The cosmos

[Kataal 40]

I just read an online article about a star that apparently has a circumference about the same size as the orbit of Saturn, the 6th planet in our solar system. If that is true, that is .... sooooo weird. I guess anything is really possible. It is possible that this behemoth star is in its ultra red giant phase and about to die. What do you guys think? I am posting the link below:

https://boingboing.net/2020/09/26/the-mind-boggling-size-of-the-largest-known-star-stephenson-2-18.html

Edited September 26, 2020 by Kataal
I misspelled a word.

[steve25805 121,109]

For a star to be so massive it is highly likely to be in it's red giant phase. And something so large will probably not die peacefully. At some point it is likely to go supernova, leaving behind a rapidly rotating remnant where all the protons and electrons are squeezed together into neutrons, creating a neutron star. Such an object is only a mile or two across but can contain the mass of several suns. It is so dense that a teaspoon full can weigh billions of tons.

There is also the distinct alternative possibility that the core will collapse beyond the point where even a neutron star can survive and become a black hole whose gravity is so intense that nothing - not even light - can escape from it.

[Kataal 40]

I agree. I think it might be a black hole. I would be surprised if it was a neutron star.

[Kataal 40]

What news do you have about the cosmos?

[steve25805 121,109]

15 hours ago, Kataal said:

What news do you have about the cosmos?

They have found significant amounts of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. They know of no natural means of producing it other than as a by-product of primitive microbial life. Some think there may be such primitive life high up in the atmosphere where temperatures and pressures are far more temperate than on the scorching surface.

[Kataal 40]

That could be the result of microbial life when Venus was still somewhat habitable. Then, the run away greenhouse effect saw fruition as oceans boiled away, heat never escaped, volcanoes kept spewing out internal greenhouses, and both the temperatures and pressures increased. I am surprised that such biochemicals exist in the atmosphere of Venus and a world without a magnetic field. Also solar winds blow away the Venetian atmosphere.

[Kataal 40]

I have heard that Titan is organic chemistry heaven with lots of hydrocarbons, like methane. It is an Earth waiting to happen.

[P_lovinguy 1,299]

I'm going to offer an opinion on something that I have no proof of nor have anything to support my thoughts but ponder this...

Astronomers & science are looking to the outer limits of our known universe for possible life else where; this is a known fact. What I have never heard of, even in the most remote sense, is to explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Wikipedia says:

The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars, that is occupied by a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes but much smaller than planets, called asteroids or minor planets.

I strongly believe all those asteroids make up what was an "Earth-like" planet that somehow got destroyed. The answers we seek regarding atmosphere, water, and terrafirma all lie in the ruins of these asteroids.  I just cannot take stock in those who say the asteroid belt is a gathering fragments from moons and other debris.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2020 by P_lovinguy
added content

[steve25805 121,109]

On 10/4/2020 at 9:53 AM, P_lovinguy said:

I'm going to offer an opinion on something that I have no proof of nor have anything to support my thoughts but ponder this...

Astronomers & science are looking to the outer limits of our known universe for possible life else where; this is a known fact. What I have never heard of, even in the most remote sense, is to explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Wikipedia says:

The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars, that is occupied by a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes but much smaller than planets, called asteroids or minor planets.

I strongly believe all those asteroids make up what was an "Earth-like" planet that somehow got destroyed. The answers we seek regarding atmosphere, water, and terrafirma all lie in the ruins of these asteroids.  I just cannot take stock in those who say the asteroid belt is a gathering fragments from moons and other debris.

 

 

It has been proposed that a planet once existed between Mars and Jupiter, named Phaeton, which was destroyed by some cataclysmic event. But the idea has fallen out of favour in recent decades....

https://www.guide-to-the-universe.com/planet-phaeton.html

[steve25805 121,109]

On 10/1/2020 at 10:42 PM, Kataal said:

That could be the result of microbial life when Venus was still somewhat habitable. Then, the run away greenhouse effect saw fruition as oceans boiled away, heat never escaped, volcanoes kept spewing out internal greenhouses, and both the temperatures and pressures increased. I am surprised that such biochemicals exist in the atmosphere of Venus and a world without a magnetic field. Also solar winds blow away the Venetian atmosphere.

The Venusian atmosphere remains very thick in spite of the solar wind. There is a lot of it, so much so that at the surface it is 100 times more dense than the surface atmospheric pressure on Earth. Much of this atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide, a known greenhouse gas.

[Kataal 40]

Amazing!

[steve25805 121,109]

Just think.....this is Pluto billions of miles away from where the sun just looks like a bright star. Yet we have sent a probe here to take this photograph....

And for anyone interested, this is the latest theorised composition of the dwarf planet....

There is a lot of ice that far out, so water ice is in abundance in those regions, as can be even liquid water where intermal pressures and  radoioactive heating might be in play.

[steve25805 121,109]

How big is the universe ... compared with a grain of sand? - YouTube