Last Friday and Saturday (November 10-11) my wife Mia and I went to Windycon, a Chicagoland science fiction convention that we have frequently attended since the 1970s, and which we went to last year.
Windycon 2023
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Tag Archives: science
Phosphine on Venus again
Phosphine on Venus: Another Look
Back in 2020 there was a report that Phosphine had been found in the atmosphere of Venus. Since Phosphine can be a sign of life that caused some excitement. I posted about this three times:
The last of these was in reference to Re-analysis of the 267-GHz ALMA observations of Venus: No statistically significant detection of phosphine? At the time that seemed like the end of the story.
However, there have been a lot more observations since then and some re-re-analysis of the earlier work, leading to Phosphine Confirmed Deep Within Venus’ Atmosphere, A Possible Sign Of Life. I am looking forward to seeing the technical details.
The History of Planet Vulcan
For decades I have been fascinated by 19th century celestial mechanics. This book is about one of my favorite stories from that field.
Highlights from The Hunt for Vulcan: . . . And How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe, by Thomas Levenson
Windycon 2022
Chicon 8
Thursday
On Thursday, Sept. 1, Mia McDavid and I drove to Chicago for Chicon 8: The 80th World Science Fiction Convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago . This was our 5th Chicon. Previously we had attended:
- Chicon 7 (2012)
- Chicon 2000 (2000)
- Chicon V (1991)
- Chicon IV (1982)
Despite some glitches, we really enjoyed the Con, and visiting downtown Chicago again.
UFOs? OK. Alien Spacecraft? No so fast.
I found How Washington Got Hooked on Flying Saucers to be fascinating if somewhat depressing. “There is nothing new under the sun.”
This is a subject I have been watching from a safe distance for well over half a century, when I first read Martin Gardner’s Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (Few books have influenced me more than this one).
I met J. Allen Hynek in my last year of high school, 1967-68, when I was a student in the Astro-Science Workshop (Still around although in a different format) at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. This program was organized and run by Hynek. Hynek was a pleasant and interesting speaker, and a good teacher, but he never spoke to us kids about UFOs.
Continue readingThe Dark Side of Gaia
I was reminded tonight of the Gaia hypothesis. It was quite a thing in the 1970s.
The Gaia hypothesis, named after the ancient Greek goddess of Earth, posits that Earth and its biological systems behave as a huge single entity. This entity has closely controlled self-regulatory negative feedback loops that keep the conditions on the planet within boundaries that are favorable to life. Introduced in the early 1970s, the idea was conceived by chemist and inventor James E. Lovelock and biologist Lynn Margulis.
This had a natural appeal in the early days of the environmental movement. I was skeptical back then, thinking of it as new age wishful thinking, and impossible to test. I was wrong: Its origins are far darker. Here is the abstract of Gas Guzzling Gaia, or: A Prehistory of Climate Change Denialism:
Continue readingSignificant Figures
I found this post on Facebook: Why is it important to know so many digits of pi?.
My comment:
As someone who started computing with log tables and slide rules, the first question I ask is how many significant digits do the other variables in your calculation have? The smallest such number tells you how many digits of pi you need. With electronic devices there is no harm in using more in your calculation, as many as your device has, but do not let that give you a false idea of the precision of your result.
I learned about significant figures in my high school chemistry in 1967-68. (Thank you, Mr. Wheeler!). Use of appropriate significant figures, also from a chemistry class, clearly explains the concept and its use in practice.
I only first saw Star Trek (TOS) after high school, in reruns. Thanks to that chemistry class I gag every time I hear Mr. Spock reporting some calculation to an absurd number of decimal places. His input data could not possibly be that precise!
Water on the Moon
It’s confirmed. There is water on the Moon. OK, what’s the big deal? Water is very common in the cosmos and has been seen on the moon before. The difference is that previously it had been been only in craters near the lunar south pole, perpetually in darkness. Now, as the updated NASA announcement said, NASA’s SOFIA Discovers Water on Sunlit Surface of Moon, which will be much more accessible to future explorers.
How significant this is remains to be seen, but it has provided Katie Mack with some inspiration.
Phosphine on Venus: Not so fast
Last month I posted about a Possible Sign of Life on Venus, which reported on Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus. Earlier this month I mentioned More about phosphine on Venus. The story is not over yet.
A Question of Phosphine links to Re-analysis of the 267-GHz ALMA observations of Venus: No statistically significant detection of phosphine. This team re-analyzed the same data used in the first Phosphine gas paper, but came to the opposite conclusion. So it comes down to a very complicated question of statistical analysis.Professor Coles also linked to A stringent upper limit of the PH3 abundance at the cloud top of Venus by another team which included Jane Greaves, first author of Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus.
