The name change worked!! Thank you so much!! On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 9:43 AM, James Gleason <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM > 207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet > 70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103 > "Gee....we wonder what the number one movie this weekend > will be?" > > > > THE DAILY ASTRONOMER > Wednesday, December 16, 2015 > Star Wars Astronomy > > ------------------------------------ > Two personal notes: > > Happy Birthday, Brother Richard! > > ++++ > > As for the name "change," this new e-mail system is using my first name, > James, instead of my middle name, Edward, which I have used as my primary > name since I was 15. (My wonderful mother still thinks its a phase I'm > going through.) > ------------------------------------ > > We just cannot resist any type of hype. This week, the planet's seven > billion plus inhabitants are all camping out in front of theaters anxiously > awaiting the opening night for Star Wars VII "The Force Awakens." From the > children desperately engaged in light saber battles to the dyspeptic uncle > who, having seen Darth Vader's face on a espresso flavored Coffee Mate > container, now thinks the world could only be improved with a proximate > supernova, Star Wars pervades the planet and nobody can escape from it. > The current mania is somewhat reminiscent of the hysteria that attended the > 1977 movie "A New Hope." Therefore, we want to join in the "fun," with a > DA article pertaining to both the science and the fiction behind the Star > Wars Universe. After all, Star Wars hasn't received nearly enough > attention lately. > > A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY > This famous opening line prompts the question: could alien life have > existed a long, long time ago? We know that advanced life forms cannot > exist without an abundance of complex molecules that, themselves, are > composed of "heavy elements," such as oxygen, phosphorous, carbon, and > others.* Only the simplest elements, primarily hydrogen and helium, > existed during the Universe's infancy. The first generation of stars > manufactured the "metals," defined astronomically as the elements heavier > than helium. These stars, being the highly massive population III, would > have exploded as supernovae, thereby enriching the galaxy with an infusion > of all the heavy elements. This chemically rich material would have > then become incorporated into other star/planet systems. On these heavy > element laden planets the first life might have developed. The life might > have evolved from the simplest prokaryotic cells to a galaxy-dominating > empire. We assume, based on Earth's evolutionary time frame, that such a > process would have required at least five to six billion years. As humans > haven't yet become a star faring race, we haven't the faintest idea how > long such a progression would require. After all, humans haven't yet > ventured more than a quarter of a million miles from Earth. We're a long > way from zipping between star systems. > > The upshot of it all is that the Universe might well have produced mighty > empires in distant galaxies that have long since vanished. We can't know > if they existed, of course, but we can at least be confident that the > necessary chemical building blocks have existed in the cosmos for billions > of years. > > The assumption we've made is that we're actually now observing the "Star > Wars" galaxy as it was when all that transpired on film was happening. If > it all occurred a billion years ago, the galaxy is a billion light years > away from us. Then, again, there is a slight possibility that we're over > thinking it. > > > LASER GUNS > As impressive as these weapons appear, we certainly hope they weren't > expensive, because they truly don't work well. Let's assume you are > surrounded by a doom of storm troopers,** but, fortunately, you're armed > with a laser gun. You fire indiscriminately at your assailants, some of > whom deftly dodge the rays, while others are slain by them. Then, of > course, you realize: these accursed beams are moving very slowly! A beam > of light travels at more than 186,000 miles a second in a vacuum and at > nearly the same speed in air. If the storm trooper can avoid the beam, it > is traveling thousands of times slower than lasers actually travel. It > is true that a laser pulse can fry a nervous system and make short work of > storm troopers, even though they are completely enclosed in the most > expensive armor the Empire can buy. However, someone should tell the > Empire engineers to remove the anchors from the beams because the light is > moving like its 145 years old and doesn't really care any more. > > WARP SPEED > Remember that scene when Han Solo was piloting the Millennium Falcon and > then floored it to light speed? Well, how could one forget! The > pinpoint stars rapidly elongated to luminous lines converging to the middle > distance. If I might include a brief personal recollection. I remember > my brother, Richard, took me to see the 1977 Star Wars movie and just > before Han et al accelerated to warp speed, he nudged me and said, "Watch > this!" I did and was, of course, astonished and said, to the delight of > nearby viewers, "Wow, Dic, tell him to do that again!" Now, had I known > then what I pretend to know now, I would have instead said, while > pedantically waggling an index finger, "Now, Richard, you realize that if > those oddly dressed people were actually traveling on board a vessel > traveling at light speed, they wouldn't be able to converse because time > stops at light speed. The Theory of Special Relativity tells us that time > dilates on any moving object and that dilation relates directly to the > speed. The faster the vessel, the greater the dilation. If the > Millennium Falcon had achieved light speed, time would stop. Of course, > the ship's mass also increases with increased speed, so its mass would > essentially become infinite at light speed, which would preclude it from > attaining that velocity." > > And, we agree....the "Wow, Dic, tell him to do that again!" was the far > less annoying thing to say. > > > RULING THE GALAXY > Alexander the Great would have liked this: he would never have run of out > worlds to conquer. In the Star Wars Universe, the Empire ruled an entire > galaxy with a particularly hard iron fist. Such domination would have > necessitated the development of a particularly advanced hyperspace travel > and communication infrastructure. Let's imagine that someone wants to > govern the Milky Way Galaxy. According to recent estimates, our one > galaxy contains more than 200 billion stars and, perhaps, an equal or even > greater number of planets. Quite a lot of real estate to have under > one's dominion. One would require untold trillions of minions to do one's > bidding and one would also need the means by which to convey the latest > dictates instantaneously to all your myriad underlings. If you were > constrained by light speed, you wouldn't be able to maintain order. Let's > just say a planet full of troublesome upstarts on the other side of the > galaxy starts to go all Libertarian on you and resists the Empire. You > decide to send them a placating message of "Shut up and deal with it!" Even > if the message travels at light speed, it would require tens of thousands > of years to reach them, by which time the original agitators will have long > since perished. So, too, would you. > > Of course, there is always the Von Neumann machine method. An advanced > alien race constructs a vessel capable of traversing great distances and > self replication. As it travels through the galaxy, it visits various > planets and mines raw materials from which it manufacturers components to > construct a copy of itself. Once completed, this copy proceeds to also > make copies of itself. These, in turn, would be self replicating so that > after a comparatively brief time, perhaps 200 million years, Von Neumann > drones could be swarming through the galaxy. Let's be cheerful and > further assume they've also been programmed to conquer inferior races > (i.e. all of us) and, being incapable of empathy, have no compunction > about slaying the disobedient. Perhaps through the agency of these > surrogates, a race could conceivably become both prevalent and > domineering. Good luck collecting the taxes, though! > > > Then again, maybe the Star Wars franchise is just brilliant science > fiction designed to delight audiences, inflame imaginations, and enrich the > movie studios. That is just fine by us because there is nothing more > electric and elating than escapist escapades into the remotest hollows of > outer space. > > > > > *The vast majority of life forms consist primarily of six elements: > carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. As we lack any > knowledge of extra terrestrial life forms, we cannot know if these elements > will be as predominant in alien beings. > > **Yes, there are collective nouns specific to storm troopers and yes, I > actually took the time to look it up and yes, somebody else took the time > to make one up and then post it on line and yes, if you were a socially > awkward geek type you'd also have plenty of spare time at night to learn > collective noun words such as a doom of storm troopers, a shortage of > dwarves, a debauchery of hedonists, a metamorphosis of ovoids, a wiggle of > Elvis impersonators (you can't unsee that), a tabula rasa of empiricists > and, G-d help us, a handful of palm readers. >