Cosmology Curiosity: Resource & ref

Cosmology Quest -- Plasma cosmology video part 2

Here's the continuation of the definitive video on plasma cosmology (thanks to reader Collin):

Part 1 of 5:

Part 2 of 5:

Part 3 of 5:

Part 4 of 5:

Part 5 of 5:

Related post: 'Cosmology Quest' -- Plasma cosmology video

cosmology

July 20, 2008 in Astronomy, Cosmology, Resource & ref, Viewpoints: secular | Permalink | Comments (3)

Powers of Ten (short film)

From Wikipedia, on this classic documentary:

"Powers of Ten is a 1977 short documentary film [9 min.] written and directed by Charles Eames and his wife, Ray. The film depicts the relative scale of the Universe in factors of ten ... The film begins with an aerial image of a man reclining on a blanket; the view is that of one meter across. The viewpoint, accompanied by expository voiceover by [MIT professor] Philip Morrison, then slowly zooms out to a view ten meters across ( or 10¹ m in standard form), revealing that the man is picnicking in a park with a female companion. The zoom-out continues, to a view of 100 meters (10² m), then 1 kilometre (10³ m), and so on, increasing the perspective — the picnic is revealed to be taking place near Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront — and continuing to zoom out to a field of view of 1024 meters, or the size of the observable universe. The camera then zooms back in to the picnic, and then to views of negative powers of ten — 10^-1 m (10 centimeters), and so forth, until we are viewing a carbon nucleus inside the man's hand at a range of 10^-18 meter."

Another video of the same concept can be found here.

June 07, 2008 in Astronomy, Definitions, Resource & ref | Permalink | Comments (0)

UC Berkeley's 'Physics for Future Presidents'

The video above is the first of 26 in a series of lectures on physics.

Prof. Richard A. Muller of the University of California, Berkeley is the lecturer. Prof. Muller is quite an effective and interesting lecturer. The series is described by UC Berkeley as:

"Physics 10: Physics for Future Presidents. Spring 2006. Professor Richard A. Muller. The most interesting and important topics in physics, stressing conceptual understanding rather than math, with applications to current events. Topics covered may vary and may include energy and conservation, radioactivity, nuclear physics, the Theory of Relativity, lasers, explosions, earthquakes, superconductors, and quantum physics."

All of the 26 video lectures can be seen from here, here, and here.

If you'd like to give physics a second chance, the lecture series is a good place to start.

Technorati Tags: lectures, physics, Richard Muller, UC Berkeley, video, webcast, Youtube

January 29, 2008 in Cosmology, Definitions, Resource & ref | Permalink | Comments (6)

'Cosmology Quest' -- Plasma cosmology video

Universe: The Cosmology Quest is the definitive video for those interested in plasma cosmology.

Plasma cosmology says that electromagnetism rather than gravitation explains better the observations in astronomy. Plasma cosmology disputes the big bang theory. It advocates instead a variant of the steady state theory (i.e., eternal universe).

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

[Image: Cosmology Curiosity]

Related post: Plasma cosmology

cosmology

January 21, 2008 in Astronomy, Cosmology, History & people, Resource & ref, Viewpoints: secular | Permalink | Comments (5)

'Dangerous Knowledge': The tragic story of Cantor, Boltzmann, Gödel and Turing

BBC's description of the documentary, Dangerous Knowledge (1h30min):

In this one-off documentary, David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians - Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing - whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.

The film begins with Georg Cantor, the great mathematician whose work proved to be the foundation for much of the 20th-century mathematics. He believed he was God's messenger and was eventually driven insane trying to prove his theories of infinity.

Ludwig Boltzmann's struggle to prove the existence of atoms and probability eventually drove him to suicide. Kurt Gödel, the introverted confidant of Einstein, proved that there would always be problems which were outside human logic. His life ended in a sanatorium where he starved himself to death.

Finally, Alan Turing, the great Bletchley Park code breaker, father of computer science and homosexual, died trying to prove that some things are fundamentally unprovable.

The film also talks to the latest in the line of thinkers who have continued to pursue the question of whether there are things that mathematics and the human mind cannot know. They include Greg Chaitin, mathematician at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center, New York, and Roger Penrose.

Dangerous Knowledge tackles some of the profound questions about the true nature of reality that mathematical thinkers are still trying to answer today.

Technorati Tags: Alan Turing, BBC, Dangerous Knowledge, David Malone, Georg Cantor, Greg Chaitin, infinity, Kurt Godel, Ludwig Boltzmann, mathematicians, suicide, Roger Penrose

September 04, 2007 in Cosmology, History & people, Resource & ref | Permalink | Comments (3)

Where is M13?: 3D viewing deep sky objects

Where is M13? is an astronomy freeware that lets you explore Messier objects in 3D.

The publisher, ThinkAstronomy.com, describes Where is M13? as "a three dimensional galactic atlas". Where is M13? used to be shareware. Beginning with version 2.0, the software is being offered for free. More from the publisher:

"Where is M13? is a unique application that helps you visualize the locations and physical properties of deep sky objects in and around the [Milky Way] Galaxy.

"At home, Where is M13? serves as a reference you will frequently turn to when you read about an object and become curious where it is with respect to our galaxy. In the field, the program will enhance your observing experience by allowing you to get an intuitive sense of the physical location, size, luminosity, and distance of the object you are viewing. You will find Where is M13? a great educational and outreach tool as well."

Looks like an interesting astronomy software all right.

And it's hard to complain about the price.

[Image: ThinkAstronomy.com]

Technorati Tags: astronomy, freewares, Messier, softwares, Where is M13?

July 30, 2007 in Astronomy, Resource & ref | Permalink | Comments (0)

AstroGrav: Celestial gravitation simulation

AstroGrav appears to be the best (popular) gravitation simulation software today.

From Softcetera: "AstroGrav is astronomy software that allows you to simulate how astronomical objects move and interact under the force of gravity. It features superb interactive 3D graphics which allow you to move around within a many-body astronomical system, while watching how it evolves with the passage of time. A wide variety of sample files are provided, and comprehensive editing facilities allow you to create and modify your own astronomical systems."

AstroGrav uses Newton's gravitation equation (i.e., classical mechanics) for its simulation engine.

More, from AstroGrav: "AstroGrav dynamically calculates the instantaneous orbits (also known as osculating orbits) of objects as a simulation evolves."

Aside from do-it-yourself scenarios, AstroGrav comes with sample simulations. They include two-, three-, and many-body systems, solar system simulations, and globular clusters & spiral galaxy arms simulations.

As regards the latter, after allowing AstroGrav to run for some time, no spiral arms formed from the starting lenticular galaxy. This proves how faithful the simulation engine of AstroGrav is. Perhaps 'AstroGrav 2' should offer then an option to inject MOND or dark matter into the model?

Click HERE to download your fully functional trial version of AstroGrav (for Windows or Mac).

Related post: Solar system simulator

[Images: AstroGrav]

Technorati Tags: AstroGrav, classical mechanics, gravitation, gravity, Newton, Newtonian mechanics

July 23, 2007 in Astronomy, Cosmology, Resource & ref | Permalink | Comments (0)

How far are the stars?

Scroll all the way down to reach Earth. Click on the image below for a larger map.

Technorati Tags: galactic distance, stellar distance, Great Wall, star distance

March 17, 2007 in Astronomy, Cosmology, Resource & ref | Permalink | Comments (0)

Online version of Vern Poythress' Redeeming Science

A free online edition of Vern Poythress' Redeeming Science: A God-Centered Approach (2006) is available.

The book, together with John Byl's God and Cosmos (2001), are a treasure trove of information for anybody studying cosmology from a Christian viewpoint.

Hence, the previous posts on the 24-Hour View and the Mature Creation View have relied heavily on them.

Moving on, the two other creationist cosmology views will be covered next: the Analogical Day Theory and the Framework Hypothesis.

Technorati Tags: apologetics, Bible and science, Christian cosmology, cosmology, creationist cosmology, Redeeming Science, religion and science, Vern Poythress

February 26, 2007 in Cosmology, Resource & ref, Viewpoints: Christian | Permalink | Comments (0)