virtual penny 4 yor carrara thoughts ?

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  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Awesome pics Dart. Venus is almost at its furthest distance from us right now (I just discovered, lol)' it'll be another year before it's up close.

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    I remember driving home one evening a few years ago and I stopped the car at around dusk to look at the sky because you could see all 5 visible planets all lined up - not often I have seen Mercury at all. it was a beautiful sight, and I think most people probably didn't even notice.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549

    Yeah, since we lie in the same elliptical path as the rest of the planets, and Mercury's orbit is so close to the sun, we usually need a solar filter to see it, since we can only ever see it while the sun is up - due to our positioning. rare events like that are truly phenomenal! Venus is closer to us, allowing us to see it at least a little closer to dark. The rest are further from the sun than we are, so they're all visible at night - when they are within our field of view, that is.

    Awesome pics Dart. Venus is almost at its furthest distance from us right now (I just discovered, lol)' it'll be another year before it's up close.

    Thanks! I didn't 'take' those... just found them online. But it was that pair of object that got me entirely obsessed with the idea of getting my own (good astronomical) telescope.

    I am also a member of the Door Peninsula Astronomical Society - which is a LOT of Fun!

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    those nebulaes pretty stuff!

     

    for safety, dont press full stop button when at ludicrous speed

     

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,200

    retro rockets

    find a gravitational mass like a moon or asteroid to swing around

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    i never understood the 'they've gone to plaid'

    could it be a kilt thing?

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    Mistara said:

    for safety, dont press full stop button when at ludicrous speed

    Even when wearing a the Big Helmet?

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    mebbe i should stop trying to write science in my science fiction.

    i still dont uderstand neg 20db.  why isnt 0 db = to silence

    absolute 0 temperature, it cant get colder than total absence of heat.

    i sort of understand reflective energy, the watts push stuff out the antenna, but some of it falls back in,

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165

    Depends, is the science another character?  Or, is the science just a plot device to get the characters active (a MacGuffin)?

    http://www.openculture.com/2013/07/alfred-hitchcock-explains-the-plot-device-he-called-the-macguffin.html

     

    Mistara said:

    mebbe i should stop trying to write science in my science fiction.

    i still dont uderstand neg 20db.  why isnt 0 db = to silence

    absolute 0 temperature, it cant get colder than total absence of heat.

    i sort of understand reflective energy, the watts push stuff out the antenna, but some of it falls back in,

     

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    leaning more torwards SNAFU.  situation normal, but foxtrot uniform.

      doing my best to avoid exposition.

    smiley unreadable, go ahead.

     

    Diomede said:

    Depends, is the science another character?  Or, is the science just a plot device to get the characters active (a MacGuffin)?

    http://www.openculture.com/2013/07/alfred-hitchcock-explains-the-plot-device-he-called-the-macguffin.html

     

    Mistara said:

    mebbe i should stop trying to write science in my science fiction.

    i still dont uderstand neg 20db.  why isnt 0 db = to silence

    absolute 0 temperature, it cant get colder than total absence of heat.

    i sort of understand reflective energy, the watts push stuff out the antenna, but some of it falls back in,

     

     

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    We don't all have to write 'The Martian' (lots of science in thay, if you haven't read it . The movie very much dumbed that down to "I'm gonna science the shit out of it"). Main thing is figure out your tech (anti-matter fusion drives, warp engines, artificial gravity [ugh in my opinion!] etc.), then be consistent. By & large the universe works on Newton's laws of motion, and it can help to think through some of the implications.

    For example, to move your ships, the engines basically have to throw stuff out the back (Newton's 3rd law). That stuff can either be heavy & slow, or light & fast (Newton's 2nd law). Either way, you probably don't want to be too close to it, which might lead you to HarbourMaster's First Law: No firing of main thrusters within 1000 klicks of the station . . . (and that could be a plot point when some idiot burns a hole through your hull with his thrusters!)

    Oh, yeah, shields! (actually there's science that suggests shields could happen, in theory...)

  • Mistara said:

    mebbe i should stop trying to write science in my science fiction.

    i still dont uderstand neg 20db.  why isnt 0 db = to silence

    absolute 0 temperature, it cant get colder than total absence of heat.

    i sort of understand reflective energy, the watts push stuff out the antenna, but some of it falls back in,

    Silene,

    The dB scale is a relative one. +2 dB means it's higher by a factor of 100 or 100 times the value. -2 dB means it's lower by a factor of 100 or 1/100 the value. 

    You're correct on the other two points. 

    Can't help it. It's the Physicist in me.

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    Mistara said:

     

    how do space v(w)essels put on the brakes?

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549

    We don't all have to write 'The Martian' (lots of science in thay, if you haven't read it . The movie very much dumbed that down to "I'm gonna science the shit out of it"). Main thing is figure out your tech (anti-matter fusion drives, warp engines, artificial gravity [ugh in my opinion!] etc.), then be consistent. By & large the universe works on Newton's laws of motion, and it can help to think through some of the implications.

    For example, to move your ships, the engines basically have to throw stuff out the back (Newton's 3rd law). That stuff can either be heavy & slow, or light & fast (Newton's 2nd law). Either way, you probably don't want to be too close to it, which might lead you to HarbourMaster's First Law: No firing of main thrusters within 1000 klicks of the station . . . (and that could be a plot point when some idiot burns a hole through your hull with his thrusters!)

    Oh, yeah, shields! (actually there's science that suggests shields could happen, in theory...)

    I worked it out that we could use matter from a Neutron star (a normal-sized matchbox containing neutron-star material would have a mass of approximately 3 billion tonnes) to pull our ship around the universe. The problem being that it would disrupt the gravitational environments so much that it would, it effect, destroy everything evrywhere we went.

    I like Newton's plans better!

    Better yet, using string theory to cheat travel and just blink here and there would totally rock!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    Jonstark said:
    Mistara said:

     

    how do space v(w)essels put on the brakes?

     

    Flip & Burn

    Oh yeah!!! Adrenaline Rush!

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    Jonstark said:
    Mistara said:

     

    how do space v(w)essels put on the brakes?

     

    Flip & Burn

    Oh yeah!!! Adrenaline Rush!

     

    reverse thrustage\\

    >krazy ivan<

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549

    Kaylee... I'm gonna need an Ivan!

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    Jonstark said:
    Mistara said:
    Kaylee... I'm gonna need an Ivan!

     

    Firefly/Serenity reference for the win  laugh

     

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    Jonstark said:
    Mistara said:

     

    how do space v(w)essels put on the brakes?

     

    Flip & Burn

    Oh yeah!!! Adrenaline Rush!

    Honestly though, realistic physics are so rarely used in the vast majority of sci-fi that when actually used it's so startling that the physics can almost be it's own 'character'.   As a viewing audience, we've all been somewhat 'pre-programmed' to expect certain things that when we see something that is actually correct physics but runs counter to what we expect, some people don't think of it as real.   For example supposed 'explosive decompression' when there's a hole made in a spaceship (the pressure differential in real life would be 14psi between 1 atmosphere and vacuum) or the idea that exposing yourself to vacuum would mean instant death by freezing.

    I find the use of realistic physics in the Expanse to make things actually much more compelling and believable.  In most hollywood blockbusters nowadays a space battle isn't a space battle of note unless there are hundreds of ships flying around like WW2 airplanes in dogfights with giant fireball explosions and at the very least there has to be a planet at stake (if not the entire galaxy).  I'm a kid at heart and still enjoy that kind of stuff, but I don't usually feel any real threat towards the characters, and the 'inventive solutions' to how the plucky hero saves the day at the last minute are usually pretty illogical and make no real sense.  Contrast that with this small scale battle in the Expanse which only involves 3 ships and a ring station, on a much more limited budget (warning, if you haven't seen this show yet this might spoil a few plot points, but then again probably not as you won't have any frame of reference for what's going on):

    That simple scenario, paired with the attempt at realistic physics, makes my adrenaline spike and my blood race; to me it feels like our heroes are in real peril and there are real stakes involved in the conflict.  It's a tv show, but I rate it as one of the best space battles I've ever seen.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    Jonstark said:
    Jonstark said:
    Mistara said:
    Kaylee... I'm gonna need an Ivan!

     

    Firefly/Serenity reference for the win  laugh

     

    yup. Firefly.

    iirc, they did an ivan in Hunt for Red October.

    "ya lost anotha submarine"

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Yeth Marthter . . .

     

    Oh wait, that's Igor. My bad!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549

    Sweet clip, jonstark!

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    dark matter is all theoretical

    tachyons hypothetical

    sonic booms happen breaking the sound barrier
    guessing there'd be some kind of boom from breaking the lightspeed barrier

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    in a slump 

    heavy sigh

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549
    Mistara said:

    in a slump 

    heavy sigh

    Hmmm... maybe this will help?

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165

    sounds like a case of the Mondays.  Sending you positive vibes.

    .

     

    Mistara said:

    in a slump 

    heavy sigh

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549

    If I can only get to that...

                                            ...Idea....

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549

    ...perhaps some kick ass arse animation?

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,549

    ...or with a bit more agressive soundtrack

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    ty smileylaugh

    rendering like baking cookies, doose it with lheartve?

    actually, baking cookies should help clear rainydaydrums.  choccy moon pies 

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