Space & The Universe:

M-theory

Membrane theory is a relatively new theory in the world of physics. It has been backed by Stephen Hawking as being the only candidate for the complete theory of the universe.

M-theory has been growing very popular in recent years. This is because it ties together the existing string theories into one relatively simple (mathematically) depiction of the universe. The true origins start with the older string theories that came about in the 80’s. This outlined how all the different forms of energy in the universe could be constructed out of hypothetical one dimensional “strings”. The current M-theory now believes in an 11 dimensional space (this was previously 10 in earlier versions of string theories but the introduction of supergravity increased the count to 11). Now we live in a 3D space with a total of four observable dimensions meaning that there are another 5 we cannot detect. Now in string theory, it was hypothesised that depending on how the strings vibrate the might be seen in 3 dimensions as matter, light or gravity. The problem with string theory was that different equations used to describe the vibrations of the strings kept coming out and they all appeared to be correct. Then what happened was M-theory which said that it’s possible that all the equations are describing the same thing but from a different perspective.

My current understanding of M-theory is that there are lots of 2D membranes which are in an 11D space. These two dimensional branes are not fixed in this eleven dimensional space and move around. When they collide a new 2D brane is created and it is thought that when this happens it is similar to a Big Bang. So it’s entirely possible that out universe is really a 2D membrane in an 11D space.

The first image is a Calabi-Yau manifold. It’s a multi-dimensional mathematic structure and is very significant to M-theory, all they have to do is find the “right” one.

Interstellar bow

To visualise the black hole in Interstellar, the VFX team collaborated with theoretical physicist Kip Thorne to solve the equations for propagation of light around a spinning black hole. The shape is due to way light is lensed (deflected) by the strong gravitational field of the black hole. The asymmetry is caused by the relativistic time dilation near the event horizon.

The top image shows the black hole in the movie. The bottom image is a more accurate visualisation taking into account Doppler and gravitational frequency shifts. This was considered too confusing for the audience. They also slowed the black hole’s spin down from that required to explain the time dilation experienced in the movie, to make the black hole appear less asymmetric.

The are releasing two papers on their work, the first of which is available in preprint on arXiv.

An Exo-What...?

Simply put, an exoplanet is a planet that orbits another star. That said, just because a planet orbits a star (like Earth) does not mean that it is automatically stable for life. The planet must be within the habitable zone, which is the area around a star in which water has the potential to be liquid…aka not so close that all the water would evaporate, and not too far away where all the water would freeze.

Recently, with the help of our Kepler spacecraft, scientists have discovered the most Earth-like exoplanet ever, Kepler-452b. Pretty cool! This chart shows 12 other exoplanet discoveries that are less than twice the size of Earth, and live in the habitable zone of their host star. Kepler-452b is special because all previous findings have orbited stars that are smaller and cooler than Earth’s.

You may be thinking, “Okay, so what? There’s an Earth-like planet that spins around a similar sized sun.” Well, Kepler-452b orbits its sun at nearly the same distance from its star as Earth does from our sun, which means that conditions on the plant could be similar to those here on Earth!

We can already guess your next question…”When are we going to Kepler-452b?!” Well, this planet is located in the constellation Cygnus which is 1,400 light-years away, so not anytime soon. However, our Kepler spacecraft continues to search for Earth-like exoplanets and gather important scientific information about them.

Let’s learn something about rocket science

http://bit.ly/rawcuriosity

Take a look around Mars. Here’s where I’m working right now.

Click the link to see all my latest pictures from the surface of Mars.

If you couldn’t tell already, NASA is having a great year. From Pluto to food grown in space, even in the face of budget cuts, the nation’s space agency had some stellar highlights. Most mysteriously of all, a spacecraft found two eerily bright lights on a distant dwarf planet.

(12 Nov. 1966) — Astronaut James A. Lovell is photographed inside his Gemini spacecraft during the Gemini-12 mission. Astronaut Edwin Aldrin is seen in the background and to the left. Photo credit: NASA

Andromeda Rising over the Alps : Have you ever seen the Andromeda galaxy? Although M31 appears as a faint and fuzzy blob to the unaided eye, the light you see will be over two million years old, making it likely the oldest light you ever will see directly. Now rising near a few hours after sunset from mid-latitude northern locations, Andromeda is rising earlier each night and will be visible to northerners all night long starting in September. The featured image captured Andromeda rising above the Italian Alps last month. As cool as it may be to see this neighboring galaxy to our Milky Way with your own eyes, long duration camera exposures can pick up many faint and breathtaking details. Recent data indicates that our Milky Way Galaxy will collide and coalesce with the slightly larger Andromeda galaxy in a few billion years. via NASA

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You. You. You are alive. And sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the sunlight that came through the shuffling leaves of the summer trees. And sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the light that fell from the crisp night sky of winter, where a fleck of light in the corner of the player’s eye might be a star a million times as massive as the sun, boiling its planets to plasma in order to be visible for a moment to the player, walking home at the far side of the universe, suddenly smelling food, almost at the familiar door, about to dream again. And sometimes the player believed the universe had spoken to it through the zeros and ones, through the electricity of the world, through the scrolling words on a screen at the end of a dream. And the universe said I love you. And the universe said you have played the game well. And the universe said everything you need is within you. And the universe said you are stronger than you know. And the universe said you are the daylight. And the universe said you are the night. And the universe said the darkness you fight is within you. And the universe said the light you seek is within you. And the universe said you are not alone. And the universe said you are not separate from every other thing. And the universe said you are the universe tasting itself, talking to itself, reading its own code. And the universe said I love you because you are love. And the game was over and the player woke up from the dream. And the player began a new dream. And the player dreamed again, dreamed better. And the player was the universe. And the player was love. You are the player. Wake up.

♡♡♡ (via escap3real1ty)