Plasma Eruption Headed Toward Earth

Earlier this week, NASA scientists got a view of tonnes of plasma spewing forth from the sun and headed directly for Earth.  Wednesday morning the plasma should reach Earth.

AstronomyNow.com tells us how we can make the most of this:

If the magnetic field conditions at Earth are right then solar particles will stream down the field lies to interact with nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere, producing spectacular curtains of green and red light known as auroral displays. Observers in northern latitudes should look north this evening and in the early hours of tomorrow morning to try and catch a glimpse of these beautiful natural displays.

Of course, not everyone will be able to see it.  What's more interesting is just how rare this is.  Not only are these eruptions uncommon, but a certain number of events had to happen to make this plasma burst move exactly in the direction of Earth as it moves in orbit - exactly in the direction of the United States, to be precise.  As NewScientist.com explains:

On 1 August, a small solar flare erupted above sunspot 1092. It would not have raised many eyebrows, except that a large filament of cool gas stretching across the sun's northern hemisphere also chose that moment to explode into space.  Despite being separated by hundreds of thousands of kilometres, the two events may be linked. Images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory hint at a shock wave travelling from the flare into the filament.

 

It's enough to form conspiracy theories about weapons designed to use the sun against different countries, but I'll save that one for the ScyFy channel.

More Extra Solar Planets Discovered

We are often told that our planet is unique and that the odds of intelligent life existing on another planet so remote as to be nearly impossible.  Well, the odds are getting better:

Scientists celebrated Sunday after finding more than 700 suspected new planets -- including up to 140 similar in size to Earth -- in just six weeks of using a powerful new space observatory.

But, it gets better:

“The figures suggest our galaxy, the Milky Way [which has more than 100 billion stars] will contain 100 million habitable planets, and soon we will be identifying the first of them,” said Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astronomy at Harvard University and a scientist on the Kepler Mission. "There is a lot more work we need to do with this, but the statistical result is loud and clear, and it is that planets like our own Earth are out there."

Wikipedia keeps a list of extrasolar planets that's pretty staggering in itself, but it's only a list of the planets that have been confirmed - there are many more that just haven't been adequately studied, yet, because there are only so many telescopes.  We may find that we are not so unique after all - and not so alone.

Time Traveler Advertises Cheaply

Sounds like a good deal - go back in time and get paid! (From Oddee.com's list of amusing wanted ads.)

For some more interesting time travel news, this post from Forgetomori is interesting.  It's about an old black and white museum photo that appears to have a picture of a rather modern person in it.

What Happened to the Coso Artifact?

In 1961, geode prospectors in California found what appeared to resemble a spark plug embedded in a geode.  Since it takes many thousands of years to form one of these rocks, the prospectors concluded that it had, somehow, been left on earth by someone ages ago.

It started out as a story about ancient astronauts whose interplanetary spaceship accidentally left the device on Earth.  At last, some proof of alien life was in our hands.

But, it turned out that the thing resembling a spark plug really was a spark plug - a common one from the 1920s.  This changed everything; now, the so-called "Coso Artifact" seemed to prove that geodes could form in less than fifty years.  Such a claim could overturn all modern ideas of evolution and geology.

Alas, the Coso artifact seems pretty boring these days.  It appears to have been encased in clay - not a geode - and, as such, is a fairly nominal object.  There is no evidence that it is an ancient device or that it displays any unusual geological process.  The owner of the Coso Artifact has passed away, but in his final years he did not allow anyone to see the artifact, but he tried to sell it for $25,000.

It's hard to tell if this was a fraud or a misunderstanding.  Did the original discoverers really think they had found something mysterious?  The spark plug was old and worn-down, so they had to have someone examine it to tell them that it was actually a spark plug at all.  That tells me that they didn't know what they had and that they were at least a little interested in getting real answers.

The Coso Artifact is a good example of what happens when we get our hopes up without checking out the details.  I would be more excited than anyone if evidence of a real piece of future technology showed up in an old rock, but if we don't do the homework right away then we can be misled.

I'm going to visit the future!

I was skeptical, at first. But this is really starting to look good.

The wonderful people at the Time Travel Fund have an offer that I can't refuse. If you entrust them with a small monetary gift (the site says $10 will do) they will put this money into a market account so that the money will grow. In the future, this group will pay someone to come back in time and bring you to the future to inherit your fortune!

Provided, of course, that time travel is ever invented.

It's difficult to refute their premise when you read their great scientific facts like this one:

"...according to the equations of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity (the best theory of time and space we have), there is nothing in the laws of physics to prevent time travel"

Well, I don't know who could be a doubter after that. And it all came together when they showed the group picture.

There is even a handy investment calculator to help you estimate the amount you need to place in the fund. Who can refuse?