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| Figure 1 - The solar system I've always know and loved (Photo Courtesy of the Monarch Academy Library) |
Introducing the Kuiper Belt, pictured below in Figure 2. Ethan Siegal, a theoretical astrophysicist and author of a blog entitled Starts with a Big Bang, recently wrote an article reporting on our new perspective on the solar system with respect to the Kuiper Belt. He reports that since 1992, scientists have become aware of a vast, dense ring of icy "worlds." I mean we are talking hundreds of thousands of these things in a large belt between Neptune and Pluto.
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| Figure 2 - The Kuiper Belt (Image courtesy of NASA) |
WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU SEEN IN YOUR LIFETIME? HOW HAVE SCIENTISTS PERSPECTIVES CHANGED? WHAT IDEAS HAVE BEEN OBSOLETED OR UPDATED THAT YOU HAVE NOTICED? HOW HAVE THESE CHANGES IN SCIENTIFIC THINKING AFFECTED YOUR PERPECTIVE ABOUT SCIENCE IN GENERAL?
The way I see it is, the more science changes the more I like it. It just goes to show that there is something new to learn each day and that we should continue to do research.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely Semiara. I like your positive perspective on this. It also makes me feel naive in another sense. I wonder, wow, what beliefs do I have about science that are inaccurate? Will people look back at us in our day the same way we look back at those people way back when they thought the world was flat? Either way, it is obvious that there are many exciting discoveries ahead of us!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this Kuiper belt; is it something that's relatively new to our system? that we've discovered i mean? The whole idea of outer space is completely fascinating to me so I'm very interested in this particular subject. That being said, what exactly does this Kuiper belt consist of? what is meant by "icy worlds"? Also, is this "belt" something that's a part of our solar system? Is it held in place by our sun's gravitational pull?
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with Samira on some level, I must say that I feel many scientists spend too much time studying and researching silly, ignorant and negligable things. Although I do feel there are many things and ideas here in this world that are still undiscovered and untouched, so it's important that we should infact continue to research and explore.
One final point: Pluto is most definately a planet. Always has been and always will be. It was on The Magic School Bus! How are you going to go back and CHANGE what the Magic School Bus said!?! You can't. He's still a planet. No matter what these "scientists" say.
-Rebekah Clayton
You know what, Rebekah, thank you for standing up for Pluto! I'm with you. If it said it on the Magic School Bus, it must be true. That show is pure science.
ReplyDeleteIn 1991 scientists started to become aware of these "icy worlds", which are actually just big rocks, or asteroids as scientists call them. Many of them interestingly enough are round or spherical shaped and a lot of them have enough gravity to attract other asteroids to them. On the blog I linked to you can see some of these weird elliptical rocks stuck to other rocks, which apparently over time they have attracted and come in contact with.
The Kuiper belt is located between Neptune and Pluto, and yes, it is held in place by the sun's gravity.
Besides Pluto no longing being considered a planet, a lot has changed in how scientists evaluate history and the age of certain things by carbon dating. There's a big debate right now on how old the Sphinx in Egypt is. History books are being re-written all the time. It seems that our generation is being left behind with our old out-dated knowledge. I love that we are always discovering new things in the world, but we have to work harder to "unlearn" what we did know and relearn the new discoveries. Its amazing that we know more about the universe around us that we do our own planet.
ReplyDeleteYou bring an interesting perspective to the table, Elamon. You bring up a good point about how little we know about our own planet. What if we focused all our NASA money on exploring our vast oceans? What things would we find down there in those hidden worlds? Fascinating to wonder. Thanks for bringing that up.
ReplyDeleteWe know more today than we did yesterday. I completely agree with Samira, the more science improve the more interesting and fascinating it becomes. It is just beautiful. It was not until this millennium that the most accurate estimate of the age of the universe was obtained: around 13,700 million years. However, the universe is full of contradictions, so is the human nature. There are many certainties, but also many mysteries and unknowns. There is still too much to discover…
ReplyDeleteRebekah, the Kuiper belt is similar to the asteroid belt, but way larger; 20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive. Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies, or remnants from the Solar System's formation. While the asteroid belt is composed primarily of rock, ices, and metal, the Kuiper objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles, such as methane, ammonia and water.
ReplyDeleteAntonella you are right, the universe is full of things that seem like contradictions. I believe that there is a good explanation for all of those seeming contradictions, the only problem is our lack of understanding. I believe that one day all things will eventually become clear to us, and we will find that all of those things perfectly adhere to the laws of nature.
ReplyDeleteAll on a similar note, I feel like science is supposed to be based on fact. But sometimes, it seems like science makes a lot of assumptions, whether it was here on Earth or throughout the universe. Although, I understand that sometimes assumptions have to made to create a theory, but then people have to realize that they're just theories and not proven.
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