galaxies
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30 years on, Hubble is still making dazzling discoveries
NASA announced that Hubble has released 30 newly created Hubble images as part of the Caldwell catalog.
Green-hot galaxies reveal clues to the ancient universe
Galaxies that emit a green glow make bitchin' screen-savers, but they're exceedingly rare in the actual universe. However, UCLA astronomers recently discovered that most, if not all early galaxies had a green hue due to their intense heat and special chemistry. "The discovery that young galaxies are so unexpectedly bright [with green light] ... will dramatically change and improve the way that we study galaxy formation throughout the history of the universe," said UCLA physics Professor Matthew Malkan in a statement.
Universe may hold 10 times more galaxies than once thought
The observable universe was already incomprehensibly big, but it now looks to be even bigger. Astronomers have determined that are likely about 10 times more galaxies than previously thought, or between 1 trillion to 2 trillion. We just don't have the technology (or physical proximity) to detect them all, according to the researchers. They reached the conclusion after converting Hubble Deep Field images into 3D to study the number of galaxies at a given point in the universe's history, and using mathematical models to infer the possibility of galaxies that we haven't spotted. Simply speaking, the volume of galaxies seen over time doesn't make sense unless there are many we aren't aware of.
Galaxy studies show that the universe is slowly dying
Not to bum you out, but many scientists believe that the universe will eventually die -- stars and even black holes will release energy until there's virtually nothing left. And unfortunately, there's now stronger evidence that this inexorable decline is real. Scientists using radio telescopes have measured the energy output of 200,000 galaxies with greater precision than ever, and they've determined that these star havens are only producing half as much energy as they were 2 billion years ago. In short, the universe is fading out. This isn't surprising (entropy is inescapable in our understanding of physics), but it does downplay theories that the universe might maintain or even regain energy.
The Universe might contain millions of hidden black holes
Black holes are, by definition, impossible to see by conventional methods and are often further obscured by thick blankets of dust or gas. But that's not an issue for NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). It can peek through the obscuring layers and monitor the black holes via the high-energy X-rays that they emit. And, after a recent survey that spotted five previously unknown supermassive black holes in the centers of various galaxies, NASA researchers now think there could be millions of of them dotting the Universe like the holes of an intergalactic colander.
PAX South 2015: Why aren't MMOs more social?
On Friday, Alex Albrecht from ZergID and formerly of the Totally Rad Show headed up a PAX South panel about the social side of MMOs, inviting Patrick Mulhern from Lorehound, Jenesee Grey from Camelot Unchained, and me to join to discuss community in MMOs and why it's seemed so absent in recent years. Meg Campbell from YouTube moderated the panel discussion, calling us the PAX MMO guild. I admit that I considered naming this piece, "How Star Wars Galaxies did everything right and World of Warcraft did everything wrong" because I am obviously biased. But I really was completely surprised at how much SWG came up during the panel. Many former Galaxies players will tell you that there was a lot about that game that was pure crap, but when you talk about the social implementations of SWG, there just aren't many games that compare.
Supercomputer gives most accurate picture yet of star formation
Scientists may finally have an answer to the question of why fewer stars than expected form out of interstellar material. So far, the best simulations have predicted that nearly all the matter in vast clouds of interstellar gases would eventually cool and become stars. However, only a small percentage actually does, so an international team led by CalTech has tried to create a more accurate model. They turned to a machine tailor-made for such simulations: the NSF-funded Stampede supercomputer. It turns out that star formation isn't just a local phenomenon; it's also affected by supernova explosions, radiation, stellar gases and even starlight.
Lost Continent: Why so impatient with ArcheAge?
It's kinda silly, but I feel like giving up on ArcheAge. It's silly because the game launched in mid-September and we're currently in November. The fantasy sandpark does have more than it's share of problems, but logically I know that it's way, way too early to start piling dirt on its imaginary corpse. That said, there are so many MMOs clamoring for my attention nowadays that the idea of being patient with one of them is almost laughable. I'm not alone here, either, as many gamers I know look for the first available reason to leave an MMO and cross it off their to-do list, simply because they're wired to complete tasks and the ginormous glut of games long ago passed the point of overwhelming.
The Daily Grind: Should EVE Online add manual flight controls?
On Friday, developer CCP Games stunned us with the news that EVE Online will be adding manual flight controls in December's Rhea update. Gamers have been asking for twitch controls since EVE launched in 2003, but the idea has always been shot down as infeasible because it would put the server under extremely heavy load. CCP mentioned its interest in twitch controls during Fanfest 2013, and I speculated on a possible server-friendly implementation in an EVE Evolved article shortly after, but the fact that the feature is about to be released still comes as a huge surprise. The new controls will be optional and quite limited. Ships will be able to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise and pitch their ships up vertically up and down, but we won't be able to do loops or rolls like in a dogfighting game. Developers also want to add joystick support soon, but so far there are no plans to add manually targeted ship weapons. Many players are excited for the new controls, and some of them are already asking for further features like the ability to lock the camera behind their ships for a more hands-on flight experience. The announcement has prompted debate in the EVE Online community, and not everyone is convinced it's a good idea. Some have complained that twitch controls don't suit EVE as the ships are supposed to be massive starships with full crews rather than single-pilot fighter craft. There's also some cynicism over whether the feature is only being worked on now due to the growing popularity of Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous. EVE could be positioning itself as a viable alternative for any players who are disappointed with the new space games, a strategy that has worked in the past to help it absorb players from games like Earth & Beyond and Star Wars Galaxies. What do you think? Should EVE add manual flight controls, and is this an attempt to appeal to the mass market? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Half of the stars in our universe live in the space between galaxies
Hubble's deep field imagery is breathtaking, but what lies between those thousands of spiral-arm galaxies? More stars, of course. Data collected by CIBER rockets (Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment)show that as many as half of the stars in the universe are orphans -- suns that spun out of their home galaxies in the wake of celestial events that tore universe in twain. These stars live in the dark space between galaxies, bathing the universe in the dim "intra-halo" light that the CIBER rockets picked up.
A 3D slice of the universe 10.8 billion years ago
Mapping out the ancient universe is a major astronomical goal, but there's a huge challenge: the galaxies there are so dim, scientists can't make out any of the dark parts. But researchers from the Max Planck Institute and US Berkeley/Berkeley Lab have made a breakthrough that may help. They turned their telescopes on a small, 10.8 billion year old chunk of the universe, measuring the change in light from galaxies caused by hydrogen clouds just in front of them. By observing a number of such galaxies, the astronomers created a map of the cosmic web of gases in front of them, in a similar way that scientists map out the brain using CT scans. Though they covered just a tiny portion of the universe, the scientists think it could help the DESI project, due to come online in 2018. It's goal is nothing less than completely mapping the universe to a distance of 10 billion light years.
Our entire Milky Way galaxy is just a dot in this supercluster
Ready to feel small? Our sun is just one of 300 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is one of many, many other galaxies -- but at least we now know where it is. Astronomers have mapped a "supercluster" of galaxies including the Milky Way and dubbed it Laniakea, or "immeasurable heaven" in Hawaiian. Using several radio telescopes, the team calculated the movement of nearby galaxies relative to each other, after taking into account cosmic expansion. They chose the supercluster boundary based on that motion, since galaxies tend to flow along the same paths toward common gravitational wells. Lanaikea was defined based on its flow toward the "Great Attractor," along with another supercluster called Perseus-Pisces. As shown in the stunning video below, our own insignificant galaxy is on a prominent flow path in Laniakea, right at the edge of a massive void.
Raph Koster on Origin's Privateer Online
Raph Koster's thrown up a fairly fascinating blog post detailing one of his Origin projects that never saw the light of day. It was originally codenamed Star Settlers and it featured procedurally generated planets, exploration, resource management, and more. Koster's executive bosses "blew up a huge portion of the design" in favor of fitting the fledgling game into Origin's Wing Commander IP, several online versions of which were already in the works. "Some of them had gotten pretty far -- piles of artwork, design work, and even some tech," Koster writes. Finally a Privateer Online team was assembled, and it cranked out a prototype featuring "radically different" procedural planets, multiplayer space dogfighting, fractal ship customization, modular planetary settlement capabilities, and "a huge pile of lore" written by Wing Commander vets. Though Privateer Online was cancelled in favor of Earth & Beyond and its design docs were burned in a bonfire at Origin's shut-down party, Koster says that many of the developers went on to make Star Wars Galaxies which contained some of the same ideas.
SOE teases picture of mystery sandbox MMO
Behold, ex-Star Wars Galaxies players: This is the first glimpse of the home that SOE is building for you. SOE President John Smedley sent out a pair of pictures on Twitter on January 29th showing screenshots from the unannounced MMO that the studio is creating. The pictures are both of the back of a church or chapel with a fenced-in graveyard next to it. In the second picture, snow is falling. The pictures seem to suggest that the game will take place in a contemporary setting. One of SOE's CMs indicated that these tweets were of the new sandbox MMO described as "dedicated" to SWG players.
Smedley: SOE's new unannounced MMO is dedicated to SWG players
It's been a roller coaster day for fans of SOE and the firm's MMO catalog. Earlier we learned that four of the company's titles, including the flawed but much-loved fantasy title Vanguard -- will be shutting down later this year. CEO John Smedley took to Reddit to answer questions following the announcement, and while it makes for a sobering read if you're a Vanguard, Wizardry Online, Free Realms, or Clone Wars Adventures fan, there was a hopeful nugget buried in there for sandbox lovers and more specifically, fans of Star Wars: Galaxies. "SWG players, our next game (not announced yet) is dedicated to you," Smedley wrote. "Once we launch it... you can come home now."
The Soapbox: MMO 'nostalgia' isn't nostalgia
Here's the Merriam-Webster online dictionary definition of the word nostalgia. nos·tal·gia noun \nä-ˈstal-jə, nə- also nȯ-, nō-; nə-ˈstäl-\ : pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again 1 : the state of being homesick : homesickness 2 : a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition; also : something that evokes nostalgia And here's where I tell you that nostalgia is the most misused, overused, and overly simplistic word in modern MMO discourse.
Some Assembly Required: Pre-NGE SWG's proper sandbox PvP
A few weeks ago I ranted at indie sandbox devs who continue pumping out poorly conceived FFA PvP games. I didn't have any wordcount left at the end of that novella to propose any solutions, so I'm going to do that today. And hey, it's pretty simple, at least conceptually. All a dev team needs to do is iterate on Star Wars: Galaxies' pre-NGE PvP system.
The Daily Grind: Are player councils a good idea?
Turbine recently announced a new Player Council for Dungeons and Dragons Online. The company previously put together a similar panel for Lord of the Rings Online, but thus far we've not heard much in the way of initiatives or results. Back in the day, Star Wars: Galaxies had its own version of player representation that never seemed to actually accomplish anything. EVE Online's Council of Stellar Management has been meeting for years now, and it's probably the most impactful of the ones listed here, though whether that's due to the actual CSM or the fact that EVE is one of the few MMOs permanently affected by player action is up for debate. The question I'm coming to is this: Do you think player councils are a good idea? Would you like to serve on one? Why or why not? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Jukebox Heroes: Reader request 3
Since it's our very last Jukebox Heroes column of the year on the very last day of the year, I thought it would be most appropriate to open up the reader request lines once again and feature MMO tunes that are your favorites. If you'd like to put in your own request for the next time I run one of these columns, please list your favorite MMO music track in the comments along with an explanation as to what you love about it! So check out what your fellow soundtrackophiles appreciate and stay tuned for a totally rockin' 2014!
One Shots: Get to da Choppa!
"This is the last time I ever got to see my Orc Choppa in game," sent in reader Sean. "Oddly enough, I couldn't get a screenshot of my Order character because even in the final days they didn't take out the faction locking, and so I was locked out for eight hours." It's also the last time that I'll be able to make that awesome Predator pun that you see in the title of this week's column there. Man, with Warhammer Online gone, how will I be able to make my '80s action movie references? I guess I'll just put on a brave face and soldier on, somehow.
