Cosmic Howlers
April 2023
A NEW MOLECULE?
The team observed the signatures of several molecules in its atmosphere, including lithium. (Scientific American 2012, 325, 33)
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Lithium is an element, not a molecule!
HMMM…
Quick Quiz Question No. 3: To the nearest whole number, how many parsecs are there in a lightyear? Answer: 3 (New Scientist, 2021, January 9, p52)
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The question is worded incorrectly – the words parsec and lightyear (both of which are astronomical units of distance) should be swapped round. There are approximately 3 lightyears in a parsec…or 3.26, to be precise!
ARMLESS SPECULATION
The Sun, along with its Solar System, orbits the Milky Way Galaxy – our Solar System forms one of its arms. (What Does Rain Smell Like? 535 Books, 2019, p12)
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The arms of a spiral galaxy are made up of stars, gas and dust, as well as other objects. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy and our Solar System is just one small part of such an arm called the Orion arm.
IS SOMEONE CALLING MAGELLAN A LIAR?
…the great spiral galaxy M31, the only galaxy apart from our own that is visible to the naked eye. (Daily Telegraph, 2012, July Might Sky)
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Th Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are two galaxies visible from the Southern Hemisphere, which are much closer to us than M31 and also visible to the naked eye!
EVIDENCE FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE ASTEROID BELT?
Vesta has a visible and infrared mapping spectrometer… (Astronomy & Geophysics, 2011, August, p49)
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The name Vesta should read Dawn, after a space mission with that name.
In September 2007, NASA launched the Dawn space probe to the dwarf planets Ceres and Vesta located in the asteroid belt. Dawn carried four science experiments, including a Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS).
Dawn visited Vesta first, followed by Ceres. The spacecraft eventually ran out of fuel and is now in an uncontrolled, stable orbit around Ceres where it is expected to remain for 20 years or so – possibly longer.