Comets and Other Stuff
I finally got to see the comet PanSTARRS tonight, together with my wife and Kathy Newman, who took several excellent pictures of it. We watched it from our church; it was dark there and we had a clear view of the horizon. The 28 hour old moon was a very thin crescent like a smile. Directly to the left, about 5 degrees away, was the comet. Once you knew it was there, it was easy enough to see, but it looked spectacular in binoculars. If the sky were darker, it would have been very easy to see, but because the sun had only set about an hour or so before, there was still a lot of light on the horizon–plus we had to look through thicker atmosphere there on the horizon, too. Still, since we are in the High Desert of California, the air was very clear and dry so we had it about as good as anyone could want.
Here is one of the photographs that Kathy Newman took:
I also got the latest issue of Popular Science Magazine today. What interested me about it most was an article by Konstantin Kakaes entitled Warp Factor: A NASA Scientist Claims to be on the Verge of Faster-than-Light Travel: Is He for Real? And the conclusion is, yes–yes he is. Dr. Harold “Sonny” White founded the Eagleworks facility to work on various cutting edge projects, one of which is his concept of how to make a Warp Drive real. He believes that it is a plausible idea and he is building a tabletop experiment that is designed to create a miniature warp bubble. Kakaes had a tour of the Eagleworks facility at the Johnson Space Center. One of the many interesting things that Kakaes saw while he was there is something that White called a quantum vacuum plasma thruster (QVPT). White couldn’t talk about it much (it’s secret) but it’s one of two initiatives that White is pursuing in addition to the Warp Drive. The quantum vacuum plasma thruster is further along than the Warp Drive. Kakaes writes that a 2011 NASA report that White wrote says that the QVPT uses quantum fluctuations in empty space as a fuel source, so that a spaceship propelled by a QVPT would not require any propellant.
That would certainly save a lot of weight if you didn’t have to haul fuel with you; and you’d never run out, either.
If you had any doubts that you’re living in the future…
