US Navy commissions the Zumwalt, a destroyer like no other
The U.S. Navy commissioned the stealthy, futuristic-looking battleship the USS Zumwalt on Saturday, a powerful new vessel that the Navy calls its “most technologically advanced warship.”
The ship is 610 feet long, weighs almost 15,000 tons, and cost a minimum of $4.4 billion, according to the Associated Press. Its distinctive, smooth appearance minimizes its radar signature.
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The highly-automated destroyer needs a crew of only 147 people, and the Associated Press reports that it will carry a variety of weapons, like cruise missiles and anti-submarine rockets. The Navy is proud of the ship’s integrated power system, which it said can produce about 78 megawatts of power, approaching the capacity of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. According to the Navy, the Zumwalt’s power system is robust enough to power its own systems “and still generate enough electricity to power a small town.”
The ship is named for Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr, who served in the Navy for more than three decades and died in 2000.
“This destroyer, like the others in our fleet, is capable of projecting power, no doubt,” Mabus said, in the statement. “The Zumwalt-class is much larger than today’s destroyers with a considerably larger flight deck — enough space to operate host Joint Strike Fighters, MV-22 Ospreys, and unmanned systems and a Vertical Launch System second to none.”
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Monday, October 17, 2016
A Friend For Pluto: Astronomers Find New Dwarf Planet In Our Solar System
A Friend For Pluto: Astronomers Find New Dwarf Planet In Our Solar System
Scientists in Michigan have found a new dwarf planet in our solar system.
It’s about 330 miles across and some 8.5 billion miles from the sun. It takes 1,100 years to complete one orbit.
But one of the most interesting things about the new object, known for the time being as 2014 UZ224, is the way astronomers found it.
David Gerdes of the University of Michigan led the team that found the new dwarf planet. Gerdes describes himself as “an adult-onset astronomer,” having started his scientific career as a particle physicist.
He helped develop a special camera called the Dark Energy Camera that the U.S. Department of Energy commissioned to make a map of distant galaxies.
A few years ago, Gerdes had some undergraduates visiting him for the summer. He decided to give them a project: He asked them if they could find some solar system objects lurking in the galaxy map.
How do you find solar system objects in pictures taken of the sky looking for galaxies? Well, you look for things that move: “Objects in the solar system, when you observe them at one instant and then a little while later, they appear to be in a different place in the sky,” Gerdes says.
Stars and galaxies are so far away, they’re basically stationary. But a planet or asteroid will be in a slightly different position from night to night. It will appear as a dot of light that seems to be moving across the stationary backdrop of stars.
Connect the dots night after night and you can begin to calculate the object’s orbit around the sun.
Scientists in Michigan have found a new dwarf planet in our solar system.
It’s about 330 miles across and some 8.5 billion miles from the sun. It takes 1,100 years to complete one orbit.
But one of the most interesting things about the new object, known for the time being as 2014 UZ224, is the way astronomers found it.
David Gerdes of the University of Michigan led the team that found the new dwarf planet. Gerdes describes himself as “an adult-onset astronomer,” having started his scientific career as a particle physicist.
He helped develop a special camera called the Dark Energy Camera that the U.S. Department of Energy commissioned to make a map of distant galaxies.
A few years ago, Gerdes had some undergraduates visiting him for the summer. He decided to give them a project: He asked them if they could find some solar system objects lurking in the galaxy map.
How do you find solar system objects in pictures taken of the sky looking for galaxies? Well, you look for things that move: “Objects in the solar system, when you observe them at one instant and then a little while later, they appear to be in a different place in the sky,” Gerdes says.
Stars and galaxies are so far away, they’re basically stationary. But a planet or asteroid will be in a slightly different position from night to night. It will appear as a dot of light that seems to be moving across the stationary backdrop of stars.
Connect the dots night after night and you can begin to calculate the object’s orbit around the sun.
Friday, October 14, 2016
MY VOTE: Gary Johnson
MY VOTE: Gary Johnson
This November I will be casting a vote for Gary Johnson. Not because I agree with Johnson on every issue (I don’t) but because I am absolutely tired of the tea-party duopoly that has this nation in a stranglehold.
Too long has this country been swindled with the illusion of “choice” between crony capitalist, corrupt, power hungry war-mongers. Republicans and Democrats are two heads of the same snake, paying lip service to different demographics and then continuing the same failed policies once elected to office.
It’s time to stop policing the world and meddling in toppling foreign governments. Our foreign policy breeds hatred across the globe and incubates the rise of groups like ISIS. We have become excellent at creating our own enemies. We supply arms to the groups today that will become the threats of tomorrow. It’s time to end this disastrous foreign policy.
Johnson is the only candidate offering that vision.
It’s long past time to end the war on drugs, and I don’t just mean “legalizing” them. The laws unfairly harm the poorest communities, and make it impossible for youth with a record to pull themselves up. Prohibition creates black markets that breed crime and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Gary Johnson is the only candidate offering that vision.
It’s time to get the government out of businesses and out of our wallets. Regulations are choking the free markets and making it impossible to start new businesses in this country. Rather than pointing the finger at the wealthy and blaming “inequality” we need to realize that the reason these abuses exist is because government wields its power to hand out favors. We need to take away the incentives to make corrupt deals with politicians.
Taxation robs us of our earning potential with little to no return on investment. Every election year we hear how terrible our infrastructure is, how our schools are failing, and how we our social safety nets are strained. Then those same people will tell you we need taxes to provide all those things. From the poorest, to the wealthiest, there is nothing wrong with wanting to keep what you earn.
Johnson is the only candidate willing to do that.
This November I will be casting a vote for Gary Johnson. Not because I agree with Johnson on every issue (I don’t) but because I am absolutely tired of the tea-party duopoly that has this nation in a stranglehold.
Too long has this country been swindled with the illusion of “choice” between crony capitalist, corrupt, power hungry war-mongers. Republicans and Democrats are two heads of the same snake, paying lip service to different demographics and then continuing the same failed policies once elected to office.
It’s time to stop policing the world and meddling in toppling foreign governments. Our foreign policy breeds hatred across the globe and incubates the rise of groups like ISIS. We have become excellent at creating our own enemies. We supply arms to the groups today that will become the threats of tomorrow. It’s time to end this disastrous foreign policy.
Johnson is the only candidate offering that vision.
It’s long past time to end the war on drugs, and I don’t just mean “legalizing” them. The laws unfairly harm the poorest communities, and make it impossible for youth with a record to pull themselves up. Prohibition creates black markets that breed crime and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Gary Johnson is the only candidate offering that vision.
It’s time to get the government out of businesses and out of our wallets. Regulations are choking the free markets and making it impossible to start new businesses in this country. Rather than pointing the finger at the wealthy and blaming “inequality” we need to realize that the reason these abuses exist is because government wields its power to hand out favors. We need to take away the incentives to make corrupt deals with politicians.
Taxation robs us of our earning potential with little to no return on investment. Every election year we hear how terrible our infrastructure is, how our schools are failing, and how we our social safety nets are strained. Then those same people will tell you we need taxes to provide all those things. From the poorest, to the wealthiest, there is nothing wrong with wanting to keep what you earn.
Johnson is the only candidate willing to do that.
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