Eclipse article

K

katydid

Well-known member
Kind of interesting that the pathway of the total eclipse goes across the Confederacy. Makes sense now that the memorial statues all across that area are now being torn down, vandalized and protested. Very 'eclipsey' it seems.
 
JUPITERASC

JUPITERASC

Well-known member
NASA Teams across the U.S. released about 100 balloons
during the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse around 85,000 feet in the air
each balloon had cameras for video and photos
as well as a tracker.
Some of those balloons
also carry samples of a highly resistant bacteria.

Eventually, the balloons pop
and devices will send the data and bacteria down to the ground
NASA will compare the stratosphere bacteria
with samples left on Earth
to see what changed.
Researchers say they hope to learn a lot from the balloon experiment.

an alert for everyone on the ground :smile:
NASA SENT BACTERIA INTO THE SKY DURING THE ECLIPSE
http://www.abc2news.com/newsy/nasa-i...-solar-eclipse
 
K

katydid

Well-known member
Why the heck would NASA drop highly resistant bacteria on the path of the eclipse? Hundreds and hundreds of people are standing there watching the eclipse happen. :crying:
 
Osamenor

Osamenor

Staff member
katydid said:
Why the heck would NASA drop highly resistant bacteria on the path of the eclipse? Hundreds and hundreds of people are standing there watching the eclipse happen. :crying:
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The article doesn't say they're infectious bacteria. Unless NASA is suddenly a terrorist organization targeting its own citizens, these are presumably not the kind of bacteria that cause disease. Most bacteria don't. We think of bacteria as disease causing organisms because the kinds that do cause disease are notorious, but there's lots and lots of good bacteria that we can't live without, and lots of bacteria that's neutral for us, neither beneficial nor harmful.
 
K

katydid

Well-known member
Osamenor said:
The article doesn't say they're infectious bacteria. Unless NASA is suddenly a terrorist organization targeting its own citizens, these are presumably not the kind of bacteria that cause disease. Most bacteria don't. We think of bacteria as disease causing organisms because the kinds that do cause disease are notorious, but there's lots and lots of good bacteria that we can't live without, and lots of bacteria that's neutral for us, neither beneficial nor harmful.
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I guess it was the term 'highly resistant' that got to me. That's the term they use when speaking about deadly bacterial infections in hospitals...:pouty:
 
Osamenor

Osamenor

Staff member
katydid said:
I guess it was the term 'highly resistant' that got to me. That's the term they use when speaking about deadly bacterial infections in hospitals...:pouty:
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That's what I thought at first, too. But it didn't say highly resistant to antibiotics. More likely, "highly resistant" in this case means the bacteria are highly resistant to conditions inhospitable to life. If NASA is trying to simulate planting single cell life forms on Mars, this experiment makes perfect sense.
 
Osamenor

Osamenor

Staff member
Oddity said:
This has gone too far. Laugh, cry, and hope this person is not an astrologer. We get enough bad press already!

Harvard educated, I note.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/american-totality-eclipse-race/537318/
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I thought that article was beautiful and profound. So profound that I have to read it again a few more times, I think, to really get it.

America being as it is, similar commentary about race, government, and representation could be made just about anywhere an eclipse might touch the country. If there were an eclipse whose path of totality ran north/south through the continental US, like there will be in 2024, or one that ran west-east at a different latitude... I imagine one could say something similar.

The heavens merely reflect what's going on below, they don't cause it. Same principle that astrology is based on.
 
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