Wandering Soul

For scientists around the world, and mortals like me who are interested in learning about the universe and how it works, today is an iconic day. Because 300 feet under the sleepy French village of Crozet has begun man’s most ambitious project yet - The Search for the God Particle.

The God Particle, more specifically known as the Higgs Boson is a hypothetical scalar elementary particle that’s predicted by the standard model of particle physics, but has not yet been discovered. For the uninitiated, an elementary particle is a particle that does not have a sub-structure. It is the basic building block of all matter. Other examples of elementary particles are Quarks and Leptons.

The search for Higgs Boson will throw more light on how massless particles give rise to matter that has mass, and how energy and matter are interconvertible. This experiment is going live at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator that is 27 kms in circumference, and is buried under the ground.

Large Hadron Collider

In the LHC, two beams of particles (mostly protons) will race in opposite directions around the underground tunnel. The particles will be guided by more than a thousand cylindrical, supercooled magnets, linked like sausages. At four locations the beams will converge, sending the particles crashing into each other at 99.99% the speed of light. The matter will be transformed by the violent collisions into wads of energy, which will in turn condense back into various intriguing types of particles. This experiment recreates the conditions existing just micro-seconds after the Big Bang. And through this experiment, phycisists hope to learn more about the origins of mass, gravity and the mysterious dark matter. The Higgs Boson is one such particle of matter that is being hunted here. Interestingly, Stephen Hawking has taken a $100 bet that the LHC won’t find the Higgs Boson:

I think it will be much more exciting if we don’t find the Higgs. That will show something is wrong, and we need to think again.

If this experiment goes as planned, we will be one step closer to unraveling the mystery of the birth of our Universe, and it’s constitution. On the other hand, concerns have been raised around the world that the LHC could create black holes, which can potentially eat the planet from within. Well, I don’t see how that’s possible, because the LHC is less than miniscule when compared to the goings-on in the Universe. Let’s wait and see what we find!

National Geographic has a great representation of how the LHC works.

If you want to find out more, check out the sources from where I compiled this information: The Telegraph, Nat Geo and LHC Outreach.

I am really tied up with my B-school applications, but I just had to take time out to post this one!

On this day exactly half a century ago, mankind set out on a quest to explore the final frontier. The USSR launched the Sputnik 1, earth’s first artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957. It was the era of the Cold War, and this launch started the space race between USA and USSR. Here’s the front page of The New York Times announcing the launch of Sptunik 1:

The mission of Sputnik 1 was to study the density of high atmospheric layers. It fell from orbit on January 4, 1958 and burnt up after completing 1440 orbits. Those 3 months were by far the most important period in the history of space exploration, and set the stage for man’s foray into space.

I am very happy today! One of my favourite applications has expanded to cover my favourite hobby as well. Google Earth now includes Google Sky, which is a sky-mapping software.

Google Sky has turned Google Earth’s concept completely on its head, literally. The camera which used to point down from the sky, can now point up at the click of a button.

While you can turn the constellation outlines on and off, you can also pan and zoom across the entire night sky. It uses, what I think, are high resolution photos of the sky, taken from observatories, and telescopes across the world, and beyond. That’s the best part about this software. There are no representations of objects. All are real photographs. Everything is real!

There’s a special layer called ‘Hubble Showcase’ to show mind-blowing images of deep sky objects. While trying out the software, I promptly zoomed in on my favourite spot in the night sky – The Orion Nebula.

Some of the deep-sky objects in Google Sky have detail photos, presumably taken by Hubble, or other orbiting telescopes. It contains a database of objects from the Messier catalogue and the New General Catalogue. It even allows you to watch the motion of planets across the sky using time compression. There is information on each object in the application, be it a star, a planet, a galaxy or a black hole.

And if you are thinking that this application is only for couch stargazers, or that it will kill star gazing, think again! There’s something for everyone here. I was always intrigued by Andromeda Galaxy, the twin to our own galaxy, but didn’t know where to find it. That’s when Google Sky’s search feature came to my rescue, taking me across the sky and right towards Andromeda. Such features will inspire more people to take up the hobby of star gazing.

Talking of sky mapping software, you should check out Celestia. It is a 3-dimensional view of space that will make you feel like Captain James T. Kirk. Celestia does not confine you to the surface of earth. You can move around planets and galaxies, and boldly go where no man has gone before! But this post is about Google Sky and I’ll end it here. I’ll talk about Celestia later.

NASA is going to the same old moon, with a spaceship that looks similar to a 1960’s Apollo capsule, but the space agency said that it’s going to do something dramatically different this time: Stay there!!

Unveiling the agency’s bold plan for a return to the moon, NASA said it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon’s poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts land there. Why? Two reasons, according to NASA - prepare for future exploration, with Mars the next stop, and expansion of human civilization.

The destination will mostly be the moon’s south pole because it’s sunlit for three-quarters of the time. That offers a better location for solar power, plus the site has possible resources to mine nearby. To get to the moon, NASA will use two vehicles - the Orion exploration vehicle and an attached all-purpose lunar lander that could touch down anywhere and be the beginnings a base camp.NASA’s exploration chief Scott Horowitz says that the lander is like a pickup truck. You can put whatever you want in the back. You can take it to wherever you want. So you can deliver cargo, crew, do it robotically, do it with humans on board.

The estimated time frame for NASA’s lunar plans are:
2009 - a first test of one of the lunar spaceships.
2014 - the first manned test flight of the Orion crew exploration vehicle, but no moon landing.
2020 - the first flight of the four-astronaut crew to the moon.

For four years, the lunar base won’t be built up enough for long visits, so astronauts will only spend a week at a time. But after that, NASA envisions people living on the moon for six-month stints.

NASA also hopes that hydrogen, oxygen and other moon resources can be used as supplies for the lunar outpost. Eventually, getting oxygen there may be simple enough that it could be turned over to a commercial supplier. NASA’s vision for the moon is more than just American astronauts - it includes space travelers from other countries and even commercial interests, if possible.

Well well, the day isn’t far when we will get to see hoardings and neon signboards advertising the newest restaurant or the nearest oxygen supply depot on the moon. And imagine astronomers will look at the moon through a telescope and identify the Lunar Ritz. Nice!

In my wanderings through the Internet, I came upon some really interesting stuff on youtube.

There are some amazing video of aircrafts landing in cross winds. I had always heard and read that a cross-wind landing approach is a toughie. But I had never imagined it would be this bad! First of all, for the beginners, a cross-wind landing approach is where the wind is blowing perpendicular to the direction of the runway. If the plane holds it’s line to that of the runway, the wind will push it away, and it will crash-land in some nearby field. It’s sort of swimming across a flowing river. You end up going diagonally. If you had studied vectors and relative velocity in school, try to recollect the theory. Here’s a small illustration that will help you understand the concept.

In a cross-wind landing, the pilot has to fly the aircraft into the wind at an angle, so that it touches down on the runway. But just before touchdown, the pilot has to straighten the plane, else it will topple over and crash! Just look at the video, and you’ll understand what I am talking about.