Astronomy answers:

Let’s make a few assumption here:

1. We can mount a camera on an Asteroid.
2. We can radio back the pictures that camera took.

Both of those assumptions are technologically possible. The problem comes with the path of the asteroid. First, it mostly just orbit the sun just beyond mar’s orbit. We already have probes out there further then that. Let’s say even if the asteroid we managed to dock the camera on has enough escaping velocity to get away from our solar system. It will take….oooh….80,000 years to reach the closest star assuming the asteroid is traveling at around 60,000km/hr (a fairly reasonable guess). And by the time it reaches there, it will take 4.5 years for the signal to get back to earth assuming the signal is strong enough.

So there is the why not

Astronomy answers:

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets

Astronomy answers:

This is a beautiful Hubble ultra deep field high resolution photograph:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Hubble_ultra_deep_field_high_rez_edit.jpg

Also check out:

http://hubblesite.org

Astronomy answers:

Browse the sites:

http://miss-universe-news.newslib.com/

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/245284/

AJM

Astronomy answers:

This site has many URLs and pictures which show us about the universe. It comes with informative explanation too, take a look at: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/

Astronomy answers:

There are no photographs of any other universe than ours. That’s because there is only one universe, which includes everything we can see and experience. While some people speculate about the existence of other universes, we do not KNOW about them.

Or are you just asking how we photograph other galaxies within our universe. That is very easy because galaxies are very large and contain hundreds of billions of stars each. In fact, you can see galaxies with your naked eye, no telescope required, from a dark location if you know where to look.

Astronomy answers:

I would guess missuniverse.com

Astronomy answers:

I don’t know about print ads but there is a website which I personally think is the best of all – http://www.quotesdaddy.com/.

The registration is free and you can have your own author page and as your quotes gain in popularity by the members of the site, the popular user and quotes will be featured in Quotes Daddy’s permanent famous quotes collection, right along with Mark Twain and Albert Einstein.

All the quotes on this site are free for you to browse and when you sign up, also free to save to your favorites and share with friends.

You will find thousands of great quotes on –

http://www.quotesdaddy.com

You will definitely find some great quotes for every occasion.

You might like this –

“I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.” – Proverb

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook” – Julia Child

“There is a theory which states that if ever for any reason anyone discovers what exactly the Universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another that states that this has already happened.” – Douglas Adams

“Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of those pieces” – Judith Viorst

“I have met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you’re twenty minutes.” – Oscar Wilde

“Sacred cows make the best hamburger” – Mark Twain

“It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.” – Jerry Seinfeld

“Americans have different ways of saying things. They say “elevator”, we say “lift”… They say “President”, we say “stupid psychopathic git.” – Alexai Sayle

“If we’re not supposed to eat animals, how come they’re made out of meat?” – Tom Snyder

“Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that’s how dogs spend their lives” – Sue Murphy

Astronomy answers:

We don’t know for sure.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “in universe” existed in Chaucer’s time (around 1374) meaning “in universal application”. The modern meaning came later …

=quote=
universe

2. A. The whole of created or existing things regarded collectively; all things (including the earth, the heavens, and all the phenomena of space) considered as constituting a systematic whole, esp. As created or existing by Divine power; the whole world or creation; the cosmos.

1589 PUTTENHAM Eng. Poesie II. Xi. (Arb.) 111 The Roundell or spheare..for his ample capacitie doth resemble the world or vniuers. 1596 SPENSER Hymn Heav. Beauty 31 Looke on the frame Of this wyde vniuerse, and therein reed The endlesse kinds of creatures. 1611 B. JONSON Catiline I. I, O for a clap of thunder now, as loud As to be heard throughout the universe, To tell the world the fact.
=unquote=

… But we don’t know if the writers cited actually coined the use.

Astronomy answers:

“Life is a journey constantly turning down an unknown path”

“Life’s like a novel with the end ripped out. The edge of a canyon with only one way down”

“When push comes to shove, you taste what you’re made of. You might bend ’til you break ’cause it’s all you can take. On your knee’s you look up, decide you’ve had enough. You get mad, you get strong. Wipe your hands, shake it off. Then you Stand”

“Sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing is just a grain of sand and what you’ve been out there searching for forever is in your hands. And when you figure out love is all that matters after all, it sure makes everything else seem so small”

“There’s always gonna be another mountain. I’m always gonna wanna make it move. Always gonna be another battle, sometimes I’m gonna have to lose. Ain’t about how fast I get there, ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb.”

“Life’s a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don’t worry about what you don’t know. Life’s a dance, you learn as you go”

“I ain’t settlin’ for anything less than everything”

“You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in that tomorrow they’ll forget you ever sang. Sing it anyway”

“God is great. Beer is good, People are crazy”

“Love is unstoppable”

“You are unstoppable”

“Why wait another minute for something we should’ve done yesterday”

“Life is a highway”

“My wish for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to. Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small. You never need to carry more than you can hold. And while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to, I hope you know somebody loves you and wants the same things to. Yeah, this is my wish”

“The smallest thing can make all the difference. Love is alive, don’t listen to ‘em when they say you’re just a fool, just a fool to believe you can change the world”

“These things will change. Can you feel it now. These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down. It’s a revolution. The time will come for us to finally win and we’ll sing Hallelujah. We’ll sing Hallelujah.”

“In a moment, everything can change”

“For a minute, all the world can wait. Let go of your yesterday”

“Fly. Open up the part of you that wants to hide away. You can shine. Forget about the reasons why you can’t in life and start to try because it’s your time. Time to fly”

“It’s all about tonight. Good times and the music and laughing and grooving to the band. Everybody’s getting right. No worries we’re rocking all kinds of concoctions in our hands. Tomorrow can wait ’til tomorrow. It’s all about tonight”

“Don’t you know you’re beautiful just the way you are?”

“I’m a survivor”

“Sometime’s I forget what living’s for and I hear my life through my front door and I breath it in. I’m home again. Hello World”

“The Universe is very, very big.
It also loves a paradox. For example, it has some extremely strict rules.
Rule number one: Nothing lasts forever.
Not you or your family or your house or your planet or the sun. It is an absolute rule. Therefore when someone says that their love will never die, it means that their love is not real, for everything that is real dies.

Rule number two: Everything lasts forever.”

“If I start giving people what they like I’ll turn into one of them and I don’t want to be one of them I want to be one of me.”

“….maybe fear is God’s way of saying, “Pay attention, this could be fun.”

“I didn’t say no because between safety and adventure I choose adventure.”

“You gotta laugh because if you didn’t you’d cry”

“The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live”

“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

“If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you dream it, you can become it.”

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And Today? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”

“Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.”

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

“Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.”

“Maybe someday we’ll figure all this out. Try to put an end to all our doubt. Try to find a way to make things better now. Maybe someday we’ll live our lives out loud. We’ll be better off somehow. Someday”

“There’s no way but up from here”

“Don’t let the chain of love end with you”

Astronomy answers:

How stupid are you guys? If there wasn’t a balance between everything, everything would collapse, therefore it is necessary for all those equations combined to form a zero otherwise the world would be imbalanced and collapse in itself. (the proportional amount of matter and anti- matter, dark matter etc)

Again, you selectively quote something for your benefit, from the bible and the science book.

Astronomy answers:

Here is my favorite – it shows appreciation for all of the universe.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Astronomy answers:

Key Facts

full title · The Chocolate War

author · Robert Cormier

type of work · Novel

genre · Young adult, Fiction

language · English

time and place written · Written in 1974 in Leominster, Massachusetts

date of first publication · 1974

publisher · Dell Laurel-Leaf

narrator · There is a third person narrator.

Point of view · The point of view is from a third person omniscient narrator who skips from character to character, revealing a number of characters’ thoughts and actions.

Tone · The tone in the book is largely serious and very perceptive. While Jerry is the protagonist, we get into the minds of other characters as well. The tone during passages about Brother Leon and Archie becomes sarcastic and pessimistic. The tone at the ending is dismal and hopeless.

Tense · Past tense

setting (time) · It is unclear, only to say that it is a relatively modern time period

setting (place) · Trinity school (an all-boys school), with a few scenes at Jerry’s home.

Protagonist · Jerry Renault

major conflict · Jerry’s refusal to sell chocolates at the school chocolate sale.

Rising action · Jerry’s refusal after the first ten days and The Vigils’ subsequent punishment of that choice.

Climax · The assembly at which Jerry fights Emile Janza for the chance to get back at everyone who has punished him for his decision not to sell the chocolates.

Falling action · The ending of the boxing match and Jerry’s subsequent realization that it is not worth it to disturb the universe.

Themes · Disturbing the universe; psychological warfare; the power of fear; manipulation; nonconformity; perversion; corruptness.

Motifs · Assignments; football; roll call

symbols · Jerry’s poster; the chocolates; Room nineteen

foreshadowing · The Goober’s disintegration after carrying out his assignment, the beatings Jerry takes during and after football practice, Jerry looking at his poster and pondering the meaning of it

Astronomy answers:

This quote is not exactly about changing the world, but I think it could change the world if enough people paid attention to it:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Astronomy answers:

Meh. I’ve seen better trolling than this.

Astronomy answers:

The Kepler mission was launched so that we could be able to search for planets like Earth beyond the solar system. Kepler’s use is specifically on the fact that it uses the transit method for detecting small planets that are overshadowed by their radiant star’s light. Kepler will maybe find us a place where alien life could exist, or a place that we could colonize.

Astronomy answers:

NASA is definitely committed to going into space. It’s just that manned missions are now seen as antiquated and unnecessary for scientific discovery. Instead manned spaceflight will be turned over to the diapers and vomit brigade in the private sector.

NASA already has the following missions developed and almost ready to launch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_mission

In fact here is a list of planned launches:

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

You can see that there is plenty going on. NASA also needs to maintain it’s existing missions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini_mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_horizons

And has the following missions under consideration, including:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Mare_Explorer

So NASA is actually doing very well. Now that it is not financially handicapped by manned missions we should see a return to what NASA does best: high quality space exploration, new scientific discoveries and amazing images.

Cheers!

Astronomy answers:

The answer to this used to be ‘about one per week’, but the numbers for 2009 and 2010 are up around 80 per year. The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia lists the total at 490 confirmed. This number stands to increase in the near future. The Kepler Mission alone has found at least 700 possible candidates since its launch in 2009, though some will ultimately prove to be false positives. Naturally, the tendency is to err on the side of caution in listing a discovery as ‘confirmed’.

Astronomy answers:

Death of Michael Jackson
First Australian Woman to be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
The deadliest Bush fires ever accounted in Australian HIstory with a death toll of 173
NASA’s Kepler Mission, a space photometer which will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA.
Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves
earthquake in indonesia
AVatar is released, making it the second highest grossing film of all time.

Astronomy answers:

No,

NASA already has the following missions developed and almost ready to launch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_mission

In fact here is a list of planned launches:

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

You can see that there is plenty going on. NASA also needs to maintain it’s existing missions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_mission

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini_mission

So NASA is actually doing very well. Now that it is not financially handicapped by manned missions we should see a return to what NASA does best: high quality space exploration, new scientific discoveries and amazing images.

Cheers!

Astronomy answers:

Very unlikely. Our solar system formed around 4.3 billion years ago, and there is a special zone where life could have a chance of existing due to the specific amount of radiation that each planet inside this zone receives. Too much radiation, and the planet turns into a scorching, barren wasteland like venus and mercury. To little radiation, and the planet is cold and icy, and the only way life could exist is if this planets core is hot enough to warm H20 into its liquid state (see Jupiter’s planet, Europa).

This special zone is called the Goldilocks zone (its just right). Now, in about 5 billion years, the sun will reach the end of its life, and expand possibly past the orbits of venus and the earth. If this happens, the outer planets might warm up to a higher temperature and a new “Goldilocks Zone” might form, meaning moons of outer planets or the outer planets themselves could begin to harbor life, if water is already present or if an extrasolar object such as a comet (which can sometimes contain frozen H20) transplants water onto the surfuace or interior of the planet. Life could begin to form, or thrive in this situation.

But, like I said before, there is a condition when life could exist on other planets, as demonstrated by the Europa example above.

And lastly, NASA and other scientific research organizations look for signs of life on our planets and extrasolar planets that orbit other stars or “suns”, vast distances away from the earth. The mars rovers, and the newly launched Kepler Mission both search for signatures of life or possible conditions that could harbor life.

Astronomy answers:

SETI – the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – analyzing radio waves from space to detect a signal that may be artificial (much like our own radio wave radiate from our own world).

Kepler Mission – A search for habitable planets…planets that may harbor life.

M.E.R. – Mars Exploratory Rovers (Spirit, Opportunity)

MSL – Mars Science Laboratory – to further analyze the chemistry of Mars (Mars may have harbored primitive life some time in its past. (set to launch in 2011)

Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM, ESA-working title: Laplace) is a proposed joint NASA / ESA unmanned space mission slated to launch around 2020. Jupiter’s moon Europa likely has a sea of liquid water under its surface; its a good candidate for potential life.

Astronomy answers:

Hi Janjan,

? Overview of Kepler Mission, by NASA
? Video, 7:28 – http://kepler.nasa.gov/images/videos/ARC-KeplerOverview-480p.mov
? Multimedia galleries – http://kepler.nasa.gov/multimedia/

“The Kepler spacecraft is an American space observatory, the space-based portion of NASA’s Kepler Mission to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. The spacecraft, named in honor of the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler, was launched in March 2009 with a planned mission lifetime of at least 3.5 years.

The Kepler mission is “specifically designed to survey a portion of our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover dozens of Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets.” Kepler’s only instrument is a photometer that continually monitors the brightness of over 145,000 main sequence stars in a fixed field of view. This data is transmitted to Earth, then analyzed to detect periodic dimming caused by extrasolar planets that cross in front of their host star.

The Kepler observatory is currently in active operation, with the first main results announced on 4 January 2010. As expected, the initial discoveries were all short-period planets. As the mission continued, additional longer-period candidates were found – as of December 2011, there are a total of 2,326 candidates. Of these, 207 are similar in size to Earth, 680 are super-Earth-size, 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter. Moreover, 48 planet candidates were found in the habitable zones of surveyed stars. The Kepler team estimated that 5.4% of all stars host Earth-size planet candidates, and that 17% of all stars have multiple planets.”
~ Wikipedians, from Kepler (spacecraft)
? Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_%28spacecraft%29

Here’s an image which shows an overhead view of orbital positions of the planets in 16 solar systems with multiple planets discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission:
? Kepler’s Planetary Systems’ Orbits
? Image – http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/618707main_kepler-multi-systems_full.JPG
? Source webpage – http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/new-multi-systems.html

You can find out more by exploring NASA’s Kepler websites:
? Http://kepler.nasa.gov/
? Http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html

Hope that’s broadened your understanding, and given you some pointers for further exploration,

Share and Enjoy, Peace-&-Love, Dalinian – ? ? ? ? ?
——————————————————————————————————————
“The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when contemplating the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of the mystery every day.” ~ Albert Einstein, ‘LIFE’ magazine, 02 May 1955
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——————————————————————————————————————
• Dialectical materialist
• Cosmology connoisseur
• Physics aficionado

Astronomy answers:

There is a difference between being a “Sith Lord” and a “Dark Jedi”. Those difference are kind of hard to explain even for Lucas but in a nutshell a Sith Lord is one, doesn’t have to be a Jedi to start, who embraces the dark side and adheres to the teachings of the Sith. A Dark Jedi is just a Jedi that turns to the dark side usually in moments of rage.

Most Sith Lords die that way but a few have come back to the light. Ulic Qel Droma is mentioned in one of the other answers and that is true but the Wikipedia entry for him is one of the many “tainted” bios from the Star Wars Universe. Darth Revan is another and he is one of the few “Game characters” to whom this could apply because for the most part the characters found in the games are NOT canon characters. “Starkiller” is another “game character” to which this also applies although it is debatable as to whether or not he was actually a Sith or just a Dark Jedi.

As for Dark Jedi … There are many starting off with the one and only Luke Skywalker. Others are Kyp Durron, Jaina Solo, Kam Solousar, Zek … There are others but I can’t think of any off hand. Jacen Solo falls to the dark side and does become a Sith Lord and dies for his troubles … Sadly killed by his sister, Jaina in the climatic battle that ends the recent Legacy Of The Force 9 book series.

May The Force Be With You …

Astronomy answers:

Pizza the Hutt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33n-IS8a1S4

Astronomy answers:

Yeah, I’d say go for it…

Astronomy answers:

It’s very hard to call because like the vast majority of the characters died before their time, with the exception of the main characters like Luke, Han, Leia, Lando, Wedge, Boba Fett, and certain others. Chewbacca, who was not human but a part of the movies, was the only character from the films who was killed off in the books following “Return of the Jedi,” but he was well over 200 years old. The characters that have been created in the Expanded Universe basically have no bearing on the movies and therefore their demise can come at anytime.

In the Expanded Universe with the current stories set 44 years after the Battle of Yavin, Lando and Han are in their early seventies, with Lando the father of a three-year old son, Luke and Leia are in their early sixties, and Boba Fett is probably in his mid-seventies, with a granddaughter. His daughter who was in her fifties, was killed by Leia and Han’s son, Jacen in the novel, “Bloodlines.”

Basically, it’s hard to call. The main characters are acting in the books like they’re not old, though as a Jedi that’s not hard to do at all. Count Dooku lived into his seventies before being killed by Anakin Skywalker but was able to fight two Jedi at numerous times during the Clone Wars. I imagine that when the authors of the novels and George Lucas decide it’s time to pass the baton from the main characters to a new era of the Star Wars universe, Luke and the gang will either see a peaceful ending well into their advianced years, or they will go out as the heroes they are.

Astronomy answers:

One of the best things about the X-Wing Series is the fact that Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are not at all main characters in the series, and if they appear at all it is, for the most part, a cameo. Instead the X-Wing series focuses on other personalities that are unexplored in the Star Wars Universe and introduces other new characters that will become intrinsic to later Expanded Universe story arcs.

Wedge Antilles is seen in the Star Wars films but the lack of insight into his character from the movies, is more than made up for in this series as he is a central character. Admiral Ackbar is yet another character from the movies that we get to see more of.

New characters we get introduced to include: Corran Horn, Mirax Terrik, Booster Terrik, Tycho Celchu, Winter, Whistler, and Gavin Darklighter among many others.

These new characters will stand alongside the older ones and become just as endeared as those that you first fell in love with. As I said, one of the best parts about the X-Wing series is that it does not feature any of the normal main characters in large part. It allows us to remember on what a large scale a galactic conflict would take place, and that even our beloved heroes cannot always be everywhere at once.

The story arc itself (of both those books by Stackpole AND those by Allston) are interesting enough in their own right that one needs not even by a Star Wars fan to enjoy them, or even to understand what is going on. This series is highly recommended as one of the best reads in the EU and as a Star Wars fan you would be doing yourself a disservice to put these books off.

Astronomy answers:

You might wanna try command and conquer 3, not red alert, just C&C:3 and its expansion kanes wrath. It’s pretty fun.

RTS to me is a dead genre until Star Craft 2 comes out, and god only knows when that’ll happen.

Astronomy answers:

Really, we *can’t* know what there was before *time* began. We can guess on what there was, but our universe is all we can know – and we can’t know what happened before it existed.

Astronomy answers:

There is not sufficient data yet to make that determination. In principle, we can know the answer by measuring the densities of the various types of matter and energy in the universe. However, even though we have those measurements, we do not have them sufficiently accurately to distinguish between a closed (finite) and open (infinite) universe. For some reason (probably due to inflation) the universe’s shape is exceedingly close to their boundary with each other.

Astronomy answers:

It is considered to be finite, but unbounded, just as the surface of a sphere is finite but without any boundaries. Of course, a balloon is a two dimensional surface – viewed from three dimensions, and the universe is four dimensional.

It may be easier (but not easy) to imagine this as a three dimensional surface within a fourth spacial dimension.

And yes, you are correct, the universe is not expanding INTO anything. There is nothing ‘outside’. There is no ‘outside’.

Astronomy answers:

It is the modern rate of expansion which appears faster than in the past. Or, to be more precise, the modern rate of expansion is NOT AS SLOW as it should have been.

Of course, this does not count the brief “inflation” period at the start.

After inflation(s), the rate of expansion stabilized and (we thought) should then begin to slowly decelerate under the influence of the universe’s self-gravitation (all the mass of the universe, acting on itself).

So, it is possible that the rate today is slower than the rate “back then”, but it is not as slow as it should be, therefore there must be a force that… Err… Slows down the deceleration (and that would be mathematically counted as an acceleration).