Space and Astronomy Megathread (MERGED) - Part 1

More bad news for Krypton:

HubbleSite: News - Young Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs May Lack Ingredients for Life

As part of their natural (and volatile) formation, red dwarf star systems may blast away their supply of water. This means that Earth-sized planets in such systems (even if they’re in the “Goldilocks zone”) could be dry and lifeless.

As it happens, red dwarfs make up about three-quarters of all the stars in the Milky Way. So the hypothetical estimates for extraterrestrial life may have to be drastically reduced. :csad:

I'm... I'm still coping. This... It's just really hard right now...
 
To be frank ....I don't :)
Oh, okay then, well to expand, in all of known time, we're the only known … species to have evolved to the point that we've created tools to propel and advance ourselves. No other creature on this planet (in all the time it's been here, and through all other life that's preceded us) has managed anything close to what we've accomplished.

We're self aware (well most of us are), we're intelligent (although sometimes that's questionable), we're intuitive, we're creative, the list goes on really. That's just the psychological aspect of our being. When you factor in what we've done with technology, and what technology has allowed us to do, as far as we're presently aware, we're the smartest species in the entire universe.
 
Ha ok, I got it.
Edit : my reply was only about "us" being the only sentient species on Earth but I misunderstood what you meant.
 
I was going to post this bit of language trivia in the “grammar thread.” But since the topic has come up here… ;nd

Sentience vs sapience

“Sentience” is a common term in sci-fi and superhero stories. It’s intended to mean a human-like or human-analogous intelligence. Thus, if the extraterrestrial alien (or robot or computer) is sufficiently intelligent or self-aware, it’s described as sentient. And with that status, there’s usually an interesting philosophical reckoning. I.e., there are certain things you can do to a non-sentient being that you can’t - or shouldn’t - do to a sentient one.

Technically, though, the correct word is “sapience” - which means the ability to think and reason. This would be more apropos to the concept of non-human entities which are - nevertheless - intellectually and morally equivalent to humans.

“Sentience,” OTOH, is the capacity to feel or experience. And while this does describe humans (and possibly aliens and advanced AIs), it also applies to many animals - including those we keep as pets and those we eat.

But at this point, the notion that “sentience = intelligence” is so ingrained within the genre(s) that it’s not likely to change anytime soon. :cwink:
 
It's a common shorthand that really should be rectified. Something can be sentient but not sapient. And on more than one occasion we have seen humans who are sapient but not sentient Or sentient and not sapient.
 
Animals, or at least higher end animals, are certainly intelligent. They are capable of remembering things, learning, problem solving, and some are even self-aware and capable of using tools.

Where humanity stands alone (on this planet anyways) is history. Everything an animal knows is either instinctive or is something they learned through their own personal experience. Except us. We are fully capable of learning and understanding things outside of our own bubble. A dog can work out how to get his food off the table and if you take him to the beach, he will remember that, but you can't teach a dog about what World War II was or what Alpha Centauri is. He would have no understanding of it whatsoever. That's what has allowed us to become so advanced. One generation can come up with something, and then subsequent generations can build upon it. We don't have to start at Square One each time.
 
NASA has released new images of Jupiter, taken by the Juno Spacecraft.

NASA sent Juno to Jupiter in 2011. It got back works of art - CNN


TqTcOHQ.jpg



GOHEg4I.jpg


3ZUwaYS.jpg


DjxH9Wa.jpg
 
RIP little rover. You did us proud. :(
 
A balmy -17°. Practically Martian beach weather.
 


SpaceX Will Launch Its 1st Crew Dragon for NASA Soon! How to Watch It All Live.

As far as I know this is till on for tomorrow!

Liftoff is set for Saturday, March 2!
LIVE FEED will be:


jTfoAhRmWXKmEdfDjWaToF-650-80.jpg



Updated on Feb. 28: SpaceX is poised to make history Saturday (March 2) with the first-ever test flight of a private spaceship built to carry astronauts into orbit. That Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission won't carry astronauts, but it will be the first launch of a spacecraft built for humans from U.S. soil since 2011 and you can watch it all live.

SpaceX will launch the Crew Dragon Demo-1 mission at 2:48 a.m. EST (0748 GMT) on Saturday, March 2. Since Crew Dragon is designed to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station, you can expect a live webcast of the launch from the space agency.

Space.com will carry NASA's Crew Dragon webcasts here over the next week. You'll also be able to watch NASA's webcasts on NASA TV, and SpaceX will likely provide its own webcast here. Scroll down to see when to tune in for the first Crew Dragon launch.

----------------------

FYI the competing Boeing's Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner will test launch next month. - Boeing: CST-100 Starliner
 
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The Crew Dragon successfully took off and is now headed toward the space station.
 
Believe it or not, Ripley has made it safely to the space station

Right on schedule, the Crew Dragon spacecraft fired its Draco thrusters early on Sunday morning and docked safely with the International Space Station. A "soft" capture came at 5:51am ET, when the station was 418km above New Zealand. "Hard" capture, when 12 additional latches secured the spacecraft to the station, occurred 10 minutes later.

This marked the completion of a major milestone for SpaceX and NASA—the autonomous docking of a Dragon spacecraft with neither the assistance of crew on board the station nor the robotic arm used to grab and guide the cargo version of the Dragon spacecraft during supply missions.
Ars Technica
 
Return trip and splashdown:


Success!.
 

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