The Soviet Union came to an end, to be replaced by a multitude of new or revived republics, all with their own flags.

Watching Chess a couple of weeks ago, I found myself actually shivering a little when I saw the hammer and sickle flag.

Just recently, a man-made object became the coldest object in space. Coldest Known Object in Space Is Very Unnatural

The coldest known object out in space has now been announced by scientists. It's not a frozen comet or even some distant, chilly gas cloud. Rather, it's a spacecraft.

On July 3, the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft reached this frigid extreme as part of a key step in the satellite's mission to observe the remnant radiation of the Big Bang.

Since its launch on May 14 (accompanied by its sibling spacecraft Herschel), Planck has been traveling to its final orbit at the second Lagrange point of the sun-Earth system, L2, and cooling its instruments down to their operational temperature of minus 459.49 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.05 Celsius). This temperature is just 0.1 Celsius above absolute zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our universe.

"It is indeed both the coldest spot in any spacecraft that we know about, and also the coldest known object in space, including dust, gas etc.," Planck project scientist Jan Tauber wrote in an email. "Of course in a laboratory on Earth, colder spots can be made."

Such low temperatures are necessary for Planck's detectors to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) — the first light released by the universe, only 380,000 years after the Big Bang — by measuring its temperature across the sky.

I have Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation - in my pants!

I have Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation - in my pants!

So do I!

I have Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation - in my pants!

So do I!

One does suspect, however, that measurements would find temperatures above absolute zero in those (mst3k)regions(/mst3k)

Wait, these two statements are contradictory:

This temperature is just 0.1 Celsius above absolute zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our universe.

"It is indeed both the coldest spot in any spacecraft that we know about, and also the coldest known object in space, including dust, gas etc.," Planck project scientist Jan Tauber wrote in an email. "Of course in a laboratory on Earth, colder spots can be made."

This temperature is just 0.1 Celsius above absolute zero, the coldest temperature theoretically possible in our universe.

That sentence can be interpreted two ways. It's absolute zero that's the coldest temperature possible in our universe.

so, by "colder spots can be made", he means the .1 degree?

so, by "colder spots can be made", he means the .1 degree?

The colder spots that could be made on Earth are within Earth's atmosphere, as distinct from being an object in space.

Absolute zero may not be technically possible to reach, since getting all motion to stop... you may be able to get within .001 degree of it, for instance, but you always have that little bit of heat left to suck out.

Spam comments are annoying. I get an email telling me I've got a comment to moderate on my blog. Then I look at it and it's something like "Hey, great post. I'm looking forward to reading more." Yeah, sure you are, you're a frakking toaster.

Is frakking spelled with 1 or 2 k's. Firefox doesn't recognize either which is wrong. What the hell of nerds made this software if that isn't in the dictionary.