Science Friction

Cosmic Snake is Pregnant... With Stars, of Course!!! The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image below reveals the Cosmic Snake, a distant galaxy peppered with clumpy regions of intense star formation that appear warped by the effect of gravitational lensing. This giant arc-like galaxy is actually behind the huge galaxy cluster MACSJ1206.2-0847, but thanks to the cluster’s gravity, we can see it from Earth.

Can't wait til the CFIT. Hope we get a Corbin/Knox final.

Are the refs still not calling Markelle for palming the ball? Dude did it consistently last year. Maybe that infraction isn't called anymore.

How many had a chance to check out last night's supermoon?

Corbin was short-handed in this one. Hounds played without their Junior sharpshooter, Chase Sanders, who is recovering from a blood clot that was removed. Also, the Hounds are still without Brody Barton, who is recovering from knee surgery. When they get healthy and March rolls around, the Hounds could be a tough "out."

The Gus Johnson of BGP...hellava job!!!

Tommy Greer... what's your plan now?

Been a problem ALL YEAR LONG!

Bout time.

So much for those predictions of a defensive struggle.

Absolutely. I thought it would be a three score game in favor of Boyle but it may be more.

I predicted a 23-point Boyle win(first thought 29). May need to go back to my original.

Freddie has ties to Corbin. He has spent a lot of time here over the years. His sister, Samantha , is a second grade teacher in Corbin.

I've felt for quite a few weeks now that Boyle was the best 3A team. I think Corbin will need some takeaways to pull off a win.

del

My heart says: HOUNDS!!! The "Lou Holtz" part of me says: Boyle 35 Corbin 12

Don't think it can't happen. Need I remind you what happened a little more than five years ago? Re-read my post from back in the summer. July 23, 2012: A day that came ever so close to living in infamy. You didn't see it, you didn't feel it, you probably didn't even read about it in the paper. But what took place came very close to wiping out civilization as we know it and plunging us back into the 18th century, at best. No, this is not some astronomy geek musing melodramatically about some far out science fiction event. What happened five years ago this month that almost brought utter chaos upon the earth??? No, it wasn't a North Korean dictator with his finger on nukes, not an asteroid like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, not a newly discovered rogue comet, no pole shift... none of that. It happened on our very own Sun, the ball of gases that sits at the center of our solar system, keeps us warm, and gives us life. On July 23 five years ago, our sun let loose a massive eruption, one of the largest solar flares and coronal mass ejections ever recorded.(See pic in post #66) This solar storm started out with the massive flare and was followed by a colossal CME(Coronal Mass Ejection). A solar flare is initiated by the sudden release of energy stored in the Sun’s corona, causing the Sun’s plasma to heat up to tens of millions of degrees, accelerating and kicking out all sorts of radiation, and often creating a solar prominence or filament (eruption). In a large solar storm, the same energy from the corona can also cause a coronal mass ejection — a much slower-moving billion-ton cloud of plasma (electrons and protons). Do I need to tell you how bad of a day it would be if the energy and plasma from a gigantic CME hits Earth??? Well, let's just say, REALLY REALLY BAD !!! And folks, it almost happened. Had the solar storm and subsequent CME occurred JUST ONE WEEK EARLIER the earth would have been in the direct line of fire !!! When the energy and plasma from a massive CME strikes , the solar energetic particles strike the Earth with such force that it ionizes the atmosphere, creating a vast cloud of energetic electrons that bounce around inside the atmosphere destroying electronics and fusing conductive wires everywhere. It would probably take out a few satellites in Earth orbit, too. Prior to the storm five years ago, the next largest solar storm occurred back in 1859 and is known by folks like me in the scientific community as the Carrington Event. The 2012 storm was at the very least on the scale of Carrington. The Carrington storm vanquished much of the Victorian telegraph network in Europe as well as North America. Consequences of a storm like the one in 2012 would be much more dire than Carrington. Econmically speaking, well in excess of 20 trillion dollars for starters. But that's just the beginning of the nightmare. Civilization would be changed and it would take a long, long time to recover. We would have been forced back into living like those in colonial times, at best. At worst, an anarchic post-apocalyptic Stone Age might have confronted us. Large parts of society would have been without power for years. Yes, I said years!!! The world's power grids just can't be replaced overnight. I remember reading about one scientist who had studied extreme space weather events for decades saying that there is a 12% probability of a solar storm on the order of the 1859 Carrington Event before 2022. Stock up Doomsday Preppers!!! I'm always trying to find a positive in the most nightmarish of scenarios. One positive: I may not be able to take a warm bath or go to a Reds game but dammit the Northern Lights will be something else!!!!

How much warning would have before a catastrophic solar storm hit? Is 15 minutes enough warning? 'Doomsday' solar storm could devastate Earth at any moment | Daily Mail Online

Watch for the first, last, and only Supermoon of 2017 this coming Sunday, Dec. 3 !!! You'll spot the large moon over the horizon just after sunset. Here's a pic of a supermoon over the KU campus in Lawrence in December of last year.

Corbin vs. LCA on Saturday. Has the potential to be a dandy!!!

Of course, most of you have nailed this one by now. It's TITAN, the ninth largest object in our solar system. Titan's surface features bear an eerie resemblance to another world you may be familiar with... Earth!!!

Corbin was up 57-23 at halftime over the defending 13th Region All A champs. Mr. Basketball candidate Andrew Taylor led the way for the Hounds with 28 points. Corbin plays LCA on Saturday at North Laurel in the Nissan Classic.

Clue #5: Maybe the most interesting facet of this world is its eerily similar surface features to our very own Earth. With its dense atmosphere, lakes, seas, mountain ranges, and sand dunes, it sounds almost like home sweet home. Well, give it another billion years or so...

Clue#4: This world has smog---LOTS of smog ! No, it's not Los Angeles.

Granted, I have only watched the QB's from Corbin, Beechwood, Mayfield, and Danville, but I've been wondering who would you rate as the best three QB's chosen from the teams that are vying for state titles. Corbin's Sizemore is a big stud of a guy with a rifle arm. He is a punishing runner and an equally effective passer. Who would make your top 3 QB's from among the twelve schools that are still playing?