Space Fan News #10: NASA smashes a comet, measures hole it made; the X2 flare that nobody noticed

[sariahsue]

Wait, they named a mission Deep Impact and another one Stardust? I'm sensing a pattern here. What's the next one going to be called? Solaris?  Gattaca?

[TODIALAS2012]

lol I love your sense of humor..;)

[blazak]

I loved how in Clarke's 2061 when they land on Halley's Comet. It's now possible!

[vvbn7890]

Hey I like your vids! Nice work

[ricois3]

Your videos are amazing! Love the way you explain things.

[Fyerdrum77]

This guy is the MAN! I love his videos.

[Christosan88]

Fox news in general irritates me, and should irritate everyone else too because of their slander.

[danbit5]

solar elcipses are amazing,i still dont understand how ironic are time of life age mankind we get the diamond effect,that is man observing from earth:) doesent seem reasonable:) nor by chance.total elicpes will become apart of history in future

[Brewhahh]

"Minding it's own business"... that comet was asking for it.

[longded]

remember seeing the first mission on the telly ! that was CRAZY SKILLS! ';]]

[david25luvit]

Surely by now you're accustomed to certain people or organizations making exaggerated claims and comparisons with certain events. Don't let it get to you.... by being aware of what's going on....you can ignore or dismiss those comments or announcments from these groups.  Personally I think comets are interesting ....especially if you consider they may have brought life to this planet...and perhaps others. We need to do more research on these flying spectacles....

[david25luvit]

Surely by now you're accustomed to certain people or organizations making exaggerated claims and comparisons with certain events. Don't let it get to you.... by being aware of what's going on....you can ignore or dismiss those comments or announcments from these groups. Personally I think comets are interesting ....especially if you consider they may have brought life to this planet...and perhaps others. We need to do more research on these flying spectacles....for that reason alone.

[dgleason2]

twattin'...lol

TY Mr Darnell, for bringing us up-to-date.

be well!

[dvlfsh]

Such an awesome update again!

[oomblikkies]

I saw a few NASA interviews on this Stardust spacecraft but nobody so far asked the question whether the Deep Impact probe caused any noticeable change in the orbit of the comet. If not, then impacting a comet might not be an option to protect us from comets coming at us.

[UrbanAssault5150]

Thanks again for a great video!

[korrd]

I had to pause if after "tweeters twatting" because I laughing so hard.

[gayterdzsuck]

twat ing ;)

[19Tranc3r92]

YOU ROCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCK!

[njimko23]

The one person that didn't like this must be a comet fan.

[Destro7000]

Happy to hear you clear up the thing about the Solar flare and why it should be unremarkable that we're getting a stronger flare than 4 years ago. Hadn't realised that.

The papers and News programmes don't really seem to understand or fully pay attention to their Scientific Advisors they bring in to talk to. It's like it goes straight over their heads and they don't put any effort into grasping it.

[MrHansolaffen]

@Destro7000 What sells most newspapers? "Everything as expected... again!" or "Shit your pants! Biggest, nastiest solar flair in 4 YEARS comming your way!"

This is what newspapers do - They'll do anything for you to buy/click the article...

[filthyfun]

I was drunk and asleep when that went down!  as usual sweet vids. your the best

[ReeseMac]

The glorification (or the horrification) of the solar flare news by mainstream media MIGHT be a reflection upon their ignorance of the subject. When I see people in life that are like that I don't necessarily see it as a moment to bash them. Instead it should be a moment to educate them; enlighten.

[maddoxhell]

tdarnell..... YOU are the man!!

[nybotheveg]

4 years is nothing in astronomical time :s

[beemerman07]

Yes tony the twitters were twating:) you made my day

[Razorlust]

YOU are my first line of intelligence in astronomical news, Tony.

When you talk about it, I run to google. If you don't, I often don't know for ages. There are a lot of "space fans" who don't have the time or opportunity to follow a lot of other sources. Just saying: so you realize how important these vlogs of yours are.

Above and beyond that: "Comets are hard" - I almost pee'd.

[Jonassoe]

Comets are hard

[TheCaptainLulz]

More fearmongering for fox, sigh...nothing new there. They would say a monkey smoking pot is the anti-christ.

[10Bdog10]

This is where I come for the real news

[wannabekunok]

"comets are hard"

haha

[RyuDarragh]

@wannabekunok: Seems them thar "Dirty snowballs" are more like "Rock hard chunks of ice and rock", eh?

[isdykusii]

I like you! :D

[jarjr88]

That's not what I meant. I heard news feb 13 discovered a gas giant bigger than Jupiter.

[totallyfreeenergy]

fyi... X2 flare was reported in detail in all the tv news bulletins. Interesting to note the periodic cycles of solar activity. There could even be other higher level cycles causing periodic global warming on earth. The only interest in comets is that they travel on such wide and far reaching orbits and when they come close to earth they could cause disturbances depending on their size and proximity. Astrologers find them interesting :)

[bshieldsbb01]

I love how we invent space ships, design complex navigation programmes, execute incredibly precise flight paths all to perform the most rudimentary of scientific experiments...hit something and see what happens.

[mit871chell]

@tdarnell Hey, I'm not surprised that you linked to Fox News, it was kind of inevitable. Was there any searching for the most ridiculous stories, or did you just go with the safe bet?

[tdarnell]

@mit871chell I did have other examples, but I went with the safe bet. Besides, they were the only ones to use the word 'Humongous'.

[barakuda1111]

It's unusual to see video with 0 dislikes. Tony you are that awesome :)

[tdarnell]

@barakuda1111 Give it time... ;-)

[Tebay71]

Love your videos, Tony. They're a good break from my normal day to hear some good space info & also love that you always seem to be so genuinely happy and upbeat. You keep looking up too, Tony! (Gotta love the double meaning of your catch phrase lol)

[StrangeKobold]

Thank you so much for this video, Tony. I'm so sick of all of these over-religious apocalypse-obsessed doomsayers screaming about the world coming to an end because of a stupid flare.

[jarjr88]

Heard of the new planet discovered nibira in our solar system.

[dragefyr]

@jarjr88 That one is old - And a lie.

It was told that it will crash or fly RIGHT past us in 2012. Bullspit. Tony already made a video about it and he clearly stated "Anyone with just the faintest basic knowledge on astronomy would know if a planet/moon that size would hit us so soon, you would already see it largely in the skies"

[pronoob1983]

When was that big solar flare that knocked out power to parts of Quebec? How would this little CME measure up to that one? By the way 2012ers, the peak for the next solar maximum is around 2013/2014. Oh and BonScottAC's comment is friggen hilarious!

[tdarnell]

@pronoob1983 It was small by comparison. This brings up a good point, I don't want to give the impression that solar storms are utterly harmless, clearly they are not. But I do NOT want them associated with the end of the world. This video was initially 12 minutes long before I edited out all my rants about this.

I just want to make sure people have accurate information - and perspective - before they succumb to sensationalism.

[pronoob1983]

@tdarnell Public awareness of sound science is more important now than ever. Tony, you do an excellent job raising the bar. I will forever be a spacefan!

[MasterOhSo]

You are a good guy...not a lot of those around and I hope you know how much appreciate your good works...peace be with :)

[shwahshwah]

Keep it up ToneBone!

[billp1955]

Thanks for keeping it real for us Tony! It's always easy to twist data into a headline....

Glad to see the baby alien is up and about again!!

[tdarnell]

@billp1955 Yes, he's doing quite well, I propped him up because people thought we was dead, and in a sense, I guess he is. He's a Dia de los muertos bobble head skeleton. We should probably come up with a name for him.

[billp1955]

@tdarnell BONES!! Damnit, I'm a Doctor Jim.... ;)

[ironmadion55]

Tony, you look pissed in this video.

[tdarnell]

@ironmadion55 I edited out a lot of my rants, but some of it shows through. I wasn't pissed though.

[CriticuleMe]

@tdarnell I'd like to hear what you think. The "ranting" is usually a composition of the minuscule details that a lot of people, including me, are un-aware of; specially if it's disturbing in some way, or just another perspective.

[john37309]

Thanks Tony!

John.

[Melee2Kil]

kewl

[EdouardDubois]

Comets are hard! YEEAAAAAH!

That means we could potentially mine them without having them crumble beneath our feet.

[jessemaurais]

I see in the lower left corner of your bookshelf a copy of The Logic Of Scientific Discovery by Sir Karl Popper (Routledge edition). Excellent.

[gyneve]

Tweeters Twatting.

[jemmani22]

@gyneve beat me to it..

[toulouse666]

@gyneve

Damn!

Beaten to the punch! ;)

No but seriously Darnel, this was far from a rant, merely a to-the-point commentary that most media outlet exaggerate everything... I knew that this would be way over hipped without any real scientifically supported evidence to back it up.

Keep up the most excellent work!

[BonScottAC]

The media react to science like wild chimpanzees. I'm surprised they aren't throwing poo at the sun.

[ndgreenaway]

@BonScottAC haha thats a funny comment lol

[mcsdaver]

@BonScottAC I am sure some of them did. lol

[stillstandin4you]

I agree on it not being interesting but the more we know the better, never know the significance we could find

[tdarnell]

@stillstandin4you Agreed, I was just poking fun. Good science came from this, as I said, it just isn't my area of interest. I make fun of planetary scientists for the same reason: rocks are boring to me, but I'm glad they're doing the work, it's important.

I make fun of cosmology too, in fact, I make fun of everything.

[valcan321]

@tdarnell I think part of the problem is that people seem to WANT something horrible to happen in 2012 and this is one of those things people latched onto.

So they said solar flare? OMG! Sun is going to

a) either explode

b) a flare will wipe out all of our electronic equipment.

Then there is the media they want a story....never mind if they would quite firing their Real science reporters they could have more....

[marshallhwa]

@tdarnell dude u are the best youtuber

[GoreTorn16]

Thanks for dispelling the myth and hype of the media Mr Darnell. :)

[MyTube22T]

So how many millions of dollars, we don't have, did we spend to find out they are hard?

[CathySander]

@MyTube22T: are you implying that this mission was a waste of money?

[LonexX18]

@CathySander it pretty much was a waste of money

[MyTube22T]

@CathySander Our priorities are all wrong. We are at the verge of an economic collapse the light of which, we Americans, have never seen. To spend a dime is something like that is fiscally irresponsible and unfair to those families that are struggling to make ends meet. I am sure if you or your children were one of those starving people, you'd have a completely different view.

[CathySander]

@MyTube22T: I understand very well our problems on this planet. But how should we redistribute the money and resources, so as to make the world fair? That, I'll like to know.

[MyTube22T]

@CathySander With due respect, I don't think redistribution of money is the answer. Opportunity is. Give people, no matter where they are on earth a fair, real, and unimpeded chance to make a living, to make a difference in their community with the product of their honest and fair labor. A level plain field without prejudice, without special interest, without speculation. Harder said that done but ironically, it is my personal belief, the answer will come from the sky very soon. Peace.

[CathySander]

@MyTube22T: I don't think the answers will come from the sky in a direct sense [if you believe, as I hope not, in the end-time concept]. To have a sense of scale of where we are in the universe is a great start, I think. People surely have very distorted views on their importance.

[MyTube22T]

@CathySander I do not believe in the end-time as Hollywood would want us to believe. After all, nothing dies really. I believe in the end of an age where our collective consciousness will be heighten to levels never experienced. And I do not mean religion at all. It's scientific. Darnel's videos are a reminder that we come from the cosmos and eventually, we will go back. The turmoil in the world today is a by product of this change. Keep looking up and enjoy the ride. Great time to be alive.

[finalfrontier001]

@MyTube22T

we will return to the void ..  :)

[tdarnell]

@MyTube22T You're right, our priorities are all wrong, but that is an argument for spending MORE on science like this, not less. The ENTIRE scientific effort in the country, including all of NASA, represents a miniscule fraction of what we spend every year on bullshit like wars.

If I had my way, our budget would have 700 billion in it for science education, research and development. Not rolling around in tanks in the desert.

[MyTube22T]

@tdarnell I completely agree with you and if you run for office, you've got my vote. With that been said, I enjoy all the material you present in your channel. As a former pilot, my body be anchored on earth, but my spirit is always "up there". Peace.

[nintendork64]

Smashing comets is an old hobby of mine! I just fly up to space, give it a good punch....

[GoreTorn16]

@nintendork64 Thats Chuck Norris' Job! Except he punches the comet and YOU feel it!