Weird Astronomy: Tales of Unusual, Bizarre, and Other Hard to Explain Observations (Astronomers' Universe)
Language: English
Pages: 304
ISBN: 1441964231
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A book that will appeal to all who are interested in unusual celestial occurences, this volume details a variety of odd astronomical observations and includes a number of amusing anecdotes that demonstrate the significance of these “weird” phenomena.
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The Universe: Leading Scientists Explore the Origin, Mysteries, and Future of the Cosmos
Touring the Universe through Binoculars: A Complete Astronomer's Guidebook
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Straata really exist? That is the question. The majority opinion remains negative or, at best, extremely skeptical. Crocco’s naming of the purported organism was met, not surprisingly, by a good deal of protest from the scientific world. Without the “organism” having been seen or its (hypothetical) DNA analyzed, its naming is highly irregular. Nevertheless, Crocco’ supporters point out that this radical move should raise the visibility of the purported organism and encourage further research.
Away with enthusiasm. The news media – even serious scientific news media – all too often blur the ambiguity inherent in the precise meaning of “Earth-like.” Does this mean a planet physically like our own (similar mass, size, density, and so forth) or does it mean one on which we could make our home and (just maybe) on which folk not too different from us already have? If we mean the former, an Earth-like planet has already been found; not around a distant star, but right next door in our own.
In a telescope – just as Huth described. Of course, there is another explanation; one which has gained quite a following in fact. Huth made the whole thing up! This may be true, but it would seem a pretty ill-advised thing for him to do. What could he gain by such a fabrication? And why �pretend to find something as controversial as a moving star, �especially at a time when only one asteroid was known? Of course, a cynic might say that he coveted the chance of being the second asteroid.
There was no need for any. The asteroid was tiny, only about 15 ft (4.6 m) in diameter and weighing in at an estimated 80 tons or thereabouts. It was expected to simply burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, with nothing more than dust reaching ground level. Following the discovery of 2008 TC_3, astronomers watched the asteroid’s approach as it rapidly brightened. By early October 7, it was probably bright enough to find in large binoculars if one new exactly where to look, but about 1 h before the time.
Years of the present century with renewed claims by a number of researchers that structures closely resembling fossilized bacteria were found within carbonaceous meteorites. Once again, the three old amigos – Orgueil, Murchison, and Allende – were the principal culprits. In 2004, NASA/NSSTC scientist Richard Hoover announced that he had found features closely resembling fossilized cyanobacterial mats in a freshly fractured interior surface of one of the Orgueil stones. These structures were.