[lumi]

Light and Shadow in the Carina Nebula




Dust Band Around the Nucleus of "Black Eye Galaxy"




The Antennae Galaxies





Infant Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Images taken by Hubble Telescope

I find it interesting to think about the universe. There's the enormity of it, the beautiful imagery, and the mystery of what's out there. It makes me wonder if other sorts of life forms are there, and what are their lives like. It really makes me wish personal spaceships and warp drives existed.

Anyone else get wanderlust for space?

[Kolzig]

Space has always been an interesting subject. I don't know much scientific facts and such about it, but it's always cool to think about what is out there.

And the possibility of travelling to some other planet with a spaceship, that is one of the dreams of my life that I've had since my childhood. That will happen someday, I hope that it will happen during my lifetime.

[bulldog]

I don’t know a whole lot about space either (scientific facts) that is. But I just like looking at pictures and looking at the stars. It's breath taking.

[rlpw]

Space pics are so neat!! Makes you know there is a god and also that we are sooo insignificant.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by Kolzig

And the possibility of travelling to some other planet with a spaceship, that is one of the dreams of my life that I've had since my childhood. That will happen someday, I hope that it will happen during my lifetime.

I hear you, buddy!

I recently stumbled upon a freeware space simulator that actually looked very, very decent, but I don't remember its name anymore.

[kuze]

Was it Celestia?

[lumi]

Originally Posted by Kolzig

And the possibility of travelling to some other planet with a spaceship, that is one of the dreams of my life that I've had since my childhood. That will happen someday, I hope that it will happen during my lifetime.

Yeah, I've had the same dream. I'm seriously thinking about going back to college and getting some engineering degree that'll get me work at NASA or some place similar. If me helping speeds up progress on something like that, then I'm happy to help.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by kuze

Was it Celestia?

Wow, there seems to be more than only one decent looking freeware space simulator out there! Makes me wonder what such a thing actually plays like... I loved playing Elite... for a while. Just drifting through space, listening to "Ride of the Valkyries" in MIDI, browsing through the latest edition of The Frontier (one of the in-game newspapers). Mmmmh, soothing.

[Jatsie]

Originally Posted by rlpw

Makes you know there is a god

HAH!

*scoffs*

[rlpw]

Originally Posted by Jat316sob

HAH!

*scoffs*

Scoff all yea wanna cutie I'll forgive ye

[Jatsie]

You're creepy.

[rlpw]

Thank you

[Huz]

Man, fascination with space is a funny thing. It's kind of sad how things only hold our interest when they're completely unknown. If we lived in an age where space travel was easy and cheap, would we actually bother with it? Would we all go through years of arduous Starfleet training just for the chance to see the universe?

A couple of hundred years ago, men looked at maps of the globe peppered with large chunks of terra incognita and wondered what was out there. Were there talking chimps in central Africa, a new island hidden in the south Pacific? People explored, people joined the navies of the world for the chance to travel to exotic locales, and those areas were gradually filled in. Are we all running out to join the Royal Navy now? Sadly no, because those questions have largely been answered.

I guess that's what makes space hold such fascination, in that it goes on forever, essentially. But I doubt even that will hold our attention for long once we've mastered space travel.

[kuze]

Well, once we have mastered space travel there will be the era of pioneers - and according to my numerous sci-fi books it's gonna be exciting. Too bad none of us will be a part of it.

[SoccerDude28]

Speaking of space, did you guys hear about the new Bush space policy?

You can read about it here http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-10-09-bush-space-policy_x.htm

Originally Posted by article

Freedom of action

For 50 years, the U.S. has led the world in space exploration, developing "a solid civil, commercial, and national security space foundation," the document notes.

"Space has become a place that is increasingly used by a host of nations, consortia, businesses, and entrepreneurs," the space policy states. "In this new century, those who effectively utilize space will enjoy added prosperity and security and will hold a substantial advantage over those who do not."

Additionally, the Bush space policy is designed to "ensure that space capabilities are available in time to further U.S. national security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives." Moreover, a fundamental goal of the policy is to "enable unhindered U.S. operations in and through space to defend our interests there."

The policy calls upon the Secretary of Defense to "develop capabilities, plans, and options to ensure freedom of action in space, and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries."

[lumi]

Originally Posted by Huz

Are we all running out to join the Royal Navy now? Sadly no, because those questions have largely been answered.

I don't think there has been a decrease in an interest in exploration. People still love to travel around and go hiking in nature, even though it's easy to see in photographs or videos what places are like. There aren't really any unexplored areas left on Earth, but people still want to experience them first hand.

[Target43]

We get that NASA channel at work and I must say it's pretty f'n cool. Watched the entire flight of the last shuttle (including space-walks and pr0n...whoops, no pr0n) and it was quite amazing to see all the work that was done.

A friend of mine works at NASA as a designer of engines. He recently sent me some photos from an astronauts space-walk that were amazing. I'll need to upload them to my webspace so I can pimp them for you all. They're awsome. You'll like

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Huz

I guess that's what makes space hold such fascination, in that it goes on forever, essentially. But I doubt even that will hold our attention for long once we've mastered space travel.

No, probably not. Most of space is just that- empty space. Even if there were some primitive form of life on another planet which we had the means to reach easily, why should that interest anyone but scientists? And it's not like people would be eager to live on Mars, apart from all culture and in an environment hostile to human life. So what's left for the average Joe to care about out there? There's only so much time you can spend watching stars as you wait to reach your destination before you'd go crazy.

[samIamsad]

^^ Heh.


I always liked the idea that our entire universe was, in the truly grand scheme of things nothing but an atom amongst atoms which form a big pile of intergalagtic dog poo in a world our mind doesn't dare to imagine. And above all of that, the same holds true for this world's universe as well. And there'd be no end to it all. Let's just hope that the caretakers of that place remain to be as sloppy as they've been in the last billions of years or otherwise we can say our sorry asses goodbye. All in a matter of a wipe. Oh, the horror.

[Erwin_Br]

Oh, don't worry. Time is moving at another pace in that world of yours. In our time, it'll be ages before we're being thrown in the poo-bag.

--Erwin