Recent content by PhysicsDilettante

I'm an occassional Mathematica user (Ver 7.0.1.0). I'm doing something now where I need to import a couple of large Excel files, no problem with that. I'm wondering, however, if there is a procedure to make the resulting lists created by the imported data permanent so that I don't have to...

FYI, it is "only" about 50,000 light-years to the center of our galaxy, not 50 million. But even that is an excruciatingly long distance / travel time.

Thanks Marcus and others for weighing in on this. I was sure hoping that the reserachers had more to say about my questions given how much LQG and the bounce idea appears to be taking center stage these days. It seems that with the bounce idea the LQG modelers may have found a way out of...

I've been fascinated by the posts and discussions here about "The Bounce" that seems to be emerging from some LQG models (thanks Marcus and others). I have a couple of questions, which I don't think I've seen in posts here (my apologies if they've been raised and discussed and I've missed it)...

He was a UN ambassador under Reagan, but I remember him most from when he ran for the Senate in Maryland a couple of times (88 and 92), losing both times. He also ran against Obama for the Senate seat in Illinois that Obama won. He is a pretty conservative Republican, especially on the social...

Is there an example or two yet where astronomers have looked at those rich clouds of gas and actually observed a new star that hadn't been seen before? Or does the timescale for how frequently a new star "turns on" along with the problems of seeing through those rich clouds of gas where they...

Any reaction from the experts here to the NASA story today? http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/dark_matter_proven.html Frank

My apologies if this is too simplistic or poorly phrased of a question. I am trying to get a better handle on what the observed expansion of space implies about the nature of space itself. My basic question is: What are the mainstream theories and descriptions that cosmologists and...

Space Tiger - Can you elaborate a little on what is meant by trivial and non-trivial topology? Thanks.

ST -- or anyone who knows: Can you give a brief description of what it is in the WMAP observations / analysis that provides support for dark energy and for the estimate that it comprises ~70% of the stuff in the universe? Thanks.

Thank you very much for this summary, ST (your posts are always among the most clear and informative on this site). A couple of quick clarification questions. What are the "units" being used here so that these add to 100% of the universe's composition? I'm particularly not clear on how dark...

Frederick’s “Empty Nest” post reminded me of a thought that I have had on occasion. Perhaps it is essentially what Frederick’s post is getting at, I’m not sure. (Note: This is not intended to imply a theory but is simply meant as a question about what we know or don’t know.) What is the...