Posted on 11/21/2019 7:35:30 PM PST by MtnClimber
From the tallest peak in Hawaii to a high plateau in the Andes, some of the biggest telescopes on Earth will point towards a faint smudge of light over the next few weeks. The same patch of sky will draw the attention of Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer in Crimea, and many other hobbyists who will sacrifice proper sleep and doze through their day jobs rather than miss this golden opportunity.
What they’re looking for is a rare visitor that is about to make its closest approach to the Sun. After that, they have just months to grab as much information as they can from the object before it disappears forever into the blackness of space.
This chunk of rock and ice started its journey many light years from Earth, millions of years ago. The object got kicked out of its own neighbourhood by a violent gravitational push — maybe from a nearby planet, maybe from a passing star. Since then, it has been adrift in the space between the stars, eventually heading in our direction.
On 30 August, Borisov spotted the object in the predawn sky — it was glowing dimly, with a broad stubby tail. Later named Comet 2I/Borisov after its discoverer, it captured global attention because it’s only the second object — aside from exotic dust particles — ever known to have entered our Solar System from interstellar space. “This is my eighth comet, and so amazing,” says Borisov, who adds that it was “great luck that I got such a unique object”.
It is remarkably different from the first interstellar interloper, which was a small, dark, rocky-looking object named 1I/‘Oumuamua that whizzed past the Sun in 2017.
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
WAr of the worlds, Invasion of Democrat body snatchers.
"Just three weeks after 2I/Borisov was first seen, astronomers trained the 4.2-metre William Herschel Telescope in Spain’s Canary Islands on it and spotted molecules of cyanide gas streaming off the comet. It was the first-ever detection of gas from an alien visitor to the Solar System."Has Congressfume Eric Foulsmell been spotted anywhere in the vicinity of this comet?
There is no such thing as a "gravitational push" -- gravity is only an attractive force. A "pull" if you will.
Neighborly Rendezvous
Traveling to other planets is just like rendezvousing with another spacecraft in a different orbit, because that is exactly what you are doing. The interplanetary spacecraft is moving from Earth’s orbit to, say, Mars’ orbit, to rendezvous with the red planet. In traveling to Mars, the spacecraft is moving to a higher orbit. Remember from Orbital Mechanics part 1, to raise the apogee of an orbit, we fire the engines at perigee. On a Mars mission, Earth orbit is the perigee—but since we are leaving the home planet and moving into solar space, it is now called perihelion. Mars’ orbit is aphelion. A Hohmann Transfer Orbit trajectory does the job nicely, with the engines fired in the direction of Earth’s movement in it’s’ orbit.
If the object in question has engines they can push it, but all gravitational interactions are from attraction (pulls), even the “sling-shot”.
There he is!
It’s most likely coming from Mars. Varlock The Vicious Supreme Ruler of Mars is not amused.
Do you know who The Beatles were? It’s a Beatles song.
For every instance of positive gravitational attraction there is an instance of negative gravitational repulsion. This has been true like forever.
Thx.
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/comet2iborisov/index
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/2iborisov/index
Rendezvous with Rama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama
The composers that are remembered are the CLASSICAL composers. Their music is still being performed and will be performed in 100 years, 500 years, whatever.
My tastes changed from the time I was 16 years old.
I also love opera. Not all opera is good but what IS still around is fabulous. If it weren't it wouldn't be performed.
The classical composers also wrote some TERRIBLE music and operas. But those dogs bit the dust a long time ago, as they should have, and what is left is the best of the best.
The only two forms of music I don’t like are jazz and rap. Rap isn’t music, it noise. Oddly enough though I took lesson from one of the premier jazz drummers ever, the late Joe Morello.
I liked jazz when I was much younger but it got WAY OUT THERE for me. I didn't "get it" anymore. The only name I can even remember in that genre is John Coltrane.
You are correct: rap isn't music. It's talking to a rhythm. Nothing more.
Rhyming isn't difficult. Even children can do that.
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