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Waves, crust, and dust

18 January 2022
Astronomy

Gary sent in the link to www.dailymail.co.uk/scienctech/article-10403571/ … the moon.s crust may have formed from a slushy magma ocean that froze over hundreds of millions of years, a new study is suggesting. It included scientists from Cambridge University. They compare the formation to that of a slush machine. Slush puppies, presumably, are popular with kids, and in school and college canteens. Something to look at when you are eating your chips or pizza. Bright colours moving around in circles. It makes a change from black holes with intermittent appetites. Anyway, this appears to be the inspiration. The young moon froze and solidified, leaving behind crystals – much like the slushy crystals that can be seen on the outer edges of the rotating ice and flavouring. The slushy becomes thick and sticky the more it rotates. The increase in ice crystals occurs most dramatically near the surface of the slush. When the ocean of magma cooled, over a long period of time, it resulted in a hot mixed interior and a crystal rich 'lid' on the surface. The length of time theorised for the ocean of magma to cool on the moon involves the theoretical amount of heat involved in the formation of the moon.

At https://phys.org/news/2022-01-planet-gas-giants.html … from dust to planet – how the gas giants form. We are informed they are made of a solid core surrounded by a large mass of helium and hydrogen – but how do they form? Japanese researchers have developed computer simulations that simultaneously use multiple types of celestial matter to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how these colossal planets grow from tiny specks of dust.

Finally, at https://phys.org/news/2022-01-international-collaboration-evidence-gravi… … international collaborators offer new evidence of a gravitational wave background. We are told the gravitational wave background is formed by many different overlapping gravitational wave signals emitted from the cosmic population of supermassive binary black holes, playing heave-ho with each other. They liken the waves to the noise from overlapping voices in a crowded hall. A quite nice comparison. Similar signals have been found in individual data sets of participating pulsar timings over the years. Interestingly, Alberto Vecchio, director of the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, said, the detection of gravitational waves from massive black hole binaries or from another cosmic source [pulsars] will give us unprecedented insights into how galaxies form and grow, or cosmological processes taking place in the infant universe. A major international collaborative effort is required to reach their goal. In other words, they have no doubt they have discovered waves with an origin in black holes merging or playing argie bargie, with or without a pulsar, and proceeding on that assumption to ask for ever more pocket fulls of research funding. How to secure employment in upcoming years. It seems like gravitational waves are now big business as they will continue to gobble up revenue from taxes. Gravitational waves are something quite different if you go to www.thunderbolts.info … but who is right?

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