Astronomy Online

Archive for June, 2009

Regardless of how far along you’re in your class as a newbie astronomer, there is always one fundamental moment that we all return to. That is that very first moment that we went out where you could really see the cosmos well and you took in the night sky. For town dwellers, this could be a revelation as surpassing as if we discovered aliens living among us. Many of us have no idea the massive panorama of lights that dot a clear night sky when there are no city lights to interfere with the view.

Sure we all love the enhanced experience of studying the sky using binoculars and various sizes and powers of telescopes. But I bet you can recollect as a kid that first time you saw the fully displayed clear night sky with all the fantastic constellations, meters and comets moving about and an exposure of dots of light far to countless to ever count.

The easiest way to recapture the wonder of that moment is to go out in the country with a child of your own or one who hasn’t had this experience and be there at that moment when they gaze up and say that awfully tough word that is the sole one that may summarize the feelings they are having viewing that wonderful sky. That word is – “Wow”.

Probably the most phenomenal fact about what that child is looking at that is also the thing that is hardest for them to understand is the sheer enormity of what is above them and what it represents. The very fact that almost up there in the sky is another star or astronomical body that is massively bigger that Earth itself, not by twice or ten times but by factors of hundreds and thousands, can be a mind blowing idea to children. Children have enough difficulty imagining the dimensions of earth itself, far less something on such a grand scope as outer space.

But when it comes to astronomy, we do better when we fall into deeper and deeper levels of shock at what we see up there in the night sky. Some superb facts about what the kids are taking a look at can add to the goose bumps they are already having as they gaze eyes skyward. Facts like…

*    Our sun is part of a big universe called the Milky Way that consists of one hundred billion stars just like it or bigger. Show them that one hundred bn. is 100,000,000,000 and you will se some jaws drop for sure.

* The milky was is only one of tens of universes every one of galaxies each of which has billions of stars in them as well. In fact, the Milky Way is one of the to drive across the Milky Way, it would take you 100,000 years. But you can’t get there driving the road limit. You need to drive five trillion, eight hundred million miles a year to get all the way across that fast.

* Scientists work out the Milky Way is fourteen bn. years old.

These small fun facts should get a pretty enthusiastic consultation going about the origins of the universe and about the possibility of space travel or if there are life on other planets. You can challenge the kids to work out that if each star in the Milky Way supported 9 planets and if only one of them was inhabitable like earth is, what are the chances that life would exist on one of them? I suspect you’ll see some genuine excitement when they try and run those numbers.

Such discussion can be fun, exciting, and full of queries. Do not be too hasty to shut down their imaginations as this is the birth of a lifetime love of astronomy that they are experiencing. And if you were there that first moment when they saw that night sky, you will re-experience your own great moment when you was a child. And it might set off a whole new excitement about astronomy in you all over again.

Visit planet-facts.com for more information about planets and our solar system. Along the way, check out facts about Venus.

The term ‘Mental telepathy‘ is misleadingly broad. It essentially means the direct communication of thoughts between people without using the basic five senses. There is a huge difference, however, between having a creepy feeling that someone is watching you and being able to pick the plans for a nuclear reactor out of an unsuspecting scientist’s mind. Mental telepathy covers a huge range of abilities from very basic to fairly complex. This article will attempt to explain the different levels of mental telepathy.

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Whenever two people communicate without speaking, using body language or facial expressions instead, it is considered non-verbal communication or kinesics. Some people are able to communicate simple messages while others are able to communicate entire conversations using kinesics. You may have experienced this when giving looks to a cohort in a secret plan of action. Achieved easiest and most accurately between people who know each other well, kinesics involves knowing what the other person is thinking by non-verbal gestures or kinesics.

This may not count as mental telepathy, as the two people are using their senses to communicate, just not verbally and this is correct. However, mental telepathy plays a role, because their minds are more attuned to each other because of extended exposure to the way the others mind may think and some predictability comes into play, so there is a sort of mental connection. Two people that know each other well enough to understand more subtle body language, or have created nonverbal signals to communicate, might be argued that it is not be classified as mental telepathy.

EMPATHY

When you can understand and perceive the emotional state of the other person, then this ability is known as empathy. Many people can do this well and many cant because the ability to put your self in somebody else’s shoes is not inherent. However one can develop empathy with preparation and observation. This fact can be seen in actors who can not only emulate the emotional states of others but also enhance their empathy so much that they can laugh and cry exactly like the other person.

Sympathetic pain or truly feeling the pain of the other person is often experienced by many. This can be particularly prevalent in mothers who even develop a fever when their children are sick. There are times when close friends or relatives actually feel the pain whether it’s emotional or physical or even mental of the other person. Then there is something known as long distance empathy which all of us have known and experienced at one time or the other. This happens when some one real close to us has problem or gets hurt or even is in danger and is somewhere else and we feel their pain and emotion.

Overactive imagination has been blamed by some psychologists and they feel other senses are being used, so it doesn’t count as mental telepathy. How would you explain the phenomena of long-distance empathy, when you are not in proximity to the person? This might explain the feelings experienced if you have sympathetic pain after seeing your child break his arm, however.

CONCRETE CONCEPTS:

Thought transference of symbols, numbers, or names of objects between two minds is beyond the regular five senses in communication. A designated sender and receiver, intense concentration, training, and practice are often involved in this type of Mental telepathy, such as a mind reader or physic with a television audience, who is able to guess the names of loved ones or what card a person is holding in their hand.

Here the principle is that simpler concepts are easily communicated. For instance an animal is more difficult to communicate than a shape or color.

Experiments in telepathy are often conducted on this level. The Zener cards used in tests of mental telepathy are simple, concrete black-and-white symbols (a circle, square, star, plus sign, and three wavy lines). On one hand, skeptics and critics of the Zener cards have pointed out that with only five cards to choose from, even a random guess has a 20% chance of being right. On the other hand, one could argue that a shared, known, limited set of concrete symbols increases the ability of the sender and receiver to coordinate their thoughts. Furthermore, although anyone can get a 20% success rate with enough guesses, a success rate of 50% or higher (which have happened) can not be explained away by simple statistics.

ABSTRACT COMMUNICATION:

Mental telepathy at this level involves abstract concepts like ideas or actions, which are more complex to communicate than colors and shapes. Telepaths rarely achieve this level, and lower success rates are indicated in experiments.

Telepathy shouldn’t be ruled out when it comes to animals that seem to communicate ideas to each other through non-verbal actions. Because animal brains lack prefrontal lobes, telepathy would probably not go beyond simplistic ideas such as hunger or danger signals, but many have seen two dogs look at each other and go running for an almost pre-decided location.

There is a theory that humans were once capable of telepathy, but lost it as the species evolved and developed language. If this is true, then with the right stimulation humans should be able to ‘relearn’ this dormant ability.

However, there are some who feel that man may be able to develop ESP and telepathy and such psychic abilities in the near future. As man’s psychic powers grow it may be possible for the entire race to become telepathic in the future.

There must be a lot of astronomy facts right? Consider that there are somewhere around 1 x 10 ^22 stars in the universe, that’s a one followed by 22 zeros. Think about this, there are planets orbiting many of those stars. Then consider all the moons that orbit the planets, the comets and asteroids, the galaxies these stars form, the nebulae and black holes and everything else out there. It’s a lot to consider. This article, which presents astronomy facts, certainly won’t contain every astronomy fact. Walked is here, however, is interesting.

Let’s take a look at this subset of astronomy facts – the brightest stars as seen from Earth. Let’s ignore the sun, it’s too close. It’s so bright as seen from Earth that it washes out all the other stars in the sky during a phenomenon called “daylight”. Keep in mind that in the scale for the magnitudes given, lower numbers are brighter. The sun would be about -26.73, while the full moon is -12.6. And now to the top five.

#5 goes to Vega, Arabic for vulture. As seen from Earth its magnitude is .03. Just because a star looks brighter from Earth doesn’t mean it’s really brighter. Our sun, for example, appears brighter than any other star, even though it’s not one of the brightest in the universe.  That’s because it’s so close.

#4 goes to Rigel Kentaurus, or foot of the centaur. It’s about four light years from Earth with a magnitude of -.01.

At #3, remember this is set in stone as one of the many astronomy facts we have, is Arcturus. The name means guardian of the bear in Greek. This star is 37 light years from us.

#2 is Canopus. Of these top five Canopus, a Greek name for the pilot of the vessel Argo made famous in the stories about Jason and the Argonauts, is the brightest. But it’s 313 light years from Earth so it’s just second on this list as seen from Earth. It has a -.62 magnitude as seen by humans on this planet.

#1 is Sirius, meaning scorching in Greek. It’s also called the Dog Star because it’s the brightest star in the constellations Canis Major (the Big Dog). At only 9 light-years away from Earth it is the second closest in these top five. But from Earth it has a magnitude of -1.44. That makes it easily the brightest star as seen in the night sky.

There are many more astronomy facts out there. But consider it next time you see the stars in the night sky.

Astronomy is a serious science and a popular hobby all over the world. As do other interests astronomy generates millions of words of information every month. Astronomy magazines can be a wealth of information including amazing imagery, and guides to help with home telescope use. Now that these magazines are online, it’s an even better world for amateur astronomers.

A top astronomy magazine in the UK is “Astronomy Now”. It’s been around for 20 years and caters to both hobbyists and the pros. The magazine subscriptions regularly include features on everything to do with the science, and focus articles that go further in depth into a particular subject or aspect of astronomy. Reader images, star charts and book reviews are standard in every issue of this magazine. The web site includes most of this information including a much better presentation of the sky chart than can be delivered in any paper magazine. The sky can be shown for any month, period of the month (early or late,) time and at various magnifications. It’s a real help to  anyone with a telescope.

Another useful astronomy magazine is Sky and Telescope. It describes itself as having an astronomy expert at your side. Imagine gazing up at the stars while Carl Sagan, rest his soul, stood ready to deliver important tips and information. Of course the magazine not only focuses on this important information, but includes stunning imagery of outer space objects and phenomenon. In November 2008 for example Sky and Telescope showed a stunning image of a planet orbiting a distance star. This marks the first time a planet has been seen orbiting another star in visible light imagery.

One of the first websites people find when searching for astronomy magazines is the website for Astronomy. The latest information presented by this publication, online via its web site, is truly stunning. It includes the first images ever taken of another solar system. Also posted is an audio tour, in the form of a podcast, of the constellation Cassiopeia. Astronomy also features guides for kids getting into astronomy, first time astronomers and people who want to see the night sky from a city setting. Both the print magazine and website are top-notch.

Admitting to being cheap, the author admits to sticking to web sites instead of purchasing any astronomy magazine. But online or in print, these are priceless guides.

Lucid dreams are dreams you are having, but you are aware that they are dreams and can actually control them. You are aware of every move you make, and the things you say. You decide where you want to go, what you want to do, what you want to say and who you want to be with.

Lucid dreams can be anything. From a sci-fi fantasy to an adventure or a fairy tale romance, you can dream about anything. Unlike real life, lucid dreams have unlimited possibilities. All you need is imagination.

While normal dreams are uncontrollable and completely dependent on the realms of the subconscious, lucid dreaming is completely controllable. There are times when lucid dreams become so vivid and so genuine that you may need to even make sure that you are dreaming!

In a dream, certain things will not seem right, like reading words, or colors may not be pronounced. There are simple tests many people do to see if they are really are having a lucid dream or are in a state like sleep walking, for example.

Someone you want to be with may be impossible in real life, but in a lucid dream, you where anything is possible, you can be sitting and talking with a loved one that has passed or a guy you saw at the subway station.

As soon as you realize you are dreaming start to change it, so that what you want to happen does. For example, imagine you are with the person you have been fantasying about, but now that person returns your smile, you get closer and soon touch. Just use your imagination to control your dream.

Lucid dreams are very much possible. Though the body needs to revive itself for the next day by sleeping and resting, it is possible for your mind to be partly conscious.

There are techniques to Lucid dreaming that must be learned. It can be a slow process, but it can be learned with patience and practice.

You can begin by doing some dream recall everyday. Each day try to recall the dreams that you had in the night. You need to remember them to the last possible detail. It’s a great idea to keep some paper and pen handy to record your dreams. In the beginning you may not recall all the details. That’s not a problem. However, with constant practice, you will find dreams repeating themselves. This will enable you to completely record your dream. Make this a habit and soon you will have all your dreams recorded and can refer to them when you want.

If you are a writer this information is invaluable. You may have your next novel lined up. In a lucid dream you create the scenes and actions. The dream ends the way you want it to. Lucid dreaming is a time to pacify our inner ambitions and desires and plan their execution in reality.

You can sometimes continue the dream where you left off, if you wake up, recall everything you can about your dream, and go back to sleep. Lucid dreams have been found to have a pattern, so chances are you will be able to recall more each time as it reaches a conclusion to your liking.

If you wake before your normal time, let’s say you have a couple of hours to go; this is the easiest time for lucid dreaming. It may seem like you have been awake and thinking all the time, but you have actually been lucid dreaming.

Soon you will be surprised at how easy it really is to do. One short cut you can try is to use self-hypnosis; it can help prepare your mind to recall vividly your lucid dreams.

You can sometimes put your mind into the mode of lucid dreaming using other techniques, such as binaural beats, which are a recent development in sound technology. By using sound waves to put parts of the brain responsible for lucid dreaming to work to instantly put you into the lucid dream condition and help you recall lucid dreams.