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Varun's Blog - At the Speed of Light !

A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. ~Edward Teller

A very warm welcome to my th reader.Why speed of light ? Well, the aim of this blog is to reach the impossible by exploration and scientific fervor. Exploration never ends, knowledge never dies but Speed of Light can be achieved ....

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Sky Updates

MOON AND MARS: Please don't miss this: At sunset on Sunday, Dec. 23rd, the full Moon and Mars will rise in the east less than two degrees apart. So close together, the two brightest objects in the evening sky look absolutely dynamite. The display will be visible all night long, even from brightly lit cities, and requires no telescope to enjoy.

URSID UPDATE: Observers in Europe report a modest outburst of Ursid meteors last night. The intensity and timing of the flurry is in good accord with predictions that Earth would run into a stream of dust from Comet 8P/Tuttle on Dec. 22nd. Now that the meteor shower is over, attention turns to the comet itself. After a 13.6 year absence, 8P/Tuttle is once again traveling through the inner solar system. At closest approach to Earth on Jan. 1st and 2nd, 2008, the comet, will brighten to 5th or 6th magnitude--a fine target for backyard telescopes and digital cameras.

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Asteroid towards Mars

NASA-funded astronomers are monitoring a Tunguska-sized asteroid that will pass within 30,000 miles of Mars on Jan. 30, 2008. Based on data currently available, the space rock has a 1-in-75 chance of actually hitting Mars and blasting a crater more than half-a-mile wide.

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Monday, November 26, 2007

GPS Insight



The GPS technology calculates its position by measuring the distance between itself and three or more GPS satellites. Each satellite has an atomic clock, and continually transmits messages containing the exact time, the location of the satellite, and the general system health. Over the years, the technology involved in manufacturing an automobile has become more advanced, as automakers shift their focus from basic transportation to the design of features that make a vehicle safer, more comfortable, and more easily operated. GPS Insight is the hardware developed on these lines.

GPS Insight is a new company using advanced technology that helps you track your vehicles all over the world. It uses satellites and AT&T/T-Mobile. The hardware & web software-based technology gives you the actual speed, location, distance traveled by a vehicle and much more. The company is also capable of integrating this facility with cellphone providing a real time monitoring and mapping. When installed in a car, a GPS Insight can provide useful information about the car's position and the best travel routes to a given destination by linking itself to a built-in digital map. It also tracks the distance traveled on a particular trip, vehicle mileage, and speed. It can keep a record of driving activity, including the address of each destination, names of streets traveled, and how long the vehicle remained at each location, to allow owners to monitor the use of their cars by other drivers.

In addition to its applications in private vehicles, GPS Insight is being used by commercial shipping companies to speed the delivery of cargo. It allows companies to track their fleets, record the movement of their trucks, and control route planning. GPS Insight uses the new models to correct problems in the older versions, focusing on improved accuracy, better reception, and even more user-friendly features. It also gives you a lot of information on Geofence Violation.

The cost is just like $1.50-2 per day per vehicle for such a supreme technology. Decreased labor costs and decreased gas costs help you save a lot of money when you use this technology. GPS Insight also provides advance reports and route optimization and navigation. It is the only company that includes engine diagnostics with the baseline products. The company doesn’t have any hidden fees and provides their customers with the most reliable product. Go for it ! Get advance technology for your vehicle.

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Thursday, November 22, 2007

Mars becomes more bright

"Mars is starting to look really nice through my 10-inch telescope," reports amateur astronomer Friedrich Deters of LaGrange, North Carolina, who took the picture at right on Nov. 17th.

"Very nice!" agrees Dan Peterson of Racine, Wisconsin, who captured a similar snapshot the next night.

The blue polar swirl in these pictures is the "North Polar Hood"—a giant icy cloud that forms over the Martian north pole during winter. Why blue? That's the color of sunlight scattered from very tiny crystals of ice (smaller than the wavelength of light itself) floating in the cloud. The blue hood vs. Mars' red terrain appear in pleasing contrast through any mid-sized backyard telescope.

You don't need a telescope to enjoy Mars, however. It is plainly visible to the naked eye, bright and red, standing out among the pale stars of Gemini as something definitely different.

Finding the constellation and the planet within is child's play on Nov. 26th and 27th. That's when the nearly full Moon glides past Mars, only one degree away, and draws attention to the pair. If you can find the full Moon, you can find Mars. Look east before bedtime on Monday evening, Nov. 26th, or west before dawn on Tuesday morning, Nov. 27th.

SOURCE : NASA

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Saturday, November 03, 2007

Top 20 picks - Go shopping !

Want to give something special to your friends? Yes. Shopping.com is providing you with top 20 gifts to choose from.

All of us like to shop during the holidays or specials events. Buy some really top rated products like Handbags, Perfumes, Toys etc. from shopping.com website. Is your kid too technology freak? Gift him with an iPod this christmas. You can also browse for good offers and buy gifts, christmas presents, Eco-drive watches, shoes etc.

Get close to your partner and express your love by presenting him or her with elegant gifts this Thanks Giving. Shopping.com has specially featured variety of products to choose from. Supreme gifts, presents and your favorite gadgets are just a click away. Go for it !

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Photos of Shuttle launch from Florida Tech



STS-120/Discovery
IMAGE CREDIT : ANDREW COLSON

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Orionid meteor shower

In recent nights, sky watchers have noticed meteors shooting out of the constellation Orion. This signals the beginning of the annual Orionid meteor shower caused by space dust from Halley's Comet. The shower is feeble now, producing only a few bright meteors per hour, but the show will improve as we approach the shower's peak on Oct. 21st. Last year, observers counted as many as 50 Orionids per hour when Earth passed through the thick of Halley's dust trail and another good display may be in the offing.

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Sunday, October 14, 2007


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Monday, October 08, 2007

Draconid Meteor Shower

METEOR WATCH: The annual Draconid meteor shower peaks on Oct. 9th at 0430 UT--in other words, tonight at 9:30 pm PDT or 12:30 am EDT. No a big display. The source of the shower, comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, is far away and would produce no more than a few slow meteors every hour. If you decide to look, keep an eye on the northern sky (Draco is not far from the north celestial pole) during the hours around the predicted peak.

PERUVIAN METEORITE UPDATE: Astronomers studying the Peruvian meteorite fall of Sept. 15, 2007, have analyzed infrasound records of the fireball's descent through Earth's atmosphere and estimated the impactor's kinetic energy: about 0.03 kton of TNT. So far more than 30 kg of the meteorite have been recovered by Peruvian authorities, but much more remains--indeed, says one researcher, there could be a "multi-ton monster" hiding at the bottom of the meteorite's curiously watery crater.

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Goin 2 travel ? Best rentals here !

Looking for a perfect Hawaii vacation? Goin2rentals provide excellent vacation rentals. Gather vacation ideas and look for top vacation destinations to start with. Goin2travel's directory features the world's best vacation rentals. Don't miss their featured vacation rentals and destinations!

Enjoy great prices and save upto 30% on rental rates for Maui vacation. Are you the owner of an estate? You can list your vacation rental properties with Goin2travel. Travelers can directly book them on this website.

Explore the Kauai Vacation Rental Information. The Beach Park and Canyon there are pretty famous and well known. Planning an organized vacation with cheap rental was never so easy. But Goin2travel has quality estates. Go for it !

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Sunday, October 07, 2007

Kennedy Space Center

Students of Florida Institute of Technology have made up a ROCKET CLUB. We discuss various launches and also get to see them from the Kennedy Space Center. It was a forty minutes drive from Melbourne. Frequent showers helped to reduce the heat during the journey. We were seven people in a group. The main parts of our visit consisted of

1. Saturn V
2. International Space Station
3. Lunar Objects
4. Space Exhibition

See the pictures of this great journey.

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Thursday, October 04, 2007

Tahoe Mountain Resorts

Looking for a great vacation in North Lake Tahoe? How about an exciting vacation at Lake Tahoe ? Get the luxurious rooms at a cheap cost. They have the newest lodging. Plan your activities by looking at their calendar events.

Easy online booking has already started. Start making your booking and proceed with the reservation process. Browse through their website and look for activities and things to do. It also provides you the directions to reach the place in California.

It has never been so thrilling. Explore the mountains, lakes, rivers etc. Enjoy a stress free vacation with a variety of resorts. North Lake Tahoe Vacation Rentals are reasonably low. Book you Condo Hotel in North Lake Tahoe today !!

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Sunday, September 30, 2007

Lunar Impact Telescope

Researchers from the Marshall Space Flight Center have built a new "lunar impact" observatory in rural north Georgia. They're using it for their own cutting edge research and sharing the facility with local middle- and high-school students.

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Search your mates @ WINK !

WINK is a successful attempt towards building a people-search engine. Find a person on a social networking site had never been so easy. The real concept behind this is - to find people you know without actually displaying their street address, phone no. and other personal details.

Going about making your own profile on WINK helps. You can update your activities , add friends, bookmarks, favorite sites and much more. Find friends that have joined social networking sites like MySpace, Bebo, Friendster etc. A single personal page i.e your profile has a lot of content which people can read about you.

Try their WINK widget! Sign up for it today. Build your own profile and start exploring people and grow your online social network. The best part is that WINK is free and it searches by your friend's online activity. In simple words, STAY CONNECTED WITH WINK !

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Cave skylights on Mars

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano. The find is fueling interest in potential underground habitats and sparking searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet. Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 328 to 820 feet puzzled researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters. Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be windows into underground spaces.
The new report proposes that the deep holes on Arsia Mons probably formed as underground stresses around the volcano caused spreading and faults that opened spaces beneath the surface. Some of the holes are in line with strings of bowl-shaped pits where surface material has apparently collapsed to fill the gap created by a linear fault. The observations have prompted researchers using Mars Odyssey and NASA's newer Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine the Seven Sisters. The goal is to find other openings to underground spaces at lower elevations that are more accessible to future missions to Mars.
source : NASA

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Sunday, September 23, 2007

National Relocation Portal

Are you shifting to a new house? Finding services that would help you make this process easier? National Relocation provides mortgages, relocation services and right agents. You can look for best deals and homes for rent. They provide insurance in multiple fields like - Health, Home, Car, Life, Dental and Travel insurance.

Are you also in search of a good home inspector? They have it for almost all states in US. You can efficiently search for movers everywhere. The website also provides excellent information about shippers and moving companies. They have best real estates. National Relocation has variety of mortgages to offer - Reserve, VA loans, Bad Credit.

National Relocation portal is the ultimate and biggest online resource guide-cum-service-provider for the people who are interested. Just enter your zip code and start looking for services in your area. You wouldn't go for any other agency's help or support after you visit this portal !

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Jobs in London

Are you looking for a job in London? Finding a job is no more a hassle now. Gumstree provides you a job with ease. Various job vacancies are posted each day on this website. Subscribe to its feed for getting job emails in your inbox. There is job for almost every field.

If you are an employer and want your ad to be present on this website, go for it!

Gunstree is an excellent website for finding a job. Apply for a position and start earning.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Trendy and cheap mailboxes !

You needn't look for any other company for setting up a mailbox just outside your house because Mailboxixchange is one of those intelligent and experienced companies that can provide you with every kind of mailbox - be it Residential, Commercial or simple wall mailboxes. Their recent customers like their speedy delivery, customer service, great quality and good price.They have almost every type and variety of mailbox - Single-Unit Mailbox, Post Packages, Multi-Unit Mailbox, Wall Mount Mailboxes, Column Mailboxes, Locking Mailboxes. Browse through their big online store and select your decorative or architectural type of mailbox !

Mailboxixchange website has numerous manufacturers listed. Read about everyone and make your selection from this list. Each manufacturer has its price and product photos listed. So go ahead and make a purchase because every order can earn you a gift certificate of $25! The user reviews are indeed very convincing and they speak for this company's high standard and customer satisfaction guarantee. Make payments through a credit card, Paypal or a cheque - they have the easiest ways for online payments.

They have over 1500 mailbox and curbside decor products. Participants are paid $20.00 for signing up. Mailboxixchange has everything you can imagine about a mailbox. They design it for you - the way you like it ! They deliver and fix them at your house - the way you want them to do ! Mailboxixchange is known for a highly trained and polite staff who can guide you to discover their high quality residential and commercial mailboxes for your home or business. Want to try ? Just send them an inquiry now ! If you are also a publisher, do spread a word about them or join their affiliate program. Also, don't miss those Brandon Heritage & Country Club Classic Antique Double Front Mount Mailbox Packages!

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Monday, September 17, 2007

Best Online Poker @ Macpoker !

One of the best websites featuring casino and card games on the internet.

Macpokeronline shares great content and relevant information on poker sites around the globe. It allows its users to rate and review other poker sites so that the users get an idea and easily shortlist best sites. It provides the lists of sites where users don't need to download any software to play Bingo ! It also gives links to download those rare Mac Poker Softwares which are not available with just a mouse's click.

So hurry and join the maconlinepoker website today ! Don't forget to sign up for its newsletter which has interesting news, tips, and tricks about Mac Poker. Also, do sign up for poker forum to indulge in active discussions about poker and casino games. You also get instant poker upgrades.

It is an excellent website which can train you from a beginner level to a professional in poker and casino gaming. Watch for current poker tournaments. Try Fulltilt Poker , Pacific Poker, Poker Bonus. You are also not going to miss those mac poker strategy tricks and tips provided by this website. You can earn $$$ with its poker affiliate program. Best of all, it provides special codes for acquiring Poker Bonuses from various sites. Dont' miss the online casino bonuses.

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Friday, September 14, 2007

Get discount coupons !


How about making a purchase with extra discount? How about acquiring free shipping with your purchase. Well, Chief Coupon gives you a coupon by which you can save money on each purchase. Their website lists coupons by top stores like BestBuy, Target, Dell Home etc. Now you can make a discounted purchase while sitting at home!

Coupon chief has categorized its coupons for various products. It is one of the top 10 online coupon services. Select your favorite store from their directory and get the best deal.

People have been using their coupons with utmost satisfaction. Go for your own coupon now! Get your favorite product from your favorite store. Coupon chief remains a dedicated website to provide various coupons and codes for free. Try it !

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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The Shaft - Rocket Built by FIT Students



My seniors at FIT made this rocket that flew to 1000 feet. They remained within a $20 budget and built their own rocket. Yeyyy !!

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Saturday, September 01, 2007

Single or Multi Trip travel insurance

It is always very necessary and also beneficial to get travel insurance. If you travel for even a single trip, you have to get insured. M&S is there for you !!

Getting a travel insurance these days is not at all difficult. But choosing the right agent for your travel insurance is a crucial task. M&S Travel Insurance is one of the agents that can handle this job well. Just answer a few questions with the click of the mouse and get your travel insurance.

You can go for any kind of insurance depending on your need - Single Trip, Multi Trip or Annual Travel Insurance. It has been awarded as the best insurance company in 2005-06. Visit their website and read more. They have their best to offer you !!

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Free Hotel Bookings at Easytobook

Easytobook is provides you online booking without any fee. Easytobook is a website which is dedicated towards providing its customers hotel bookings online through their site with the most reasonable and low prices. The bookings can me made with loads of variety based upon the need and choice of its customers.

Select hotels in Barcelona, Prague, London, etc. They offer you the best and the cheapest rate available on the net. It offers instant booking or cancellation. They have too much of variety for rooms and hotels. Ranging from small hotel rooms to big deluxe ones. If you are planning a trip in near future - Go for EasyToBook !

You can to choose hotels near famous monuments and tourist attractions. Use their EasyMap tool and search for the location that best suits you. Don't forget to avail their special offers. They are giving their customers 75% discount on Amsterdam Hotels. The prompt and active customer service keeps its customers aware of the various facilities and updates. Go for a booking - its indeed worth it !



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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Quality Education at Tutorvista !

Parents are always worried about their kids' education. Building the right concepts and proper practice questions is very necessary to excel in different subjects. Such services should be available 24x7. Well, now we introduce you the very popular educational website - Tutorvista!! It is one of the highly rated educational networks.

The website provides intense and comprehensive online study material for K-12/school and college students. It also extends its excellent services to provide supplementary education and
Homework Help. Next time you prepare for a test - do your preparation through Tutorvista. Use their Online Tutoring as much as you want. Learn Algebra, Trigonometry and Math online! Try their Free Live Tutoring now!!

Their summer program has
interactive courses which start from just $99.99 per month. Check out their Get Ahead english and maths programmes too. Tutorvista teaches you in a structured and easy manner. So you can understand the stuff pretty easily and in a fun way. Try it now! If you don't like it they return your money back. Schedule unlimited tutoring and homework lessons just for $24.99.

One of the supreme and best tutoring website is a click away.
Go for it !

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Best Trip Planner - REALTRAVEL


Your travel trips can be really exciting and economical if you plan them through Real-Travel. It has the right mix up of best travel locations and their photographs. This makes it easier to decide the places you want to visit. Feel free to ask questions about any place on their forums. The people are very friendly and helpful here. A blog and a trip planner are totally free if you sign up. Add any number of destinations to your itinerary. Organize and date your itinerary. See your itinerary on a dynamic route map. Compare price and you will see the difference; Real-Travel is indeed good.

If you really don't know about anything which you can do - browse through the "THINGS TO DO" list. It's quite helpful and you can plan various activities ahead of time. Real Travel offers you anything and everything that it takes to help you explore a destination or holiday spot you would like to visit. They also provide you with a highly descriptive travel guide.

Don't miss the editor's picks. The page indeed has really good places covered each day. Did I tell you about their special deals? Okay! They have some really good cheap priced air tickets and hotel packages for you. See the travel maps for finding the lanes with ease. Real-Travel has listed the attractions by destinations.

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Monday, August 06, 2007

Can you answer it ?

I recently received this question on my site. I openly publish the question on this blog and allow my readers to answers the question to the best of their ability. Post them in comments section. Best answering author has himself/herself featured in a box on the right side of the blog. I have already received one answer from one of my friends. See if you can produce something different. We'll have ratings then !

Here is the question by Solomon Mamo Banteywalu

When I observe the theories written about the possibility of 'time travel' one question comes into my head, it is proved that, if a massive body (doesn't matter how small its mass is) moves with the speed of light its mass becomes infinite, then why photons (light particles) made such a long journey in the universe? Are they acted up on by an infinite force?

PS.: Try to be short and to the point!

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Thursday, August 02, 2007

Farrey’s Superior Products



Designing or furnishing your home or office from scratch? Then Farrey is for you! The company was established in 1924 and since then it has marked its growth in providing quality services and excellent customer support. Now it is a leading international company providing Ceiling Fans, Lighting, Bath, Door Hardware, Kitchen and Ventilation Products.

Local people can browse through Farrey's Showrooms in North Miami, Florida. Be amazed at the sights at their Decor Theme Parks. Their facilities include a cafe where you can relax and consider a thousand options for any decorating assignment.

Also, don’t forget to go through there special offers. Avail them today ! Their brands include -
Ambience, Crystorama, Fine Art Lamps, Flos, Fontana Arte, Forecast, George Kovacs and many more. You name the brand and its there on the list. Volume purchase discounts are also available! Farrey promises you a safe online shopping experience. Farreys.com is currently only accepting orders for delivery to the United States and Canada. The vast payment options make the shopping experience easier and secure. They accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express through their online store. Discover the new amazing products at competitive prices only at Farreys !

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Monday, July 30, 2007

Far side of the moon


So has any human ever seen the far side of moon? I guess, not ! Because this side of the moon always stays away from us. First directly observed by human eyes when the Apollo 8 mission orbited the Moon in 1968. It includes the largest known impact feature in the Solar System: the South Pole-Aitken basin. A good sight for putting radio telescopes !

The Moon now rotates once as it orbits the Earth, allowing for the same side to always face the Earth so that the far side remains a mystery to any Earth-bound observer.



Resources / Read on the web
NASA to put man on far side of moon
Lunar and Planetary Institute
APOD
Far side of moon movie (2005)

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Powerful new iMac

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Monday, July 23, 2007

UFO sightings in Karnal (Punjab)


On 8th Juily 2007, people in Karnal (Haryana) saw two blue colored lights for almost 2 hours in the sky. The lights seemed to hover all over their locality.

The two lights in the sky were nearly half the size of the moon. The strange lights were seen at around 10:00pm IST. The lights were mind-bogglingly wandering in the sky. People reported that they hadn't seen anything like this before.

The sky presents a beautiful scene every night. One can see thousands of stars and the moon on a clear night sky. But on 8th July 2007 when the people in Karnal looked at the sky, they saw something astounding at around 9pm. Both these lights were encircling one another. The news spread like fire. It was not long when people started to explore the reason behind this strange incidence in the sky. Some of the intelligent ones started saying that this light is a result of some circus show nearby. At around 10pm space scientists started to handle the dispute. They prudently explained that these lights are not from any source on earth. If they had been sent from earth, the lights would have distinct tails. This is a common observation when we switch on a torch in a dark room. Therefore, it was concluded that these lights were not from Earth. The lights were so big that they couldn't have been a star and no planet can come so close to earth. Though the people were feeling astonished by such an incidence but they were also curious to know the reason behind this strange scene. But nobody could find out the exact reason!

PS.: The article above is an original translation from Hindi language to English - done by "Varun Khetarpal". Copy and Paste is not allowed without prior permission from the blog author. You may use this article anywhere on the internet without permission, provided you mention the author name and link back to this blog.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Beat the brand - Sony Ericsson w300i !


I finally have my hands on w300i. It is just awesome. Excellent features. Battery life is commendable. The claimed talk time is up to 9.5 hours and the claimed standby time is up to 400 hours. The comapny tests reached about 7 hours talk time and standby of 1.5 weeks. I am experiencing the pre-configured Cingular model. Sony Ericsson W300i has a Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot for storage and supports up to 1GB Memory Stick Micro cards. Sony Ericsson W300i supports a wide range of music and video formats including MP3, AAC, AMR, MIDI, IMY, EMY, WAV (16 kHz max) and MP4 as well as 3GP and 3GPP for streaming content. The music quality via the included Sony Ericsson stereo earbud headset is great with clear and crisp sound, full and deep bass and no audio distortion or noise at all. The camera is decent enough - a VGA camera with 4x digital zoom.

Features

Camera
  • Camera 0.3-megapixel (VGA)
  • Digital zoom 4x
  • Video recording
Music
  • Media Player
  • MegaBass™
  • Music tones
  • PlayNow™
Internet
  • RSS feeds
  • Web browser Access NetFront™ Web Browser

Entertainment
  • 3D games
  • Java
  • Radio
  • Video viewing
Connectivity
  • Bluetooth™
  • Infrared port
  • Modem
  • Synchronisation
  • USB mass storage
  • USB support
Messaging
  • Email
  • MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
  • Predictive text input
  • Sound recorder
  • Text messaging (SMS)
Communication
  • Polyphonic ringtones
  • Speakerphone
  • Vibrating Alert
Design
  • Navigation key
  • Picture wallpaper
  • Wallpaper animation
Organiser
  • Alarm clock
  • Calculator
  • Calendar
  • Contacts
  • Flight mode
  • Notes
  • Phone book
  • Stopwatch
  • Tasks
  • Timer

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Monday, July 16, 2007

Haven't seen Bengaluru ? Two days experience !

Picasa SlideshowPicasa Web AlbumsFullscreen



Yes. You would wanna note that change - its no more Bangalore now! I don't want to be very descriptive because I am little lazy about writing big essays which reflect my personal life. It was an early flight to Bangalore. Bengaluru (getting used to it!) weather was just awesome. It was very pleasant and extraordinarily cool. One enjoyed walking on roadsides. But believe me, the traffic conditions are worse than Delhi. One thing I noticed, unlike Delhi, the three wheeler drivers have to display a copy of their license on the vehicle.

The biggest and the most famous mall in Bangalore is "FORUM". Oh boy ! It was so huge. The 6 level parking excluding the two under-ground floors were literally full. So we finally got a place on the terrace to park our car. It was probably because on Saturdays people have a half-working-day. So population tends to get attracted towards this place. There no other way out ! You can't sit at home and make your life boring ...huh?

I roamed around the city in a smart car - Opel Vectra. It has a sensor for almost everything! Detects the air pressure in tyres. Has an inbuilt parking sense technology. It was cool ! I managed to see the Vidhan Sabha, Karnataka High Court, some gardens, malls etc. Now, I would like to conclude. Check the pictures out for more...

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Saturday, July 07, 2007

Now grow up !



Hope you understood and liked my previous article. I have explained the rotation concept with utter simplicity. If you haven't read it - you are missing out on something amazingly superb. Scroll down and give it a read. Keeping aside astronomy for a while, Donald has always remained my favourite. Cartoon animations have developed characters which look so real. Way to go - Animation Industry & Walt Disney!

So do you like strategy or mystery solving games? I am sure you have tried the Nicky Bounty. I have played all of them in the series. These are flash games and are very real ! The music and character sounds are too good. Waiting for the two unreleased games - Nearly Departed & The Adventures of Nelly the Wonder Dog! Pinheadgames website comes out with really good games. Check them out !

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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Who pushed the Earth in the past ?


Recently, there has been a lot of discussion coming up on the net. Scientists have given an attempt to answer questions like – What existed before the Big Bang? The biggest hurdle in front of us is that while studying the earlier phase of the universe, calculations fail. This is because one has to divide by zero several times to reach a mathematically correct solution which explains the state of the universe just before the Big Bang. They have altered their calculations and methods to avoid divisions by zero and have tagged along a different approach to show that universe had a finite density and we can find out what existed before the Big Bang. They suggest merging the quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of relativity.
But as the research papers or any material gets confirmed, I will post it here. [link]

Then I went through space videos. One of them was about Apophis asteroid. It will hit us in 2036. The video has been exaggerated a bit showing a complete extinction of life form from earth. It is not true. Read more about the Impact Risk. According to latest updates, as on August 6th, 2006, its imapct has been lowered to Torino Scale 0.

Gradually, as I was winding up the video watching session, I accidentally came across a video titled “Does God Exist?” It has been posted by abcnews.com user. There were a lot of interesting arguments but I would cut down and post the minimum stuff. Watch the video to see the whole debate.


Theist: There needs to be a creator for anything that exists. Everything is created by God. There needs to be a painter for a painting.
Atheist: Then who is the creator of God?
Theist : No one has created God. God is just there as an eternal faith or power in one’s self.
…. and the never ending blah blah blah….

Two friends were heading for a competition. One of them was an Atheist and the other was a Theist. Before leaving for the competition they talked on phone.
Theist: John, I'll pray for your victory today !
Atheist: Thanks. I will think for your victory!

Could you make out the point from this small conversation ?

Well, earlier I had thought of writing an article on M-theory (or String Theory) because
I do know about the fundamentals of the String Theory and understand its application. But trust me, when I came to writing a post on it, I couldn’t do it. Understanding and explaining theories are two completely different tasks. And of course, you need to have the skill to explain complicated things in a simple, clear-cut technique. Also, there are various kinds of string theories, not just one. These theories are interconvertable and then you have the dual of most of these theories. But then I thought of writing about something more interesting. Try answering these questions:

Who pushed our Earth in the past?
Why is it rotating?
Will it continue to rotate?
What would happen if the Earth stops rotating?

Science has progressed so much today that it has answer to almost every question. Curious about astronomy, children do ask startling questions at times that make us spellbound for a moment. For eg. Earth is rotating at an enormous speed of 1100 miles per hour, considering this fact, if someone jumps high up then why doesn’t he land a few miles away from the place he jumped. Now, if our earth stops rotating, what would be the consequences?

Firstly, we need to understand why or what is making the earth rotate continuously. In the early years of the formation of the solar system, the disk of clouds made up of gas and dust started to condense. Gradually, they attained circular stable shapes forming planetary bodies which continued to remain in swirling motion. In the whole process, the sun remained in the center of the swirling disk of gas and dust. As time progressed, accounting to billions of years, the planets came into existence with distinctly separate bodies having a core and crust of their own. Out of the eight planets, the Jovian planets, namely, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune remained gaseous. Let’s understand the concept in a very simple manner. The disk of gas and dust swirled around the sun. It remained captured by the sun’s gravity. Slowly, the planets formed. Now angular momentum needs to be conserved because no external torque is acting on the system, therefore, the planets started rotating. To keep the angular momentum constant, mass distribution lowered (swirling gas condensed into planets) and high orbiting velocity of newly formed planets came into existence.

Now, we are all aware of the fact that there is no need of any external force to keep a ball in rotation. Same is the case with our earth. It doesn’t require any external energy or force to stay in rotational motion. But you would be astonished to know that with the use of extremely accurate atomic clocks it has been found that the rotation is slowly down. One of the reasons for this is Tidal Acceleration. Therefore, the need of Leap Second was felt. Because of changes in dynamic climate and atmospheric pressure, earth’s rotation is affected. NASA’s ESE mission is currently studying more about this.

If the Earth stops rotating, it would produce miraculous results. Firstly, it would highly disturb the earth’s magnetism. Atmospheric disturbance would cease the life on earth. The atmosphere is also rotating with the earth. If earth stops rotating suddenly, high speed winds would sweep the landmasses. Earth just has the right rotation period which helps the living beings to survive. Seismic waves might break the earth apart due to sudden halt in rotation. Moreover, the places on the dark and lightened side of the earth respectively would continue to remain like that.

So does anyone know what is diurnal motion? And folks, do post comments or questions.

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The New 7 Wonders : Hamara Taj?


I just put in my vote for the Taj Mahal today, if u haven't, then hurry up, only 1 day left! but isn't this selection process a bit unfair to poorer countries, i mean how many indians actually have access to voting facilites (internet/mobile phone+money). If the Taj Mahal doesn't get in, i'm gonna go crazy!

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Why does Moon appear BIG in the sky ?

This June 30th brings a moon illusion !The sun and full moon lie on opposite sides of the sky. They are like a see-saw: when one is high, the other is low. Because the summer solstice was just last week (June 21st), the sun is near its highest point in northern skies. The full moon is correspondingly low.

Some researchers believe that the Moon Illusion is Ponzo's Illusion, with buildings and trees playing the role of Ponzo's converging lines. Foreground objects trick your brain into thinking the moon is bigger than it really is.

So? Which of the two lines in the picture above is bigger ? It seems as if the farthest one is a little bigger but actually both of them have the same size. The converging lines in the background of the first line from the top create an illusion in our minds which makes it appear bigger.

Try looking @ the moon with naked eye and then with a hole in a cardboard. Its fun !

PS.: For an indepth knowledge about this topic, visit link

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Comparison of planet sizes & stars



Images are provided by co-intelligence
  • Sun has a diameter equal to 109 Earths and mass equal to 332,946 Earths.
  • Jupiter's mass is equal to 317.8 Earths and has an escape velocity of 59.5 km/s. (Escape velocity of earth is 11.2km/s)
  • Pluto has a mass equal to 0.0021 Earths and an escape velocity of 1.2 km/s.

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Let's pray for Sunita William's safe return

UPDATE : Shuttle ends mission with California landing. The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis touches down at Edwards Air Force Base, California June 22, 2007.


Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams is preparing to return home on Thursday after a 194-day record in space. Cloudy skies and thunderstorms are delaying this return in Florida, US. As informed by NASA, the shuttle that blasted off to fetch Sunita Williams and install new solar power panels aboard the International Space Station has enough fuel and supplies to stay in space through Sunday.


Williams has been replaced at the station by American astronaut Clayton Anderson, who is scheduled to stay aboard the outpost until October. And it is because of her Indian origin that this shuttle mission attracted considerable interest in India. At the time of the launch, her uncle, aunt and cousins in Ahmedabad were glued to the television. She says that she learnt a lot from Kalpana. Just being with her was great fun. Kalpana had a lot of different interests. One of the interests was in Indian music. And they both used to listen to Indian classical music together, informs her father.

Priests, teachers and students at a Haryana school, the alma mater of deceased astronaut Kalpana Chawla, are praying for the safe return of Indian American Sunita Williams from space on Thursday night.

Sunita Williams is another woman astronaut who has touched stars. Let's pray for her safe arrival back to home ! Long Live Sunita Williams !

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Nice Mailboxes & Curbside Decors @ Mailboxixchange


You needn't look for any other company for setting up a mailbox just outside your house because Mailboxixchange is one of those intelligent and experienced companies that can provide you with every kind of mailbox - be it Residential, Commercial or simple wall mailboxes. Their recent customers like their speedy delivery, customer service, great quality and good price.They have almost every type and variety of mailbox - Single-Unit Mailbox, Post Packages, Multi-Unit Mailbox, Wall Mount Mailboxes, Column Mailboxes, Locking Mailboxes. Browse through their big online store and select your decorative or architectural type of mailbox !

Mailboxixchange website has numerous manufacturers listed. Read about everyone and make your selection from this list. Each manufacturer has its price and product photos listed. So go ahead and make a purchase because every order can earn you a gift certificate of $25! The user reviews are indeed very convincing and they speak for this company's high standard and customer satisfaction guarantee. Make payments through a credit card, Paypal or a cheque - they have the easiest ways for online payments.

Mailboxixchange has everything you can imagine about a mailbox. They design it for you - the way you like it ! They deliver and fix them at your house - the way you want them to do ! Mailboxixchange is known for a highly trained and polite staff who can guide you to discover their high quality residential and commercial mailboxes for your home or business. Want to try ? Just send them an inquiry now ! If you are also a publisher, do spread a word about them or join their affiliate program. Also, don't miss those Brandon Heritage & Country Club Classic Antique Double Front Mount Mailbox Packages!

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Poker for Mac Users !



What is Maconlinepoker ?

It is a popular website featuring casino and card games in which players, each holding one or more cards whose face value is concealed, place wagers into a central pot. The pot is awarded to the player or players with the best combination of cards or to the player who makes an uncalled bet.

Macpokeronline is a very appealing website sharing great content and relevant information on poker sites around the globe. It allows its users to rate and review other poker sites so that the users get an idea and easily shortlist best sites. It provides the lists of sites where users don't need to download any software to play Bingo ! It also gives links to download those rare Mac Poker Softwares which are not available with just a mouse's click. You are also not going to miss those mac poker strategy tricks and tips provided by this website. You can earn $$$ with its poker affiliate program. Best of all, it provides special codes for acquiring Poker Bonuses from various sites.

So hurry and join the maconlinepoker website today ! Don't forget to sign up for its newsletter which has interesting news, tips, and tricks about Mac Poker. Also, do sign up for poker forum to indulge in active discussions about poker and casino games. The forum has experts, beginners, moderators and over 2700 registered users.

It is an excellent website which can train you from a beginner level to a professional in poker and casino gaming. If you are a webmaster of a poker website, it is one of the best website to have an affiliation or link exchange. Search for a tournament and get pokering ... !

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

How does Google justify this ?

Well, almost every user has an Orkut account today. But we don't seem to notice it ! Only new people can make an observation regarding this figure ! Every new account with 0 contacts and friends, has this figure displayed.

This account literally has ZERO contacts but still Orkut shows connection to 55,929,875 people. How is this number generated ? In simple words, what is the logic behind this calculation ? How does Google justify this ?

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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Blue Moon for North Americans - 9:04 pm EDT, May 31st






Basically a Blue Moon refers to a second full moon in a month. Usually we just have one full moon in a month. But on rare occasions we may have two full moons in just one month. Currently, there are many definitions for this term. The other biggest misconception that people have is that during a blue moon night, moon appears blue. Though the moon has appeared to be blue very rarely due to the effect caused by smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere, it is not always true that moon turns blue on that day. So next time you hear about blue moon, please don't wait for a blue colored moon in the sky.

The term Blue Moon is around 400 years old. The Krakatoa Eruption had a global optical effect. Due to heavy amount of ash in the atmosphere due to the eruption, the moon appeared blue in the sky for almost 2 years.

North Americans are fortunate enough to view the second full moon in the sky on May 31st, 2007 (Thursday) at 9:04 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Astro-photographers can sent me their pictures on the email address provided on the left menu of this page and we can have those featured on the blog.

Ever tasted the Blue Moon Beer ? Try it !

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Monday, May 21, 2007

Mystery Behind the Anti-Matter !

What is antimatter? Does it indeed exist?
Can we detect the presence of antimatter?
Does your same body exist composed of antimatter?
Does dark matter contain antimatter?
How different would the two galaxies made up of antimatter and matter particles respectively look from earth?
Does antimatter have negative mass?
Is time travel possible due to existence of antimatter?

Well, it’s very interesting to know and understand the existence of exact opposite replica of every particle in this universe. In simple words, if we have an atom then we have an anti-atom also. Consider a hydrogen atom, for example; It has a nucleus and an electron revolving outside it. Now, there also exists an anti hydrogen atom, which has an anti-electron and an anti-nucleus in it. An anti-electron has a positive charge but has the mass as that of an electron.

It’s the ultra high speed collisions that create antimatter. It is very difficult to capture antimatter particles. Antimatter is created in the explosions taking place on the surface of stars and other inter-galactic collisions. Before the Big Bang took place there was absolutely no material particle which existed. It was only after this explosion that matter and antimatter particles were created in almost equal amounts. But according to theories and analysis a higher percentage of matter particles developed and remained in space.

It is possible to harness energy from the collision of matter and antimatter particles. Let us take a simple example to understand the principle and its use. Suppose we create a rocket that has an antimatter capturing cabinet. We can force the matter and antimatter particles to collide by throwing light on it obtained from the stars and sun. Through this collision we can generate energy which would help the rocket to propel forward towards its destination. In this process, high amount of energy would be generated and can be used in a controlled form. The biggest drawback is that it is very difficult and expensive to store antimatter. There are techniques to capture and store antimatter but again they require high amount of money and expertise. It is also very difficult to create antimatter artificially.

What is vacuum? Does it mean absence of particles?

Now if energy exists then a term like anti-energy should also exist. Well, the Dirac equation has a negative solution. Since it a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation, it demands the presence of anti particles to have a proper explanation for its negative result. Therefore, the need of antimatter particles was felt. As of now, the expression for this equation is quite complex for a beginner in astronomy. It was at this point of time that Dirac proposed that vacuum is not actually an empty space but a space filled with electrons having negative energy. This would mean vacuums in universe are possessing high amount of negative energy. But this was not quite appealing to people. So absence of real particles or a state in which no particles exist is considered as a vacuum.

From the very beginning we have been studying Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2.
The equation E=mc2 is actually E2=p2c2 + m2c4

We consider the special case, when the particle is at rest. This makes momentum (p) of the particle zero and the equation reduces to E=+(mc2) or E=-mc2.
The negative sign explains the existence of antimatter.

Well, it’s antimatter all the way! Think about anti blackholes, anti ice creams or maybe anti….


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Friday, May 18, 2007

Easytobook - Big Discount On Hotels In Amsterdam


Plan your trip to Amsterdam by selecting a good hotel for your stay. From every luxurious hotel to a small cheap hotel in Amsterdam – Easytobook provides it all! Easytobook is a website which is dedicated towards providing its customers hotel bookings online through their site with the most reasonable and low prices. The bookings can me made with loads of variety based upon the need and choice of its customers.


It is the committed staff and members of the website that have involved almost every hotel in there to provide top class services. The website has a careful assortment of special offers and maintains a high user rating. The advanced search and mapping service on the website guarantees valuable and constructive results to its users. The website guaranteed a discount of upto 75% ! Best hotel is featured every month on the homepage of the website which draws customers to it.


It also provides an easy city guide to its users and ensures credit card safety. Easytobook provides a free booking facility. Yes ! It doesn’t charge its customers for booking hotel online through their website. Signup for the newsletter on their website and keep yourself up to date of various changes and discount offers. The prompt and active customer service keeps its customers aware of the various facilities and updates. It is just another stop for making your bookings a hassle-free and a more blissful experience.

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Monday, May 14, 2007

Eh ? Did they see it ?




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Monday, May 07, 2007

Sunset from Gliese 581

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Thursday, May 03, 2007

Exosolar planet is present in habitable zone.



Using the ESO 3.6-m telescope, a team of Swiss, French and Portuguese scientists discovered a super-Earth about 5 times the mass of the Earth that orbits a red dwarf, already known to harbour a Neptune-mass planet.

It is reported that its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or fully covered with oceans.

HARPS found it

HARPS(High Accuracy Radial Velocity for Planetary Searcher)is one of the most successful instruments for detecting exoplanets and holds already several recent records, including the discovery of another 'Trio of Neptunes'. It can measure velocity upto the precision of 1m/sec. Out of the 13 known planets with a mass below 20 Earth masses, 11 were discovered with HARPS!

Although 211 planets have been discovered to date beyond our solar system, this planet is the first that is assumed to be residing in a habitable zone - the region around a star where the temperature is right for water to be present in liquid form.

The planet's extremely elliptical orbit brings it within about 3.1 million miles (4.9 million kilometers) of its parent star on the inside, and swings out to a distance of about 9.6 million miles (15.4 million kilometers).

Resources
Video Of Mr. Michel Mayor
Research reported on Paper
Episode on Astronomy Cast

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Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Atheists are spiritually blind.

Science does have the power to explain things which exist in this universe the way they are. But even the greatest of the scientists bow in front of an eternal power that is believed to create this universe.

Atheists are just blind who very easily ignore the truth in this universe. No theories or mathematical formula can prove the existence of God. It means that Science limits itself to this stage. How can we question the existence of our Master? How can we use the same brain given by Him to question His existence?

Today there are many arguments in favour of existence of God.
The Ontological Argument
The First Cause Argument
The Moral Argument

Their details can be found on websites.

Atheists cannot explain the existence of god; they leave it to chance. There needs to be an eternal power that exists. This eternal power is responsible for the creation of this universe. Big Bang cannot take place on its own, right?

There is no physical body of God. He is just – faith, truth and immortality. Questioning the physical existence of God is a dim-witted and unintelligent question. He is composed of two basic components – Light & Sound. Today science has the capability to create an artificial human body but it cannot make it live! It cannot impart life to the artificially created human body. In simple words, science does not possess the power to make artificial souls. Each soul is a part of God. After death soul departs and merges into its creator – GOD! How do atheists explain this?

Ruthless, cold blooded and merciless people have undergone a dramatic change. They include Valmiki and Asoka. They have changed after becoming religious. Therefore, God exists.

In earlier years, there have been various forms of Lord Krishna visiting earth. These incidents have been recorded in various religious books. Doesn’t it prove the existence of God? Becoming an atheist is same as keeping yourself spiritually blind and ignorant of truth of life.


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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Fermi Paradox

The story goes that, one day back on the 1940's, a group of atomic scientists, including the famous Enrico Fermi, were sitting around talking, when the subject turned to extraterrestrial life. Fermi is supposed to have then asked, "So? Where is everybody?" What he meant was: If there are all these billions of planets in the universe that are capable of supporting life, and millions of intelligent species out there, then how come none has visited earth? This has come to be known as The Fermi Paradox.

Fermi realized that any civilization with a modest amount of rocket technology and an immodest amount of imperial incentive could rapidly colonize the entire Galaxy. Within a few million years, every star system could be brought under the wing of empire. A few million years may sound long, but in fact it's quite short compared with the age of the Galaxy, which is roughly ten thousand million years. Colonization of the Milky Way should be a quick exercise.

So what Fermi immediately realized was that the aliens have had more than enough time to pepper the Galaxy with their presence. But looking around, he didn't see any clear indication that they're out and about. This prompted Fermi to ask what was (to him) an obvious question: "where is everybody?"

Also, if one considers the amount of time the Galaxy has been around (over 10 billion years) and the speed of technological advancement in our own culture, then a more relevant point is where are all the super-advanced alien civilizations. Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev proposed a useful scheme to classify advanced civilizations, he argues that ET would posses one of three levels of technology. A Type I civilization is similar to our own, one that uses the energy resources of a planet. A Type II civilization would use the energy resources of a star, such as a Dyson sphere. A Type III civilization would employ the energy resources of an entire galaxy. A Type III civilization would be easy to detect, even at vast distances.

This sounds a bit silly at first. The fact that aliens don't seem to be walking our planet apparently implies that there are no extraterrestrial anywhere among the vast tracts of the Galaxy. Many researchers consider this to be a radical conclusion to draw from such a simple observation. Surely there is a straightforward explanation for what has become known as the Fermi Paradox. There must be some way to account for our apparent loneliness in a galaxy that we assume is filled with other clever beings.

While interstellar distances are vast, perhaps to vast to be conquered by living creatures with finite lifetimes, it should be possible for an advanced civilization to construct self-reproducing, autonomous robots to colonize the Galaxy. The idea of self-reproducing automaton was proposed by mathematician John von Neumann in the 1950's. The idea is that a device could 1) perform tasks in the real world and 2) make copies of itself (like bacteria). The fastest, and cheapest, way to explore and learn about the Galaxy is to construct Bracewell-von Neumann probes. A Bracewell-von Neumann probe is simply a payload that is a self-reproducing automaton with an intelligent program (AI) and plans to build more of itself.

Attached to a basic propulsion system, such as a Bussard RamJet, such a probe could travel between the stars at a very slow pace. When it reaches a target system, it finds suitable material (like asteroids) and makes copies of itself. Growth of the number of probes would occur exponentially and the Galaxy could be explored in 4 million years. While this time span seems long compared to the age of human civilization, remember the Galaxy is over 10 billion years old and any past extraterrestrial civilization could have explored the Galaxy 250 times over.

Thus, the question arises, if it so easy to build Bracewell-Von Neumann probes, and they has been so much time in the past, where are the aliens or at least evidence of their past explorations (old probes). So Fermi Paradox becomes not only where are They, but why can we not hear Them and where are their Bracewell-von Neumann probes?

- Rohan Warnmallya

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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Direction Of Time

The concept of TIME-EMIT – Total Increase Of Mutual Energy raises many questions in our minds. The laws of Science do not distinguish between the past and the future. The arrow of time always points from a direction with less randomness towards a point having more randomness. There are three arrows of time :

:. Thermodynamic arrow of time
:. Psychological arrow of time
:. Cosmological arrow of time

According to thermodynamic arrow of time, the direction of time is in the same direction as the increase of entropy. Psychological arrow of time has a definite direction. This is a direction in which we feel time passes. This is a direction in which we remember our past and not the future. Finally, cosmological arrow of time has a direction in which the universe is expanding and not contracting. Speed of light can be considered absolute but TIME is relative. This gave birth to theory of relativity !



The bamboozling questions that arise are :-
.:Q:. Will this arrow of time ever change its direction?
AND
.:Q:. How would the state of our universe get affected?

The biggest problem is that universe is continuously expanding and evolving. In accordance to this evolution, we need to update and develop our laws and theories also. One cannot predict the beginning of the universe because laws fail at the Big Bang singularity. Classical theory ceases to hold good for the universe when the curvature of space-time becomes large because then the quantum gravitational effects become important.

The laws of science are unchanged under the combination of operation – C, P and T

C – changing particles for anti-particles

P – taking mirror image

T – reversing direction of all particles

Overall, we have to run in the backward direction. The laws of Science that govern the behavior of matter under all normal situations are unchanged under the combination of two operations C and P. Life would just be the same (as on earth) on a planet in our celestial neighborhood having inhabitants, which are mirror images of us and are made up of antimatter.

Contracting phase of the universe doesn’t favor existence of intelligent beings. Hence, we would never have the opportunity to ask or observe the reversal of direction of the arrow of time.

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Saturday, March 03, 2007

Total Lunar Eclipse, 3rd March, 2007

Beginning
Penumbral Eclipse : 20:18:11 UT
Partial Eclipse : 21:30:22 UT
Total Eclipse : 22:44:13 UT
Greatest Eclipse : 23:20:56 UT

End
Total Eclipse : 23:57:37 UT
Partial Eclipse : 01:11:28 UT
Penumbral Eclipse : 02:23:44 UT
The moon will turn reddish brown on Saturday night as it passes behind the Earth's shadow in the first total lunar eclipse in three years. Light from the sun will still reach the moon after being refracted through Earth's atmosphere, giving the moon an eerie dark reddish tinge.

The eclipse will be at least partly visible from Asia to the Americas, although those in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will have the best view. Earth's shadow will begin moving across the moon at 3:18 p.m. EST Saturday, with the total eclipse occurring at 5:44 p.m. EST and lasting more than an hour. Alaska, eastern Australia and New Zealand will miss the show altogether. In India, Maximum eclipse is at 4:50 am on the 4th in New Delhi. In Singapore, the Moon enters the totality region at 6:13 am.

Astronomers or photographers can send me their pictures and I will feature it on this blog.

The next total lunar eclipse will occur Aug. 28.

Sources : NASA Website
Spaceweather
Explore Universe

Live Webcast:
Astrofoto (Norway)
Saros
Italy

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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Computer Speakers are sensitive than a mobile !


An Invention – Computer Speakers are sensitive than a mobile !

I don’t know if its actually of any use but I need to post this in order to get your views and ideas on the same because it does help us in enhancing our concocting skills.

I had my cell kept near my computer speakers which were obviously switched on. Whenever someone calls up, a disturbance with a peculiar sound in the speaker is produced exactly 3-4 seconds before the cell actually starts ringing.

Now we can capture this disturbance produced in the speaker with a suitable instrument that is in turn connected to an LED or an alarm. Well, whenever someone will call up, the LED will glow or the alarm will ring just 3 seconds before the cell actually starts ringing. This means we have come out with an invention of a device 3 seconds more sensitive than our cell phone.

I know 3 seconds are of no use. Anyways, the cell will certainly ring after 3 seconds and we can attend the call. So, whats the big deal ? Well, in the world of technology even a milli-second matters and we are on the road to competition !!

Please let me know about your views and ideas by posting in the comments section.

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Wireless Technology !

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Plant color depends on pH of soil

Hydrangea macrophylla - Bigleaf

It is a deciduous shrub, growing 1-3 m tall. Its flowers are pink, white, or blue, depending partly on soil pH. In acid soils the flowers will be blue, in alkaline soils the flowers will be pink, and in neutral soil the flowers will be white.

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Apophis will hit us in 2029


Apophis would pass through a "gravitational keyhole", a specific region in space no more than about 400 meters across that would set up a future impact on 13 April 2036.

Planetary Society is offering a $50,000 prize for the best plan to put a tracking device on or near the asteroid. It is predicted that the comet will change its orbit and might attack us again in 2036. The University of Hawaii's Pan-STARRS program is training four powerful digital cameras towards the heavens to watch for the attack. Impact Summary

Its a 5x1010kg asteroid and has a temperature of -290K. Additional observations through 2006 resulted in Apophis being lowered to Torino Scale 0 on August 6, 2006. NASA astronaut Edward Lu is campaigning for a new space tractor, costing between $200 million and $300 million that would divert this asteroid on a path to slam into Earth by changing the space rock's orbit.

"We're only trying to get a really tiny change in the velocity of the asteroid to prevent an impact," said Lu, a former University of Hawaii solar physicist.

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Tuesday, January 09, 2007

This time we will live on moon !



Have you ever thought of living on moon ?
" Why Moon ? Because space age lies ahead of us "

Yes ! We are returning to moon by 2020. This time to stay on it .

1.) Human Civilization : Humans would be concocting and exploring the depths of technologies to make this return possible to moon.

2.) Scientific Knowledge : The equipments, instruments and techniques to travel around moon and its various characteristics would be developed by NASA.

3.) Exploration Groundwork : NASA is going to dedicate its team of experts, scientists, researchers and astronauts to plan the voyage back to moon. Shuttle design, Rocket features and planning the whole mission worth billion dollars is the biggest task in facade.

4.) Worldwide partnerships: Lunar Exploration opens the door to new technologies that benefit our society and financial system. It will begin global correlation and mutual associations between various nations participating in the course.

5.) Economic Expansion & Public Engagement : Inhabiting a place other than earth in the solar system certainly opens new avenues of research and resource implementation. It would also give a boost to space tourism and spirit of international cooperation.

Moon turns metric
If you think in pounds and miles instead of kilograms and kilometers, you need to become a little lunar. The whole world is based on metric system except few countries. NASA has agreed to use a single measurement system. This will make the human habitats and vehicles placed on the Moon by different space agencies more compatible with each other. That could come in handy if, say, one agency needs help from another agency's base.

All data will be in compatible units, whether it's scientific data or operational data -- such as how deep should it be drilled to carry out research on moon surface.

Return to Moon
Lastly, return to the Moon gives a very different feeling than the Cold War space race of the 1950s and '60s. This mission would surely bring the nations closer and give a boost to our vision for space exploration.

"The earth is the cradle of mind, but one cannot forever live in a cradle" - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

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This is science !

When you are speaking to technically illiterate people you must resort to the plausible falsehood instead of the difficult truth.

Photos of Comet Mcnaught !
Astro-photographer? Send your photos to pics@exploreuniverse.com and have them featured on this blog with your name. Comet Mcnaught : Pictures taken with Nikon D100 on 19/1/07 from Manning Point, northern NSW, Australia by Mr. Peter Enright.
Picture 1
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Picture 4

Space News

Astronomy Picture of the Day