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Arecibo message
This is the message with color added to highlight its separate parts. The actual binary transmission carried no color information. The Arecibo message was broadcast into space a single time via frequency modulated radio waves at a ceremony to mark the remodeling of the Arecibo radio telescope on 16 November 1974. [ 1 ] It was aimed at the globular star cluster M13 some 25,000 light years away because M13 was a large and close collection of stars that was available in the sky at the time and place of the ceremony. [ 2 ] The message consisted of 1679 binary digits , approximately 210 bytes , transmitted at a frequency of 2380 MHz and modulated by shifting the frequency by 10 Hz, with a power of 1000 kW . The "ones" and "zeros" were transmitted by frequency shifting at the rate of 10 bits per second.
Giant Impact Hypothesis
Artist's depiction of a collision between two planetary bodies. Such an impact between the Earth and a Mars-sized object likely formed the Moon. The giant impact hypothesis states that the Moon was formed out of the debris left over from a collision between the Earth and a body the size of Mars , approximately 4.5 Gya (four and a half billion years ago). The colliding body is sometimes called Theia , for the mythical Greek Titan who was the mother of Selene , the goddess of the Moon. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
However, 100 kilometers is an awful long way up, so shortly into its 80-second burn, SpaceShipOne climbed above the angle of the sun into clear blue sky. We didn't realize it at the time, but there were a couple of serious malfunctions as the craft accelerated to more than Mach 2.9 (2150 mph or 3460 km/h). About 7 seconds after ignition, a 60 knot (70 mph or 110 km/h) wind shear caused an unintended 90 degree rotation, which the pilot corrected. Just 10 seconds after starting its climb it reached Mach 1, and the rocket continued burning for another 66 seconds before automatically shutting down. Late during this powered phase, one of the motors which control the trim adjustment malfunctioned and although Melvill quickly swapped to a backup system the ship wasn't quite at the right angle as it climbed. The combined anomalies put it 20 miles off course and ultimately cost about 30,000 feet of altitude.
First Flight of SpaceShipOne
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Brief Answers to Cosmic Questions
Structure of the Universe Does the Universe have an edge, beyond which there is nothing? Are the galaxies arranged on the surface of a sphere? Why can't we see the whole universe? Does the term "universe" refer to space, or to the matter in it, or to both? Evolution of the Universe Did the Universe expand from a point? If so, doesn't the universe have to have an edge?