3.02.2008

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Types of telescopes What are the advantages of each

Refractors, Newtonian reflectors and Catadioptrics are the three main types of telescopes. All these different types have the same purpose, but each telescope design does it differently. Collecting light and bringing it to a point of focus so it can be magnified and examined with an eyepiece is their goal.

Of the different types of telescopes the refractor is the telescope most people think of when they think of astronomy. This type of astronomy telescope is easy to use and reliable due to the simplicity of design. It requires little or no maintenance. Its great for looking at the different types of lunar, planetary, and binary stars.

Newtonians are a type of telescope, which is also known as catoptrics. This type is different from the other telescopes because it has the lowest per inch of aperture compared to refractors and Catadioptrics, because lenses are more expensive to produce than mirrors, especially in medium to large apertures. Newtonians deliver very bright images and are low in optical aberrations.

Catadoptric telescopes are the most popular type of instrument, with the most modern design, marketed throughout the world in 3 1/2 and larger apertures. Its very good for looking at different planetary, lunar, and binary stars. If you like to take photos with your telescope this type of instrument is excellent for deep sky observing or astrophotography with fast films or CCD's.

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Cosmic Rays and the Cygnus Mystery

Since the discovery in the 1920s that all types of radiation can cause gene mutations, scientists have wondered what role high energy cosmic rays might play in human evolution. Yet it was an idea destined never to find favour among geneticists, who could determine no hard evidence that the background flux of cosmic rays might have had any noticeable effect on human cell mutation.

All this is about to change, as an examination of ice cores extracted from sites in Antarctica and Greenland provides new information on the level of cosmic rays reaching Earth in past ages.

When so-called ‘primary’ cosmic rays hit the upper atmosphere they generally break up to produce a plethora of ‘secondary’ particles that form isotopes, which fall to Earth and are preserved each year in layers of ice. One such isotope is beryllium 10, found within the ice cores, which provides clear evidence that on three occasions over the past 100,000 years – around 60,000 years ago, 40,000 years ago and 17,000 years ago - there have been extremely intense periods of cosmic ray activity lasting up to 2,000 years at a time.

Although the cyclic nature of these spikes of activity indicate a connection with long-term solar cycles, other factors might have been behind the sudden increase in cosmic rays during Palaeolithic times, when our earliest ancestors made huge jumps in evolution that led eventually to the rise of civilization. Catastrophists propose that a close supernova explosion might have sent a barrage of cosmic particles in our direction, dramatically increasing cloud formation, thus preventing the sun from penetrating through the atmosphere and leading quickly to an ice age and mass extinctions on the ground. It is possible, therefore, that close supernovae might account for the high levels of beryllium found in the ice cores.

An altogether different scenario is that the true source of cosmic rays affecting the evolution of life are black holes or neutron stars, a theory first proposed in 1973 by world-renowned astronomer Carl Sagan. In the 1980s particle physicists in Europe and the USA unexpectedly detected the presence deep underground of incoming cosmic rays that had penetrated the solid rock to great depths, suggesting that they had come from an extremely powerful cosmic ray accelerator somewhere in deep space.

These unique cosmic rays were found to have been produced by a binary star system containing either a black hole or neutron star in the northern constellation of Cygnus, the swan. Known as Cygnus X-3, this astronomical source was classified as recently as 2000 as the galaxy’s first ‘blazar’, meaning that it produces jets of stellar material, mostly ionized gas, that direct cosmic particles towards the Earth at close to the speed of light, something it has been doing for anything up to 700,000 years.

The recorded bursts of cosmic radiation from deep space on at least three occasions in human history could suggest that Cygnus X-3 is the key to solving the mystery of the cosmic rays. Had the Palaeolithic cave artists and shamans responsible for the cave art at Lascaux, and other similar caves across Western Europe, become aware of incoming cosmic rays, which are unique in being able to penetrate deep underground? Did these cygnets, as Cygnus X-3’s strange particles became known, cause gene mutations, leading eventually to the development of a complex mindset, including symbolic art and the first organised societies towards the end of the last Ice Age?

Cygnus is the oldest known constellation represented in art, appearing as a bird on a pole in the famous cave of Lascaux in southern France, c.17,000 years ago. What is more, all around the world there was once a great reverence of this constellation, known also as the Northern Cross. From the bird effigy mounds of North America to the Olmec centres of Mexico, the Incan sacred city of Cuzco, the Egyptian Pyramids of Giza, the Hindu temples of India and Avebury, the largest stone circle in Europe - all reflect an age-old interest in Cygnus, which features also in religious symbolism and beliefs, at the heart of Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, as well as shamanic practices worldwide. All of this indicates that Cygnus X-3, as our galaxy’s sole blazar, is the best candidate by far for at least a percentage of the cosmic radiation that continues to reach Earth and may well have catalysed mutations leading in the past to sudden advances in human evolution.

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The String Theory

At first, this theory was not exhilarating to many physicists because it seemed preposterous. However, many physicists soon became hooked to this theory when two physicists, John Schwarz and Michael Green, found one equation for all forces in 1982.

“The String Theory” suggests that “small vibrating 1-dimensional objects with length and tension constitute the universe”. Each dissonant vibration constitutes a different particle. An example is sound waves created on a musical instrument. Each string on the instrument can vibrate in resonant patterns creating various amplitudes and wavelengths in the sound wave. Therefore, a variety of musical notes can be heard. Thus, there is no possible way for strings to vibrate in the three spatial dimensions that we are familiar with, up and down, left and right, and back and forth. To solve this problem, six more dimensions were added.

Finally, five different forms of string theory were developed. If there is one theory that describes the whole universe, which of the five is correct? With the help of Ed Witten this mystery came to a close, and the development of M-theory was created.

M-theory is also called for another dimension. This extra dimension theorizes that if a “vibrating string had enough energy, the string could expand, creating a membrane”. With enough energy this membrane could expand to the size of the universe. It is now thought that our universe is living in a membrane inside a much larger higher dimensional space. Thus, there could be parallel worlds on other membranes coexisting with ours just a millimeter away.


In the theory of quantum physics, the law that controls how atoms behave, the fabric of space is random and chaotic. Because of this chaotic and random movement the fabric of space often tears. What causes these tears to stop? The answer is strings. As strings float around in the fabric of space, the strings act as a tube around the tear forming a protective bubble. This tube is called a wormhole.

Theoretically, a wormhole is a tunnel or bridge that links distant regions of space, in other words, a cosmic shortcut to different places in the universe. This phenomenon can only be described in the
extra dimension from M-theory.

M-theory also explains why gravity seems to be billions and billions times weaker than electromagnetism. This is because gravity, composed of particles called gravitons, is “surrounded by closed strings and are able to wander off into extra dimensions”. With this knowledge, physicists may be able to construct a device that can communicate to parallel universes by exchanged strong gravity wave sources.

Physicists are currently trying to find gravitons by the use of atom smashers. The atom smasher collide hydrogen atoms into each other while traveling at the speed of light. As the hydrogen atom collides, numerous particles disburse. No results of detecting a graviton were successful but, hopefully, with the help of a much more power atom smasher, the graviton will be discovered. The reason why the discovery of the graviton is very important is because it will prove that the string theory may be true.

”The String theory” has not provided a definite answer about the “Big Bang”. It has, however, provided an assumption. Two membranes, highly energized strings, carrying parallel universes were drifting
towards each other. As they hit, the energy given off has to go somewhere. Thus, the “Big Bang” occurs. This does not occur just once but many times. There may be “Big Bangs” occurring at this
moment between other membranes.

If “The String Theory” is somehow proved accurate, the greatest mystery ever existed in life will be answered. “The String Theory” will explain why the universe is the way it is. We may even be able
to discover other life forms in other universes. Wormholes would provide a much profound efficient way of exploring the universe and parallel worlds.

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2.26.2008

Galactic Mystery - Matter - On the Dark Side

Scientific inquiry can be described as a sequence of observations leading to a hypothesis which must be tested by experimentation. The results either validate or invalidate the hypothesis which was under test. Unfortunately, the interpretation of the data sometimes does not elucidate some new truth but rather eclipses our thoughts into a new era of ignorance.

Heralding a new age in the cosmos, Norwegian Kristian Birkeland predicted that the universe likely consisted of an exotic component that would later be called dark matter. His comments about this subject matter appeared in a description of the Norwegian Aurora Polaris Expedition (1902-1903). Birkeland's ideas about the Expedition were published in the fateful year of 1913 which would see the rise of the socialist Federal Reserve System and the Income Tax in the United States of America, two key components of the communist manifesto. Evolutionary processes were in motion throughout all fields of endeavor. Economics, politics, science and the hearts and minds of men and women were in the balance whilst relativism not truth held sway over the modern imagination. Cosmology would suffer from the same 'evolutionary' mindset and Birkeland wrote as much:

"We have assumed that each stellar system in evolutions throws off electric corpuscles into space. It does not seem unreasonable therefore to think that the greater part of the material masses in the universe is found, not in the solar systems or nebulae, but in "empty" space."

In this fashion, Birkeland predicted that because of the 'evolutions' present within the cosmos most of the matter in the universe must be found in 'empty' space rather than that which is observable in stellar objects. It is currently believed that only four percent of the universe is of this ordinary visible stellar type. Further, about a quarter of the universe is made up of the ubiquitous dark matter with the rest of the cosmos being filled with the even more bizarre dark energy. It was Fritz Zwicky, a swiss astrophysicist working for Caltech, who would further the concept of dark matter through the aegis of the Virial Theorem.

This mathematical relation is a formula which bounds the energy of a set of particles. In another dark year in the steady evolution to slavery since 1933 saw the removal of gold from the accounts of american citizenry, Zwicky used the Virial Theorem in an attempt to ascertain the validity of the dark matter hypothesis. He focussed his attention on the Coma galactic cluster and his analysis provided prima facie confirmation for the existence of dark matter. By evaluating the amount of movement of those galaxies at the periphery of the cluster he was able to approximately surmise the aggregate of all the matter therein.

He was astonished to learn that this sum total of mass is different from a separately computed estimate. This other value was obtained by analyzing the sum total of galaxies and the brightness of the Coma cluster. Juxtaposing this value with the periphery computation he observed that there was a discrepancy of at a minimum four hundredfold. Since the galaxies were insufficiently massive to cause the computed orbital velocities there must be some other mechanism to explain this phenomena. This conundrum became in the scientific lexicon the missing mass problem. Zwicky had established the need for the existence of an invisible source of mass hitherto unknown which must provide the necessary gravitational effect for the cluster.

Thus, it is a fact of the current state of cosmology that the greatest set of evidence for dark matter comes from this galactic gravitational data. Scientists have even made galactic curves describing the rotational properties of stars versus the distance from the galactic center. When the gravitational data is plotted it can be shown that only a small portion of the observed speeds are explicable by classical computations. In other words, there is a scarcity of visible mass in the observed galaxies to attribute the sum total of gravitational effects to visibly observable stars planets and galaxies. Thus, the simplest way to explain this galactic mystery of insufficient mass is to hypothesize a non-detectable type of mass known as dark matter which can be the cause for the gravitational effects.

As more and more data is collected on these and other aspects of the universe, formulae and cosmological postulates are generated describing the results so obtained. Fulfilling the requirements of the aforementioned aspects leads some scientists to propose several different types of dark matter. The four main types of dark matter are called 1- baryonic dark matter; 2- warm dark matter; 3- cold dark matter and 4- hot dark matter. Dark matter ranges from the known to the predicted, from black holes to brown dwarfs to the massive compact halo objects (MACHOs), the neutrino, axions, WIMPS or weakly interacting massive particles and the esoteric neutralino. However, there is an alternative explanation for the gravitational effects which originally created the dark matter concept.

If an incomplete understanding of gravitation is factored into the picture, then it can be asserted that the dark matter interpretation is incorrect because some other cause is generating these phenomena. Several different contending theories have been developed to describe the observed galactic data. In particular, one of the main competing explanations is given by scalar tensor theories which try to combine the teachings of quantum mechanics with gravity. Amplifying these ideas leads to a variety of exotic ideas which challenge our most fundamental notions of physics and astronomy. Other concepts go even further and have been the subject of interest for astronomers like Dr. Riccardo Scarpa since these allow for a cosmology without the inclusion of the enigmatic dark matter.

Dr. Scarpa works at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago Chile using the Very Large Telescope Array at Paranal. With all of his experience in this field, it is interesting to note some of his most recent comments on the superfluous dark matter:

"Dark matter is the craziest idea we've ever had in astronomy. It can appear when you need it, it can do what you like, be distributed in any way you like. It is the fairy tale of astronomy."

In view of these comments one should ask if another scientific idea might be on the verge of collapsing. Indeed, astronomers are routinely using these other theoretical principles on a daily basis in infrared observatories around the world. Thus, it is very likely that we are simply wrong about all of this dark matter. It is within all probability that the only dark matter that we will ever find is that ignorant dark matter between our ears.

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The Astrology of the Jewish Kabbalah

Divination, Evocation and Vision are the preliminary techniques of Magic rituals in the kabbalah. There is considerable justification for their employment: when there is adequate understanding of their meaning and technical procedure. But these are preliminary methods only. They are but steps leading to the consummation of the supreme sacrament. The inevitable end of Magic is identical to that conceived of in Mysticism, union with God-head. Magic conceives of divinity as Spirit and Light and Love. It is an all-pervasive and omnipresent vital force, permeating all things, sustaining every life from the most minute electron to the largest nebula of mindstaggering dimensions.
It is this Life which is the level of the entirety of existence, and it is this primal awareness in which we live and move and have our being. In the course of manifestation, cosmic centres develop within its infinitude, centres of lofty intelligence and power, whereby the cosmic high tension may be modified and reduced to a lower key so as ultimately to produce an objective manifestation. These cosmic centres of life are what for the moment we may name the Gods (not spirits)--beings of enormous wisdom, power and spirituality in an ascending hierarchical scale between us and the unknown and unnamed God. The particular hierarchy that they form receives in Magic a clear classification in terms of the Qabalistic Tree of Life.
Sometimes to describe these concepts, there is the metaphor of a man striving to reach the roof top of a several storeyed building. Now Magic conceives of spiritual development in an analogous way. That is to say, it conceives a personal evolution as progressive and orderly. Divinity is the objective we seek to reach, the roof top. We, those of us cherishing the mystical ideal, are below on the ground. Not with one leap may we attain the summit.
By means of the magical technique we employ the invocation of the Gods, who answer metaphorically to the stairs or lift, and attempt union with their wider and vaster consciousness. Since they represent the several cosmic levels of energy and mind intervening between us and the supreme goal, as we unite ourselves in love and reverence and surrender to them, by so much the nearer do we approach to the ultimate source and root of all things.

Using the plan of the Tree of Life as his guide, the magician invokes the lower Gods or Archangels as they are named in another system, desirous of mingling his own life with, and surrendering his own being to, the greater and more extensive life of the God. Thus his spiritual perceptions become finer and more sensitive, and his consciousness becomes with time accustomed to the high tension of the divine force flowing through him. His interior evolution proceeding, he invokes the God of the Sephirah or plane immediately above. Following the same procedure, he attempts to assimilate his own essence, his own integrated consciousness, to that of the divinity he has invoked. And so on--until finally he stands upon the lofty Darien peak of spiritual realisation, united with the transcendental life of infinity, feeling with universal love and compassion, conscious of all life and
every thing as himself with supreme vision and power.

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