Starwatch for February 2025

Hello! I’m Karl Hricko of United Astronomy Clubs of NJ and the National Space Society, bringing you the February Starwatch for WNTI – the sound of Centenary.

Just imagine yourself flying through space in a bagel that’s going faster than light. Can this be possible?  Actually it’s a torus shaped warp drive spacecraft initially conceived by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre, and now being developed further by NASA. This Alcubierre Warp Drive uses exotic matter in the form of negative mass in order to compress the fabric of space-time in front of the craft, while extending it behind. This creates a low energy vacuum field that acts like a surfboard moving along a wave, or like someone moving on a conveyor walkway.

So, just as the person is not physically moving themselves, the craft is not moving itself but is riding with the fabric of space –time. As a result, this does not violate the idea of mass not being able to go faster than the speed of light. It’s the warp bubble of negative energy containing the craft that is moving faster than light, not the craft itself.

Although we haven’t physically toured any of the planets yet, we still can take a visual tour. We can see all these planets after sunset. As we look south, Mars appears in Gemini. To its right, Jupiter looms brightly in Taurus. The brightest planet Venus shines in Pisces as you look to the west, where you’ll also see Saturn just below in Aquarius. So until our technology is able to actually warp or vacuum space, let’s enjoy our visual tour of the planets.

Until our next Starwatch –   Don’t forget to check out …  What’s up in the night sky!