Tag: space

WORMHOLE-That helps you to teleport

Wormhole theory

Wormholes were first theorized in 1916, though that wasn’t what they were called at the time. While reviewing another physicist’s solution to the equations in Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, Austrian physicist Ludwig Flamm realized another solution was possible. He described a “white hole,” a theoretical time reversal of a black hole. Entrances to both black and white holes could be connected by a space-time conduit.

In 1935, Einstein and physicist Nathan Rosen used the theory of general relativity to elaborate on the idea, proposing the existence of “bridges” through space-time. These bridges connect two different points in space-time, theoretically creating a shortcut that could reduce travel time and distance. The shortcuts came to be called Einstein-Rosen bridges, or wormholes.

“The whole thing is very hypothetical at this point,” said Stephen Hsu, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oregon, told our sister site, LiveScience. “No one thinks we’re going to find a wormhole anytime soon.”

Wormholes contain two mouths, with a throat connecting the two. The mouths would most likely be spheroidal. The throat might be a straight stretch, but it could also wind around, taking a longer path than a more conventional route might require.

Einstein’s theory of general relativity mathematically predicts the existence of wormholes, but none have been discovered to date. A negative mass wormhole might be spotted by the way its gravity affects light that passes by.

Certain solutions of general relativity allow for the existence of wormholes where the mouth of each is a black hole. However, a naturally occurring black hole, formed by the collapse of a dying star, does not by itself create a wormhole.

Wormhole

Through the wormhole

Science fiction is filled with tales of traveling through wormholes. But the reality of such travel is more complicated, and not just because we’ve yet to spot one.

The first problem is size. Primordial wormholes are predicted to exist on microscopic levels, about 10–33 centimeters. However, as the universe expands, it is possible that some may have been stretched to larger sizes.

Another problem comes from stability. The predicted Einstein-Rosen wormholes would be useless for travel because they collapse quickly. 

“You would need some very exotic type of matter in order to stabilize a wormhole,” said Hsu, “and it’s not clear whether such matter exists in the universe.”

But more recent research found that a wormhole containing “exotic” matter could stay open and unchanging for longer periods of time.

Exotic matter, which should not be confused with dark matter or antimatter, contains negative energy density and a large negative pressure. Such matter has only been seen in the behavior of certain vacuum states as part of quantum field theory.

If a wormhole contained sufficient exotic matter, whether naturally occurring or artificially added, it could theoretically be used as a method of sending information or travelers through space. Unfortunately, human journeys through the space tunnels may be challenging.

“The jury is not in, so we just don’t know,” physicist Kip Thorne, one of the world’s leading authorities on relativity, black holes and wormholes, told Space.com. “But there are very strong indications that wormholes that a human could travel through are forbidden by the laws of physics. That’s sad, that’s unfortunate, but that’s the direction in which things are pointing.”

Wormholes may not only connect two separate regions within the universe, they could also connect two different universes. Similarly, some scientists have conjectured that if one mouth of a wormhole is moved in a specific manner, it could allow for time travel. 

“You can go into the future or into the past using traversable wormholes,” astrophysicist Eric Davis told LiveScience. But it won’t be easy: “It would take a Herculean effort to turn a wormhole into a time machine. It’s going to be tough enough to pull off a wormhole.”

However, British cosmologist Stephen Hawking has argued that such use is not possible. [Weird Science: Wormholes Make the Best Time Machines]

“A wormhole is not really a means of going back in time, it’s a short cut, so that something that was far away is much closer,” NASA’s Eric Christian wrote.

Although adding exotic matter to a wormhole might stabilize it to the point that human passengers could travel safely through it, there is still the possibility that the addition of “regular” matter would be sufficient to destabilize the portal.

Today’s technology is insufficient to enlarge or stabilize wormholes, even if they could be found. However, scientists continue to explore the concept as a method of space travel with the hope that technology will eventually be able to utilize them.

“You would need some of super-super-advanced technology,” Hsu said. “Humans won’t be doing this any time in the near future.”

Additional resources:

MESSIER 87-The Galaxy that gives Hope

M87
The elliptical galaxy M87 is the home of several trillion stars, a supermassive black hole and a family of roughly 15,000 globular star clusters. For comparison, our Milky Way galaxy contains only a few hundred billion stars and about 150 globular clusters. The monstrous M87 is the dominant member of the neighboring Virgo cluster of galaxies, which contains some 2,000 galaxies. Discovered in 1781 by Charles Messier, this galaxy is located 54 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It has an apparent magnitude of 9.6 and can be observed using a small telescope most easily in May.
This Hubble image of M87 is a composite of individual observations in visible and infrared light. Its most striking features are the blue jet near the center and the myriad of star-like globular clusters scattered throughout the image.
The jet is a black-hole-powered stream of material that is being ejected from M87’s core. As gaseous material from the center of the galaxy accretes onto the black hole, the energy released produces a stream of subatomic particles that are accelerated to velocities near the speed of light.
At the center of the Virgo cluster, M87 may have accumulated some of its many globular clusters by gravitationally pulling them from nearby dwarf galaxies that seem to be devoid of such clusters today.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of M87, see:
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2008-30
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2000-20
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2013-32
locator star chart for M87

Know asteroids better on World asteroid day

June 30 is the world asteroid day and it is held on the anniversary of Siberian Tunguska event which is known as one of the most dangerous asteroid related event on earth. This day is designed by United Nations general assembly to raise awareness about the harmful effects of asteroids and measures to be taken to avoid these effects. On this day lets know more about the asteroids.

After the formation of the solar system, some of the rocky remains which failed to form a planet started to revolve around the sun around 4.6 billion years ago and these are called asteroids. Asteroids are made of same starting materials as earth and the other planets. But they are not big enough to be called a planet. Currently 1,097,065 is the known asteroid count and there is an asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars which contains more than 200 asteroids of size larger than 60 miles in diameter. And many asteroids are present outside the belt also.

asteroids can be very big of 940km and can be very small of 6-foot-wide. They are irregularly shaped although some are nearly spherical. Their surface is pitted as moon`s surface. Some of the asteroids also have their own moon. There are binary asteroids also present which revolve around the sun in pair and revolve around each other too. The average temperature on their surface is minus 73 degree Celsius.

THERE IS A CLASSIFICATION FOR ASTEROIDS BASED ON THEIR COMPOSITION
asteroid

C-type asteroids: They are also called as carbonaceous asteroids. This is the most common type of the asteroid making 75% of the population. They are mostly grey in color. They have large amount of carbon with rocks and minerals. They inhabit the main belt`s outer region.

M-type asteroids: They are also called as metallic asteroids. They are mostly made of nickel and iron and small amount of stone. They are moderately bright and red in color. They are in the middle region of the main belt.

S-type asteroids: They are also called as siliceous asteroids. They are of 17% of the total asteroids present at inner region of the asteroid belt. They are mostly made of silicate materials. Their composition is similar to meteorites.

CAN ASTEROIDS BE A SPACE COLONY FOR HUMANITY?

The desperation of the humanity for survival is the main driving force to think about colonizing the asteroids. But this has many obstacles. The main challenge is the transportation. Asteroid belt is 204.43 million miles away from the earth & journey to them may take more than 18 months. And size of the asteroids is not enough to produce gravity. This makes landing on them difficult. Another problem is the temperature which is very less. Scientist are studying to remove all these obstacles and possibility of habiting on the asteroids is quite at the far end of the future.

MINING ON ASTEROIDS
mining

Mineral depletion is becoming a major thing on the earth. It is predicted that earth will run out of the minerals in coming 50-60 years. So extraction of minerals from the space that too asteroids sounds interesting and hopeful. Asteroids also contain water which can be used as fuel for the spacecrafts used. Its been said that the world`s first trillionaire will be a person who owns asteroid mining. Asteroid mining will bring the essential economic progress.

Mining on asteroids requires a  lot amount of resources. Some of may include mining robots and haulers. Construction and maintenance of infrastructure is important. In-space manufacturing should be enabled to do mining effectively. Bringing the mined materials back to earth is also a challenge.

The technology for asteroid mining is being constructed by a company called Deep space industries. They are developing 3 types of spacecrafts. They are: Fireflies to examine the asteroids, Dragonflies to bring back samples to the earth and Harvesters to voyage to the asteroids and gather tons of minerals and return back to the earth. TransAstra is another company which is developing technologies for the same. If all these companies succeed then the dream of mining on asteroids will come true and will benefit the earth`s economy.