Our Sun is a small star

[McWatt]

For reference, the Sun is a particularly large star. It's more massive than about 90% of stars based on the stellar mass distributions we've used for a couple decades. However, recent discoveries of many more very low mass brown dwarfs indicate that there may be far more small stars than previously known.

 

[Pocatello]

The brighter the candle, the faster it burns. I'm quite happy with our sun as it is.

 

[Albatross]

The brighter the candle, the faster it burns. I'm quite happy with our sun as it is.

If only it could have been a little more yellowish or with a little bit more solar radiation it would have been perfect,but to each its own.

 

[yhelothar]

LOL!! Good example to use that we haven't give up on space exploration, considering the damn project is CANCELLED. It's done. Killed and gone. We've given up.

Link that it's cancelled? I just googled and every link still says it MAY be cancelled. Is it official yet?

 

[SKORPI0]

 

[SMOGZINN]

Remember, it is not the size of the star that counts, but how you use it.

 

[Ichinisan]

I always liked the visuals and accompanying theme in this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q
(make sure you pick the max resolution)

 

[Nintendesert]

Link that it's cancelled? I just googled and every link still says it MAY be cancelled. Is it official yet?

http://appropriations.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=250023


And the bill was voted on and approved.

$4.5 billion for NASA Science programs, which is $431 million below last year’s level. The bill also terminates funding for the James Webb Space Telescope, which is billions of dollars over budget and plagued by poor management.

 

[makken]

Don't worry OP, our sun won't always be so puny of a star. As it runs out of fuel, it will grow and grow as it goes uppity and all Red Giant on our ass , eating Venus, Mercury, maybe Earth, etc, before going supernova where it will explode as it runs out of fuel or turn into a white dwarf, destroying our solar system. Eventually, our existence will depend on leaving the solar system, should we survive on earth long enough.

Your free happy thought for the morning!

*disclaimer: working on 1st cup of coffee

edit: good read on the suns future: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-sun-will-eventually-engulf-earth-maybe

Don't worry, life probably won't be around to see it:

One billion to three billion years in the future, the steady increase in solar radiation caused by the helium build-up at the core of the Sun will result in the loss of the oceans and the cessation of continental drift.[3] Four billion years from now, the increase in the Earth's surface temperature will cause a runaway greenhouse effect. By that point, most if not all the life on the surface will be extinct.[4][5] The most likely ultimate fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years, after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded to cross the planet's orbit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Earth

 

[Jeff7]

Came for Animaniacs reference, leaving disappointed.

Mickey Rooney is ok with this.

http://appropriations.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=250023

And the bill was voted on and approved.

Sucks that it apparently was a disaster in terms of management and cost monitoring.

I do very much endorse exploration and science and all that, but something apparently went very wrong there in terms of basic project management. It's expected to be around 4x over-budget. Some people seriously screwed up on this.

That said, it's $7 billion spent on a very advanced machine that's not something we launch every year, and which would surely keep the astronomy community loaded with data for a long time.

 

[Nintendesert]

Mickey Rooney is ok with this.



Sucks that it apparently was a disaster in terms of management and cost monitoring.

I do very much endorse exploration and science and all that, but something apparently went very wrong there in terms of basic project management. It's expected to be around 4x over-budget. Some people seriously screwed up on this.

That said, it's $7 billion spent on a very advanced machine that's not something we launch every year, and which would surely keep the astronomy community loaded with data for a long time.

Yeah, I really wish we could finish it. I look at what hubble has given us and it is just amazing. Perhaps too amazing since I'm sure some of the people voting on these appropriations are saying hubble is good enough for many more years.

 

[davmat787]

Yeah, I really wish we could finish it. I look at what hubble has given us and it is just amazing. Perhaps too amazing since I'm sure some of the people voting on these appropriations are saying hubble is good enough for many more years.

This. Those pretty pictures like the "Pillars of Creation" probably have the least scientific value of what the Hubble can do, from what I understand. The ability to break down a planets atmosphere via light spectrum provides much more value to scientists from what I have read.

As you allude to, the appropriations committee probably figured those wallpapers of the Eagle Nebula are a good enough ROI.

 

[Albatross]

Shit! I was so expecting an APOD with an exoplanet from JWST.Sigh.

 

[Jeff7]

This. Those pretty pictures like the "Pillars of Creation" probably have the least scientific value of what the Hubble can do, from what I understand. The ability to break down a planets atmosphere via light spectrum provides much more value to scientists from what I have read.

As you allude to, the appropriations committee probably figured those wallpapers of the Eagle Nebula are a good enough ROI.

Like the Mars Exploration Rovers - sure they've got red, green, and blue filters. But they've also got something like a dozen other filter wheels extending outside of our terribly-narrow visual range. The surface there gets quite colorful when you're not limited by our pitiful eyes.

 

[Icepick]

Sucks how we basically gave up space exploration.

Don't worry. The Chinese are more than happy to pick up where we left off.

 

[Icepick]

Why? Pretty much every place outside of the Earth is a supremely inhospitable hellhole. Well, everywhere else in the solar system certainly which is anywhere that matters until we develop FTL propulsion.

The only reason to go is the scenery or scientific curiosity.

No. The big reason we continue to fund our space program is the goal of weaponizing space. He who controls the space immediately above the Earth will control the world.

 

[CZroe]

OP's video should be used in any ePeen thread. That's about all it's good for.