Skywatch

[libby]

Had a bit of down time this weekend and I happened to find that all of the Star Trek (TNG) episodes are available for streaming from Netflix.  Since I loved TNG when it was on, I was like a kid in a candy store.  I immediately began scanning through the episodes looking for my favorites and actually got to watch quite a few of them.

The series ran from 1987 to 1994, and on one of the episodes, set in the year 2365 or so, Picard (the captain) is sitting in his ready room contemplating Fermat's last theorem which states that:



Interestingly enough where n=2 is the Pythagorean theorem with which many are more familiar than Fermat.  At any rate, Picard is wondering how in the year 2365, no proof of Fermat's last theorem has ever been found even with the advanced computational power of the 24th century. 

The interesting thing about that though, is that British mathematician Andrew Wiles did find a proof for Fermat's last theorem, and published it in the year 1995 (a mere 1-2 years after the TNG episode was filmed). 

I had to smile to myself.  Given all of the assumptions that Star Trek made, one incorrect assumption was that Fermat's last theorem would be so vexing, that it would remain unsolved even in the 24th century.

Sorry for the bit of an off-topic post, but it's kinda' related to this thread, and my B.S. degree in math has to come out from time to time. 

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Don't be sorry. I loved Star Trek, especially TNG, and it's good to learn that I share that with a math major. One of my favorite episodes, about the nature of time, was the one where Jean-Luk found himself in another place and time where he fell in love, married, and had a family, then found himself back on the Enterprise where very little time had passed. I seem to connect that episode with a haunting flute melody he played, but maybe have that one mixed up with another.

[libby]

Last night as I was driving home just before dark, I topped a rise in the side road I was on, and there, well above the horizon, was the full moon just hanging there. Its brightness and apparent size were stunning. That was the "blue moon" HH wrote about here not too long ago.

(dreamed a little dream for a few seconds ...)   (... and then I came back down to earth)

[Locutus]

  Don't be sorry. I loved Star Trek, especially TNG, and it's good to learn that I share that with a math major. One of my favorite episodes, about the nature of time, was the one where Jean-Luk found himself in another place and time where he fell in love, married, and had a family, then found himself back on the Enterprise where very little time had passed. I seem to connect that episode with a haunting flute melody he played, but maybe have that one mixed up with another.

Couldn't find a link to that particular episode, but here's a video where he plays it again several episodes later in one of the Jeffries Tubes onboard the Enterprise.  It's the same melody as was played in the episode you're talking about.  Neela described that place as the most acoustically perfect spot on the ship. 

<Apologizing in advance for the brief Star Trek detour.> 

http://www.youtube.com/v/6su9jVj_pXY

[libby]

   Yes, that brings it back. Thank you !

Remembering that makes me want to go out looking for copies of the series. My first stop will be a huge used book store not far from my home that took over a Border's book store. They have tons of stuff other than books, much of it new, including DVDs, videos, music, etc. Any time I want a book that's out of print or otherwise not available, I go there and by golly, they have it. Real cheap!

[Locutus]

A CME shaped like a light bulb photographed on August 20th.

[Bo D]

Here's a necklace you won't be able to buy on HSN!




http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news-DS-Hubble-Offers-Dazzling-View-of-Necklace-Nebula-082912.aspx?et_cid=2822937&et_rid=41373174&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.scientificcomputing.com%2fnews-DS-Hubble-Offers-Dazzling-View-of-Necklace-Nebula-082912.aspx

[Bo D]

Tire tracks on Mars!


shows the rover and its tracks after a few short drives. Tracking the tracks over time will provide information on how the surface changes over time as dust is deposited and eroded.


shows the parachute and backshell, now in color. The outer band of the parachute has a reddish color.



shows the descent stage crash site, now in color, and several distant spots (blue in enhanced color) downrange that are probably the result of distant secondary impacts that disturbed the surface dust.






See more here .....
http://www.uahirise.org/releases/msl-tracks.php

[libby]

Here's a necklace you won't be able to buy on HSN!




http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news-DS-Hubble-Offers-Dazzling-View-of-Necklace-Nebula-082912.aspx?et_cid=2822937&et_rid=41373174&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.scientificcomputing.com%2fnews-DS-Hubble-Offers-Dazzling-View-of-Necklace-Nebula-082912.aspx

  Looking at that beautiful "necklace" made me think about an old sci-fi story by Herman Hesse -- He Who Shrank -- which was basically about inner space as a continuation of outer space with planet Earth somewhere in between in a vast unending universe.

[libby]

A CME shaped like a light bulb photographed on August 20th.

Locutus, what is a CME?

[libby]

Tire tracks on Mars!


shows the rover and its tracks after a few short drives. Tracking the tracks over time will provide information on how the surface changes over time as dust is deposited and eroded.


shows the parachute and backshell, now in color. The outer band of the parachute has a reddish color.



shows the descent stage crash site, now in color, and several distant spots (blue in enhanced color) downrange that are probably the result of distant secondary impacts that disturbed the surface dust.




See more here .....
http://www.uahirise.org/releases/msl-tracks.php

... and those pictures make me think of Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, part of which I once heard read aloud -- what an imagination I had (have) ....

[followsthewolf]

  Locutus, what is a CME?

I know I'm not Locutus, but since he's not online, I can tell you that CME in this case stands for a Coronal Mass Ejection -- usually called a solar flare.

[libby]

 

I know I'm not Locutus, but since he's not online, I can tell you that CME in this case stands for a Coronal Mass Ejection -- usually called a solar flare.

  I'm laughing at myself, wolf. I guess I could say it was late and I was tired. 

[libby]

Got a pleasant surprise when I opened  my front door at 6:00 this morning: Still fairly dark cloudless sky. There's a little stand of trees across the street from my house, and just above the treetops, was Venus, very bright, then the crescent moon, and almost straight overhead, Jupiter. 

[libby]

Woke up this morning about 5:30, looked out my bedroom window, and there, in the dark, cloudless sky, were Venus and the crescent moon, now side by side,  just above the treetops.  Magnificent! Turned off my front porch light and went outside for a few minutes. It was so clear that I could also see a fair number of stars.

[Locutus]

I'm waiting for the next cool comet to visit our neighborhood.   We haven't had a brightly visible one for a long while.