The Observatory - 2013-09-26 (page 1 of 4)

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12:00 AM

Got a little messed up there :P

0

A: What is a wormhole?

A wormhole is, in theory, a 'tunnel' which would be a shortcut to another point in spacetime. There's a Wikipedia article on the subject: A wormhole, also known as an Einstein–Rosen bridge, is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through s...

@Undo what?

what's days celebrations on SE thingy you mentioned?

@TildalWave New years' celebrations, bah. I celebrate new SE days!

so it's not a chocolate ... blah not interested then

user image

i thought it's something to do with this ^

Heh.

lol

woot - answer posted

12:14 AM

@UV-D What where when?

titan

Ah.

For a second I though that image was a bunny.

lol

well that is where the easter bunny comes from...Titan

Voted.

@UV-D If you had to pick three mods, and I couldn't be one of them, who would you pick?

(you could be one)

not me

3 mods... hmmm

don't know

12:18 AM

I'm asking because it's a good indication of how a site's doing IMO - there should be at least 4-5 users standing out in the early stages.

Or that's my opinion on the matter. I could be wrong.

@UV-D I'd probably have to choose Manish, Tildal, and Rory if you weren't willing.

well if I am nominated by 3 separate people, then maybe

12:30 AM

hmmmm what to post, what to post...

alrighty - question-answer time

12:54 AM

done

ppfff ... docking is only in 2 hours, man I won't wait I'm off... have fun, don't blow up the neighborhood!!

1:39 AM

it's all quiet, everyone on that side of GMT are asleep...

2 hours later…

3:57 AM

I'm still awake!

4:27 AM

so am I...mind you, it is 2:25pm here

@Undo!

4:39 AM

I'm going through an Astronomy book, looking for questions...

3 hours later…

7:43 AM

@UV-D damn you! you got one of my questions! the pluto planet one :P

8:18 AM

timezones

@UV-D got an answer for your planetary classification question, working on it atm

8:28 AM

its a biggie, and will have pictures, as per usual :P

8:42 AM

0

A: What physical features determine if a planet is a major, minor or dwarf planet?

Planets For a body to be classified as a planet it must have a few physical characteristics: Mass It must have enough mass to have a strong enough gravity to overcome electrostatic forces to bring it to a state of hydrostatic equilibrium. Hydrostatic equilibrium is important because early in...

bam

not bad at all

I am writing an answer on one of my other sites

thanks, got some excerpts from the IAU too, they specify it in an odd way though, meaning that no body outside our solar system is a planet

that'd be right - elitist snobbery...lol

i disagree with them and put up some other specifications too, magnetosphere , atmosphere ect

googling 'planet classification' is 90% star trek planet classification ...*sigh*

lol, I figuredthat woud be the case

I am almost rep capped again

8:51 AM

i nearly am

woke up to 120-130 more rep

@UV-D oh hey, i have an answer of yours to accept, the white hole one, that will even put you into the realm of approving more stuffs

it will too

enjoy

and congrats on making 750 by day 3!

lol i'd like to thank the academy...

oh got a question, not sure if its on topic

"What is the relevance of the Tropics and the Circles?"

i.e tropic of cancer, tropic of capricorn, arctic circle, antarctic circle

do you reckon thats on topic?

its sort of planetary sciences

yo could relate it to other planets - "are their analogs on other planets"

9:00 AM

great minds think alike

752 rep... holy crap

and I have 10 votes left

not bad!

2 of my questions are at 9 rep

and one answer is at 12

nice! i got a question to 10 but my others all sit at 5

will I hit 1000 tomorrow..lol

9:05 AM

@Undo has 666 total rep, seems fitting :P

sigh, huge gap between the top 3 users and the 4th

200 rep, thats a full days worth of rep!

early days yet... and I won't be able to ustain this when I go back to work

interestingly i started a full day after everyone else, so it balances out nicely

@ManishEarth hits 2 silver badges before anyone else gets even 1 :P

I might write some answers

itll pay off better if you save them for tomorrow, get the votes too then, alternately you could leave comments on the questions, maybe as hints for other users, might be a good idea to get others engaged so they feel like they are contributing and not just reading what everyone else puts!

true - the commenting idea is a good one

9:15 AM

It was a popular method deer hunter used on space. He didnt have time for full answers, so left short comments to hint to others

I have started leaving cmments here and there

and now I have 8 votes

5 now. ... too many good posts

save them for later in the day? might be 5 good ones you really want to nudge!

true... considering later in the day is tomorrow morning for me....

oh yeah, time zones

lol

9:23 AM

oh, i think i might have a resource for that laser collimation question

we have good amounts of questions being asked

10:01 AM

Morning there @ManishEarth !

happy timezone, i should say

Afternoon

heh

@ManishEarth good evening

you and your physics knowledge is baffling people here, its earned you the only 2 silvers so far, how does that feel? speech, speech!

how on earth, did a recruiter manage to get my work number :S

10:41 AM

So close yet so far! 1 rep from being able to review edits

10:51 AM

dusts palms probably could add more to that answer, but can't immediately think of anything

@ManishEarth which one would that be?

front page, second

how long does it take to produce a star?

thats second on the front page for me

but ill cheat and find it through your user profile :P

OMG... gut a single rep change (upwards)... figured out it was all that I could get from an upvote as I am now... rep-capped! 3 votes to vote cap....

woo hoo, made it over 500

@ManishEarth nice answer, covers the bases with pretty pictures

@UV-D haha, nice, i have 12 left to get for today

10:56 AM

that's 3 rep-caps in a row...

nice nice, at this rate ill never catch ya

lol you will.. when I go back to work...

@UV-D once we get out of beta people will cap frequently without new content i imagine

for the first few days

as new people will be voting on everything

ah yes

and foot massages?

um, sure, we can make @Undo do that, if he wants our votes for him as mod that is :P

are my edits going through without being approved now? awesome

0

A: Why is the Moon larger when it is close to the horizon?

Interesting fact. It Isn't bigger! This is a well known optical illusion that dates back hundreds of years. It's all in your head, it seems bigger because your brain perceives size as something that is relative. This is an effect called perspective distortion and is will understood and used in...

im quite pleased with this answer

11:13 AM

@ManishEarth I posted an answer on Physics!

@UV-D i knew it would be an astronomy related one xD

lol

astronomy and atmospheric science and psychology of learning... oh and reference requests I am on them

only 2 rep left for today :( hopefully i get an accept too

@UV-D is that 3 sites?

I am a member of 6 sites including here

12:08 PM

@UV-D Good job :)

3

Q: Why do comets have tails?

There is no atmosphere for comets to get hot and burn and show tails but they still have tails. Why do they? Edit: Isn't the answer "acceleration"?

astronomy comets

12:34 PM

@ManisEarth I like questions like that

when an ordinary person gets curious - I see that as an opportunity to teach

by the way, @ManishEarth, D10 seems to be having a conniption!

hmm ive earnt 206 rep today but im not sure how, i havent been accepted for anything, do edits not count?

ie i got 6 rep from edits, i guess they dont count towards it?

nope

awesome, ill be sure to remember that

also if you accept an answer, the 2 points is also not counted to the rep cap

ah it might be that too

i accepted 3 today

12:39 PM

that'd be it

i might have somebody to bring along, hes an avid space fanatic and has a stupidly huge wealth of knowledge

now that will be awesome

I have an astrophysics professor that I am trying to convince to join

he is also strong on educating people and does not mind any level of question

nice, my guy is a coworker who has been an avid fanatic for over 40 years

so he knows a lot!

got to get these people in

definitely!

do you think this needs pictures?

1

Q: What is the formula to predict lunar and solar eclipses accurately?

A number of anccient civilizations had devised methods to predict exact dates and times of such eclipses, marking them as important events. Hence I assume the predictions were based on calculations, which should be quite easy to do now. So what is the exact formula to predict the exact date and t...

solar-eclipse lunar-eclipse

1:11 PM

UV-D has been automatically appointed as owner of this room. (What does this mean?)

2

bam

1:27 PM

nice!

@UV-D Now you need to ask Rhys how to abuse your power.

2

wait, does this mean that i am tildalwave?

on space i was the one who talked so much i got ownership and tildal was the one who snuck up and got mod. so if im not the one who talks so much i get ownership...

@Rhys Well, you can cancel our stars....

user image

Hehehe.

aww my first downvote :P

:(

1:45 PM

You all forgot about the Space Exploration, didn't you? :P

@TildalWave whats that?

> Space Exploration Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for spacecraft operators, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about space exploration.

@TildalWave huh, never heard of it!

@Undo thanks for the accept!

@TildalWave I haven't!

@Tildal We are missionaries trying to get this proposal going again! Give us a week of two, we'll be back.

1:48 PM

@TildalWave you even sent me here! i wasnt aware of it til you did, im your beta minion! :P

3

new love huh?

@Tildal Are you bored without a bunch of comment flags on your site? Because I could go fix that.... :)

just wanted to remind you all that you're rep capped here 3 days in a row and you most certainly didn't on SEx.SE... thought you need reminding LOL

@TildalWave Me?

@Undo I already deleted a bunch of things without flags... felt kinda... lonely

1:50 PM

There's some... sense in that.

im not rep capped here for 3 days!

D: You poor mod!

@called2voyage no, you're loyal :))

@TildalWave i just flagged an entire answer that needs comment cleaning in the space chat

@TildalWave lol

1:50 PM

Ooh!

@RhysW yeah one of the community managers caught that before me :(

wait brb in half an hour... have fun

@TildalWave you kidding? its sat there with nearly 30 comments!

Oh, that's why I had a hard time finding obsolete ones.

sigh, you guys are all in the 700's now :/

and i cant even be annoyed because you are contributing good quality stuff!

@RhysW The we are or aren't?

1:57 PM

because you are

fixed it :P

That sounds better.

:D

:D

we need to get both you and @UV-D as mods here :P

@Rhys Ever try convincing @UV-D to get a diamond? It doesn't work.

@Undo I have my ways :P

I'd like to see you do it :)

2:00 PM

if he doesn't run for mod, I will, that will be his motivation to be a mod!

Hmmm....

Rhys, at this rate you're going to have most of the stars here.

Heh, most of the stars in the Astronomy chat. ;)

@RhysW If you had to pick three people for a diamond, excluding me, who would they be?

that would be an achievement :P

@called2voyage i have less today than i have yesterday

@Undo for this site?

Yes.

2:04 PM

well @UV-D for sure, good contributions and obviously cares for the site.
id like to see either manish or tildal here, tildal probably wouldnt accept because hes relatively new at it on space still, manish would be good to have (an existing mod from a space or physics site would be good) and for number three, hmm

Rory?

maybe, he didnt immediately spring to mind but i dont have any reason why not him

Actually, you would be a good candidate.

..me?

Sī

2:08 PM

do you not remember what happened when i just got room ownership? :P

On The Pod Bay? No.

Did you blow something up?

haha no, it was just, well, me experimenting with all the features :P

"Close the blast doors!"

@RhysW That's what I'm afraid would happen if someone handed me a mod hat - I would have to play with all the features. Scary.

don't get me wrong, I would love to be mod here, this site has had more contribution from me in 2 days than nearly every other SE site put together for the last few months, its a topic I love and would love to see succeed

2:10 PM

Go for it!

jeez, can you imagine a site that was me you and uv-d as mods though? :P

We'd do fine.

They might have to bring in Manish every once in a while to whack us, but other than that...

im sure he would do that of his own accord!

besides, the community would have to agree

True...

as well as the powers that be

2:15 PM

It's the powers that be for PT mods mostly.

PT?

Pro tem

oh pro tem

Beta

well, how long was it before they picked the space mods?

2:16 PM

I think Pearson started the thread like right after we got into private beta, but it was a good 3 weeks before any were chosen.

i was told that was due to some scheduling issues and people being on vacation, so it wouldn't be that long here.

Mods...in....space...

maybe not

@Donald.McLean have a star for that, made me laugh and get odd looks from people nearby

I'm holed up, alone, in my basement. I can laugh as loud as I want.

Or I can pull out my phone, AirPlay connect to the Apple TV (plugged into the stereo) and crank some tunes.

Living the sweet life

@RhysW You're spot on the money there, I don't plan on nominating. If it will end up being a call of duty, then I probably wouldn't say no and pretend I'm hard to get, but I'd much rather see exclusively to this site dedicated pro tem mods. We'll work together a lot anyway.

2:22 PM

I was reading an SF story about traveling in time to yourself as a younger person. I think that would really bite.

Well, Pearson seems to think that mod nominations should start fairly early - Space.SE's started the day after private beta started. Should we start them here, or wait?

@TildalWave All my stalking has paid off! I can tell what you're thinking :P i would have nothing against you either, i just understand when its the first time doing something you dont want to overwhelm yourself

@Donald.McLean i already regret re-reading things i said in the past, let alone watching the things i used to do!

@Donald.McLean Which one? I read a really powerful one not too long ago.

@Undo You can make the post whenever you like, i think its part of the 7 things to do in a new beta isnt it?

Elsewhen (1941) is a novella by Robert A. Heinlein, concerning time travel and parallel universes. It was first published as "Elsewhere" in the September 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, under the pen name Caleb Saunders, and was reprinted in the 1953 book Assignment in Eternity. The story concerns five diverse students who attend a philosophy seminar. The professor explains that he learned how to use his mind to go back in time and correct a bad mistake in his life. Using hypnosis he lets them travel to alternate worlds of their choice. The religious person goes to her version...

2:28 PM

4. Who should the moderators be?

@RhysW It is. We are a community, though, and I'd like a little feedback on when to make it.

@Donald.McLean Ah, that's not the one I read, but I've heard that's good.

@Undo i think now is as good a time as any, if you can find someone who wants to write it that is!

I'll go copy it from somewhere else right now...

@called2voyage Assignment In Eternity is one of the most power packed less-than-novel length collections ever written. Except for Jerry Was A Man, which is merely good.

2:30 PM

@Donald.McLean i might just have to read these

@RhysW Gulf is the prequel to Friday.

i have read neither!

I've been on a Heinlein re-read. It's interesting looking at the different ways in which Heinlein novels have become obsolete over the years.

Who should our moderators be?

3

@RhysW Honestly, it's not because of the workload, it's more trusting oneself to not become partial to one site more than the other, when they're quite similar in nature. If it was two utterly distinct sites and I'd be into both, I wouldn't hesitate. But with these two, I'm not even hesitant, I know it wouldn't be the best idea. It's just human to compare two similar things, but is not good for either of the sites, they should evolve independently.

2:33 PM

@TildalWave That's a very good reason, really.

@TildalWave good reasoning, do us a favour though please? pin that meta post by undo! is worth getting people to see as its one of the important 7

@RhysW done

thankyou :)

tried twice to do it myself before i realised :/

It's probably better so? That one box thingy only makes a URL appear in the starred posts

yeah i prefer it like that, so people know what it is

words be good

2:37 PM

Words be very gooder than URLses.

very gooder, those are the words i was looking for, thankyou

@Manish You be nominated.

@called2voyage Wanna make that answer CW?

@Undo hehe you can vote on that manish nomination now that its CW

flagged the question with request to be featured

user image

2:41 PM

:S i can vote on things i turn into CW

maybe i have magic power

@Undo done

@called2voyage Nice.

ill nominate UV-D when i get the chance, unless someone beats me to it

@RhysW wanna nominate @Undo please? I don't have any time now, and it's best the nomination is there ASAP IMO

Lol

2:45 PM

haha ill do both when i get the chance then, unless im beaten to it :P

ill do undo now

how do i do those fancy squares 0.o

@RhysW Flairs. Here are mine: astronomy.stackexchange.com/users/19/undo/flair

You just take the URL of the user and add /flair on the end.

ahh i didnt know i could access other users flairs

hehe everyone is tied with 1 vote :P

Oh, and @RhysW might wanna make that answer CW'ed - I can edit it, but it would be nice if others could too.

And everything would look the same :)

@Undo already done :D

Just saw that :)

2:55 PM

i cannot vote for you, please do me a favour and vote for yourself on my behalf :P

haha nice ... BTW you might wanna notify all that you nominate that they are being discussed and voted on in some meta thread :P

@Undo i am nominating you

lol

:)

@UV-D you have been nominated as a mod

@ManishEarth You hath been nominatified.

2:57 PM

ROFL

@Astromax you have been nominated as a mod

That's the advantage of being an ignorant, useless slacker - we never get nominated for that kind of stuff. :-)

@astromax You have been nominated.

Dang it, Rhys. :P

@astromax I never see you in here, but you're being voted upon in some meta thread :)

;)

snooze you lose!

2:57 PM

Astromax just got spammed

paha

Let's see... Oh, @UV-D I nominatified you anyway. Your call.

@Donald.McLean Would that work for you time-wise?

Are we spamming everyone now?

@called2voyage Yes.

2:59 PM

@TildalWave Yes, I always have time to slack off.

If anyone is not opposed to upvoting astromax on my behalf, I would appreciate it.

Oh, @RhysW, what was that part about me always being constructive? See room tags.

@Donald.McLean hehe just making sure ... @Undo, @RhysW please add @Donald.McLean to the list too, or he'll drop the NOAH PRIME!!

LOL

Does that mean that Undo and I will get a billion rep points again?

@called2voyage you don't get any rep points in meta ;)

3:02 PM

And they're CW anyway...

@TildalWave I know that. Spoil sport... :P

@called2voyage I know you know... but kids might be looking :P

I was referring to Don dropping "NOAH PRIME!!"

@TildalWave >.< And I would've gotten away with it too..

@Undo its constructive community building

i can put a positive spin on nearly anything :P

@RhysW Hmm... I can see that.

3:13 PM

"constructive...building" isn't that redundant?

;)

no

a destructive building would be a building destructive things ie a bomb, thats destructive building :P

you can build destructive communities

ones that run eachothe rinto the ground

mock each other

hmm

ect

good point

I guess it depends on how you parse the phrase

constructive building is redundant, but i didnt say that, i said constructive community, building :P

3:15 PM

And you don't think that fear of washing machines would be destructive to the community?

lol

that is a totally justified fear

how many nominations do we have atm? 4?

Yes.

/me ponders who else he would nominate

Question: do i be the one guy who nominates himself and seem like that guy? :P

3:30 PM

@RhysW Go for it.

@RhysW I'll nominate you if you'll nominate me.

Because I'm wrestling with the same thing.

I'll nominate the both of you.

lol

In a minute...

@called2voyage leats nominate ourselves then, and be the two people who do it :p

so others will feel comfortable doing it

3:31 PM

ok

OK, fine with me.

Then I don't have to write anything.

then we can actually get undos votes ;)

:D

done!

The more I think about it, I really shouldn't be able to accept answers on that thread... :D

3:38 PM

im still writing mine 0.o

let me know when you're done @RhysW and I'll upvote

@RhysW Accepted.

0

A: Who should our moderators be?

I would like to nominate RhysW (myself) for the position For the two days I have been a part of this beta I have loved every second of it. Astronomy is one of my favourite topics to the point where I have been taking open university courses on it in my spare time. In the few days I have ...

upvoted!

upvoted!

Ohai @Jon!

3:48 PM

everyone is at 2 at the moment, hehe

Heh, and each of us three have made two nominations :P

Lol!

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