Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #xplorationouterspace
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Hi, hello - I'M AT LIGO (!!!!)
And THIS CHAMBER is where the first gravitational waves were detected.
@LIGO = Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
A little 🧵about this engineering MARVEL.
And THIS CHAMBER is where the first gravitational waves were detected.
@LIGO = Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
A little 🧵about this engineering MARVEL.
@LIGO @XplorStation First, what are gravitational waves?
These are ripples of the fabric in space time.
They're caused by catastrophic events like two black holes merging, stars exploding, etc.
They stretch space time in one direction and smoosh it in the other.
These are ripples of the fabric in space time.
They're caused by catastrophic events like two black holes merging, stars exploding, etc.
They stretch space time in one direction and smoosh it in the other.
@LIGO @XplorStation How do you measure them?
LIGO has two long beams shaped like an "L". They shoot a laser down the beam and have it bounce back. Because we know the speed of light, we can tell if the beam stretched/squished. (more complex than this, but basically)
LIGO has two long beams shaped like an "L". They shoot a laser down the beam and have it bounce back. Because we know the speed of light, we can tell if the beam stretched/squished. (more complex than this, but basically)
Trust me when I tell you this is one of the coolest things I have *ever* done for my show.
I was allowed into the Apollo Moon Vault - this is where they hold all of the rock/soil samples collected from the 6 missions to the moon.
I was allowed into the Apollo Moon Vault - this is where they hold all of the rock/soil samples collected from the 6 missions to the moon.
@NASA_Johnson Inside the Lunar Sample Lab at @NASA_Johnson (located next to the vault), they have some rocks on display.
The "Genesis Rock" is one of them. This rock is perhaps the most famous rock brought back from the Apollo missions. It was collected during Apollo 15.
The "Genesis Rock" is one of them. This rock is perhaps the most famous rock brought back from the Apollo missions. It was collected during Apollo 15.
@NASA_Johnson The rock got its nickname from reporters covering its story because the Genesis Rock did a couple of things:
1) Provided evidence that the moon was once covered in an ocean of magma
2) Contributed to the theory that the Moon was formed by a Mars-sized object colliding with Earth
1) Provided evidence that the moon was once covered in an ocean of magma
2) Contributed to the theory that the Moon was formed by a Mars-sized object colliding with Earth
In the 1960's 11 deaf men helped NASA get to the moon. They were known as the Gallaudet Eleven.
We were able to interview one of their remaining members, David Myers, for my show Xploration Outer Space. A thread.
We were able to interview one of their remaining members, David Myers, for my show Xploration Outer Space. A thread.
In the 1960's 11 men were recruited from Gallaudet College (now @GallaudetU) for a series of NASA experiments to better understand how spaceflight would affect astronauts. These experiments were done over the course of a decade.
@GallaudetU The experiments were led by Dr. Graybiel, a cardiologist who had studied how flight affected pilots, and continued to work for NASA to study how spaceflight might affect astronauts
(remember, this was during a time when we knew NOTHING about how space would affect humans!)
(remember, this was during a time when we knew NOTHING about how space would affect humans!)
