Contact Essay -- essays research papers

b) Why are lotus-eaters using radio set crushs looking for furthermost winds instead of a telescope?      First of all, what is a radio telescope? The first non-visual spectral region that was used extensively for astronomical observations was the radio frequency band. Telescopes observing at these wavelengths are commonly called radio telescopes. piano tuner telescopes may be made much larger than optical/ invisible telescopes because the wavelengths of radio waves are much longer than wavelengths of optical cloudless. A principle of thumb is that the reflecting surface must not have irregularities larger than more or less 1/5 the wavelength of light that is being focused. By that criterion a radio telescope is several hundred thousand times easier to digit than an optical telescope of the like sizeIn the movie "Contact," astronomer Ellie Arroway, played by actress Jodie Foster, searches for signs of extraterrestrial life using massive, Earth- bound radio telescopes. oftentimes of Contacts scientific intrigue, based on Carl Sagans 1985 bestseller, unfolds at two depicted object science Foundation-supported radio astronomy facilities where real-life astronomical mysteries continue to be probed. Scientists use the government-supported telescopes to light upon radio waves not from distant civilizations but from planets, stars, galaxies and other objects in space. radio set observations extend astronomers r to each one into space and time, letting them "see" through particle accelerator and dust in space to detect celestial objects whose visible light cannot be seen from Earth. In "Contact," Foster hears the first guttural, throbbing message genic by other-worldly life using the worlds most powerful radio telescope, the genuinely Large Array in Socorro, New Mexico, a collection of 27 antennas spread in a common chord-armed configuration across the desert. NSFs National Radio Astronomy Observatory runs the huge dishes, which Foster manipulates in the call for 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 move apart along railroad tracks into dissimilar configurations. About 700 astronomers visit the VLA each year to observe the universe. In "Contact," Foster gets her scientific start 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 four and a quarter years to get here. Since, according to special relativity, nothing in the universe can pop off faster than the speed of light, it would s eem that travel times with even the most advanced starships are going 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 perceive three dimensions, mayhap a way can be found to shortcut through the higher dimensions. These so-called wormholes are currently having their mathematics calculated by the theorists but if they can be utilized for travel then perhaps the entire universe will become accessible to us. Traveling to variant planets may take no more time than traveling to different countries does now