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NASA's Spitzer space telescope detects green crystal rain bombarding sun-like star near Orion
News.com.au ^ | 3/27/11 | Peter Farquhar

Posted on 05/28/2011 4:59:40 PM PDT by LibWhacker

MORE proof that space is amazing, this time from the not-too-distant constellation of Orion, where one star is currently being bombarded with green crystal rain.

The embryonic star is described as "Sun-like" - as in our Sun - and named HOPS-38.

The crystals are a green mineral called olivine and have been spotted raining down from the clouds of gas engulfing HOPS-68 by NASA's Spitzer infrared detectors.

Olivine can be found on Earth, in gemstones and on the green sand beaches of Hawaii. They've also been spotted before by NASA's Stardust and Deep Impact comet-watchers, but this is the first time they've ever been observed falling as "rain".

[*snip*]

“If you could somehow transport yourself inside this protostar’s collapsing gas cloud, it would be very dark,” the study team's lead author Charles Poteet said.

“But the tiny crystals might catch whatever light is present, resulting in a green sparkle against a black, dusty backdrop."

[*snip*]

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: crystal; freelazamataz; green; olivine; orion; rain

1 posted on 05/28/2011 4:59:49 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker; KevinDavis; SunkenCiv

is it HOPS 38 or 68??

Cause I am sending a package nd I need the correct address...


2 posted on 05/28/2011 5:13:04 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: LibWhacker
“If you could somehow transport yourself inside this protostar’s collapsing gas cloud, it would be very dark,” Yep, I hear tell it is quite dark when your dead.
3 posted on 05/28/2011 5:14:34 PM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda)
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To: LibWhacker
More at Nasa
4 posted on 05/28/2011 5:18:03 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned....Duncan Hunter Sr. for POTUS.)
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To: Islander7

Popular Science, a few months ago, answered the question, “What happens if you eat a teaspoon of a white dwarf star?”

The basic answer was, “Nothing good.”


5 posted on 05/28/2011 5:39:55 PM PDT by Jonty30
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To: Islander7
I hear tell it is quite dark when your dead.

You mean "when you're dead", don't you?

6 posted on 05/28/2011 5:53:15 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: LibWhacker

7 posted on 05/28/2011 5:57:08 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: UCANSEE2

Yeah, old finger, slow mind.


8 posted on 05/28/2011 5:57:13 PM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda)
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To: Islander7

Join the club. I’m a member.


9 posted on 05/28/2011 5:58:52 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: LibWhacker

“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe: Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I’ve watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”


10 posted on 05/28/2011 6:04:49 PM PDT by bravo whiskey (If the little things really bother you, maybe it's because the big things are going well.)
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To: LibWhacker

11 posted on 05/28/2011 6:18:44 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: LibWhacker

I object to a Spitzer anything ......the guy was a complete fraud, and for proof, he’s on CNN. I rest my case.


12 posted on 05/28/2011 6:19:33 PM PDT by The Wizard (Madam President is my President now, and in the future)
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To: bravo whiskey

Bladerunner


13 posted on 05/28/2011 6:23:38 PM PDT by DigitalVideoDude (It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit. -Ronald Reagan)
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To: LibWhacker
Olivine is an inferior form of Peridot.

It's raining Gems!

14 posted on 05/28/2011 6:35:05 PM PDT by CelesteChristi
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To: LibWhacker
The not too distant constellation of Orion?

A constellation is a portion of the sky as seen from the earth within precisely delineated boundaries--a few relatively bright stars in that area may be what we generally think of as the constellation, but anything in that area no matter how far away is in the constellation, even galaxies billions of light-years away.

15 posted on 05/28/2011 6:44:47 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: LibWhacker

>> NASA’s Spitzer infrared detectors.

Red light detectors... interesting.


16 posted on 05/28/2011 8:46:17 PM PDT by Gene Eric (*** Jesus ***)
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To: LibWhacker

The NASA report couldn’t say it was Kryptonite for obvious reasons.


17 posted on 05/28/2011 9:08:20 PM PDT by muleskinner
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To: bravo whiskey

“some of the most magical sights in the entire universe: astral starbursts creating a myriad celestial bodies against a timeless royal blue backdrop”


18 posted on 05/28/2011 9:34:38 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all - Aristotle)
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