One of the greatest comets in Human history coming this year!

[Jive Turkey]

In a bit of a personal effort to add some variation to the threads here, I've decided not to use the Science thread anymore. I don't see any reason why such disparate topics should be ghettoized in one thread. I encourage anyone else coming with interesting science news to do the same. It was a mistake to make it in the first place. Much of the information in that thread is far more interesting and relevant and important than a lot of the other threads that crop up.

Anyway, this is super exciting and has the potential to be the astronomical event (at least visible to the human eye) in our lifetime (though if I was in Russia earlier this month, I might disagree)

New comet might blaze brighter than the full Moon


Lets hope it's not a dud

 

[martha]

Indeed. Kohoutek was a dud, but still kind of bitchin', and Halley's wasn't all that.

I liked Hale-Bopp.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Indeed. Kohoutek was a dud, but still kind of bitchin', and Halley's wasn't all that.

I liked Hale-Bopp.

I remember Halley's comet being a thing when I was a kid (I was only 6). My parents made sure I knew what a big deal it was. And I think I saw it. But I wish it had happened a few years later, as it's a pretty fuzzy memory

 

[martha]

It was a pretty fuzzy comet. I went down to Peru to see it. It was cool, but small and fuzzy.

But it was Halley's and it was cool.

 

[bono_212]

I remember as a kid doing the math on how old I would be next time Halley's came around. I got really sad.

 

[Jive Turkey]

On a bit of a different note, I think it's amazing how few of these near Earth meteors we know about. They're saying that the one that whizzed through Russia last week was impossible to see coming. We've barely scratched the surface as far as tracking these things goes. It's a bit scary. The REALLY big ones we pretty much know about, but the smaller house sized ones and the ones capable of destroying towns or cities are just flying around all willy nilly. And we have no way of doing anything about them if we do catch them early

 

[maycocksean]

That's no comet, JT. That's a band of angels coming after me. . .Gotta get that in the science books!

kidding, kidding.

Just a little cross-thread humor there.

 

[Jive Turkey]

hahaha. always appreciated

 

[Jive Turkey]

Doesn't it feel all startreky to say things like "the meteor most likely originated in the Oort Cloud"?

The Oort cloud is super spooky to me. It's pretty much just a sphere of things caught in the Sun's gravity. But the edge of it is a light year away.... It's so remote! Things just flying around out there in the silence. It creeps me the fuck out

 

[bono_212]

This is something we don't discuss nearly enough, Jive, but I do share one love of science with you and that is definitely astronomy.

 

[Jive Turkey]

This is something we don't discuss nearly enough, Jive, but I do share one love of science with you and that is definitely astronomy.

It always makes me feel so tiny. We just weren't built to contemplate such vast distances and such infinitely long swaths of time. It's all so mysterious that I find it impossible not to be completely taken in by it. I really wish I lived in an area where a half decent telescope wouldn't be a complete waste of money

 

[bono_212]

I love Stumbleupon because I find shit like this:

Scale of Universe - Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool - StumbleUpon

 

[Jive Turkey]

oh yes. that thing is awesome

 

[bono_212]

I was looking for the one that lets you fly through space out to the furthest reaches, but I can't find it

 

[Jive Turkey]

I don't think I've seen that one

 

[bono_212]

I'll look again in a moment, I found some acid/cocaine in an envelope and I had to investigate.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Acid cocaine sounds like a crazy combo (hey, how did 'combo' make it's way from Australia?). Maybe take some and fly through the universe?

 

[bono_212]

It's just sitting here on my couch right now. I'm trying to decide what to do with it.

 

[U2DMfan]

I liked Hale-Bopp.

Yes. Very cool.

Although as cool as it was, it was also...very strange...and almost...slightly disturbing to see a fucking white fireball visible in the sky.

Like...'you are an insignificant ant that could be wiped out any second'.

Not something you see every day.

Beautiful. Humbling. All of it.