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Post by Firefox on Feb 12, 2013 17:29:58 GMT
So said Eric Idle, and if he said it, it must be true! There are some great vids on You Tube. What with new discoveries from Hubble and other space telescopes coming in all the time, it's a fantastic era for astronomy. Post your favourite vids and channels here. Here's a great one for starters: www.youtube.com/user/SpaceRipLearn the latest on black holes, galaxies, new planets, and our solar system including auroras and comets.
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Post by Firefox on Feb 16, 2013 5:18:48 GMT
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Post by Pollik on Feb 16, 2013 16:02:27 GMT
So...were you out with your binoculars the other night for the asteroid pass?
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Post by Firefox on Feb 16, 2013 16:13:07 GMT
Nope. I don't go in much for the hands on astronomy, mainly because there's so much light pollution around London and the home counties.
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Post by Firefox on Feb 16, 2013 17:07:07 GMT
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Post by Pollik on Feb 16, 2013 17:50:42 GMT
You might be interested in this, which a stargazing friend put me on to... www.stellarium.org/It is brilliant
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Post by TammiJ on Feb 16, 2013 23:14:44 GMT
All of these are very good.
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Post by vwT5surfbus on Feb 17, 2013 16:29:58 GMT
can anyone explain in simple terms what the higgs boson is because i am still not getting it
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Post by Firefox on Feb 17, 2013 19:08:03 GMT
It is a fundamental particle but being a very heavy one it is unstable and decays rapidly.
The theory goes that originally all the protons and electrons and other particles were in one big bunch with no mass (pre big bang). Don't ask me how they got there that's another question! A Higg's Boson became unstable and decayed setting off the big bang as a chain reaction. All the other protons and things bounced off the Higg's Bosons and acquired mass (somehow) but as all the pressure was released (first second of the big bang) all the Higg's Boson's decayed leaving all the protons/electrons streaming outwards to form matter, but since they all had mass gravity could come into play and form stars and galaxies eventually. And the Higg's Boson which started it all was nowhere to be seen!
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Post by vwT5surfbus on Feb 17, 2013 19:14:23 GMT
i think i'm getting it more now but how they cause other things to get mass seems strange. do we have higgs bosons in the world today?
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Post by Firefox on Feb 22, 2013 7:19:55 GMT
It's beyond my understanding of current particle physics. I think they may be around but instantaneously as they are unstable. So they are elusive characters. Matter and antimatter and other particles is being formed and disappearing all the time It gets very complicated! Anyway from that to the next video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNDnZb-nEOcAll about supernovas (exploding stars), how and why they occur, and what they can tell us about distances and age of the universe.
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