On Reddit I point out @neiltyson is a source of misinformation. One guy was saying I misinform because I'm Mormon and MAGA. Another was saying @rmathematicus is an amateur historian. reddit.com/r/AskScienceDiscu… I also mentioned @TimONeill007 and @MichalYouDoing

The Inquisition's consultant Theologians in 1616 thought heliocentrism was a heresy, as it lacked evidence and so shouldn't be used to reinterpret scripture. The Roman Inquisition cited the Theologians, but themselves never called it a heresy, using the words "false, and contrary to scripture". If they had ruled it to be an actual heresy, Galileo would have been made to abjure in 1616, and heliocentrism could not have been held as a hypothesis, De Revolutionibus would have been banned instead of censored, Galileo and Kepler's works would have been banned in 1616 and the Dialogue would have never been commissioned or published in 1632. Cdl Hohenzollern was also given an assurance in 1624 that heliocentrism would never be condemned as a heresy by the Pope. Galileo's charge "vehement suspicion of heresy" was just one particular charge that the Roman Inquisition issued. Obviously Galileo had argued for something that their consultants thought was a Heresy. But even worse - he had disobeyed a court order of the high ecclesiastical court. The Inquisition sent out notes to the Papal Nuncios after 1633 to make it clear that Galileo wasn't a heretic. Mostly in order to make it clear that he had broken and abjured. A kind of gloating.

I've been looking for some basis to estimate trade flows between Earth and offworld settlements for some modeling I'm doing. I was today years old when I found out that the model for that in international trade is called the "Gravity Model" You can't make this stuff up. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravit…

Al-Khwarizmi did not in anyway originate, invent, or create the algorithm Link in first comment

Paths to and from the EML1 and EML2 necks are more dramatic with a large mass parameter. A few mass parameters: Earth/Moon 1.216E-02 Sun/Earth 3.039E-06 Sun/Venus 2.448E-06 Sun/Mars 3.229E-07 I believe Ross' work will be very useful when we start using the Lunar Hill Sphere.

Mathematics, physics, astronomy, science fiction. Three-Body Problem. Newly discovered stable periodic orbits. By Xiaoming LI and Shijun LIAO, Source: web.archive.org/web/20250321…, Used with permission.

This is why mini-moons matter. Objects like 10-meter asteroid 2022 RD₂ are already skimming Earth capture. A small Δv could shift them into long-lived capture near Sun–Earth L2 or perhaps even a lunar orbit. Great visualization by @tony873004

Brahmagupta was a renowned Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived during the 7th century CE. He made significant contributions to many areas of mathematics, including number theory, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. One of his most important achievements was giving a clear understanding of zero as a number. He explained how zero behaves in calculations and described rules for working with it. Brahmagupta introduced a multiplication technique known as “gomutrika,” which resembles the lattice method used today. He developed practical methods to find square roots and cube roots, and he provided solutions for linear and quadratic equations. He also worked on more complex equations, such as what is now called Pell’s equation (x² − ny² = 1), and gave systematic ways to solve them. In addition, he found integer solutions for equations of the form ax by = c. In geometry and trigonometry, he discovered important results, including a formula to find the area of a cyclic quadrilateral, an identity related to sums of squares, and properties connected to cyclic figures. He also calculated approximate values of pi and worked with trigonometric functions like sine. He wrote two major works, the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta and the Khandakhadyaka. These texts contain many original ideas that influenced later scholars in India and other parts of the world. Brahmagupta is considered one of the greatest mathematicians of ancient India, and his ideas continue to play an important role in modern mathematics.

Lunar ISRU has been stuck in an architectural cul-de-sac for thirty years. Hydrogen reduction of ilmenite: 4% oxygen yield, 25 tons regolith per ton O₂, mare-only feedstock. Fluorination of anorthite: 80% yield, 2.8 tons regolith per ton O₂, highlands anywhere — plus Al and Si as byproducts. The way out was published in 1988, validated experimentally in 1993, and nobody read it. Very analogous to MSR technology, which I love about it. selenianboondocks.com/2026/0…

Earth-Moon L2 has compelling advantages in a versatile, reliable, expandable lunar transportation architecture. I've been an advocate for over 20 years of this approach. selenianboondocks.com/2026/0…

Wikipedia presently lists 37 Earth Co-Orbital Asteroids: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego… Some of these occasionally fall into the earth's realm and become temporary mini-moons. @RossDynamicsLab would it be possible to park one of these at SEL1, SEL2, EML1 or EML2?

See you on the Dark Side of the Moon

Excellent graphics! And accurate so far as I can tell.

The Moon is the perfect proving ground for everything America needs to explore the solar system. Our astronauts will work with lunar soil to extract water and ice and produce propellant, a critical step toward one day manufacturing fuel on Mars. The goal is not flags and footprints, the goal is to stay.

"Frequent robotic landings..." So this might be more than Apollo 2.0.

I did not anticipate a Klein bottle until about the middle. I try to do stuff like this but this guy leaves me in the dust.

Rodney Stark is addressing a problem - namely the Enlightenment/Conflict thesis propaganda claim that somehow the scientifically method magically appeared in the works of Galileo or Newton and that this was in opposition to religion. Stark definitely shows that this was happening before, and the significant value of Christian built Universities, academic networks and vast science funding. All true. But his conclusion that the scientific method was created by the Church just lacks in following through on the kind of research he did to defeat the claims he was addressing. You can, in the same way, trace its usage further back. I think it's important to be consistent and accurate here - the Church DID fund and support the vast majority of *the world's* science for over half a millenium. It did actively preserve ancient knowledge, at great cost. It brought education to the public regardless of class. It built the universities, it built a pedantic mental framework that allowed for the level of detail required for progress. It was a key reason we advanced to where we are now. But it didn't create science, or the scientific method, which would have seemed obvious to any ancient academic. Or put another way - Christianity wasn't necessary for science, but it certainly helped! Here's a longer article from historian of science Thony Christie on the subject: thonyc.wordpress.com/2026/03…

"Not to provoke Putin is to show weakness, which will 100% provoke Putin...A developing and democratic Ukraine is a threat to Putin's power..[Putin] will try to cut more Ukraine and then Baltics." - Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Goddard was ridiculed in the New York Times, by a snarky journalist who did not have a good grasp of physics (glad we don't have those types anymore!)