Inaccuracy in reporting astronomy and science |
Inaccuracy in reporting astronomy and science |
Sep 12 2012, 03:39 AM
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#466
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Member Group: Members Posts: 214 Joined: 30-December 05 Member No.: 628 |
I don't exactly see the inaccuracy; statements of fact can be inaccurate but impressions are just impressions.
What we have here is just a struggling writer who vaguely grasps that controversy attracts attention, posting on a website trying hard to keep people's attention until it can figure out a business plan. |
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Sep 22 2012, 01:03 PM
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#467
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Just turned on an episode of "Mysteries at the Museum" on the Travel Channel. They visited a museum in New Mexico that has a well-designed, full-sized MER model, which encouraged them to tell the tale of Spirit, The Mars Rover!
Gee -- did you know that just as soon as the Sol 18 anomaly was resolved Spirit had to immediately run for the southernmost place it could get to so it could survive the winter that was closing in fast (and that promised a full 90 days of darkness)? And that, during this frantic flight for survival, her wheel then failed and then they discovered silica in the failed wheel trench and so stopped worrying about the winter? Not exactly how I remember the timeline back in 2004... -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Dec 19 2012, 03:28 PM
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#468
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Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1372 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
The Weather Channel just said the weather on Mars is unpredictable, which as we all know is not really true.
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Dec 22 2012, 11:10 PM
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#469
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
The Weather Channel just said the weather on Mars is unpredictable, which as we all know is not really true. Well, yes and no...for example, when conditions are right, sometimes there's a global dust storm, sometimes there isn't. Whether anywhere is somewhat unpredictable. -------------------- |
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Feb 17 2013, 04:27 PM
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#470
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Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
An almost pointless story:
Guardian Website: QUOTE Russian meteorite 'could have hit UK' The meteorite that caused devastation in the Urals on Friday could have struck Britain if it had entered the atmosphere at only a slightly different time of day, astronomers revealed yesterday. The region around Chelyabinsk hit by the meteorite impact is 55 degrees north, the same latitude as northern England. Had the meteorite's timing been only few hours different, it could have caused widespread damage in the British Isles, astronomers at the University of Hawaii said yesterday. Now - while I'm glad the Guardian is raising the risk of impacts - had the meteorite's timing been "only a few hours" different, the Earth wouldn't have been in the way at all. And the latitude in this context is quite meaningless. Andy |
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Feb 17 2013, 06:24 PM
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#471
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Member Group: Members Posts: 610 Joined: 23-February 07 From: Occasionally in Columbia, MD Member No.: 1764 |
An almost pointless story: Now - while I'm glad the Guardian is raising the risk of impacts - had the meteorite's timing been "only a few hours" different, the Earth wouldn't have been in the way at all. And the latitude in this context is quite meaningless. Perhaps the Copernican revolution didnt make it to the Gaurniad editorial offices.... in that context, the statement seems plausible. |
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Feb 20 2013, 06:45 PM
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#472
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Per the Guardian story, in Cosmos, Carl Sagan makes a very similar point about how if the Earth had rotated a bit more the Tunguska event might have leveled Moscow and if it had happened during the Cold War, that might have started a nuclear war.
Counterfactuals are always subject to scrutiny regarding their relevance ("if π were 2.5...", "if the Queen were a man...") but if Carl Sagan saw a point worth making, I can't blame The Guardian for making a similar one. |
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Feb 20 2013, 07:07 PM
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#473
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
"...if it had entered the atmosphere at only a slightly different time of day..."j
The way to look at it is 'if there had been some difference in the timing of the event, due to a miniscule difference in the motion of the meteor or the Earth, the result would have been different.' |
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May 5 2013, 06:06 PM
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#474
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Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
I'm zipping through the (otherwise highly readable) "The Little Ice Age - How Climate Made History" by Brian Fagan. It's the first edition from 2000. Hopefully the following line has been amended since then:
QUOTE A helioseismograph based on an obiting observatory named SOHO 1.6 million kilometers in space sends sound waves towards the sun, which bounce back from the layers that form its interior. Sloppy writing like this always precipitates thoughts along the lines of "what else is hugely wrong in this book?" Andy |
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May 5 2013, 11:24 PM
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#475
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10150 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Oh, I thought it just used sonar to measure its distance from the Sun.
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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May 6 2013, 02:31 AM
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#476
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2511 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
It's easy to take shots at this admittedly sloppy writing, but I'm not sure that even sites like http://solar-center.stanford.edu/singing/singing.html do all that good a job of explaining how SOHO actually measures "sounds" from the Sun. Calling any periodic behavior a "sound" seems like be a source of some confusion.
-------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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May 6 2013, 06:42 AM
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#477
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
At work, we tell people that we communicate with spacecraft via radio waves.
They ask if they can hear the radio signals we receive as if they were a sound*. Most seem to simply equate radio with the one they have at home or in the car - the box that makes sound - as opposed to the electromagnetic medium being used to carry the data. *Of course we can convert it to a sound but that partly defeats the purpose of the science we want to pass on. |
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May 6 2013, 02:02 PM
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#478
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1582 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
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May 11 2013, 03:32 PM
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#479
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4246 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
Most seem to simply equate radio with the one they have at home or in the car - the box that makes sound - as opposed to the electromagnetic medium being used to carry the data. That really surprizes me. I thought these days everyone was listening to internet streaming radio stations rather than AM/FM, and thought of radio as a way to transmit data to their devices via wifi or cellphone connections. Maybe they don't realize that cellphones and wifi use radio waves? |
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Jul 12 2013, 04:03 PM
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#480
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
British space penetrator passes icy test
"The steel penetrator was fired at a 10-tonne cube of ice to simulate the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa." This doesn't seem like a very good test. If the surface of Europa is as hard as granite due to the extreme cold, maybe the real test would be to shoot the penetrator into a block of granite! Or maybe not. I'm sure there are other variables to consider, like brittleness. But in any case, it doesn't' t seem to me that this was a very realistic test. |
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