Contact Essay -- essays research papers

b) Why are astronomers using wireless cathode-ray oscilloscopes spirit for far stars instead of a telescope?      First of all, what is a receiving set telescope? The first non-visual spectral region that was ingestiond extensively for galactic observations was the intercommunicatecommunication frequency band. Telescopes observing at these wavelengths are commonly called radio telescopes. Radio telescopes may be made much bigger than optical/infrared telescopes because the wavelengths of radio waves are much longer than wavelengths of optical light. A rule of thumb is that the reflecting surface must not have irregularities larger than about 1/5 the wavelength of light that is being focused. By that measure a radio telescope is several hundred thousand clock easier to figure than an optical telescope of the same sizeIn the photo "Contact," astronomer Ellie Arroway, played by actress Jodie Foster, searches for signs of extraterrestrial life usin g massive, Earth-bound radio telescopes. Much of Contacts scientific intrigue, based on Carl Sagans 1985 bestseller, unfolds at two topic Science Foundation-supported radio astronomy facilities where real-life astronomical mysteries continue to be probed. Scientists use the government-supported telescopes to detect radio waves not from distant civilizations but from planets, stars, galaxies and other objects in space. Radio observations extend astronomers reach into space and time, letting them "see" by dint of gas and dust in space to detect celestial objects whose circumpolar light cannot be seen from Earth. In "Contact," Foster hears the first guttural, throbbing mental object transmitted by other-worldly life using the worlds most powerful radio telescope, the Very Large Array in Socorro, New Mexico, a ingathering of 27 antennas spread in a three-armed configuration across the desert. NSFs National Radio Astronomy Observatory runs the abundant dishes, which Foster manipulates in the film from her laptop computer like a high-tech, movable Stonehenge, in reality. Electronically linked to simulate a single radio telescope up to 20 miles in diameter, the antennas can be bunched together or moved apart along railroad tracks into different configurations. About 700 astronomers discover the VLA each year to observe the population. In "Contact," Foster gets her scientific bulge at another NSF-supported facility, the... ... fastest moving man made objects in the process. If those same probes were to be launched to the stars, however, they would take thousands of years to reach them The distances to the stars are huge So huge, in fact, that the light from the nearest star to the Sun, a triple star system known as Alpha, Beta and Proxima Centauri, takes over quartette and a quarter years to get here. Since, according to special relativity, nix in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light, it would appear that travel t imes with even the most advanced starships are dismission to be extremely long indeed.     There are also highly exotic ideas, which lie on the tantalizing fringes of modern theoretical physics. If the universe is a multidimensional place with human beings only able to descry three dimensions, perhaps a way can be appoint to shortcut through the higher dimensions. These so-called wormholes are currently having their mathematics figure by the theorists but if they can be utilized for travel wherefore perhaps the entire universe will become accessible to us. locomotion to different planets may take no more time than traveling to different countries does now