New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

Palomar · 2002-09-17 10:07:37

*A Jupiter-sized planet found orbiting a nearby star:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....anet_dc

--Cindy

Phobos · 2002-09-17 16:34:06

*A Jupiter-sized planet found orbiting a nearby star:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....anet_dc
--Cindy

I wish we had the technology to view some of these extra-solar planets directly. The more I read about all of these discoveries the more amicable I become to the thought of other life existing out there. Even though most of these planets we've detected so far are Jupiter sized, I bet once we fine tune our technology we'll being seeing evidence of a lot more Earth sized planets as well. Maybe the OWL telescope will help in detecting smaller planets and perhaps image some of the Jupiter sized ones directly.

Palomar · 2002-09-18 08:51:42

*A Jupiter-sized planet found orbiting a nearby star:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....anet_dc
--Cindy
I wish we had the technology to view some of these extra-solar planets directly. The more I read about all of these discoveries the more amicable I become to the thought of other life existing out there. Even though most of these planets we've detected so far are Jupiter sized, I bet once we fine tune our technology we'll being seeing evidence of a lot more Earth sized planets as well. Maybe the OWL telescope will help in detecting smaller planets and perhaps image some of the Jupiter sized ones directly.

*Yeah; a probe or another Voyager maybe. Does alpha Centauri have any planets orbiting it that we know of? I can't recall...

Even if we sent a probe to the nearest extra-solar planet, it could take upwards to a century to reach it, if not more...but then there's the issue, I suppose, of the probe being able to function that long in order to transmit data back, provided it doesn't get knocked for a loop by space debris, etc.

It really does get a bit depressing to think how truly FAR AWAY everything is from us, at this point in time.

???

--Cindy

Adrian · 2002-09-18 09:32:40

I once did an interview with someone at ESA responsible for the Darwin Planet Finder. It's a couple of years old now but the information is still generally correct. I'm told that now there are plans to merge the ESA Darwin and NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder, which on the whole is probably a good idea.

On the same site, I also had a lot of fun writing an article about where you'd look for a habitable terrestrial planet.

Edited By Adrian on Sep. 18 2002 at 16:34

Phobos · 2002-09-18 18:03:41

*Yeah; a probe or another Voyager maybe. Does alpha Centauri have any planets orbiting it that we know of? I can't recall...
Even if we sent a probe to the nearest extra-solar planet, it could take upwards to a century to reach it, if not more...but then there's the issue, I suppose, of the probe being able to function that long in order to transmit data back, provided it doesn't get knocked for a loop by space debris, etc.

The last I read they haven't found planets around Alpha Centauri yet but not to long ago I read this article claiming that it might be possible for life to develop there even though its a multiple star system. The author was debating against the claim that it would be impossible for an Earth-like planet to exist in something like a binary star system, so I hope if they do find some planets there they'll be Earth-like. As for the probe, even if we did successfully send one on a hundred year trip, I wonder if people on Earth would still be interested in it once it started beaming back the data. It wouldn't surprise me if some politician decided to cut the funding that maintains the program 20 years before the probe arrives or whatever.

I once did an interview with someone at ESA responsible for the Darwin Planet Finder. It's a couple of years old now but the information is still generally correct. I'm told that now there are plans to merge the ESA Darwin and NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder, which on the whole is probably a good idea.

It's a big jump going from only being able to detect massive Jupiter sized planets to ones with only a few Earth masses. I'm no optics expert, but I wonder if we could get enough resolving power to image details on these planets if we were to space these telescopes very distant from each other, say a fleet of telescopes that are seperated by millions of kilometers in space?

Shaun Barrett · 2002-09-19 05:38:51

Looks like my question has been answered!

They've done a spectral analysis of light from Earth's new 'moon' and found it exactly matches the spectrum of light reflected from titanium oxide paint.
Guess what kind of paint they used for the Saturn V upper stage?!

Adrian · 2002-09-19 07:52:59

Phobos: That's the idea of the Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin - both mission architectures involving a fleet of linked space telescopes to increase resolving power. Since any such mission would be first generation, I doubt that it would be able to resolve Earth sized planets - the figure quoted in the interview was 'planets 3 or 4 times the size of Earth' which isn't bad but it's not perfect. I imagine that second and third generation 'fleet telescopes' would be able to not only resolve Earth sized planets but also perhaps even continents on them (if they existed).

Phobos · 2002-09-19 15:43:24

I imagine that second and third generation 'fleet telescopes' would be able to not only resolve Earth sized planets but also perhaps even continents on them (if they existed).

That would truly be a feat to behold. I wonder how far we have to go technologically in order to image detail on Earth sized extra-solar planets. I hope before I kick the bucket they publish gorgeous photos of a planet with continents and liquid oceans orbiting some obscure star.

Palomar · 2002-09-21 08:17:33

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl....rvatory

--Cindy

Palomar · 2002-09-25 22:32:16

*A Long Time Ago, in a Dictionary Far, Far Away...

Jedi and Klingons Invade Dictionary
Wed Sep 25,10:59 AM ET
By Peter Graff

LONDON (Reuters) - Science fiction's "Jedi" warriors and "Klingon" bad guys have entered the newest edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, along with "asylum seekers," "asymmetrical warfare" and "spin control."

The first new edition in nearly a decade of the short version of the classic word bible will appear Thursday, with 3,500 new entries, from "ass-backwards" to "warp drive."

***

I didn't know where else to put this post...

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2002-09-26 01:53:39

Hi Cindy!
I think I read somewhere that the 'Jupiter-size planet found orbiting a nearby star' has now been shown to be a sunspot on its parent star.
Disappointing, but apparently true.

Palomar · 2002-09-26 08:09:00

Hi Cindy!
I think I read somewhere that the 'Jupiter-size planet found orbiting a nearby star' has now been shown to be a sunspot on its parent star.
Disappointing, but apparently true.

*Hi Shaun. Holy crow, that must be one humongous sunspot, to be able to be detected on a distant star AND mistaken for an orbiting body! ???

--Cindy

clark · 2002-09-26 09:58:01

The wonderful thing about spotting those giant planets is that it helps us figure out which systems to look in to find "earth-sized" planets, and where specfically to look. By finding the big ones, we can figure out some of the gravitational equations that create the stable orbit- this allows computer models to predict where else in these solar systems gravitational larange points exsist... which means, where else planets could be in orbit.

Josh Cryer · 2002-09-26 10:37:48

Acidic clouds of Venus could harbour life

The acidic clouds of Venus could in fact be hiding life. Unlikely as it sounds, the presence of microbes could neatly explain several mysterious observations of the planet's atmosphere.

Venus is usually written off as a potential haven for life because of its hellishly hot and acidic surface. But conditions in the atmosphere at an altitude of around 50 kilometres are relatively hospitable: the temperature is about 70 ?C, with a pressure of about one atmosphere.

Although the clouds are very acidic, this region also has the highest concentration of water droplets in the Venusian atmosphere. "From an astrobiology point of view, Venus is not hopeless," says Dirk Schulze-Makuch from the University of Texas at El Paso.

More: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992843

I'm one for interesting concepts, and this one is one of the more interesting I have read in awhile.

clark · 2002-09-26 11:06:41

maybe women ARE from venus.

Palomar · 2002-09-26 12:11:51

maybe women ARE from venus.

*Not me. No sir. I'm from Neptune...the huge, pretty, deep-blue planet. Let me tell you about The Great Blue Spot and the brilliant-white methane clouds which surrounds it...

--Cindy

Phobos · 2002-09-26 18:53:56

LONDON (Reuters) - Science fiction's "Jedi" warriors and "Klingon" bad guys have entered the newest edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, along with "asylum seekers," "asymmetrical warfare" and "spin control."

Speaking of Jedi warriors, I read an article in the paper recently that 70,000 people in Australia claimed to be Jedi on the national census. Hmm, I wonder if Shaun is attuned to the force.

Palomar · 2002-09-27 11:02:47

*I'm glad he's still speaking out:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....space_2

I hate to see this man die; open-minded, humanitarian, brilliant thinkers *and* visionaries are few and far between.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2002-09-27 11:06:52

LONDON (Reuters) - Science fiction's "Jedi" warriors and "Klingon" bad guys have entered the newest edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, along with "asylum seekers," "asymmetrical warfare" and "spin control."
Speaking of Jedi warriors, I read an article in the paper recently that 70,000 people in Australia claimed to be Jedi on the national census. Hmm, I wonder if Shaun is attuned to the force.

*Obi-Wan Shaunobi?

--Cindy

Palomar · 2002-09-27 12:34:11

*"First View of Mars in X-Rays"...article from Sky & Telescope online:

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/current … _715_1.asp

--Cindy

Palomar · 2002-09-27 14:29:50

*"The Best of the Hubble Space Telescope"...enjoy these fantastic photos!

http://www.seds.org/hst/hst.html

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2002-09-27 19:51:28

"Obi-Wan Shaunobi" ...

I laughed out loud at that one, in a mixture of amusement and a warm fuzzy feeling that you guys were thinking of me.

Then it hit me!
Why, at the mention of 70,000 Australian fruit cakes (who think they're Jedi knights), did my name spring so readily to mind?!!

Hmmm? .... Well? .... I'm waiting ...... !!!!!

Phobos · 2002-09-30 21:11:33

Then it hit me!
Why, at the mention of 70,000 Australian fruit cakes (who think they're Jedi knights), did my name spring so readily to mind?!!
Hmmm? .... Well? .... I'm waiting ...... !!!!!

umm, ummm...

Palomar · 2002-10-02 10:59:07

*Yay!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2290005.stm

--Cindy

Palomar · 2002-10-02 11:29:26

*Proof of the Big Bang theory - ?

http://www.sciencenews.org/20020928/fob1.asp

--Cindy

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#76 2002-09-17 10:07:37

Re: New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

#77 2002-09-17 16:34:06

Re: New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

#78 2002-09-18 08:51:42

Re: New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

#79 2002-09-18 09:32:40

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#80 2002-09-18 18:03:41

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#81 2002-09-19 05:38:51

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#82 2002-09-19 07:52:59

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#83 2002-09-19 15:43:24

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#84 2002-09-21 08:17:33

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#85 2002-09-25 22:32:16

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#86 2002-09-26 01:53:39

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#87 2002-09-26 08:09:00

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#88 2002-09-26 09:58:01

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#89 2002-09-26 10:37:48

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#90 2002-09-26 11:06:41

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#91 2002-09-26 12:11:51

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#92 2002-09-26 18:53:56

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#93 2002-09-27 11:02:47

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#94 2002-09-27 11:06:52

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#95 2002-09-27 12:34:11

Re: New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

#96 2002-09-27 14:29:50

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#97 2002-09-27 19:51:28

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#98 2002-09-30 21:11:33

Re: New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

#99 2002-10-02 10:59:07

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#100 2002-10-02 11:29:26

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