. According to conservative estimates there are 2 civilizations that are probably communicating via radio in our galaxy. Here are my estimates:

New Milky Way stars per year = 6.00
Proportion of stars which have planets = 50.00%
Average number of life-compatible satellites = 0.05
Percentage of planets where life does appear = 55.00%
Percentage where intelligent life evolves = 9.00%
Percentage of civilizations which send signals into space = 10.00%
Average years that civilizations will send signals = 5000.00
Average civilizations in our galaxy = 3.7

Now here is the thing, according to my estimates there are 3.7 communicating civilizations in our galaxy, but that is only our galaxy. In our entire universe there are somewhere between 100 billion and 500 billion galaxies. So let's say that I plug some ultra conservative estimates into the Drake equation and find the the probability is .0000000001 (That's 9 zero's) then that means there are somewhere between 10 and 50 other advanced civilizations in our universe. And to be quite honest, I would be happy with just one.

Human observation of dark energy may shorten the life span of the universe - [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

Quantum Mechanics is just weird. It seems to defy all logic at times. This situation is no different. Basically the idea here is that observing dark matter in our universe may have shortened it's life span by way of the Quantum Zeno effect. What is that you ask? It describes the situation in which an unstable particle, if observed continuously, will never decay. I just really have a problem with the idea that observing something can change it.

Star makers | COSMOS magazine - [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

Fascinating! I find it kind of sad to think about all the leaps and bounds that our civilization will make over the next thousand, million, or billion years; and yet I won't be around to see any of it.

Black holes may harbour their own universes - space - 31 October 2007 - New Scientist Space - [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

This is an interesting idea, but to me it sounds a little more like sci-fi and a little less like science. Although lately I have been seeing a lot of that. I think that scientists think that if you put the word "may" into a statement that means that it is ok to say pretty much anything.

For example; Stars are really made of cheese. You are not going to buy that for a second. But if we add a "may" into that statement it makes it sound a little more believable; Stars may be made of cheese. Hmmm....