Outer space thread

[billy.pilgrim]

Egypt tells Elon Musk its pyramids were not built by aliens

I've heard too often from Egyptian experts that no slave labor was used to build them. I reckon I would believe elon before I believed an Egyptian.

It's still disputed.

Egyptian pyramid construction techniques

... In addition to the many unresolved arguments about the construction techniques, there have been disagreements as to the kind of workforce used. The Greeks, many years after the event, believed that the pyramids must have been built by slave labor. Archaeologists now believe that the Great Pyramid of Giza (at least) was built by tens of thousands of skilled workers who camped near the pyramids and worked for a salary or as a form of tax payment (levy) until the construction was completed, pointing to workers' cemeteries discovered in 1990 by archaeologists Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner. For the Middle Kingdom Pyramid of Amenemhat II, there is evidence from the annal stone of the king that foreigners from Canaan were used....

You and Musk have company:

Pyramidology: Pseudoarchaeology

Yeah, a lot of people are embarrassed about their country's past.

[GoCubsGo]

... I learned today on MSNBC at 1:46 that we haven't had a splashdown landing since 1945.

Every time I watch, I realize why I quit watching the news.

She just did it again at 2:13. At least this time the person she was interviewing corrected her.

I missed the correction. That's about when I went back to NASA for audio and stuck with TV for the better video. She must be young. The US didn't have its FIRST splashdown until 1961. Was there any explanation of what she was thinking?

Think it's been 45 years since a splash down.

[neoplacebo]

The pyramids in Egypt were built by drunken Italian soldiers on temporary leave during WWII. The biggest part of them is not visible as those guys tried to cover up what they'd done with sand but didn't have time to finish the job before having to head back to the war.

[billy.pilgrim]

... I learned today on MSNBC at 1:46 that we haven't had a splashdown landing since 1945.

Every time I watch, I realize why I quit watching the news.

She just did it again at 2:13. At least this time the person she was interviewing corrected her.

I missed the correction. That's about when I went back to NASA for audio and stuck with TV for the better video. She must be young. The US didn't have its FIRST splashdown until 1961. Was there any explanation of what she was thinking?

Think it's been 45 years since a splash down.

I'm sure that's how she confused it, but still, just a basic understanding of historical events from movies, if not from school should cover WW2 and Pearl = 40s, Apollo and moon walk = 60s and 70s.

And not just her, but she would have had someone in her ear who didn't correct her and Velshi didn't try to correct the misinformation.

Lots of splashdown problems with sightseeing boaters. Seems no one prepared for boaters, so people didn't know where to go to watch and were milling around inside the landing zone.

[Vrede too]

Asteroid heading our way right before Election Day

Well, 2020 keeps getting better all the time.

Amid a pandemic, civil unrest and a divisive US election season, we now have an asteroid zooming toward us.

On the day before the presidential vote, no less.

Yep. The celestial object known as 2018VP1 is projected to come close to Earth on November 2, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Its diameter is 0.002 km, or about 6.5 feet, according to NASA's data....

NASA ... has determined the asteroid probably -- phew! -- won't have a deep impact, let alone bring Armageddon.

The chance of it hitting us is just 0.41%, data show....

I vote for a Repug county in a swing state. Sorry, billy.pilgrim .

Opps, I also live in a Repug county in a swing state. Yikes.

[Vrede too]

An RV-size asteroid will zip by the Earth Thursday, closer than the moon and some satellites

Amazing video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9QhUoOwHN8

[Vrede too]

U.S. spacecraft touches asteroid surface for rare rubble grab

[neoplacebo]

I read the other day that Neil degrasse Tyson says there's a good chance a refrigerator size asteroid may strike the earth on Nov 2. With any luck it will have some space beer in it. It also occurs to me that Barney Rubble sort of looks like trump, which is why his kid is kicking his ass.

[Vrede too]

I read the other day that Neil degrasse Tyson says there's a good chance a refrigerator size asteroid may strike the earth on Nov 2. With any luck it will have some space beer in it. It also occurs to me that Barney Rubble sort of looks like trump, which is why his kid is kicking his ass.

Neil deGrasse Tyson warns asteroid could hit Earth the day before the election
Don’t panic, you can still vote.

... “It may buzz-cut Earth on Nov. 2, the day before the Presidential Election,” Tyson said in the caption. “But it’s not big enough to cause harm. So if the World ends in 2020, it won’t be the fault of the Universe.”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is fully aware of this and they are not concerned. In fact, they tweeted about it back in August, saying that it was about 6.5 feet (roughly the size of a refrigerator) and only had a 0.41 percent chance of entering the atmosphere.

Even if it did, NASA said the asteroid would disintegrate at the upper levels of our atmosphere. So you might get just a dusting of space rock. While humans are still discovering new craters made by asteroids thousands and millions of years ago, the last record of impact on Earth was in 2018, when a small 2 to 5 meter asteroid landed in southern Africa, named 2018 LA (ZLAF9B2),

So while the election will go on, likely uninterrupted, you’ve got something else to focus your gaze on. On Nov. 2, the Apollo asteroid will intersect the Earth's orbit over the Pacific Ocean, making it unlikely that Americans will get to see it in person, but the Internet might give you a glimpse of this celestial interaction.

[neoplacebo]

Opps! Better cue up Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" again. NASA finds water on the moon. "how do I work this?"

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/nasa ... 00047.html

[Vrede too]

Opps! Better cue up Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" again. NASA finds water on the moon. "how do I work this?"

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/nasa ... 00047.html

Wow, that's crazy.

World-Renowned Arecibo Radio Telescope Set To Be Dismantled

The world-renowned radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in northern Puerto Rico, now on the brink of collapse, is set to be withdrawn from service, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced today....

I've been there, way cool.

[neoplacebo]

This is pretty weird....strange metal obelisk/monolith discovered in remote Utah desert. It's like something from "2001; A Space Odyssey."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/metal-monoli ... 16476.html

[billy.pilgrim]

This is pretty weird....strange metal obelisk/monolith discovered in remote Utah desert. It's like something from "2001; A Space Odyssey."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/metal-monoli ... 16476.html

Internet sleuths say it's here


https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.googl ... y,0h,0t,0r

[billy.pilgrim]

Alright so someone spent too much time looking at this and thinks it can be found by foot.

Starting at the Needles District in Canyonlands National Park (seriously, the park is massive), head east on highway 211. Turn left on Lock Hart Road and you'll drive past Hamburger Rock Campgrounds and then Indian Creek Falls Campgrounds. Stay left at the fork and drive to the end of the road. There you'll find a hiking trail and if you follow it, you could stumble across it.

If you download the All Trails app and search the term "Lockhart Basin Road" in Moab, you'll see there are two trails out here.

And yes, I realize you might not actually do this, but you should.

[Vrede too]

This is pretty weird....strange metal obelisk/monolith discovered in remote Utah desert. It's like something from "2001; A Space Odyssey."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/metal-monoli ... 16476.html

an "on-off button for the planet".

One could make a case for it being cool enough to leave in place, but I'll bet that the feds and treehugger purists won't want to set a precedent.

Internet sleuths say it's here

https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.googl ... y,0h,0t,0r

Thanks. Zoom out to see how isolated it is.

[GoCubsGo]

Wow, that's convenient to nothing.

[neoplacebo]

Maybe it's the trump presidential library.....a giant memory stick loaded to the max with delusional tweets and conspiracy theories.

[Vrede too]

One could make a case for it being cool enough to leave in place, but I'll bet that the feds and treehugger purists won't want to set a precedent.

... “It is illegal to install structures or art without authorisation on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from,” the department (Utah Department of Public Safety) said in a statement.

[O Really]

Well - that didn't take long.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55071058

[GoCubsGo]

Well - that didn't take long.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55071058

Of course.