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The International Space Station is Super Germy (washingtonpost.com)

Thousands of species have colonized the International Space Station -- and only one of them is Homo sapiens. From a report: According to a new study in the journal PeerJ, the interior surfaces of the 17-year-old, 250-mile-high, airtight space station harbor at least 1,000 and perhaps more than 4,000 microbe species (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternative source ) -- a finding that is actually "reassuring," according to co-author David Coil. "Diversity is generally associated with a healthy ecosystem," said the University of California at Davis microbiologist. A varied population of microscopic inhabitants is probably a signature of a healthy spacecraft, he added. And as humanity considers even longer ventures in space -- such as an 18-month voyage to Mars -- scientists must understand who these microbes are. The samples for Coil's paper were collected in 2014 as part of the citizen science program Project MERCCURI. The initiative, conceived by a group of National Football League and National Basketball Association cheerleaders who are also scientists and engineers, involved swabbing down dozens of professional sports stadiums, identifying the microbes in the samples, and sending those species to the ISS to see whether they would thrive. (Bacillus aryabhatti, collected from a practice football field used by the Oakland Raiders, grew fastest.)

88 comments

  1. The Raiders are gross by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course theirs grows faster

  2. Inb4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Inb4 D. Coli joke.

    1. Re:Inb4 by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      LOL, it wasn't just me then.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Mir by Dan+East · · Score: 2
    --
    Better known as 318230.
  4. So let me get this straight by Lucas123 · · Score: 1

    If you rotate humans from five nation space agencies in and out of a bunch of sealed tubes over nearly 20 years, germs happen. Who knew? I thought that only happened on airplanes /s.

    1. Re:So let me get this straight by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "If you rotate humans from five nation space agencies in and out of a bunch of sealed tubes over nearly 20 years, germs happen."

      Perhaps it's about time they rotate in a cleaning lady.

    2. Re:So let me get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If you rotate humans from five nation space agencies in and out of a bunch of sealed tubes over nearly 20 years, germs happen."

      Perhaps it's about time they rotate in a cleaning lady.

      All they really need to do is expose the entire interior of the space station and its inhabitants to hard vacuum for a few minutes.
      If that doesn't work, high levels of gamma radiation inside and on the astronauts should probably take care of it.

    3. Re:So let me get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, not really. http://www.sciencedirect.com/s... (tardigrades) http://www.sciencedirect.com/s... (lichens and bacteria)

  5. Missing contact data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Cheerleaders who are also scientists and engineers... a dream come true! Names, phonenumbers......?

    Caption: response :-)

    1. Re:Missing contact data by Virtucon · · Score: 4, Funny

      All along we thought there was a shortage of women for STEM professions, there's not they've just decided to become cheerleaders. Now if we only had a way to convey this knowledge? A calendar perhaps? A Sports Illustrated special edition?

      --
      Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    2. Re:Missing contact data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd like her to swab my stadium... if you know what I mean.

  6. Healthy Scum! by Zorro · · Score: 1

    Wonder what that pink stuff growing on the bottom of my shower curtain is worth.

    It LAUGHS at Puny Bleach!

    1. Re:Healthy Scum! by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      That's Serattia marcencens, probably not worth much

    2. Re:Healthy Scum! by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      It's pathogenic and antibiotic resistant too. Lovely.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    3. Re:Healthy Scum! by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      If you really have pink stuff there, that can be a kind of yeast/fungus/mold.
      But in a bathroom it is most likely a bacteria that actually thrives on soap. Some simple "sprays" don't help there, you have to brush it away.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re:Healthy Scum! by careysub · · Score: 1

      That's Serattia marcencens, probably not worth much

      Don't know about that! You could have the Eucharistic Miracle on the bottom of your shower. Take that Jesus-In-A-Tortilla!

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  7. Cheerleaders who are Engineers and Scientists??? by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    Man, my 15 year old self is sporting a big woody.

  8. Re:Cheerleaders who are Engineers and Scientists?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ** spoiler alert **

    they're male cheerleaders

  9. Is that a lot? by jandrese · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Numbers like 1,000 and 4,000 are reasonably big for human scale things, but could be absolutely tiny in the microbe realm. IIRC humans have over a thousand different types of bacteria in our gut alone. That "super germy" figure could be the result of a single fart.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
    1. Re:Is that a lot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. Many articles say, so many germs. We grew what was on a toddlers handprint or on your soap dispenser. I don't care how many type of bacteria there were. I only care if there were any that are harmful to me. Bacteria that aren't harmful to humans are good imho, because they make it harder for bad things to take up residence.

  10. People are germy. by RyanFenton · · Score: 1

    People are germy. The space station contains people.

    That, and to germs, we are the space station. The bacterial cells alone outnumber human cells by roughly 10 to 1. Viruses are so absurdly numerous beyond even that, that it's difficult to consistently measure. Heck, the viruses that attack us are almost always a misfire of them preying on their actual target mechanisms - the bacteria living in us.

    Nothing particularly dangerous in the space station having pockets of germs, in context. They aren't especially likely to mutate into something horrible at that scale - if anything, it is the very 'clean' aspect of the environment that is going to cause immune systems to relax, and cause more harm than the bacteria/viruses.

    Ryan Fenton

  11. Authors name was a close miss by crowne · · Score: 1

    My mind filled in the blanks and made me read the authors name as David E Coli

    --
    RTFM is not a radio station.
    1. Re:Authors name was a close miss by careysub · · Score: 1

      My mind filled in the blanks and made me read the authors name as David E Coli

      You are not the only one!

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    2. Re:Authors name was a close miss by Sir+Lurkalot · · Score: 1

      Same here!

  12. Re:Cheerleaders who are Engineers and Scientists?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some are, most aren't...https://spacemicrobes.org/our-team/

  13. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ethnic diversity is generally associated with unstable, low-trust societies.

    Yeah, racists are well-known for how they lack paranoia, their avoidance of deceptive practices and their general temperance in dealing with others.

  14. Solution by thadtheman · · Score: 1

    Lysol. Hey NASA want to send me a check for it?

  15. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    by your description every human that has lived or will live is racist.

  16. Sigh. by ledow · · Score: 1

    Or.

    The ISS is as germy as one would expect such an environment to be, in line with most of the predictions and hopes of the scientists involved, given it's history and cleanliness.

    I realise that doesn't have the snap of "super-germy" but it is, at least, vaguely accurate.

    1. Re:Sigh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is bacteria everywhere. If this bacteria isn't harmful to humans, then it is competing for resources, which makes it more difficult to bad things to take up residence. I would actually be more surprised if something from earth didn't have germs on it.

    2. Re:Sigh. by tquasar · · Score: 1

      Most of the dust in your house consists of dead skin cells.

  17. The real question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is whether D. Coil is related to E. Coli.

    1. Re:The real question by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      There is a biologist named Elisabetta Coli. She caused some headaches for bio text researchers.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  18. microbes going ballistic? by blindseer · · Score: 1

    People will talk of being in orbit as being in "zero-g" but they experience gravity like everyone else but the forces from traveling at such incredible speeds cancels out the gravity. Think of throwing a ball and how at the top of it's arc of travel all the forces equal and for a small period of time all forces on it are nearly zero. The higher a ball is thrown the longer this period. Put something on top of a missile and get it high and fast enough this period of time of where all forces acting on it are near zero lasts a very long time. This changes how the microbes grow and where they grow.

    This makes things we don't think of as much of a deal on Earth quite the problem in orbit. These microbes on the skin of the astronauts feed off their dead skin. Because we here on the surface of Earth walk to get around this skin is worn off our feet and gets scattered by gravity and convective air currents off our warm bodies. I was a bit grossed out by this realization once in high school as we were filing out to get on the buses. I'd see the janitor would be sweeping the cafeteria floor and picking up this thin film of dust over the entire floor. Most of that is dead skin as people walk and our shoes and clothes wear it away.

    Athlete's that get their feet sweaty and the skin wears off will have problems with a disease we know as "athlete's foot". This is just those microbes finding an environment to grow. When in space the astronaut's suffer from a similar disease. The microbes don't grow as much on the bottom of the foot like on athletes but more between the toes. This disease has come to get it's own name to differentiate it from the Earthly affliction of athlete's foot, they've come to call it "missile toe".

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    1. Re:microbes going ballistic? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

      but the forces from traveling at such incredible speeds cancels out the gravity.

      Umm, no. "Free fall" is a much more useful term, since it describes what actually happens - we fall toward the ground and miss.

      No, there are no "forces from traveling at such incredible speeds" involved. Just gravity. And going fast enough to miss the ground....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    2. Re:microbes going ballistic? by swillden · · Score: 1

      People will talk of being in orbit as being in "zero-g" but they experience gravity like everyone else but the forces from traveling at such incredible speeds cancels out the gravity.

      This is a terrible description. Bordering on nonsense. There is no "force from traveling at such incredible speeds", and nothing "cancels out gravity".

      What's happening is that the ISS and everything in it are both constantly accelerating towards the earth (falling, hence the name "free fall") and moving at high speed perpendicular to the direction of the fall. Essentially, this perpendicular velocity means that they continually "miss" the Earth as they fall. More precisely, the effect of the gravitational acceleration curves their path from the straight line that would otherwise be dictated by inertia.

      Even that, though, doesn't really get to the heart of the reason for the experience of zero gee. The heart of the reason is that the only significant force acting on them is acting on the station and everything inside it equally (well, very nearly equally; which is why it's technically called "microgravity", not "zero gravity"). It's the lack of differential acceleration that matters. This would be no different at all if the perpendicular velocity could somehow be instantly removed. They'd all still be pulled down by gravity with the same acceleration and so there would be no differential acceleration. Of course, without the perpendicular velocity their fall wouldn't miss the Earth, so soon enough they would experience differential acceleration, as the exterior of the station began to impact matter which would impart a contrary acceleration.

      It's also worth pointing out that there is absolutely no difference between being in a container in free fall and being in a container that is motionless (assuming that had any meaning) in intergalactic space where there are no significant gravitational forces. In the absence of differential acceleration -- or perhaps I should say relative acceleration -- objects experience zero gravity. This was Einstein's core innovation, the idea that those two situations not only appear the same, but in fact there is no difference at all.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    3. Re:microbes going ballistic? by blindseer · · Score: 1

      I made a very simplistic explanation of the conditions on the ISS in an attempt to set up a pun as best I could without being too wordy. It's a stupid joke, lighten up.

      The condition is called "missile toe", get it? Say it out loud if you have to. It rhymes with "mistletoe". Get it now?

      Have a Merry Christmas.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    4. Re:microbes going ballistic? by nasch · · Score: 1

      That was a long way to go for "missile toe".

    5. Re:microbes going ballistic? by blindseer · · Score: 1

      That's part of the joke.

      --
      I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  19. obligatory quote: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Life, uh, finds a way"

  20. Human beings are quite complex ecosystems by Archtech · · Score: 1

    "Thousands of species have colonized the International Space Station -- and only one of them is Homo sapiens".

    Incorrect, silly man!

    Homo Sapiens - at least healthy specimens - themselves carry around thousands of species of bacteria, viruses and fungi. It's become a cliche that you have ten times as many bacterial cells as human ones - and if you somehow managed to get rid of all the bacteria, you would die.

    --
    I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
    1. Re:Human beings are quite complex ecosystems by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      With the microbes reproducing on the surfaces, it could also be argued that they've colonized the station far better than the humans that have to return to earth regularly to complete their life cycle.

  21. Re:How's the view up there? by ytene · · Score: 1

    Um... did you happen to read the notes on the page you link to?

    The bit where it clearly states that the images in the sequence for the eclipse were "as seen from the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter"? [As in: most emphatically not the International Space Station]

    Although I've seen that set of images before [I happen to have a framed print hanging on the wall in my study] I don't have specifics as to the reason for the shading. However, I will hazard a guess [since that's often a good way to get corrected by someone who knows the actual details!] and say that it's likely because of the way that the light from the sun gets refracted by the Earth's atmosphere.

    For example, we know that the reason that our sky appears blue is because water vapour in the atmosphere refracts away some of the light... So if it's refracted away, perhaps the red wavelengths make it to the moon, which is why that shot appears that colour? The reason you're seeing refraction is because we're seeing the edge of the shadow, cast by light refracted through Earth's atmosphere...

    This is just a poorly-educated guess, mind.

  22. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ethnic diversity is generally associated with unstable, low-trust societies.

    I think we should all just stick our heads in the sand and claim ethnic diversity is good, since we've seen how well it has never worked anywhere.

  23. "Super Germy"? ??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, which 10 year old wrote this headline.

  24. Re:Cheerleaders who are Engineers and Scientists?? by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    That's a sexist statement - Why would you assume that only the male cheerleaders are the Scientists and Engineers?

  25. Re:How's the view up there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where are the pictures of the edge of the earth?

  26. Here's an experiment by boudie2 · · Score: 1

    How about they send Tony Bennett up there and see if they all catch herpes.

  27. Re:How's the view up there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The atmosphere explanation is shaky, but that is not my main point.

    The main point is that the shadow changes color in a fixed-space. The correct behavior would be for the colors to slide across the moon (or vice versa, as you wish) in a scroll. Instead, the black becomes reddish, and the uneclipsed portion glows so brightly that it looses detail. This happens on every quality lunar eclipse video you can find. It is not an aberration. Similarly, all the models of the lunar eclipse fail to depict the reality.

    No model of the lunar eclipse correctly captures it:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/10/06/why-does-the-moon-turn-red-during-a-lunar-eclipse/
    https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/scottsdale?iso=20140415
    software:Stellarium 0.16.1 Next lunar eclipse: January 30/31, 2018 North America

    Solar Eclipse: https://vimeo.com/230976895
    Corona not shaped in a spherical configuration; orients toward Earth. Corona lines can be observed to move faster than the speed of light. Light of the corona can be observed on the back of the moon. Light of the chromosphere can be observed on the back of the moon. Light of protuberences can be observed on the back of the moon. Sun and Moon same size and near. Wiki: Allais Effect

  28. Good thing only one of the species is Homo Sapiens by Vermonter · · Score: 1

    I would be incredibly confused is Homo Sapiens somehow made up more than of of the species.

  29. Re: "Diversity is generally associated with... by DatbeDank · · Score: 1

    It is, just make sure you don't bring in too many germs that happen to point east five times a day while attempting to forcibly kill off any other germs that refuse to adapt.

    Think of it like having a large colony of MRSA bacteria.

  30. Ripley, Calling Antarctica Traffic Control! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There may not be an edge. Antarctica is believed to be the outer limits of the known Earth. Access to Antarctica is tightly controlled under the Antarctica Treaty. Territorial claims in Antarctica are pie-shaped, or sector-based, each terminating towards the 'south pole,' whether the country reached or controls that land or not. This makes no sense for a continent, but makes a lot of sense if Antarctica actually encircles the Earth.

    1. Re:Ripley, Calling Antarctica Traffic Control! by careysub · · Score: 1

      Mighty fine trolling there Oh AC!

      This territory, stoutly defending a ridiculous position with misrepresented "evidence" is old news. I liked reading the Braheian Debater while in college which asserted a similarly silly idea - that of the Geocentric Universe. It was an amusing intellectual game.

      Instead of picking out and misrepresenting miscellaneous "cherries" you would be much more interesting if you went back to the history of science where the sphericity of the Earth was proved (Eratosthenes) and likewise the Heliocentric solar system, and disprove the pieces of evidence used to demonstrate them conclusively. But that would be hard, probably impossible to do so convincingly, since after all you are attempting to demonstrate something that isn't true.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    2. Re:Ripley, Calling Antarctica Traffic Control! by careysub · · Score: 1

      Oh, and why the hiding behind the AC label given all the effort you putting into this?

      Create an identity so that we can track your posts of wisdom!

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
    3. Re: Ripley, Calling Antarctica Traffic Control! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm guessing you've never flew in a plane or a hot air baloon.

  31. Not very diverse by barbariccow · · Score: 2

    I feel like I have more different species of microbes in my gut than on that whole space station!

  32. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which is probably true...

    Being racist is a scale not something binary, some people are more racist and some people less, but all people are racist to some degree.

  33. NASA is fake. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NASA is more fake than MSM.

    1. Re:NASA is fake. by bobbied · · Score: 1

      NASA is more fake than MSM.

      Dang man.. That's a reach.. Have you actually *seen* MSN lately? Talk about space cadets...

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  34. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Works fine where I live.

  35. "Just germ, baby" by superdave80 · · Score: 1

    (Bacillus aryabhatti, collected from a practice football field used by the Oakland Raiders, grew fastest.)

    Seeing the fans in the stands, I have no doubt that the Oakland/LosAngeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders are the germiest organization in pro football. As a 49er fan, I just couldn't resist taking a shot at the Raiders :-)

  36. Well, there you go kids ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The initiative, conceived by a group of National Football League and National Basketball Association cheerleaders who are also scientists and engineers

    This is the next level of "out of your league".

    Hotter than you'll ever manage to date, and just as smart as you.

    I can hear the whiny douchebags on Slashdot now crying into their pillows.

  37. Re: How high until I see the curve? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come on, the legitimate round Earthers don't even use that one.

  38. Open a window, jeez! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Problem solved.

  39. Re: "Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lol, I'm sure it does.

  40. Suspicious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Am I the only one that finds it suspicious that a few days ago I read right here on Slashdot that bacteria found on the outside hull of the ISS could be "alien in origin" (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/alien-life-bacteria-space-international-station-bacteria-cosmonaut-astronaut-russia-a8080036.html) and now soon after this article comes out saying the ISS has germs everywhere on purpose?

    I mostly just read the headlines, and seeing this one today gave me a sort of deja vu that just felt so strange! The topic of this article seems pretty random, but not so much after just having seen the other one shortly before. It feels like this article is meant to overshadow or detract from the other one or something.

    *Prepares for backlash of people thinking I am a crazy ufo guy or some jazz*

  41. Re:Elon Musk, staring at a gyroscope by crunchygranola · · Score: 1

    So you have *no* disproof of Eratosthenes -- only unproved assumptions of a far more complicated model which do not even bother to explicate in detail or show evidence of. Good to know.

    Sorry, appealing to special hidden laws thrown in as needed to prop up your refusal to accept simple evidence is a flaming failure.

    --
    Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
  42. Re:Elon Musk, staring at a gyroscope by careysub · · Score: 2

    Foucault was a fraud, and his experiment has not been repeated.

    Yeah about that.

    I know, I know, all of the 324 Foucault pendulums listed and are displayed in public for all to observe are part of the world-wide Foucault Conspiracy which you alone have penetrated and revealed! Such brilliance! And you keep your identity a secret! Don't you realized that fame and fortune are yours for the taking if you but drop your cloak of anonymity?

    Quite a number of them are in high schools where students can observe the rotation of the Earth for themselves, exactly as you recommend.

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  43. Re:Elon Musk, staring at a gyroscope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A pendulum can be affected by many subtle effects and has to specially set up, a gyroscope is rigid in space and can be operated by anyone.

    If the effect of the pendulum was real, the gyroscopes would be everywhere showing the same effect. They aren't. Something else causes the pendulum to move, such as Allais Effect, or fraud.

    And for post above, Eratosthenes is not a proof. It is the application of a mathematical formula, and the assumptions inherent to it. There is nothing to disprove in it.

  44. Re:How's the view up there? by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

    This is hust a guess, but the shadow colour "changing" and the unshadowed part "brightening" are probably the same thing: the camera exposure was adjusted in post. The dynamic range of the camera is much greater than that of the video format.

    Your eyes do the same thing if you walk from a dark room to a light room and vice versa. The room is too bright (and a different colour saturation) until your automatic gain control compensates.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  45. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then it is a useless label unable to categorize a subset of people.

  46. Re:Give that pseudo a cigar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you watch it frame by frame, that explanation does not seem to work. Further, it doesn't explain why none of the other models create an accurate representation either. TimeandDate.com actually shows some of the brightening as a slow fade in in their model.

    But thank you for making the suggestion, as so few people get far enough to even make that reasonable suggestion. In addition, it would suggest that every photo/video ever recorded was making the same adjustment. And, if you watch it with your own eyes, you'll see the same thing.

    Next eclipse: Jan 30/31, 2018 North America

    Until next time, space cadets!

  47. Re:How's the view up there? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    but the shadow colour "changing" and the unshadowed part "brightening" are probably the same thing: the camera exposure was adjusted in post.

    What *would* we do without you, Captain Obvious?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  48. Re:Give that pseudo a cigar by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

    Most consumer-grade cameras, as well as your eyes, have automatic exposure control. So it's unsurprising that you will perceive both the Moon and the Earth's shadow as brighter as the amount of light decreases.

    I don't live in North America, but I would encourage you next time to set out a camera with the exposure set manually to slow (an astronomical photographer should be able to suggest a good setting) and see if the shadow is red for the entire eclipse. The best experiment would be to use three cameras side by side: one fast, one slow, and one auto.

    Now the catch is that the moon is also round, so reflection off the silhouette edge is darker than that of the part that faces us. But the Moon surface is enough of a retro reflector (the Oren-Nayar model captures it reasonably well to a first approximation) that it should be visible.

    Do the experiment.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  49. Re:Give that pseudo a cigar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I will be doing so. The actual lunar eclipse takes hours, so there is plenty of time to attempt it.

    In the meantime, there is an example on Wikipedia.org of what happens when you increase the exposure of the eclipsed moon under the Lunar Eclipse entry. The problem is it does not seem to approach the actual appearance of the 'red phase' of the lunar eclipse at all, which would seem to rule that explanation out. Please provide your opinion.

  50. If you have the surname Coli and work with micro.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    bes? How do you resist changing your first name to Eric?

  51. Re:How's the view up there? by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

    If it were so obvious, how come I had to explain it? Take that, round Earthers!

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  52. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    Ethnic diversity is generally associated with unstable, low-trust societies.

    Oh, you mean like Rome, the French Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Egyptian Empire....oh, wait, you're either a fool or a liar

  53. Re:Give that pseudo a cigar by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

    I don't really understand what you're referring to. The 2 second exposure example looks red to me; I pulled the image into GIMP, eyedroppered a point inside the shadow, and the RGB values were (82,54,51).

    Having said that, colour reproduction is more art than science. Every professional photograph or movie that you have ever seen has been colour timed or colour graded before it made it to your eyes. The raw numbers that come out of a modern astronomical observatory are not meaningful by themselves, and need to be visualised to be meaningful.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  54. Re:Elon Musk, staring at a gyroscope by careysub · · Score: 1

    The ignorance you display is truly staggering.

    "Gyroscopes" aren't "rigid in space". Perfect gyroscopes are, but not ordinary real gyroscopes. Friction makes the kinds of demo gyros you using as "proof" insensitive to gradual changes in orientation. You can put a gyroscope on lazy susan, and when the lazy susan is turned sufficiently slowly (but much faster than the rotation of the Earth) the gyroscope will turn also, showing that it is not really "rigid in space". This is why gyroscopes used in actual navigation or physics experiments - if they are spinning rotors - are magnetically levitated in vacuums, or else use more exotic technologies (laser gyros, or oscillating mass MEMs gyros). Commercial inertial navigation systems easily detect the rotation of the Earth, and their algorithms must model it exactly.

    But the many hundreds of Foucault pendulums everywhere precess in the swing at exactly the rate determined by latitude (sin(lat)*360/1440 for degrees per minute). You can look up the closest Foucault pendulum to you in the list, and go there, and time it yourself to confirm this.

    In fact Foucault pendulums are gyros, and sensitive ones at that. They are of the oscillating mass type, but using gravity rather than elasticity to provide the oscillating force.

    Please list the "many subtle effects" that you fantasize affect the operation of pendulums. There are really just two - gravity (which is essential) and motion through the air. This last causes gradual damping of the swing (and thus perpetual pendulums have an electromagnet to provide a kick at each swing), and requires protection from gross air currents, but you can just start a heavy pendulum (everyone used heavy pendulums) and it will reveal the rotation of the Earth quite nicely before damping becomes serious. Try it. Use the burning thread release technique.

    The fact that you are unaware that spinning gyros are far more prone to disturbing effects (the aforementioned friction, and air currents, imperfections in balance, etc.) confirms you know nothing about what you speak.

    But it is a waste of time to argue with a cowardly guy hiding behind anonymity. I post this really for the benefit of other readers here, and will ignore your further fantasies and display of profound ignorance.

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  55. Re:Give that pseudo a cigar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What I mean is that it doesn't look like the lunar eclipse in the red phase. If there is nothing unusual happening, and it is all about changing exposure, then taking the long exposure in the black phase should yield something like the red phase pictures. It is not the same within the eclipse, only the uneclipsed portion looks correct.(glowing and lacking detail)

    The light coming from the moon in the red phase is different.

  56. Re:Give that pseudo a cigar by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

    I don't see what's different about them, beyond perhaps the fact that camera lenses aren't perfect so there is going to be some leak around the shadow perimeter.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  57. Re:"Diversity is generally associated with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And how many of those empires are still around as empires?