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Domain: carnegiescience.edu

Stories and comments across the archive that link to carnegiescience.edu.

Comments · 4

  1. Re: 80 or 2300? by Woeful+Countenance · · Score: 1 · on Discovery of 'Goblin' Solar System Object Bolsters the Case For Planet Nine (gizmodo.com)
    Gizmodo: "... the Goblin is around 185 miles (300 kilometers) in diameter. ... Its mean distance from the Sun is about 80 astronomical units .... But it actually gets even farther away than that .... it never gets any closer than about 65 AU—its perihelion point. ... but its aphelion, the point at which it’s the farthest from the Sun, is a whopping 2,300 AU."

    Obviously it isn't possible for all three of those numbers to be correct. Gizmodo got it wrong. From the Carnegie press release: "... 2015 TG387 was discovered about 80 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun ...." Current distance, not mean distance.

    Apparently some reporter can't even copy and paste right.

    Oh, and just a note to every person who uses English, including some who commented on this story: "then" != "than".

  2. Re:Your plan? by riverat1 · · Score: 1 · on We're Creating a Perfect Storm of Unprecedented Global Warming (popsci.com)

    Coincidentally there is a new paper in Nature that found an increase in photosynthesis of 31% +/- 5% in the 20th century (and I presume into the 21st).

    Here are press releases from the institutions of two of the researchers:

    From the University of California at Merced

    From Carnegie Science

    The Carnegie Science press release has the following paragraph which supports my contention that we can't grow enough plants fast enough to fix the problem:

    “It may be tempting to interpret these results as evidence that Earth’s dynamics are responding in a way that will naturally stabilize CO2 concentrations and climate,” Berry added. “But the real message is that the increase in photosynthesis has not been large enough to compensate for the burning of fossil fuels. Nature’s brakes are not up to the job. So now it’s up to us to figure out how to reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.”

  3. Groundbreaking was awesome by dogvomit · · Score: 5, Interesting · on Giant Magellan Telescope Set To Revolutionize Ground-Based Astronomy

    I was incredibly fortunate to be invited to the official groundbreaking event for the GMT last November, which concluded with one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

    Just a couple of kilometers away from the GMT site are the twin Magellan telescopes. These telescopes are both 6.5 meter aperture and have a large number of instruments that astronomers can use, with fairly easy switching between instruments. That night the telescope staff did something extremely rare. They fitted the Clay telescope with an actual eyepiece and all 190 guests were allowed to look through this 6.5 meter telescope! (The president of Chile got to go first, of course.) For this event, the telescope was trained on the saturn nebula and with this much aperture the colors were quite striking even to human eyes.

    One of the astronomers told me that the number of people who have actually looked through such a telescope doubled that night.

  4. Re:Typical nazi thinking by rwa2 · · Score: 2 · on Experts: Aim of 2 Degrees Climate Goal Insufficient

    Yes, and Ghenkis Khan also had a measurable effect on the environment, as forests regrew in the wake of his conquests:
    http://carnegiescience.edu/new...

    But really, liberals and conservatives really want the same thing... more wealth by reducing the competition for resources. One proposes using economic market forces, the other proposes reducing the competition with military forces. Either way, we win. Unless you lose. But then, you're dead, so you're part of the solution, so... yay?!