Science Updates

[Neferti]

~~ AiA please post me a pic of a moon of Uranus.

Which one? There's 27 of discovered so far. Turns out those big Jovian planets are good at capturing satellites.

Chard, I think you have missed the point .......... you need to study the Aussie vernacular a little more.

This is mooning (see pic) and if you say Uranus with an Aussie accent it comes out as your anus! Uncanny will inform me if I read him incorrectly.




Hang around, you will learn how to sound like an Aussie in due course.

[The Uncanny Hengeman]

Neferiti~ for the win!

I worked with a Chinese chick and she told me the Chinese word for "MOON" was also the vernacular for flashing your bum. We had a good old laff over that one.

I like the sound effect on Australia's Funniest Home Videos when someone accidentally loses their pants. Sorta sounds like the clown version of a fog horn. In fact, when I see a moon that noise immediately enters my brane. It never gets old.

[boxy]

Americans get the Uranus reference, it doesn't rely on the Aussie accent, and probably the Mooning thing too.

Spotting moons in our solar system is nothing, compared with all the planets they've been able to detect over the past few years, in other solar systems. That is mind boggling.

[boxy]

Boom-tish... check out the 1:20 mark.

[The Uncanny Hengeman]

Boom-tish... check out the 1:20 mark.

Can I take my pants off over my head?

[Neferti]

Americans get the Uranus reference, it doesn't rely on the Aussie accent, and probably the Mooning thing too.

Spotting moons in our solar system is nothing, compared with all the planets they've been able to detect over the past few years, in other solar systems. That is mind boggling.

Ahhhh.... but, Chard isn't your regular American, hey. He is our token PA AFRICAN-American and he is proud of it. Good for him. He very obviously didn't get the mooning OR the Uranus reference, that is why, you Boxhead, I explained it.

[AiA in Atlanta]

A giant hemorrhoid is doomed to hit Uranus in 2014. Be ready. And cut down on the cheese.

[Chard]

blah blah blah

IYou've never watched any Abott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy skits, have ya? Standard technique of was to employ a comedian to set up the joke (in this case Hengeman withy the original "Moon around Uranus" comment), at which point the straightman comes back with a literal, non-comedic reply (Me asking which moon around the actual planet), which should have led to wacky hijinks of a "Who's on first..." nature.

Speaking of... Old joke.

Q: How is the Starship Enterprise like toilet paper?

A: It circles Uranus and wipes out Klingons.

[Super Nova]

Good to see China in the space race now. This may spur the Us to get off it's arse.... eventually.



China to send its first unmanned probe to the moon

The rocket carrying 'Jade Rabbit' rover will be launched in early December

Beijing sees its military-run space programme as a marker of its rising global stature Photo: Ferdinand Ostrop/AP

China will launch its first ever probe to land on the moon early next month, with the lunar rover named "Jade Rabbit" in a nod to Chinese folklore.

The name derives from an ancient Chinese myth about a white rabbit which lives on the moon as the pet of Chang'e, the lunar goddess who swallowed a pill of immortality.

The rocket carrying the probe will be launched in early December, China's official Xinhua news agency said, citing the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

It did not give a specific date.

"China has named its first moon rover 'Yutu', or jade rabbit, following an online poll," Xinhua added.

The rabbit's outline is said to be visible on the moon's surface, equivalent to the Western concept of the "man in the moon".

Beijing sees its military-run space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and growing technological might, as well as the ruling Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

It has ambitious plans to create a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send a human to the moon, but its technology currently lags behind the expertise of the United States and Russia.

China has showed off a model of the gold-coloured moon rover, with six wheels and wing-like solar panels, attracting admiring crowds in Shanghai earlier this month.

The vehicle can climb inclines of up to 30 degrees and travel up to 200 metres (yards) per hour, its designers said.

References to a moon rabbit in Chinese folklore date back to the Warring States period, which ended in 221 BC.

Ouyang Ziyuan, head of the lunar rover project, told Xinhua that the ancient beliefs had their origins in the marks left by impacts on the surface of the moon.

"There are several black spots on the moon's surface, our ancient people imagined they were a moon palace, osmanthus trees, and a jade rabbit," he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -moon.html

[Chard]

Good to see China in the space race now. This may spur the Us to get off it's arse.... eventually.

If it's a "race" then they're way behind. They're sending their first probe to the moon, meanwhile we've sent up probe #17 (I think it's 17, have to go look up the number to be sure, but pretty sure it's around there), along with landing twelve human beings on the lunar surface for walkies. In the next 8 to 10 years we'll be resuming manned lunar exploration shortly after the new world's heaviest lift rocket come into man-rated service (We pretty much own the "heaviest lift launch system" category of rocketry). Meanwhile the PRC is still struggling to even get people into low Earth orbit and has yet to set up a regular launch schedule for even that. This is before we get into things like the ISS.

Seriously not worried about a "space race" when we're already over forty years in the lead.