MASS

Episode 8 Travels in Space and Time

The Cosmos series was pulled from Hulu just when I was really hooked on it. Even Hulu+ didn't help. Fortunately my library came through with the series on DVD. So it looks like I'll be able to finish but I've got to get through 4 more episodes in 2 weeks.

Carl brings out the concept of chaos where small changes can make a big difference in the outcome of systems especially if enough time has elapsed.

He makes a point to show that the star patterns in the sky change through time and space. They also change due to the aging of stars.It is also fun to realize that when you look up at the sky, you're looking back in time. All the stars in the sky are members of the Milky Way galaxy so rarely are we looking at anything farther than a few thousand light years away. The Andromeda galaxy is the farthest object that can typically be seen with the naked eye and it is 2.5 million light years away. With my 8" telescope, I've seen the 13th magnitude quasar 3C273. It is really neat to contemplate that the photos hitting your eye from that object have been traveling for 2 billion years.

The designs of the star traveling spaceships haven't changed much over the years. I remember when the Orion design came out with propulsion provided by exploding nuclear bombs behind it. I never was too confident that way a good way to travel.

It was quite a coincidence that Carl was sitting in the time machine from the 1960 movie with Rod Taylor. I had just recorded the movie on my DVR and am trying to convince the grand kids that they want to watch so they can see the Eloi fight the Morlocs.