Somewhere outside the Schwarzschild radius of every black hole is a region in which the path of incoming photons is 'bent' 180 degrees and they are sent back roughly in the direction from which they came. In my mind this means that some infinitesimally small portion of the photons that fall on the earth every day were reflected from the earth ~50K years ago and sent in the direction of the black hole at the center of…
I have followed the same idea regarding radio waves. Would it be possible to travel far enough out to receive radio or TV broadcasts from WWII? Presumably all that information in the form of waves is still out there (assuming it hasn't been too distorted by inference, or far too small of an amplitude).
What did Earth look like X million years ago?
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Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#42Somewhere outside the Schwarzschild radius of every black hole is a region in which the path of incoming photons is 'bent' 180 degrees and they are sent back roughly in the direction from which they came. In my mind this means that some infinitesimally small portion of the photons that fall on the earth every day were reflected from the earth ~50K years ago and sent in the direction of the black hole at the center of…
I have followed the same idea regarding radio waves. Would it be possible to travel far enough out to receive radio or TV broadcasts from WWII? Presumably all that information in the form of waves is still out there (assuming it hasn't been too distorted by inference, or far too small of an amplitude).
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#43Somewhere outside the Schwarzschild radius of every black hole is a region in which the path of incoming photons is 'bent' 180 degrees and they are sent back roughly in the direction from which they came. In my mind this means that some infinitesimally small portion of the photons that fall on the earth every day were reflected from the earth ~50K years ago and sent in the direction of the black hole at the center of…
I have followed the same idea regarding radio waves. Would it be possible to travel far enough out to receive radio or TV broadcasts from WWII? Presumably all that information in the form of waves is still out there (assuming it hasn't been too distorted by inference, or far too small of an amplitude).
I think.
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
The majority of flora we see now also evolved very late. The dinosaurs probably saw and fed on Conifers, Cycadophytes and Ferns. Grass and Modern leafed flora evolved much later.
You can see what forests might have looked like 100mm years ago by going to New Zealand, which split off from the Australian landmass about that long ago. The native flora consists of a lot of ferns, and almost entirely evergreen plants. Flowers are uncommon and primitive, most plants are pollinated and spread by birds. The only native grasses are tussocks.
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#45How do we know the geography of so long ago?
Plates which are separating let molten rock from the mantle up, where it cools hardens. Any rock which can be magnetised (iron) is aligned with the Earth's magnetic field when molten, and gets fixed that way. The magnetic field swaps every 10,000 years or so [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal], so you get a stripey effect.
Working our more precised dates for the magnetic swaps is a matter of slow and painstaking correlation with other bits of evidence: dating of radioactive elements, tree rings, rock layers, the temperature of the Earth, composition of gas bubbles trapped in rock and ice.
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#46Last week I was in the field digging dinosaurs in Montana, when one of the dig leaders mentioned there was no grass back then, just lots of ferns, because grass hadn't evolved yet. It kind of blew my mind that for most of dinosaurs, there was just a lot of leafs and ferns. Here's some pictures for context ( https://imgur.com/a/rE5wwc4 ), when you're out where most dino bones are found, you forget that it may have bee…
There wasn't even grass in South Africa until humans brought it there. Surprised me too.
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#47That's pretty cool. I have two suggestions, if the developer is seeing this: - Mark the North and South poles. For someone unfamiliar with the past continental layouts, it's easy to get a bit disoriented . I would find a location on the globe, jump back in time, rotate the globe a bit to look around, then jump further back in time and then start to get disoriented as to where on earth the details I'm looking at are.…
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#48Somewhere outside the Schwarzschild radius of every black hole is a region in which the path of incoming photons is 'bent' 180 degrees and they are sent back roughly in the direction from which they came. In my mind this means that some infinitesimally small portion of the photons that fall on the earth every day were reflected from the earth ~50K years ago and sent in the direction of the black hole at the center of…
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
There wasn't even grass in South Africa until humans brought it there. Surprised me too.
Really? It doesn't seem to be true: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1696/2015... talks about grasslands in South Africa 1-2 million years ago, well before humans existed.
Re: What did Earth look like X million years ago?
#50Somewhere outside the Schwarzschild radius of every black hole is a region in which the path of incoming photons is 'bent' 180 degrees and they are sent back roughly in the direction from which they came. In my mind this means that some infinitesimally small portion of the photons that fall on the earth every day were reflected from the earth ~50K years ago and sent in the direction of the black hole at the center of…