Not Mars

Methane found on distant world

A carbon-containing molecule has been detected for the first time on a planet outside our Solar System.
The organic compound methane was found in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a star some 63 light years away.

Water has also been found in its atmosphere, but scientists say the planet is far too hot to support life.

The discovery, unveiled in the journal Nature, is an important step towards exploring new worlds that might be more hospitable to life, they say....

read more

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7301390.stm

Ixt>>>
thanks for that reading. It is truly amazing who special and sophisticated our instruments have become. I would expect the COROT mission will mastermind the outcome for finding smaller planets of worth.

yt
dx

Titan’s surface organics surpass oil reserves on Earth

[link]

Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space
[link]

Thanks Ixt. That has to be one of the most hilarious articles I've read in years.

"The structures responsible for this motion have been pushed so far away by inflation, I would guesstimate they may be hundreds of billions of light years away, that we cannot see even with the deepest telescopes because the light emitted there could not have reached us in the age of the universe,"

So, what we can actually see is, we are told, but a drop in the ocean compares to what's actually out there. Clusters 6 billion light years away are being dragged by "something" that's maybe hundreds of billions of light years away. But clusters that are 6 billion light years away in the opposite direction aren't being similarly dragged, despite being only marginally further away from the "something" (what's 12 billion when compared to hundreds of billions?).

When you postulate this degree of inhomogeneity, light cannot follow the straight lines of Euclidean geometry. It has to orbit the mass concentrations, which means that if we could look sufficiently far in any direction what we would see is not some distant region, but our own region of space as it was maybe a couple of billion years ago. (Note that a universe which is inhomogeneous to the envisaged degree would look vast and maybe infinite even if it was in reality only a couple of billion light years across.)

Look a bit further and we see our locale as it was twice as long ago, via light that has orbited twice, and so on. That's why there is quantised redshift. That's why distant regions of space look so much like our own, even shortly after the supposed "big bang". They *are* our own local region. There is no other.

By not acknowledging this simple necessity, scientist find themselves instead drawn into ever more complex scenarios. Fantasy piled upon fantasy, all in the name of rescuing the original "Big Bang" fantasy that started it all. But surely someone, someday, will have to call time on this grotesque parody of science. Surely? Before they run out of nouns to stick "dark" in front of?

Thanks for your observations Martin I have just revisited the thread and it has certainly attracted some attention, I have nothing usefull to add I am out of my depth unfortunatly you may find some takers over there though .

Ixt>>>

Have you been to Bude?

yt
dx

If you mean Bude in Cornwall Dx I did go there once but it was a long time ago .

DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together, even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn't be able to.

[link]

Ixt>>>

Thanks for the link...very interesting articles within it too.

Somerset-cousin and wife were in Bude for a week relaxing!!! LOL

yt
dx

They may have even got some decent weather DX its been a bit warmer recently but autumn is definatly settling in and the nights are getting cold.

Do you know whether they ever turned the Phoenix microphone on I haven't heard much about it since they annouced they were going too.?

[link] #comments

Ixt>>>

I believe its the last if not final dieing attempt to get something we understand from Mars through Phoenix...if it works we could hear a faint wind blow in the CO2 atmosphere. The birds and leaves are all gone now, and winter is closing in!!!

yt
dx
The weather in Bude was apparently good for their stay.

[link]

While a pink sky at night might be a shepherd's delight, London residents were left scratching their heads last night as a mysterious pink cloud drifted over the city.
Bemused bystanders in Mayfair craned their necks to witness the strange alien-like cloud that appeared for just under an hour at around 8:30pm.
It hovered over buildings before breaking up and slowly disappearing.