Going to extremes

[Koliedrus]

"It's colder than Dr. Paolo's ass arse."
"Colder than Hell"
"Colder that a witch's tit"
"Colder that my ex-wife's bed."

Albeit charming, the phrases leave one wondering just how cold those points of reference might be.

"Colder than liquid nitrogen."
Measurable, really damned cold but has no flair.

"Colder than The Boomerang."

The more I think about it, the more I like it.
Kiwis, this is for you. It's winter there and we can't see it from here.

http://www.ananova.com/images/web/43351.jpg

Source: Ananova (http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_752686.html)

Astronomers have released the first photograph of what is believed to be the coldest place in the universe.

The Boomerang Nebula, 5,000 light years from Earth, was discovered in 1979 and named in 1980 because ground-based telescopes could only detect a crooked elongated shape.

Its temperature is minus 272 C, about one degree above absolute cold, minus 273.15 degrees.

The Hubble Telescope took the picture for the European Space Agency and Nasa, who both control the satellite.

An ESA official said: "Even the minus 270 degrees C background glow from the Big Bang is warmer than this nebula. It is the only object found so far that has a temperature lower than the background radiation."

The Boomerang was chilled by a rapid escape of gas that has been under way for 1,500 years. The effect is familiar from a toy balloon that feels cold after the air has suddenly been released from it.

The nebula is only visible from the Southern Hemisphere.


Story filed: 15:23 Thursday 20th February 2003

Addendum: Dr. Paolo (http://oldnewt.phys.unsw.edu.au/~pcalisse/), in case you became confused.

[Mudflap]

So, would that be -1 degree Kelvin, which isn't supposed to exist? I think?


*note time stamp*

[Koliedrus]

+1 K. Like the speed of light, temperature has an absolute.

Its temperature is minus 272 C, about one degree above absolute cold, minus 273.15 degrees.

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

God damnit! I can't see a thing because of all the clouds and coal smoke :(. Thanks though Kol, very cool.

[Koliedrus]

My pleasure, Muffy. I just hope Dr. Paolo has a sense of humor. I'll find out soon. Or not.


Now, on to other extremes.
"Hotter than..." has the Big Bang
"Faster than..." is light.
"Smaller than..." still has some defining to be done. There are small portions of matter as well as small portions of time.

I think I'll go there.

[Koliedrus]

"I'll be back faster than you can say [pick-a-phrase]."

Question

What is Planck length? What is Planck time?

Asked by: Adam Faust

Answer

The Planck length is the scale at which classical ideas about gravity and space-time cease to be valid, and quantum effects dominate. This is the ‘quantum of length’, the smallest measurement of length with any meaning.

And roughly equal to 1.6 x 10-35 m or about 10-20 times the size of a proton.

The Planck time is the time it would take a photon travelling at the speed of light to across a distance equal to the Planck length. This is the ‘quantum of time’, the smallest measurement of time that has any meaning, and is equal to 10-43 seconds. No smaller division of time has any meaning. With in the framework of the laws of physics as we understand them today, we can say only that the universe came into existence when it already had an age of 10-43 seconds.

Answered by: Dan Summons, Physics Undergrad Student, UOS, Souhampton


Source: http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae281.cfm

Shorter than an attosecond (http://www.discover.com/june_03/gthere.html?article=feattime.html). I'll leave that one unquoted for bandwidth reasons.

Although "as big as the universe" seems to be "as big as it gets", almost daily that assumption is challenged. I dare say that our concept of reality either stops where we find comfort or continues to reach through perceived boundaries.

[mute]

I don't like the fact that I'm being told that it's the coldest place in the universe. I don't like the fact that I'm being told nothing can be colder than 272 degres celcius.

Thank god astronomers use celcius.

[Koliedrus]

It is a bit arrogant to make that statement; Coldest Place in the Universe.
Coldest known place perhaps.

Look at it this way: 0 degrees Kelvin means all motion stops. Electrons remain stationary in their orbits around nuclei. There's nothing colder than absolutely zero motion. This thing is one degree Kelvin above that.

How does one define -1 degree Kelvin? Negative energy? It's entirely possible that a system might require an energy imput to reach zero K. It would be invisible since it could not radiate until that temperature is reached and brought into the positive range.

Good shot, Mojo!

[mute]

What we know already seems like an awful lot. That we know what a certain Nebula is made up of and how it works, right? There's nothing metaphysical because we haven't discovered anything metaphysical. Our type of life doesn't seem like it can survive in the Universe.

I'm just curious, can we only see BIG astronomical places in the Universe, or can we see other tiny 'Solar Systems'? One the size of ours for example.

[SimpleSimon]

The necessary technology to do so is known, just never constructed to see earth sized planets in other solar systems.

Mostly a matter of cost. Best resolution would be obtained from a Kepler rosette of satellites synchronized in their observations, in solar orbit between earth and mars.