Joe Biden pointed to a portrait behind him‚ presumably Abe Lincoln‚ and said‚ “And I want to make sure I get the quote exactly right. He said the better Angel‚ he said we must address the council and adjust the better angels of our nature‚ and we do that. “And we do well to remember […] The post Joe Biden on Getting the Quote Exactly Right appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is just over 8.8 billion km away‚ exploring the Kuiper Belt. This icy belt surrounds the Sun but it seems to have a surprise up its sleeve. It was expected that New Horizons would be leaving the region by now but it seems that it has detected elevated levels of dust that are thought to be from micrometeorite impacts within the belt. It suggests perhaps that the Kuiper Belt may stretch further from the Sun than we thought!  The Kuiper Belt is found beyond the orbit of Neptune and is thought to extend out to around 8 billion km. Its existence was first proposed in the mid-20th century by Gerard Kuiper after whom the belt has been named.  It’s home to numerous icy bodies and dwarf planets and offers valuable insight into the formation and evolution of the Solar System.  Launched by NASA in January 2006 atop an Atlas V rocket‚ the New Horizon’s spacecraft embarked on its mission to explore the outer Solar System. The primary objective was to perform a close flyby of Pluto‚ which it did 9.5 years after it launched‚ and continue on to explore the Kuiper Belt. New Horizons completed its flyby of Pluto in 2015‚ and has been travelling through the Kuiper Belt since. As it travels through the outer reachers of the region‚ almost 60 times the distance from Earth to the Sun‚ its Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (SDC) has been counting dust levels. The instrument was constructed by students at the Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Throughout New Horizon’s journey‚ SDC has been monitoring dust levels giving fabulous insight into collision rates among objects in the outer Solar System.  The New Horizons instrument payload that is currently doing planetary science‚ heliospheric measurements‚ and astrophysical observations. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute The dust particle detections announced in a recent paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters by lead author Alex Doner are thought to be frozen remains from collisions between larger Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). The results were a real surprise and challenged the existing models that predicted a decline in dust density and KBO population. It seems that the belt extends many billions of miles beyond the current estimates or maybe even that there is a second belt!  The results came from data gathered over a three year period during New Horizon’s journey from 45 to 55 astronomical units (where 1 astronomical unit is the average distance between the Sun and Earth). While New Horizon’s was gathering data about dust‚ observatories such as the 8.2-meter optical-infrared Subaru Telescope in Hawaii have been making discoveries of new KBOs.  Together these findings suggest the Kuiper Belt objects and dust may well extend a further 30 AUs out to about 80 AUs from the Sun.  New Horizons is now in its extended mission and hopefully has sufficient power and propellant to continue well into the 2040s. At its current velocity that will take the spacecraft out to about 100 AU from the Sun so the research team speculate that the SDC could identify the transition point into interstellar space.  Source : NASA’s New Horizons Detects Dusty Hints of Extended Kuiper Belt The post The Kuiper Belt is Much Bigger Than We Thought appeared first on Universe Today.

For decades‚ astronomers have said that one of the most optimal places to build large telescopes is on the surface of the Moon. The Moon has several advantages over Earth- and space-based telescopes that make it worth considering as a future home for giant observatories. A new paper lists all the advantages‚ including how telescopes on the lunar surface wouldn’t be blocked by an atmosphere or impacted by wind‚ and how the low gravity would allow gigantic structures to be built that could be upgraded over time by astronauts. “Progress on the big questions in astronomy‚ such as life on certain exoplanets or dark matter‚ will ultimately require high angular resolution‚ a large collecting area and access to the full optical spectrum‚” write French astronomers Jean Schneider‚ Pierre Kervella‚ and Antoine Labeyrie. “All astronomy will benefit from the advantages provided by the localization on the Moon.”   And even though it might be decades before we have a permanent presence on the Moon‚ the astronomers suggest we should start with small telescopes now. Graphic depiction of A Lunar Long-Baseline Optical Imaging Interferometer: Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI). Credit: Kenneth Carpenter Over the years‚ scientists and engineers have proposed various ideas for lunar observatories as part of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program. Back in 2005 there was a proposal for a deep-field infrared observatory near one of the lunar poles using a rotating liquid mirror. Earlier this year‚ a team from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center proposed a design for a lunar Long-Baseline Optical Imaging Interferometer (LBI) for imaging at visible and ultraviolet wavelengths. Additionally‚ astronomers have advocated building radio telescopes on the far side of the Moon‚ since this “radio-quiet” zone always faces away from Earth and would provide the perfect location to study a variety of astronomical phenomena that can’t be observed in low radio frequencies from our planet‚ or even by Earth-orbiting space telescopes. In their new paper‚ Schneider‚ Kervella and Labeyrie say that Moon offers a combination of three distinct advantages for astronomical observing. Its lack of atmosphere allows access to the entire spectrum‚ including the visible‚ ultraviolet‚ and infrared. Astronomers wouldn’t have to deal with atmospheric turbulence‚ and the Moon’s low gravity and absence of wind make it possible to install extremely large telescopes with very large instruments. This is impossible for satellites in orbit. Additionally‚ telescopes on the Moon would allow for the instruments to be upgraded and to have a very long lifetime‚ which is impractical for space satellites due to their limited amount of fuel. “The Moon offers the possibility of installing large telescopes or interferometers with instruments larger than those on orbiting telescopes‚” the astronomers write. Using a variety of observational techniques‚ from photometry to high contrast and high angular resolution imaging‚ the astronomers suggested several ambitious science cases that could be tackled‚  including observations of our own Solar System – including our own planet Earth — as well as distant exoplanets and possible exomoons. They add that very high angular resolution would allow for the imaging of exoplanet transits or even the stellar glint on exo-ocean. An artist’s conception of a potentially-habitable exomoon. Credit: NASA In the extragalactic domain‚ telescopes on the Moon could allow for the study of the distribution of dark matter or observing the gravitational lensing of quasars. Other lunar telescopes could investigate the unexplored Dark Ages of the early universe‚ a time before and during the formation of the very first stars and galaxies. The best location for a lunar telescope depends on two factors: the physical conditions of the site (temperature‚ soil quality‚ solar illumination) and its scientific objectives. “For example‚ telescopes pointing towards Earth must be placed on the near side of the Moon‚” they said. “From the point of view of target observability‚ they can be placed almost anywhere. At the lunar poles‚ only half the sky is visible‚ but all the time. At the lunar equator‚ the whole sky is visible‚ but only half the time. For observations of or towards the Earth‚ the optimum is not far from the lunar equator.” However‚ putting observatories on the lunar surface does present several problems‚ including incessant dust‚ the proclivity for incoming meteoroids‚ or dealing with other surprises like lunar seismology (Moonquakes).   With the ultimate science goals above in mind‚ the astronomers said that a small 30 cm to 1 meter class telescope will explore significant science cases. Even though this first lunar telescope would be a prototype‚ it would still be astronomically valuable. It could perform observations that would be complimentary to the James Webb Space Telescope or the Hubble Space Telescope. But for the future‚ a 20-meter mirror would provide resolution 3 times greater than the JWST‚ and by integrating‚ or leaving the “shutter” open for long periods‚ objects 100 times fainter could be observed. Further reading: Astronomy from the Moon in the next decades: From Exoplanets to Cosmology in Visible Light and Beyond The post What Kinds of Astronomy Could Be Done With a Telescope on the Moon? appeared first on Universe Today.

The hidden benefits of microdosing.

"Awful." The post The band David Bowie called “The Velvets without Lou” first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

Owen Shroyer breaks down the latest developments in the Republican primary and beyond -- tune in! Owen Shroyer breaks down Trump’s epic South Carolina primary victory and what it means for Nikki Haley‚ who is still refusing to drop out after losing every single primary thus far. Tune in! Tune into this live broadcast at MadMaxWorld.TV and spread the word!