Starship Asterisk*

Thse starry circles - if they aren't optical defects, and are real formations of stars, the stars could have been positioned by the currents of Dark Matter and Dark Engery at the edges of time funnels .. and if anyone wants to call me a nut bar that's okay too, a pretty good generalization, really ....

Wonderful to have you aboard, Azut. While conventional discussions talk 3-D (or more Ds as you suggest and of course that is entirely probable) the universe has been theorized to more closely resemble 2D - like a curtain, or a piece of paper. In assuming the 2D model, my theoretical funnels in Dark ...

I'm sure that it's a 'given' that the shape of the arms indicates which way the galaxy is rotating. We can say 'clockwise' if when we're looking at the face of the galaxy it's rotating in the direction of an earthly clock - same as a bicycle wheel is rotating clockwise or counter clockwise depending...

Javachip wrote: The putative supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way is much too low in mass to exert gravitational influence on stars outside its nearby vicinity. So, if the Milky Way (and other spiral galaxies) are not whirling around a central black hole, then what are they whirlin...

Yes Mac - maybe the galaxy is revolving properly but we are revolving contrary .. that would explain a LOT of things about our planet's societies and individuals. Posting this is making me dizzy.

This is a little late, but I camped at Treeline at Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada, 30 years ago and the stars looked like a mirror image of Jasper village below. It was quite an experience. So .. to get to Jasper Avenue, turn left at Andromeda.

RJN - your comment that 'what topics are particularly apealing...." could lead to choice of APOD photos. Won't it get boring to talk about the same type of photo .. the same topics? Personally, I prefer things the way they are, a good variety.

Henck - I think if you pointed your disc at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080422.html
you might hear singing .. and I'm serious about this.

So, Henck, did you do that math in your head or did you have a little help, eh, snuck a little calculator into the classroom eh.

Thanks Henck .. especially for putting it into language I can understand, 'four Venuses' - 'less bright than a full moon'. Good stuff.

Would a planet in a relatively dense part of these clusters have no nightime? (the night sky being as bright as the day sky?) Beautiful creations, these clusters!

Bystander - An elipse of course is an oval - an elongated circle - while a globe is just that, a sphere. However .. galaxies seem to come in unrestricted shapes, and I think I remember seeing on APOD a picture of a square galaxy, the sides of which being slightly curved inward - that galaxy I think ...

Redshift - This will be seen as sacriledge, but not long ago, before the discovery of theoretical Dark Matter, a scientist whose name I can't remember wrote a book suggesting that Red Shift was the result of absorbtion of light by matter, and not result of speed. Another of his suggestions was that ...

Orin - I think the counter-revolving galaxies will slow each others' rotation and their merge will create a globular galaxy. This photo http://spdext.estec.esa.nl:81/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=42670 in my opinion being merged, stopped-revolution galaxies whose stellar wind will drive ...

Me again, What I mean to say is if the strengths of gravitational fields in a galaxy's outer edges become equalized by the fields of an approaching galaxy to the point at which matter begins to be lost then it could be like weightlessness and dark matter can begin to attract dark matter into greate...

Everyone sees what they like in this picture of four galaxies. If anyone has some red shift or other relevant data, now would be the time to come forward. Sputnick Writes: This will be seen as sacriledge, but not long ago, before the discovery of theoretical Dark Matter, someone suggested that Red ...

How do you know friction and currents do not apply here? Currents apply in electricity. Magnetism can be like friction in dragging elements along or hindering their forward motion. I don't know that it doesn't apply, but I find it unlikely, as there has not been found any sign that dark matter inte...

Case - " ... as friction and currents do not apply here." How do you know friction and currents do not apply here? Currents apply in electricity. Magnetism can be like friction in dragging elements along or hindering their forward motion. (Example being maglev trains). What we know is mini...

Orin - next time you're standing on a bridge over a river or canal, or on a riverbank, search the currents for spiral galaxies of foam and debris where current lines meet.

Yes, BMA - with the rotations of the two small galaxies definitely shaping the paths of the outer, upper arms of the two large galaxies. Simple when a person thinks of it - if Dark Matter and Dark Engery affect the shape of a spiral galaxy, then the rotation of the spiral must create movement in the...

Henck - your lumb of stars is a computer simulation only - not real space time matter. Computer simulations are operated by the imagination of people. I think the third and fourth galaxies are what they appear to be .. galaxies, far removed from the two main galaxies, and affecting the appearance of...

Duggan - I think the globular galaxy might be the same density - but the matter evenly distributed. Globular galaxies seem beautifully balanced. Also - yes, the even smaller, (even more distant) fourth galaxy in the image (top right - under the outermost arm of the rightside large galaxy) is also ef...

I apologize for opening a new thread on this photo before noticing this thread. Yes I do see the third, topside galaxy in this photo of two merging galaxies (I will not use the term 'colliding' as the term 'colliding' implies destruction which is theorized not to happen in merging galaxies, except i...

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html This is an outstandingly beautiful photo of two merging galaxies (the term 'colliding' implying destruction which is theorized not to happen in merging galaxies, except in the eventual ending of both galaxies' individual identities) - ((I wish I knew ho...

Right - nothing new - but 200 feet thick? As if the strata of Phobos were accordioned countless times, venting granular material each time .. building to new heights. It also shows my instinct about what is covering Phobos was right, which strengthens my faith in my instincts about the natural world...

John - To confirm my theory that Phobos is covered by loose, granular material - From Wikepedia - "Recent images from Mars Global Surveyor indicate that Phobos is covered with a layer of fine-grained regolith at least 100 metres thick; it is believed to have been created by impacts from other b...