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Real-Life "Armageddon" Lander Touches Down On Comet - Live Feed
As European scientists continue to watch the nail-biting descent of the Philae Lander to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to collect samples, the images (and tweet stream from the 'lander') are stunning. Conjuring thoughts of roughnecks and Aerosmith, the material that the lander analyses in the first contact of its kind will give insight into how Earth and other planets formed.
Touchdown! My new address: 67P! #CometLanding
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 12, 2014
Live feed (via The European Space Agency):
European scientists launched a probe from spaceship Rosetta on Wednesday in an historic attempt to examine the surface of a comet, starting a seven-hour descent that marks the most nail-biting phase of a ten-year mission.
Overcoming technical glitches, the European Space Agency craft jettisoned its lander on schedule at around 0400 ET to collect samples from the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which it has been orbiting since August.
"Now it's up to gravity to bring it down," Stefan Ulamec, Lander Manager from German Aerospace Center DLR, said.
The material that the lander, named Philae, analyses in the first contact of its kind will give insight into how Earth and other planets formed.
...
The launch went ahead despite a problem with the thruster that was due to help stop the lander from bouncing back off the comet's surface, which means it may have to rely mainly on its harpoons to anchor it.
"There were various problems with the preparation activities overnight but we have decided to go. Rosetta is lined up for separation," Paolo Ferri, ESA's head of mission operations, said before the launch.
The team had to release the three-legged lander at exactly the right time and speed because there is no way of controlling it on its descent.
...
The probe is expected to touch down at around 1030 ET and confirmation of the landing is expected some 30 minutes later.
* * *
The Philae Lander confirms touch-down...
It’s me… landing on a comet & feeling good! MT @ESA_Rosetta: I see you too! #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/DjU0J1Ey4H
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 12, 2014
.@philae2014’s first postcard just after separation – it’s of me!
#CometLanding
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA pic.twitter.com/OXJwGunL3V
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) November 12, 2014
Nice one! I’ve never seen you from this angle before, @ESA_Rosetta! #CometLanding
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 12, 2014
Images of the comet...
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I am a cynical man, but this is amazing. I cannot wait to share this with my boys at home tonight and talk about engineering and the math involved to make this work!
BREAKING NEWS: "Paul Krugman was sighted sitting on the comet eating aliens for breakfast".
NASA should get into FX trade/rig game. We'd already have a colony on Mars.
Too busy reaching out to the Muslim world..
http://humanevents.com/2011/07/26/nasas-new-mission-boost-the-muslim-wor...
Gold, bitchez!
Finally something cool in this fucked up world. Ironic that it's taking place outside of our world though. lol
This now proves we can send all the banksters, lawyers and politicians to space-based prisons like in Alien 3. :-) haha
I want to see it discover something REALLY cool now
That comets are made of scotch!
Now if they could just direct it towards Washington, DC.
I would want the first one to hit the U.N. personally. It's an ugly building filled with disgusting, evil people who need to go away.
At least in D.C. it's just filled with disgusting, evil people who need to go away, but the buildings are cool. I'd wanna keep them.
All except the Federal Reserve building. That fucker can be destroyed first!
They're all just useless buildings filled with useless people.
I hope I never get so jaded or cynical that I can't recognize how badass this accomplishment is. You ask where I don't mind spending large sums of money? This kind of stuff.
Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
Are we there yet!!
That is incredible. Maybe soon Newt's dream of mining comets will become a reality?
Based on some rough calculations I figure the gravity of that comet is about g=1.6E-4 m/s^2 which is about ~.00002% of Earth's gravity.
Is that enough gravity to hold the dust onto the surface (3rd pic down)? Or are there electostatic forces at work? Or is that even dust at all? Or are these fake propoganda photos?
Check my math. I may have units messed up. I used:
mass = 1E13kg
radius = 2000m
G is the universal gravitational constant = 6.67x10^-11 Nm^2/kg^2
with g=-GM/(r*r)
Delete: was looking for images, found them on esa website.
Right, all of you God nuts who are frothing at the mouth for revelations to come true might take some inspiration from this and not wish for the destruction of humanity. This is where inspiration is found, in the incredible achievements of mankind, not in the infantile ramblings of ancient desert dwellers who believed in magic and witches and dragons.
So back to gold rigging and eternal QE tomorrow, when the commotion dies?
Bread and circuses. Scientific circuses, to be correct: Circii.
so, technically, correct me if i'm wrong, but, in one hand you have couple of scientists throwing a metal boxed camera on a moving stone on the space, and in the other hand, not a single car compagny can sell over 100k vehicule without any callback campaign ?
the 0.1% i guess....
make sense. for sure this will help to solve finance abuses and make plenty millions people feeded over the next 5 years, i'm definitivly convinced that it will change the way humanity act within 10years....
............ clap clap guys for the event, but... in reel world, empty stomac do not look at space comets.
Now they could justify the PM rigging by saying these comets are 90% junk silver, with the othe 10% being gold..
Up til now, they were claiming it is a giant snow ball.
https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2014/08/16/rosetta-mission-predictions/
The new Moon Lander proposed by Backdoor Barry will include robots capable of building mosques from standard lunar materials.
Come on. With EVERYTHING manipulated, including our impossibility of a geo-centric orbiting moon where you never see the backside of the moon? And all the visual and audio evidence that proves that the "Official" storyline is as phony as the Libor scandal... the Precious Metals manipulation scandal... Stock market BS.
And now, this rock, floating around just like the movie 'Armageddon'???
Come on folks... How many Billions did this cost us?
I've got some beachfront property in Arizona.
GEESH!
It is an amazing feat non-the-less..
I think brother El O is suggeasting that the feat is no feat at all. it's a FEATure....film that is.
AKA CGI....
Everyone continues to be had, by the saem liars that have lied to them all their lives...
Ohhhyes, we're so great at space mechanics....
Those "pictures" of the "comet....straight out of science fiction...rough jagged edges, some mountainous "features"...
Holy Woodie!
Yes V,
ESA are just like the NASAholes... burbling out more batches of nonsense for public consumption.
Check out the ESA's line of photo manipulation on their pics of Mars Hale crater. They did a piss poor job layering those artifacts into the image.
Images of this clariity ON the Rosetta comet, but pure trash for the comet Siding Spring C/2013 A1 flyby of Mars? Yeah... uh huh. Where's my whisky? Pass the bong. window pane anyone?
The inconsistency of their technological application is an outstanding window into the recognition that one should believe nothing from these lying, useless, phony, charlatan ran abominations of space agencies.
Hook Line and Optical Interferometry
What a crap attitude for some of the most amazing inexpensive science today. TEN fing years in the making and you have no appreciation for that effort? This comet contains the materials of the origin of our solar system. If the science isn't interesting at least have some sense of adventure!
Science is dead.
So does the earth. the gov pointed a gun at me for the money. If they are going to force me to give them money, I would like them to land a space ship on planet earth and fucking feed the 30 million people that are going to die this year from hunger and unclean water. That's 82k dead per day for lack of a handfull of rice and two drops of chlorine. sense of adventure... asshole
"Space, the new frontier." ....another area the incompetent narcissistic illegal alien liar in chief has made Amerika a world leader in...
Well, there are quite a few who state "they" already do.
Wasn't it Rumsfeld who announced the Pentagon had lost track of 2.3 TRILLION dollars the afternoon before 9-11? and then Building 7, the place that was supposed to have been holding all the relevent financial records, mysteriously (cough cough) "collapsed" and the section of the Pentagon where an internal investigation team was trying to track the money was conveniently missiled.
There is so much missing money, missing gold, missing people, hidden technology that is all going into something very clandestine and utterly huge...time will tell.
So Krugman is a cannibal, too?
Many have long suspected he eats other men.
Image #3 makes me think of Master Chief is going to pop out some where with a plasma cannon and start blasting away somewhere.
Well said. It is incredibly nice to read about stuff like this. Just imagine if we weren't squandering so much time and energy on the MIC. WE'd be having cheeseburgers on Mars, you and I.
Or pissing money into the bottomless pit of black america.
Only white people could figure out how to land a spacecraft on an object moving 34,000 MPH a million miles away.
Pretty disgusting thing to say, Foolish Dave. Keep in mind these same clowns who "figured out how to land a spacecraft on an object moving 34,000 MPH" also can't figure their own way out of a paper bag... AKA fixing the broke European Economy.
In case you were unaware the E in STEM doesn't stand for economics.
oh come on... just go 33,999 MPH and let it run into you. :)
Also, they know how to fix the economy. They just don't want to. That might mean someone else besides them earns money...
stop interrupting my connection you bastards
All those mindless hours you spend cleaning Sheldon Adelsons pool and that's the best thing you can think of to say?
Is that you, Uncle Rukus?
Hmmm...They figured out how to build pyramids though. Ethnocentrism sux!
those were designed by aliens and they had humans build them
Aren't you a semite? Why are you praising white people for?
Or is it now kosher to admit that you khazars are not really semites? You must feel so firmly in control that you can do without some covers you previously used. And I say you're about to overreach, as you historically have done, again and again.
tic, toc...
I'm happy, too. And imagine: they gave the landing probe a 50% chance of grappling that comet. Nobody knew if there was anything that would allow the screws to do their job
Well done, Euros.
GMO cheeseburgers.
Yes and I'd be running the McDonalds and we'd litter the Martian landscape with big fucking YELLOW AND RED Ms! Of course we'd only pay minimum wage.
It will get much more interesting if the probe finds L-amino acids :)
It's the singing comet.
So the stuff that's need to be found is:
1. Does it vibrate?
2. What makes the sound?
When they asked the question to ESA, they switched topic pretty fast
Do you have a link for this info? Thatd be awesome. Would also like to see more data on the singing comet aas you put it.
Anyway. How does this probe communicate with Earh? Does anyone know how this probe is sending data? Also how far away is this probe? Is it sending data ia a laser tether beam? Does it use microwaves to transmit data? Im just interested in the science behind that. Thanks!
http://news.yahoo.com/listen-comets-eerie-song-captured-rosetta-spacecra...
Sounds like I'm brushing my teeth every morning.
Come on!!There HAS to be a medium to transmit sound.
Or perhaps "space" isn't a "vacuum"?!!
@trulz4lulz: go to this ESA page and check it all out. The recording of comet 'music' is at about the middle of the page
http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/
The ESA and the Max Planck sites are quite good.
The "singing" is mHz frequency electromagnetic oscillations, which are processed into frequencies audible to the human ear. Comets are surrounded by electrified magnetic plasmas.
Awesome, thank you for the explanation.
As are all celestial bodies!
Now you're on to something...that truly is the right question...to start.
The fat lady is singing. On the comet. The end is near.
Rosetta - Philae
"Ooo la la, c'est magnifique" - Isaac Newton
You're a 40 year old virgin he?
It's an amazing feat for mankind....especially considering at least 50% of the species has difficulty merging into traffic.
+100
Talk about a coincidence. Apache Gunship Visits Gun Range - Salt Lake City, UTAH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgz6V0e-Vq0
Better teach your boys how to grow food, drill a well and fight war loards.
Watch Sci channel tonight, full replay of the landing @ 8 p.m. central
cool. too bad america doesn't have a space program anymore.
But we have a trillion+ dollar a year military! And trillion+ dollars a year going to .gov employees and welfare/SS/medicaid recipients! Don't be such a downer.
Hey! They had do cut something to pay for those EBT cards!
America is saving all her energy to populate tribes on the moon.
It would have been even a little sweeter if they had brought Jon Corzine and left him there.
i vote the fudge packer in chief
Finally! They found a suitable place to put all the bankstas on.
cool. A few billion well spend.
What's next?
obozo artificial brain.
made in...china, of course.
Less then a billion over ten YEARS. That is great science on the cheap. Sad you have no sense of adventure or interest in science.
20 years in reality. The Rosetta was launched 10 years ago, it took at least a decade to build her and Philae.
I don't get it.
You know that they are going to declare there is gold in asteroids to drive the price down.
"There's gold in them thar hills!"
Maybe the Germans will get their gold back some day after all.
Maybe they sent it up to the comet for safe keeping....
Yes, there is gold in asteroids and comets, as well as nickel,iron and water. The building blocks of our universe.
Awesome...
As a kid I was told that comets were mainly ice, with the tail sublimating water.
Doesn't look very icy to me, so one more thing that's bullshit.
I think I'll start a farm.
Comet v Asteroid.
Good observation. The dirty snowball meme was set up to exain the massive plasma tail that is generated when a good sized rock like that (and it's corresponding trailing dust) shorts out the massive voltage gradient that exist around the sun.
Gosh, if NASA admitted that we actually live in an electric universe, someone might stumble across generating power from this differential that exists around all celestial bodies. Oh that's right. Tesla alredy did. Nikola not what Google finds when you type in Tesla...
holy shit a rock in space
This is much more impressive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reBzU8E_Ajk
What is going to be the title song....you need a soundtrack..a hit no less...a number one hit...with a good beat and easy to dance too..a rating of 85 or above...
I suppose if there was Muslim outreach to be had on the comet, NASA would have attempted that mission?
The rocket has a robot onboard sent to build a mosque and a statue of Backdoor Barry.
Humans can't get it together on earth and fuck it up.Leave space and other planets alone. Would like to see other life form puke shit back where it came from.
....if you like your comet you can keep your comet
Are they trying to find natural gas there?
*farts*... I just found some right here.
What's the over/under on the likely amount of days before Slate or HuffPo or Jezebel or some piece of shit hosts an article whining that not enough women/minorities/immigrants/homosexuals were involved in this feat?
and now the landing of the equipment was probably a big enough hit ..to move the trajectory of the comet to hit the Earth now...oops
Holy shit those photos! What a lifeless, deserted void of nothingness! It can't be! The lander landed in DC!
Does not look at all like an dirty snowball -- looks like solid rock.
I've always loved this stuff. I remember reading about the Hubble a in 1971 in Scientific American and waiting 20 years (or so) for it actually launch. Anyway, the really interseting question here is confirmation or contradicition of the standard dirty snowball theory of comets. The Electric Universe guys believe comets are rocky bodies asteriods and the their tail, or coma, is not outgassing, sublimating water but rather electric plasma discharge. This happens because the comet picks up a different charge in the outer reaches of its elliptical orbit and discharges increasingly as it approaches the oppositely charged environment approaching the sun. The standard theory of astronomy does not accept that space is electrically charged (outside the solar "wind"). This is huge in its implications as black holes are mathmatical creations attempting to accomadate observations of very large energy sources with a gravity-only view of the space. The electric force is 10^36 times as powerful as gravity, btw.
So the electic universe people say the ragged appearance of the stony comet is the result of electric discharge machining. They expect the lander to get fried as the comet begins discharging in earnest.
I'm wondering how the "harpons" did, fired into solid rock . . . or the "ice screws." Is the lander actually fastened to the comet at this point?
I believe the spectroscopy data to date suggests there are both kinds of comets/asteroids. Even a giant gold asteroid isn't out of the question. I have worked on an experiment at a mine where they found evidence of an asteroid impact that contained an enormous amount of Nickel something 95% pure.
Keep watching the briefings Bastiat:
http://rosetta.esa.int/
"Not anchored . . . lander may have lifted off and setteld back." -- they say the anchors didn't fire . . . we'll see.
"Radio signal subject to disturbances." -- plasma discharge environment?
Early but both things predicted by the Electric Universe guys.
Dont they know the language of Space is English.....
I thought they were supposed to be round.
This is a major accomplishment for humanity. It shows what we are still capable of. I'm really dissapointed with most of the ZHers and your weak, narrow minded comments. This is a big event and worthy of praise. 10 years of chasing a comet and succesfully landing a probe on a chunk of space rock is an amazing feat. Rejoice that humans can still pull this kind of thing off. A few more years and most of mankind will be too stupid to do it. Don't show your stupidty early, give praise to this accomplishment.
When I think about people who are struggling in this world and could of used this money, then excuse me for having my priorities in order.
Whitey on the moon
http://youtu.be/PtBy_ppG4hY
saint, tell that to the bankers, govt, the oligarchs, the traders unhappily taking 200% bonuses. science spins off tremendous advances and jobs and changes the way we live and think and look at the world around us. banker's bonuses and crimes, now there's a place you can put your great intentions and high minded priorities.
Well send some science to the struggling economies in the world. I am sure people would love the jobs. Let me know when it happens.
aka "Give *me* the money". That's priorities in the right order ?
(though I may be wrong, perhaps you really do feel bad for all the other possible uses of ca. 1 billion euros over 20+ years when compared to films production, half of Euro'16's budget, "war on terror", the annual state subsidies (direct or through tax exemptions) to a handful of NFL teams, and so on...)
So the way you look at it is it is ok to spend money on some other bullshit if we are already spending money on current bullshit.
It all needs to reset is the way I look at it. Too much money is wasted because of contracts handed out through government agencies to private corporations. The money never trickles down like these politicians lead you to believe.
So when you consider NFL's (or NBA, or any major sport event), you come out and have, as a first reaction : " too bad, this money could have been used better elsewhere" ?
When you look at the production budget of a handful of Hollywood production, your first reaction is : " too bad, this money could have been used better elsewhere" ?
When (Wall street, tax exemptions, private jets, etc., you get my point...)
So here we have a 1.4 billion euros project, over 20+ years, everything included, that permits the collective "us" to not just spend a few hours of leisure, but actually advance our collective knowledge, and your first reaction is that it could have been better used elsewhere ? I mean, why not, but if you really get your priorities in order, first eliminate *all* wastes of 100 million dollar per year that provide only leisure. It's not about trickling down to the rest of the economy, here, it's about accepting to give money with for things that seem valuable, like humanity's knowledge.
Look I think we are missing each others message.
I agree with you 100% that we need to eliminate all waste. I also agree with should always continue to learn and advance our knowledge. Where we differ is I believe the money for this project could have been used to help people now not later. I also agree that everything you listed as waste is waste and needs to be eliminated.
Want to ask you this:
Do you really think if some new knowledge is discovered that could hurt a fortune 500 company will be released to the public? I will answer it for you...NOPE.
And if that answer is no, what information gathered will truly advance the human species that will be released to the public?
So this is how I look at it and my reasons why I consider it a total waste of money. Taxpayers funded the project and private corporations reap the rewards. Thanks Mr Taxpayer.
(I am biased towards knowledge advance as a computer scientist)
Immediate threat, maybe no, indeed, but knowledge advance often comes a long time before its put into any use, and sometimes the final use has no relation with the initial advance (the path from quantum physics to nuclear weapons, cars that were at first just a leisure for the wealthy before becoming the solution to the horse-shit pollution problem in major cities, and so on). I don't see any real use for this mission, except that some people might consider taking a physics instead of a law major, might turn up simple engineer instead of rocket scientists, and make a better airbag system or whatever else. But with all the money "wasted" around the world (this being a point of view), I think that this mission is a very good bang for the buck (even if it fails) in terms of wasted money. Much more than the ISS which only serves as an ad for NASA... Given the robust computer design needed, this might help to design better embedded systems for your car and planes quite soon, for example. And again, provide us with knowledge that we don't have any use right now, but could be used in the future...
I can tell some of you are passionate about this type of news which is why some of you felt the need to be the other side of the coin with my initial comment posted. And I am ok with that. its a healthy debate as nobody was injured lol. I will say this. I truly hope it does help people one day.
Maybe it's time to re-focus your priorities. Yes, lots of people out there need help. Might not hurt to get off your lazy ass and do a little helping yourself. As far as this being a waste of money...hmmm..lets see. the Rosetta Mission cost a billion Euros, no money out of YOUR pocket. The war on drugs cost $25 billion dollars, you pay for that. The war on terror has cost well over $6 TRILLION dollars, you pay for that too. Myself, I'd call those two things alone a HUGE waste of money and human lives. So this little bit of science is good for everybody at very little expense. It brought together many countries and provided many jobs. This is nothing but a good thing for everybody. We need science, we need to continue to explore. The day may come when we will need to leave this rock, this kind of thing helps us move in the direction.
I do a lot to help people rather it be financial or lending a helping hand. So calling me lazy without knowing me is not a correct assumption. My point is this is a waste of money because tomorrow nobody will give a shit.
Kudos for you for helping others. I retract my lazy statement. It might seem a waste of money to you, but I'm pretty sure you don't get what this is all about. As far as nobody giving a shit tomorrow....your probably right. But then again the bulk of people here in America are idiots and can't see past Kim Kardashians big ass or the next football game. Might do us all good to realize that was it not for "science" and people being curious and working through problems you wouldn't get to see Kim Kardashians giant ass or the next football game. We'd still be reading books and waiting 3 weeks for the pony express to bring our mail. Getting out of bed in the morning involves science in some way. To not acknowledge major leaps forward in the field of science is to be ignorant of what science has brought us on a daily basis. The things we will gain from this billion euros will FAR out way what we will gain from the trillions of dollars we piss away blowing up people in far off lands.
I am going to speculate with my comments. I can tell you are passionate about science and space exploration. I agree science is needed and has advanced humanity. When you think about science today advancement has stopped unless there is profit involved. This is why I think it is a waste. Taxpayers funded this project while private corporations reap the rewards as i stated to another poster. I am one of those guys that follows the money trail when looking at anything .gov has its hands into. So who does this benefit? We live in a world today full of deception and an agenda for a select few. I question everything these assholes do because it is not for the people.
" I question everything these assholes do because it is not for the people." I'm right there with you. Our leaders sold us out years ago. But the beauty of this particular thing is it was all paid for by the European Union. It was THEIR tax money involved. It wasn't a waste for us, unless you live in Germany or France. And from what I've read online, thos folks think it is a great accomplishment.....wish we'd have spent the money to do that instead of going back into Iraq. Speaking of... Our daily costs to overthrow Iraq, again, right now costs over $7.5 million dollars a day. If you want to be pissed about wasted money, thats a waste of money and one we will gain nothing from. So... a couple of months in Iraq...or landing a probe on a comet. I'll take the comet thingy because it's much more interesting then killing people.
Well your country is in bed with my country(USA). We are an expensive whore.
It was the desire for profit that resulted in your ability to have electrical service connected to your home, office, or place of business. Maybe you should back up yuor comments and have that nasty profit driven crap turned off.
+1
Hey, wutta ya say we get rid of the opulent overprivileged celebrity grand imperial golf life style of the incompetent, corrupt, arrogant, narcissistic illegal indonesian kenyan alien muslim sociopathic pathological liar in chief fudge packer and use that money to benefit hard working tax paying US citizens..... as for space, the turd has already decimated NASA so kwitchyerbitchen about space....
"My point is this is a waste of money because tomorrow nobody will give a shit."
Gosh, I am so sorry saints51. I had no idea you were clairvoyant. I will, henceforth, show you the respect your are due. Oh, and since you can see into the future, how about favoring we readers with closing price of the S&P 500 on Nov. 13, 2014. I hope that isn't too much to ask. Afterall, you have clearly indicated that you can see into the future by at least one day.
+1
Higher or lower than previous day's close.
Now that's what I call some actionable intelligence!! I'm goin' all in baby!!!!
the water is safe.
I am sure that if the government had not spent the money on scientific research they would have donated it to the poor. Or maybe put it to use in some other worthy cause. You know, like blowing up brown people, or spying on our citizens and allies perhaps. But some worthy cause for sure.
+1
Shed Boy, you have to excuse the ignorant bozos. I am sure they are unaware of pretty much anything that does not appear on their twitter stream, facebook page, or during a sporting event. Not to mention the fact that there is now substantial evidence that life arrived on this planet via the cometary/astroid bombardment that our planet underwent during it's early stages of formation. The implications are enormous. I am sure the unwashed masses ridiculed the likes of Columbus and Newton as well. Just look at how Copernicus' heliocentric theory was denounced by the catholic church, and Galileo was actually convicted and imprisoned for supporting the theory. A correct theory that had long before been embraced by "savages" such as the ancient Mayans. I guess some things, where humans are concerned, truly never change.
So because my opinion differs from you, i am ignorant. Brilliant!!!!!!! +1,fucking A!!!!!!
heliocentrism is not an opinion, it's a fact.
My comment was not directed towards that?
Ever heard about relativity and frames of reference, genius that you seem to be, so fixed in your opinions.
Every thing is self-centirc. Your world revolves around you.
Go figure that out....
very true... Please next time, remind me to correct you when you say you go to the theater (when it's a common error, the theater comes to you), or the that your car has a speed of 50 mph (ahah, who would be so stupid as to say that, when everybody knows that actually, it's the earth that moves below the car, not the car itself, bitchez !). (By the way, no need of relativity (in the einsteinian sense) for this. Newton had it correctly)
Finally, if you want to do the computation, you're welcome, but as far as I remember, if you were to consider a 2 solid system with just the sun and the earth the motion of the sun caused by the gravity of the earth is in the order of a few hundred miles, whereas the motion of the earth caused by the gravity of the sun is around a billion miles (or km, who cares ?). If you want to bring physics in this discussion, bring it fully, and I am certain we will agree that we both way the same thing. There's no "turning around" in physics... If, on the other hand, you want to use a natural language, then use it appropriately, in way that you and the person you talk to are best able to understand. In this case, common uses of language dictate that we say that the earth turns around the sun, instead of the sun turns around the earth.
First of all, saints51, I do not know what your opinion is. However, the fact that an opinion differs from mine does not make it ignorant. What makes an opinion ignorant, is the empty nature of the vessel from which said opinion originated.
copy cat.+1
Who you callin' stoopid?
I'm with you Shed Boy.
google's ad server went down earlier too.
what a great fucking day for humankind.
shedboy:This is a major accomplishment for humanity. It shows what we are still capable of. I'm really dissapointed with most of the ZHers and your weak, narrow minded comments. This is a big event and worthy of praise. 10 years of chasing a comet and succesfully landing a probe on a chunk of space rock is an amazing feat. Rejoice that humans can still pull this kind of thing off. A few more years and most of mankind will be too stupid to do it. Don't show your stupidty early, give praise to this accomplishment.
Big fucking deal.
....so many problems to tackle on this rock/ Priorities......prioroties...
Hmmmmmm, you are sounding more and more like a big bellied hawg rider.
Isn't there anything on THIS PLANET worth spending the time/money/engineering on???? WTF are we doing as a species?
I understand that a near sighted individual in possesion of a lower intellect may not understand the great significance of this mission, but some of us do, so do not concern yourself with these events and just go back to posting on your farcebook page. So, you run along now. That's a good boy.
There's dirt and rocks, now send me one billion and maybe antoher million for the time I save us.
Even though I don't agree with Alexander Bard completely on this, he says we're the first generation in the history of mankind that doesn't believe in the concept of "utopia". Most cynical, most disillusionned, most disconnected.
We started with a static view of the universe and the man. All is created by god. Stays the same way forever. Purpose of life is taking care of one's eternal soul.
Then there was the industrial age that brought about mass production, material abundance, all sorts of advancements. Life had to be re-written to give people a new meaning associated with progress. Living tomorrow better than yesterday.
Upon the entry into the information age, however, we've exhausted some of the critical finite resources upon which the illusions of industrial paradigm rested. Infinite expansion had to surrender to conservation, and we haven't yet found our place yet in this new world.
The idea of living "different" as oppose to living better hasn't sunk in yet. The "man" the "I" the "ego" haven't been re-worked into a new socially acceptable norm. We're still living like industrialists. Schools still teach us like there's a factory floor space waiting for us. Families are started with an expectation of a car, a house, a kid, a tree in the backyard etc.
None of the old ideas are going to work. We have to, once again, redefine what it means to be a human being, before we can progress, before we can find satisfaction in what it is we're doing.
Putting man on the Moon... or putting something somewhere else - they're impressive achievements for an industrialist. Is it important going forward? Is it worth blowing billions of dollars on when the money could be put to a different use? Those are very valid questions to ask. What is important? What do we strive for in the age of diminishing returns and increasing efficiency compensating for the material decline? I don't know yet.
Cool pics of the comet, are they looking for gold ETFs or the "relic" that the Fed despise so much? As a side note, I woonder how much comet rock will sell for back on earth? STupid waste of money...
Perfect place to move the FED to, with space left over for their masters.
I think I see a sack of trillion dollar coins under that rock!