Space Image: A bright sun and earth's horizon seen from the space station

Sep 14, 2011
A Bright Sun and Earth's Horizon Seen From the Space Station Enlarge
Image Credit: NASA

The bright sun, a portion of the International Space Station and Earth's horizon are featured in this image photographed during the STS-134 mission's fourth spacewalk in May 2011.

The image was taken using a fish-eye lens attached to an electronic still camera.

Explore further: Communications satellite launched into space

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omatumr
1 / 5 (6) Sep 14, 2011
Thanks for the space image.

It contrasts well the cold dark emptiness of space with the source of heat and light that sustains us.

It also suggests the foolishness of attributing climate change to CO2 instead of the Sun.

1. "Super-fluidity in the solar interior:
Implications for solar eruptions and climate",
Journal of Fusion Energy 21, 193-198 (2002):

http://arxiv.org/.../0501441

2. "Earth's Heat Source - The Sun",
Energy and Environment 20, 131-144 (2009):

http://arxiv.org/pdf/0905.0704

3. "Neutron Repulsion", The
APEIRON Journal, in press (2011):

http://arxiv.org/...2.1499v1

With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
Former NASA Principal
Investigator for Apollo
ScottyB
1 / 5 (2) Sep 14, 2011
fantastic image!
jsdarkdestruction
4.2 / 5 (5) Sep 14, 2011
how does this picture " also suggests the foolishness of attributing climate change to CO2 instead of the Sun."?
omatumr
1 / 5 (3) Sep 14, 2011
Earth is a tiny speck of dirt that lies between the cold dark emptiness of space and a violently unstable, energetic pulsar.

See [1-3] above and [4] below:

"Life arose as a non-equilibrium thermodynamic process to dissipate the photon potential generated by the hot Sun and cold outer space.

Evidence from the geochemical record of the evolutionary history of life on Earth suggests that life originated in a hot aqueous environment dissipating UV light and evolved later to dissipate visible light. This evidence places constraints on models of solar origin and evolution.

The standard solar model seems less compatible with the data than does the pulsar centered solar model."

4. "Origin and evolution of life constraints on the solar
model," Journal of Modern Physics 2, 587-594 (2011)


http://dl.dropbox...5079.pdf
yyz
5 / 5 (3) Sep 14, 2011
"Earth is a tiny speck of dirt that lies between the cold dark emptiness of space and a violently unstable, energetic pulsar."

If true, how do any of the terrestrial planets retain any shred of an atmosphere beyond a few ions blasted off their surfaces, like the exospheres of Mercury and the Moon? CoRoT-2b, with a mass of 3 Jupiters, is rapidly losing it's atmosphere due to energetic radiation from it's parent star(not even a pulsar): http://www.physor...ays.html

A recent study of the Crab pulsar found evidence for a termination shock boundary, where relativistic particles decelerate and emit x-rays, at a distance of 10 *light-days* from the pulsar: http://arxiv.org/...2868.pdf

Some pulsar wind nebulae are observed to extend over a dozen light years from their source. How could a lush, life-filled world like Earth evolve 150,000,000km from a pulsar?
yyz
5 / 5 (3) Sep 14, 2011
Another point I'm curious about. Why wouldn't the now mature science of helioseismology be able to discern a solar mass pulsar somewhere beneath the photosphere. The technique is uniquely sensitive to mass and density variations within the sun.

A recent paper studied the possibility of using helioseismology to search for primordial black holes and found the technique to be sensitive to masses as little as 10^21 g: http://arxiv.org/...11v1.pdf

Given this sensitivity, it seems like a solar mass pulsar would be hard to miss!
omatumr
1 / 5 (2) Sep 15, 2011
Fortunately, yyz, between you and the pulsar today are:

a.) A mantle made mostly of Fe, O, Ni, Si, S, Mg and Ca

b.) A photosphere of gaseous waste products (H and He)

Initially there was less protection and d- and l-amino acids were separated by circular polarized light from the pulsar.

The wavelength of light likely increased (become less energetic) as shielding separated Earth from the pulsar.

Life evolved on Earth as the Sun evolved:

http://dl.dropbox...5079.pdf

With kind regards,
Oliver

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