First Full Science Results From Herschel

davecl writes "Today the first full science results from the Herschel Space Observatory were released, including results ranging from the formation and evolution of galaxies to the detailed physics of star formation. Details can be found from The European Space Agency, the BBC, and the Herschel mission blog that I help maintain. Briefer reports, covering rather more of the science, can also be found under the #eslab2010 hashtag on Twitter."

Comments

Not so fast...

[swanzilla]

TFA claims:

Herschel is also a prime instrument for detecting the smallest forms of matter: molecules. It has made the first discovery in space of a new ‘phase’ of water. It is electrically charged and unlike the more familiar phases, namely solid ice, liquid water and gaseous steam, it does not occur naturally on Earth.

Hmm...sounds a lot like plasma. I'm fairly certain that I have observed the existence of this 'phase' first-hand, as I have seen the tail of a comet. Provided there is in fact H2O on comets, I suppose.

Re:Not so fast...

[dkleinsc]

The match is earth, demonstrating how earth begets fire.

No, the match is a mix of earth and fire. See, if you burn a match (releasing the fire), you end up with a small pile of ashes, which are obviously earth. In addition, we know that fire wants to move up, because fires on earth try to get to the heavens, plus there are some pretty big fires up there like the sun and moon. By contrast, earth very clearly wants to move down, which you see as soon as you let go of a rock.

The amazing thing about these theories which we now know to be completely wrong is how well they worked to describe the universe.