I wonder if Steve, like The Moody Blues, is still Watching and Waiting?
Astronomers' best predictions suggested T Coronae Borealis was poised to ignite by September, yet we're still watching and waiting.
It appears the excitement was premature because the predictions were based on limited historical records of T CrB's outbursts.
However, astronomers know the nova explosion has to happen and here's how they are using the waiting period:
https://www.space.com/the-universe/...d-new-star-has-yet-to-pop-up-in-the-night-sky
Astronomers' best predictions suggested T Coronae Borealis was poised to ignite by September, yet we're still watching and waiting.
It appears the excitement was premature because the predictions were based on limited historical records of T CrB's outbursts.
However, astronomers know the nova explosion has to happen and here's how they are using the waiting period:
https://www.space.com/the-universe/...d-new-star-has-yet-to-pop-up-in-the-night-sky
I said ages ago that I thought the average was nearer every 80 years than 79, but no one listened to me. In fact the whole wrong interwbs estimate seems to have been based on ONE astronomer's lightcurve, rather than my calculated average time!
I have a new f1.4 Nikon FX 50mm (eff 75mm) lens raring to go along with an improved Nikon D3200 which can do ISO 6400!
Notice it has the essential hard focus scale. No more blurry comets! And I am keen to snap Algol at minimum, along with Jupiter moon Io, But the weather outlook is dismal for the next two weeks.
Brian Cox is officially on my Physics numpty list.
I have found the glaring error in his schoolboy explanations of Stellar Fusion. THIS is how it works:
In fact I am fully up to speed on the whole Stellar synthesis thing:
And the active core is really quite tiny as we move up the elements:
All is explained with satisfying mathematical rigour by Matthew D. Schwartz of Harvard University in Lecture 15 on Stars:
https://scholar.harvard.edu/schwartz/teaching
He is a PROPER Physicist!
Coming soon, my musings on Monstrous Moonshine and the j-invariant and even the taxicab number.
I have downloaded a huge tome by Terry Gannon called Moonshine beyond the Monster. It is PROPER mathematics.
I expect you are champing at the bit! 🙂
I have a new f1.4 Nikon FX 50mm (eff 75mm) lens raring to go along with an improved Nikon D3200 which can do ISO 6400!
Notice it has the essential hard focus scale. No more blurry comets! And I am keen to snap Algol at minimum, along with Jupiter moon Io, But the weather outlook is dismal for the next two weeks.
Brian Cox is officially on my Physics numpty list.
I have found the glaring error in his schoolboy explanations of Stellar Fusion. THIS is how it works:
In fact I am fully up to speed on the whole Stellar synthesis thing:
And the active core is really quite tiny as we move up the elements:
All is explained with satisfying mathematical rigour by Matthew D. Schwartz of Harvard University in Lecture 15 on Stars:
https://scholar.harvard.edu/schwartz/teaching
He is a PROPER Physicist!
Coming soon, my musings on Monstrous Moonshine and the j-invariant and even the taxicab number.
I have downloaded a huge tome by Terry Gannon called Moonshine beyond the Monster. It is PROPER mathematics.
I expect you are champing at the bit! 🙂
You're just like T CrB, Steve, nothing to see for a while and then a huge explosion of activity! 
I'm boning up on Conway And Norton and their 1979 paper where they predicted the dimensions in which the monster group operates match the coefficients of the j-function! Amazingly, as I said earlier in the thread, we're talking nearly 200,000 dimensions!
Of course, I don't understand the advanced mathematics, but am interested in the fact that John Horton Conway was a bit of a character, best known for creating the computer program the 'Game of Life'.
Conway at Princeton, 1993
You remarked on his passing back in 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/apr/23/john-horton-conway-obituary
I'm thinking it could tack against the angle of Sunlight, though it would always have part of its force away from the Sun. Regardless, it seems the purpose is to get something away from Earth and to some destination where it can send back info and pics and such. Return missions can use rockets instead of or in addition to solar sails.
To be so obscure, it seems odd that someone made a movie about him. Hope you enjoy the next hour and a half:
@benb, that was most enjoyable. Many Thanks.
I was a young MSc Communications Engineering student at Imperial College in the 1980's when Professor Turner told us all about Channel Capacity and Data encoding with error correction...
My own interest was really Laplace Transform and Group Delay in filters, and I wondered if I would crash and burn into failure or hit the big "So What?" just like Claude worried. 🙁
The Prof was rambling about how a crummy small 2W transmitter on things like the Voyager spacecraft could reliably send pictures back to Earth of Jupiter and the like, only limited by Channel Capacity and hence speed.
I nudged my lecture buddy, Mal Wanderagula: "What does this MEAN?"
"WOICES FROM SPACE!"
(Mal had a Sri Lankan intonation, and was IMO the brightest and funniest guy on the course.)
How we laughed... 🤣
Claude was quite the Gregory Peck character wasn't he? Film star good looks.
Brilliant documentary. Extraordinary man. His mathematical wife and he were a brilliant partnership too.
I am glad the Shannon Limit has been achieved. Unsurprisingly its been done with pictures, which are easier to envisage IMO. I made copious notes, but really just watch it and learn something new.
My Nikon D3200 camera is 20Mp and 12 bit depth AFAIK. 6MB picture file size on normal JPEG setting.
Gave it a test run tonight, and very pleased despite murky skies:
Jupiter in Taurus. That's Ganymede on the right, and Europa nearer in. Callisto JUST visible on the left. Io should be easy enough when better positioned.
https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html
Uranus at mag. 5 too near the Pleiades in Taurus:
Something lost with forum compression on these small JPEGs. Still finding my way round the camera and haven't found the self-timer button yet. Think I need a lens hood too, and maybe lose the UVC filter.
But it's a light gathering monster. Triangulum Galaxy should be doable too, given better weather. But it's a cold hobby. 🙁
I was a young MSc Communications Engineering student at Imperial College in the 1980's when Professor Turner told us all about Channel Capacity and Data encoding with error correction...
My own interest was really Laplace Transform and Group Delay in filters, and I wondered if I would crash and burn into failure or hit the big "So What?" just like Claude worried. 🙁
The Prof was rambling about how a crummy small 2W transmitter on things like the Voyager spacecraft could reliably send pictures back to Earth of Jupiter and the like, only limited by Channel Capacity and hence speed.
I nudged my lecture buddy, Mal Wanderagula: "What does this MEAN?"
"WOICES FROM SPACE!"
(Mal had a Sri Lankan intonation, and was IMO the brightest and funniest guy on the course.)
How we laughed... 🤣
Claude was quite the Gregory Peck character wasn't he? Film star good looks.
Brilliant documentary. Extraordinary man. His mathematical wife and he were a brilliant partnership too.
I am glad the Shannon Limit has been achieved. Unsurprisingly its been done with pictures, which are easier to envisage IMO. I made copious notes, but really just watch it and learn something new.
My Nikon D3200 camera is 20Mp and 12 bit depth AFAIK. 6MB picture file size on normal JPEG setting.
Gave it a test run tonight, and very pleased despite murky skies:
Jupiter in Taurus. That's Ganymede on the right, and Europa nearer in. Callisto JUST visible on the left. Io should be easy enough when better positioned.
https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html
Uranus at mag. 5 too near the Pleiades in Taurus:
Something lost with forum compression on these small JPEGs. Still finding my way round the camera and haven't found the self-timer button yet. Think I need a lens hood too, and maybe lose the UVC filter.
But it's a light gathering monster. Triangulum Galaxy should be doable too, given better weather. But it's a cold hobby. 🙁
...more like a trout taking a well cast fly!You're just like T CrB, Steve, nothing to see for a while and then a huge explosion of activity!
🙂
47 year old Voyager 1 is now 15.4 billion miles from Earth and the power from its plutonium generator is dwindling.
NASA image
Communications were lost after the spacecraft's fault protection system switched off the main X-band (cm band) transmitter to conserve energy.
The automatic switch off was precipitated by NASA's decision to switch on a heater to give the on board instruments a gentle warm up.
NASA has recently resolved the problem and Voyager 1 is once again returning data from its four remaining instruments: the Low-Energy Charged Particle Experiment, the Cosmic-Ray Telescope the Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer and the Plasma Waves Experiment.
https://www.space.com/space-explora...s-voice-again-as-nasa-restores-communications
Voyager is a very primitive and unambitious spacecraft IMO. How do we get a picture of life on Alpha Centauri? Should we talk to these aliens?
It might be doable, it seems. Get a probe up to 10% lightspeed using hydrogen fusion power or antimatter or something. Slow the tiny payload camera and transmitter down using a lightsail or something, and we need a bright star for this to work.
It can get there in about 47 years, and get us some snaps back about 4 years later. Within a lifetime. Interestingly the compressed Shannon signal will look exactly like White Noise. Just like the troublesome backround noise.
I think we should start the design phase immediately, before we destroy ourselves with war or global warming or such! 🤣
Intergalactic travel is a cinch too. You just need a convenient double-double star like Epsilon Lyrae (Which I photographed recently) and a slingshot manouevre between the harmonic oscillators to "go off to infinity in finite time":
This is just Lagrangian Mechanics.
Looks easy enough. 😎
What is the connection between the Cannonball Problem and the Monster Group?
You know, one squared plus two squared etc. up to 24 squared uniquely equals 70 squared. This is the only solution in the 'Verse.
I won't go on, but it is the 24-dimensional Leech Lattice beloved by those string theorists. Interestingly the 8 dimensional E8 lattice might be closer to our notion of reality since it works to give 4D Spacetime and the Standard Model in current research.
196,884 is 108 x 1823. (Dimension in which the Monster lives plus 1)
196,560 is 108 x 1820. (The Kissing Number of the Leech Lattice)
1728 is 108 x 16. (Taxicab number minus 1)
In a world first, I can reveal that the ratio of the Proton Mass to the Electron Mass (1836.152...) and Planck's Constant is also related to this:
1836 is 108 x 17. Any slight discrepancy is (IMO) doubtless just a trivial Relatavistic correction.
The whole Universe is an extremely elegant Mathematical Solution, but most folks just don't see it. 🙂
It might be doable, it seems. Get a probe up to 10% lightspeed using hydrogen fusion power or antimatter or something. Slow the tiny payload camera and transmitter down using a lightsail or something, and we need a bright star for this to work.
It can get there in about 47 years, and get us some snaps back about 4 years later. Within a lifetime. Interestingly the compressed Shannon signal will look exactly like White Noise. Just like the troublesome backround noise.
I think we should start the design phase immediately, before we destroy ourselves with war or global warming or such! 🤣
Intergalactic travel is a cinch too. You just need a convenient double-double star like Epsilon Lyrae (Which I photographed recently) and a slingshot manouevre between the harmonic oscillators to "go off to infinity in finite time":
This is just Lagrangian Mechanics.
Looks easy enough. 😎
What is the connection between the Cannonball Problem and the Monster Group?
You know, one squared plus two squared etc. up to 24 squared uniquely equals 70 squared. This is the only solution in the 'Verse.
I won't go on, but it is the 24-dimensional Leech Lattice beloved by those string theorists. Interestingly the 8 dimensional E8 lattice might be closer to our notion of reality since it works to give 4D Spacetime and the Standard Model in current research.
196,884 is 108 x 1823. (Dimension in which the Monster lives plus 1)
196,560 is 108 x 1820. (The Kissing Number of the Leech Lattice)
1728 is 108 x 16. (Taxicab number minus 1)
In a world first, I can reveal that the ratio of the Proton Mass to the Electron Mass (1836.152...) and Planck's Constant is also related to this:
1836 is 108 x 17. Any slight discrepancy is (IMO) doubtless just a trivial Relatavistic correction.
The whole Universe is an extremely elegant Mathematical Solution, but most folks just don't see it. 🙂
Jeff Xia's 5-body configuration consists of five point masses, with two pairs in eccentric elliptic orbits around each other and one mass oscillating forwards and backwards along the line of symmetry. Xia proved that for certain initial conditions the final mass will be accelerated to infinite velocity in finite time.
Thank you Wikipedia!
Steve's attachment "Glimpses of the theory beneath Monstrous Moonshine" will be indecipherable to all but the advanced mathematicians among us!
What I can extract from the paper in practical terms is that Monstrous Moonshine is profoundly connected with physics via the 2D Conformal Field Theory that has been applied to string theory.
I searched for information on 2D conformal field theory and the following description is the most understandable one I found!
"From an abstract point of view, conformal field theories are (Euclidean) quantum field theories that are characterized by the property that their symmetry group contains, in addition to the Euclidean symmetries, local conformal transformations, that is, transformations that preserve angles but not necessarily lengths. The local conformal symmetry is of special importance in two dimensions since the corresponding symmetry algebra is infinite dimensional in this case. As a consequence, 2D conformal field theories have an infinite number of conserved quantities, and are essentially solvable by symmetry considerations alone."
The author of Steve's "Glimpses" paper hopes physicists will discover that the Monster group is built in some unsuspected way into the structure of the Universe.
What I can extract from the paper in practical terms is that Monstrous Moonshine is profoundly connected with physics via the 2D Conformal Field Theory that has been applied to string theory.
I searched for information on 2D conformal field theory and the following description is the most understandable one I found!
"From an abstract point of view, conformal field theories are (Euclidean) quantum field theories that are characterized by the property that their symmetry group contains, in addition to the Euclidean symmetries, local conformal transformations, that is, transformations that preserve angles but not necessarily lengths. The local conformal symmetry is of special importance in two dimensions since the corresponding symmetry algebra is infinite dimensional in this case. As a consequence, 2D conformal field theories have an infinite number of conserved quantities, and are essentially solvable by symmetry considerations alone."
The author of Steve's "Glimpses" paper hopes physicists will discover that the Monster group is built in some unsuspected way into the structure of the Universe.
Conformal Transformations are a powerful solution finder in all sorts of problems. You usually simplify problems that have some element of "orthogaonality" or right angled nature.
Thus equipotentials and the slope of potential are usually at right angles, and this is preserved throughout, as in this gravity calculation:
In electrostatics or electromagnetism similar things apply, and the symmetry makes calculations easier:
Gauss spent a lot of time on stuff like this, and discovered surprising things about a topic known as Gaussian Curvature, in which you ask what the people who live intrinsically on these surfaces can deduce about their world.
It's geometry really. I suppose a World Globe is a conformal transformation, ie. shrinking:
Not sure what is going on with this Hermetic Globe outside the Orrery Cafe in Ryde High Street, IOW. It's a painting not a mirror ball!
IIRC, it looks right from any angle. I took this picture, being a bit bamboozled by it.
Just to tidy up a loose end on the Nova, I wonder if these Nova T-Shirts will be going cheap in January 2025?
Historic Nova T CrB eruptions:
Oct 1217 (Abbot Burchard, we know little about him except he lived in Germany)
Dec 28 1787 (Rev. Francis Wollaston, a friend of William Herschel and really a top man in astronomy. December is an awkward time to observe Corona Borealis, but he apparently liked the constellation.)
May 12 1866
Feb 9 1946
If we believe Burchard, this thing pops every 81 years. Recently it's nearer 79, but we know Type M supergiants are erratic on dust and stuff. Worst scenario I see is actually Jan 2027, but it could even be longer!
I wonder if Betfred bookies have opened a book on an exact date. We could be looking at 500-1 here for the lucky winner. 🤣
Thus equipotentials and the slope of potential are usually at right angles, and this is preserved throughout, as in this gravity calculation:
In electrostatics or electromagnetism similar things apply, and the symmetry makes calculations easier:
Gauss spent a lot of time on stuff like this, and discovered surprising things about a topic known as Gaussian Curvature, in which you ask what the people who live intrinsically on these surfaces can deduce about their world.
It's geometry really. I suppose a World Globe is a conformal transformation, ie. shrinking:
Not sure what is going on with this Hermetic Globe outside the Orrery Cafe in Ryde High Street, IOW. It's a painting not a mirror ball!
IIRC, it looks right from any angle. I took this picture, being a bit bamboozled by it.
Just to tidy up a loose end on the Nova, I wonder if these Nova T-Shirts will be going cheap in January 2025?
Historic Nova T CrB eruptions:
Oct 1217 (Abbot Burchard, we know little about him except he lived in Germany)
Dec 28 1787 (Rev. Francis Wollaston, a friend of William Herschel and really a top man in astronomy. December is an awkward time to observe Corona Borealis, but he apparently liked the constellation.)
May 12 1866
Feb 9 1946
If we believe Burchard, this thing pops every 81 years. Recently it's nearer 79, but we know Type M supergiants are erratic on dust and stuff. Worst scenario I see is actually Jan 2027, but it could even be longer!
I wonder if Betfred bookies have opened a book on an exact date. We could be looking at 500-1 here for the lucky winner. 🤣
Nice one Steve!😊
I'm beginning to think that buying this shirt as a Christmas present may have been a mistake!
My niece usually gets me soap for Christmas. I don't know if she is trying to tell me something...
God forbid she gets me a 26 Dimensional Bosonic String Theory T-shirt. The HORROR! How can people believe this nonsense? 🙁
I prefer my Models strictly the Standard One.
I was puzzling if @TNT had nailed the M33 Triangulum Galaxy. Sadly, on reflection, I don't think so:
There is no nice way to say this, but his picture taken in the marvellous dark skies of Sweden is littered with confusing rogue pixels.
I have a sounder picture despite murk and light pollution the night I snapped the Comet:
Bottom left is Triangulum as it should look. I can see something where M33 ought to be and I think I can get it with better weather. What we thought was M33 is in fact just a star.
I was snapping Jupiter and 3 of its moons tonight without the UVC filter. Saw enough to think Io is doable when weather and orbits align. 😎
God forbid she gets me a 26 Dimensional Bosonic String Theory T-shirt. The HORROR! How can people believe this nonsense? 🙁
I prefer my Models strictly the Standard One.
I was puzzling if @TNT had nailed the M33 Triangulum Galaxy. Sadly, on reflection, I don't think so:
There is no nice way to say this, but his picture taken in the marvellous dark skies of Sweden is littered with confusing rogue pixels.
I have a sounder picture despite murk and light pollution the night I snapped the Comet:
Bottom left is Triangulum as it should look. I can see something where M33 ought to be and I think I can get it with better weather. What we thought was M33 is in fact just a star.
I was snapping Jupiter and 3 of its moons tonight without the UVC filter. Saw enough to think Io is doable when weather and orbits align. 😎
I read that Jupiter will rise opposite the sun this weekend, making the gas giant appear even brighter and larger in the sky.
https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20241207_12_100
Jupiter will reach opposition tomorrow (Saturday) and will be visible in the east at sunset and remain in view for the rest of the night (weather permitting!).
I was going to make a suggestion where you can stick your bar of soap @Galu... 🤣
But since we are talking about Jupiter at opposition, I have no intention of going to the seafront in "Storm Darragh".
Doubtless the BBC will promote this as interesting science: "Super Jupiter set to blaze in skies!!!!"
But it will actually look very much the same as ever.
Saturn at Opposition has an interesting brightening of its rings, the "Seeliger Effect", which must also be affected by its slight 2.5 degree orbital inclination:
As do dusty, rocky bodies like the Moon (Full Moon) and Ceres and even Mars:
But really, that's it. I am keener to discuss NASA's impending Moon Mission meltdown.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyp1v94j17o
I can see many current NASA executives clearing their desks (all their children starving...) when Elon Musk gets a grip on their incompetence.
Would you fly in this thing? Artemis capsule is a carcrash, so is the Boeing Capsule. 🙄
But since we are talking about Jupiter at opposition, I have no intention of going to the seafront in "Storm Darragh".
Doubtless the BBC will promote this as interesting science: "Super Jupiter set to blaze in skies!!!!"
But it will actually look very much the same as ever.
Saturn at Opposition has an interesting brightening of its rings, the "Seeliger Effect", which must also be affected by its slight 2.5 degree orbital inclination:
As do dusty, rocky bodies like the Moon (Full Moon) and Ceres and even Mars:
But really, that's it. I am keener to discuss NASA's impending Moon Mission meltdown.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyp1v94j17o
I can see many current NASA executives clearing their desks (all their children starving...) when Elon Musk gets a grip on their incompetence.
Would you fly in this thing? Artemis capsule is a carcrash, so is the Boeing Capsule. 🙄
I was reading on space.com last night about NASA's decision to delay the planned launches of Artemis 2 and Artemis 3: https://www.space.com/space-explora...pril-2026-artemis-3-lunar-landing-to-mid-2027
The major concern lies with the Orion capsule's heat shield which wore away unevenly during its reentry to Earth's atmosphere.
Orion's heat shield after removal and inspection for damage
The good news is that the newly revised Artemis 3 crewed landing mission timeline still keeps the United States ahead of China, which plans to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030. The importance of the Artemis mission in establishing a presence in cislunar (Earth-moon) space can not be overstated.