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[subzero9285]

Elliptical orbit gives exoplanet a regular roasting

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered hot temperatures on an exoplanet that is 190 nearly light-years from Earth. Astronomers used the telescope to measure heat from the planet using infrared technologyduring their space exploration.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered hot temperatures on an exoplanet that is 190 light-years from Earth. Astronomers used the telescope to measure heat from the planet using infrared. Space exploration unveil temperatures on the planet that rise from 980 to 2,240 degrees Fahrenheit.

"This is the first time that we've detected weather changes in real time on a planet outside our solar system," astronomer Greg Laughlin of the Lick Observatory, University of California at Santa Cruz, said in a statement.

Laughlin said the team watched the development of one of the fiercest storms in the galaxy and that the planet is a gas giant that orbits a star nearly 190 light-years from Earth. The exoplanet is orbiting the star at a distance that is similar as Earth is from our sun. The planet heats up to extraordinary hot temperatures in a matter of hours before it cools again.

"If you could float above the clouds of this planet, you'd see its sun growing larger and larger at faster and faster rates, increasing in brightness by almost a factor of 1,000," said Laughlin.

Astronomers located planet HD80606b in 2001 while working at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland. The team was led by Dominique Naef who used a method known as Doppler-velocity.

Space exploration on the exoplanet has continued ever since. HD 80606b's orbit takes it as far out as 0.85 astronomical units from its star, and as close as 0.03 astronomical units. One astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and our sun.

Planet HD80606b takes about 111 days to complete a circle around its sun and spends most of its time at farther distances. It can orbit the star in less than a day. The Spitzer Space Telescope recorded the planet's closest passage to the star in November 2007 when it sizzled from the star's heat.

"By studying this planet under such extreme circumstances, we figure out how it handles heat -- does it retain it or dissipate it? In this case, the answer is that the planet releases the heat right away," Laughlin said.

The astronomers could understand what would happen to a planet like Jupiter if it was dragged near our sun. The exoplanet has a gaseous surface which is similar to that of Jupiter. Astronomers have uncovered research by studying the HD80606b exoplanet on how other planets could respond to sudden changes in heating.

"We were essentially able to perform the 'thought experiment' -- what would happen to a planet like Jupiter if we could drag it very close to the sun?," Laughlin said.

Source

 

[Feint331]

space not all glamour.

Astronauts that spend long months aboard the International Space Station lose bone strength faster than previously thought and have a higher risk of breaking their hips later in life, a new study reports.

A survey of 13 space station astronauts found that their bone strength dipped by at least 14 percent on the average during their half-year stays aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Three of the astronauts lost up to 30 percent of their bone strength during their long-duration spaceflights, putting them on par with the bone strength of older women with osteoporosis on Earth, the study reported.

"If preventive measures are not taken, some of our astronauts may be at increased risk for age-related fractures decades after their missions," said study leader Joyce Keyak, an orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering professor at the University of California, Irvine.

the nitty gritty stuff i like about space exploration. reminiscent of early colonial and arctic explorers. spending months and months trapped in a little tuna can, a few inches of metal from certain death, drinking recycled urine, microwave pizzas would seem like a luxury. it's why mars is such a challenge and robots will be always better than us .

 

[Teknoman]

Vote for what the Hubble focuses on next


"NASA wants the public to determine where in the universe it will next aim the powerful Hubble Space Telescope.

The space agency is encouraging Internet surfers to log onto the Hubble Web site and vote for one of a six astronomical objects for the renowned telescope to examine for the first time."


Direct link to vote site:http://youdecide.hubblesite.org/

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Vote for what the Hubble focuses on next


"NASA wants the public to determine where in the universe it will next aim the powerful Hubble Space Telescope.

The space agency is encouraging Internet surfers to log onto the Hubble Web site and vote for one of a six astronomical objects for the renowned telescope to examine for the first time."

Don't know what to vote for. :lol

I want to put iOpus iMacros to good use again.

 

[Teknoman]

I voted for the colliding galaxies. Couldnt get the video that tells you what the "special" thing about each selection is.

 

[Scum]

There's a damn fine bright star out tonight. Shame about the crappy London weather, can't see the damn thing properly. :-(

 

[BlueTsunami]

Sand dunes on Mars

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_010219_2785
http://martianchronicles.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/mars-art-dunes-in-abalos-unda/
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/01/08/latest-images-from-hirise-more-eye-candy/hirise-2/
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080429-st-mars-sands.html

"The Spice!"

 

[milanbaros]

Voted for colliding galaxies. Looks like it would be awesome.

 

[fallout]

I voted for the edge-on galaxy. It's so rare to get a really nice shot of one.

There's a damn fine bright star out tonight. Shame about the crappy London weather, can't see the damn thing properly. :-(

That's probably the planet Venus.

 

[iidesuyo]

I read a lot about "our" planets and moons on wikipedia. What I didn't know is that there are no clear images of Pluto. This is the best (current) resolution:

Also it is weird how much knowledge and picture were drawn from the Voyager missions, which were launched over 30 years ago. Mankind could have taken space exploration so much further in that time, if only the money and interest was there, seeing there were less than 20 years between Luna 3 and Voyager 2.

Talking about Luna 3, here's the Lunar libration in motion:

 

[Teknoman]

Hey everyone with Google Earth 5.0, now you can view Mars terrain or explore known space in general.

 

[Windu]

Hulu has a great video by National Geographic about the Challenger up on their site. Great video if you are interested in the subject.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/55194/national-geographic-channel-challenger-the-untold-story#s-p1-st-i0

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Click For Bigger Image

It's easy to get lost following the intricate filaments in this detailed image of faint supernova remnant Simeis 147. Also cataloged as Sh2-240 and seen towards the constellation Taurus, it covers nearly 3 degrees (6 full moons) on the sky. That corresponds to a width of 150 light-years at the stellar debris cloud's estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. The remarkable narrow-band composite image in the Hubble color palette includes emission from hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms tracing regions of shocked, glowing gas. This supernova remnant has an estimated age of about 40,000 years - meaning light from the massive stellar explosion first reached Earth 40,000 years ago. But this expanding remnant is not the only aftermath. The cosmic catastrophe also left behind a spinning neutron star or pulsar, all that remains of the original star's core.

Click For Bigger Image

Have you ever seen the band of our Milky Way Galaxy? In a clear sky from a dark location at the right time, a faint band of light becomes visible across the sky. Soon after your eyes become dark adapted, you might spot the band for the first time. It may then become obvious. Then spectacular. One reason for a growing astonishment might be the realization that this fuzzy swath contains billions of stars and is the disk of our very own spiral galaxy. Since we are inside this disk, the band appears to encircle the Earth. Visible in the above image, high above in the night sky, the band of the Milky Way Galaxy arcs. The bright spot just below the band is the planet Jupiter. In the foreground lies the moonlit caldera of the volcano Haleakala, located on the island of Maui in Hawaii, USA. A close look near the horizon will reveal light clouds and the dark but enormous Mauna Kea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. If you have never seen the Milky Way band or recognized the planet Jupiter, this year may be your chance. Because 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, an opportunity to look through a window that peers deep into the universe may be coming to a location near you.

Click For Bigger Image


PEW PEW PEW

Spoiler

Only a radio tower :-(

 

[Hootie]

:O
=O

 

[Walshicus]

Vote for what the Hubble focuses on next


"NASA wants the public to determine where in the universe it will next aim the powerful Hubble Space Telescope.

The space agency is encouraging Internet surfers to log onto the Hubble Web site and vote for one of a six astronomical objects for the renowned telescope to examine for the first time."


Direct link to vote site:http://youdecide.hubblesite.org/

I wanted to vote for Ceres... The planet, not the Gaf member.

 

[xBerserker]

I HATE light pollution .... I can rarely see stars where I live

 

[Darklord]

Click For Bigger Image

Wait...you can see that with the naked eye? Holy shit!

 

[xBerserker]

Indeed you can, imagine looking at the sky with no light pollution my friend. This would basically be it.

 

[Darklord]

Indeed you can, imagine looking at the sky with no light pollution my friend. This would basically be it.

A few times in the bush areas I've been too a few times I've actually seen VERY faint lines, like dusting clusters of stars or something. Maybe I can see that?

I've love to see that, it's like a fantasy thing or other world!

 

[xBerserker]

Keep in mind that photo was taken with a huge exposure time as well. So it may not look exactly like that, but pretty close I bet. I have a StopLightPollution Blog, any writers interested?

Man imagine the world before electric lights ... the sky would be breathtaking at night

 

[Lucky Forward]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7870562.stm

Number of alien worlds quantified

Intelligent civilisations are out there and there could be thousands of them, according to an Edinburgh scientist.

The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.

The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.

The work is reported in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

Even with the higher of the two estimates, however, it is not very likely that contact could be established with alien worlds.

While researchers often come up with overall estimates of the likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, it is a process fraught with guesswork; recent guesses put the number anywhere between a million and less than one.

"It's a process of quantifying our ignorance," said Duncan Forgan, the University of Edinburgh researcher who carried out the work.

 

[jett]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7870562.stm

The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.

The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.

That's some refinement.

Nah I'm just kidding. Wish those people would visit us already and share their wowsome tech with us.

 

[Twig]

That's some refinement.

Nah I'm just kidding. Wish those people would visit us already and share their wowsome tech with us.

What's to say we aren't the most advanced? o:

Entirely possible! (Though improbable!)

 

[DarkJediKnight]

What's to say we aren't the most advanced? o:

Entirely possible! (Though improbable!)

Yea, we're in the outer rim of the galaxy almost. Who's to say that similar earth-like planets that maybe a few thousand years older doesn't exist?

Think about it, we've reached the industrial age in only the last 0.1111 percentage of human existence. Before that we couldn't fathom to even fly. Only in the last 60-70 years have we really progressed technologicaly.

What if there's a similar humanoid race out there who did this 300 years ago?

 

[Teknoman]

Huh. So basically we live in the boondocks of the Milky Way?

 

[subzero9285]

Earth size planet discovered circling star

So far over over 330 planets have been found circling around stars other than the Sun. Most of these have been large massive planets comparable or larger than the gas giant Jupiter. Now the European Space Agency’s COROT spacecraft has discovered a planet that is of the same order of size as the Earth. The new planet glories in the name COROT-Exo-7b - try saying the name a few times remembering that the name of the spacecraft is in French so it is pronounced “Coreau”.

What do we know about the planet? It is less than twice the size of the Earth. It is very close to its parent star and whips around it every 20 hours, that is in less than a day. Its temperature is unpleasantly high at between 1000°C and 1500°C.

What is the planet made of? Astronomers are unsure as yet. It could be a rocky planet, in which case due to the extreme heat the outer layers would be covered in liquid lava. It could an ocean planet - a planet originally formed far from the star and covered in ice that drifts in close to the star and its ice turns to water and steam - such a planet has been dubbed a “sauna planet”.

How was the planet discovered? It was discovered by COROT (Convection, Rotation and Transit) spacecraft that was launched by a Soyuz rocket in Kazakhstan on 27 December 2006. It is in a near circular orbit around the Earth about 900 km above the surface. The spacecraft uses a 27-cm wide telescope to examine the light variation of stars. This enables astronomers to use the spacecraft to study the vibrations of the surfaces of stars and to search for exoplanets.

The transit technique is used to look for exoplanets. By looking at a lot of stars it can detect some with a slight periodic dimming of brightness when planets move across the face of a star. The technique is more likely to pick up a transit from a planet close to its star than one that is further out. This is because the chances of the telescope being in the right plane to see the transit reduces. For example, if an alien COROT equivalent was looking at the Sun, the chance of it being in the right orienation to see the Earth move across the Sun’s face is 1 in 210.

Are there other spacecraft similar to COROT? NASA is planning to launch its Kepler spacecraft in March 2009. This spacecraft is dedicated to searching for and studying exoplanets. It has a 1.4 meter wide mirror, much larger than COROT and hence the craft will be much more sensitive.

Have scientists seen an exoplanet? There are two possible exoplanets that have been directly imaged. One of these circles around the bright southern star Fomalhaut and hence is imaginatively called Fomalhaut b. This planet was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004 and 2006 so that the movement of the planet between the two exposures allowed astronomers to estimate that the planet takes 872 years to circle the star. Hubble could image Fomalhaut b as it is a long way from its star, about 10 times as far away as Saturn is from the Sun.

Is there likely to be any life on COROT-exo-7b? No. As it is so close to its parent star its surface is too hot for any reasonable expectation of even bacteria-like organisms to survive. And, if in the very distant future human beings with advanced technology reach the parent star, the heat is likely to stop them walking on its surface.

Source



An illustration of the transit technique that led to the discovery of the new planet. As the planet transits in front of it, the star’s brightness drops slightly as illustrated by the graph.

 

[Hootie]

What if there's a similar humanoid race out there who did this 300 years ago?

Or 3,000, or 30,000, or even 300,000 years ago. It's a humbling yet exciting thought

 

[Althane]

Huh. So basically we live in the boondocks of the Milky Way?

More or less. Most Sci-Fi authors point that out if they have Earth in their story.

Although, I'd consider it more likely that we're on the high end of technological advancement, but I wouldn't be so -COMPLETELY- and utterly surprised that there was a race that made us look like nitwits.

I'd just be surprised if they came here.

 

[Windu]

love this picture:

Solar Eclipse from the Moon

Click For Bigger Image:

Parts of Saturday's (March 3) lunar eclipse will be widely visible. For example, skywatchers in Europe, Africa, and western Asia will be able to see the entire spectacle of the Moon gliding through Earth's shadow, but in eastern North America the Moon will rise already in its total eclipse phase. Of course if you traveled to the Moon's near side, you could see the same event as a solar eclipse, with the disk of our fair planet Earth completely blocking out the Sun. For a moon-based observer's view, graphic artist Hana Gartstein (Haifa, Israel) offers this composite illustration. In the cropped version of her picture, an Apollo 17 image of Earth is surrounded with a red-tinted haze as sunlight streams through the planet's dusty atmosphere. Earth's night side remains faintly visible, still illuminated by the dark, reddened Moon, but the disk of the Earth would appear almost four times the size of the Sun's disk, so the faint corona surrounding the Sun would be largely obscured. At the upper left, the Sun itself is just disappearing behind the Earth's limb.

 

[xabre]

I'd just be surprised if they came here.

Intelligent life may be so common that they simply couldn't give a fuck. You've seen one you've seen 'em all. And there may be some prime directive shit involved, who knows.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Indeed you can, imagine looking at the sky with no light pollution my friend. This would basically be it.

I hate to be a buzzkill, but I'm pretty sure that is nothing like what it would look like with the naked eye.

Look at the hill! You can see them like it's bright daylight! It's definitely taken at a long/high exposure.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Nah I'm just kidding. Wish those people would visit us already and share their wowsome tech with us.

Based on at least on human history (dubious in this case, but still our only barometer of intelligent life) the past instances of advanced cultures meeting primitive cultures (ie: the American and Australian explorations) and how the primitive culture got royally fucked sideways... I think I'd prefer radio communications.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Ares 1-X construction continues.

Looking at these pictures, I can't help but feel confident that the Ares program is going to go ahead under the Obama administration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH9ann1D_rs

 

[Teknoman]

Man...

 

[MrPing1000]

Well we're trashed the planet so might as well take it to the universe.

 

[DrForester]

love this picture:

Solar Eclipse from the Moon

Click For Bigger Image:

To bad that's not real, would be really cool.

 

[The Librarian]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7870562.stm

:lol :lol That's more like it!

 

[Hootie]

:lol :lol That's more like it!

?

 

[The Librarian]

?

??????????????????????????????

The :lol s are for all of those idiots that think we are alone in the universe. The "That's more like it" is for more substantive guess work on all of this.

 

[mr.beers]

Known Universe was on last night on National Geographic Channel new series on the known universe. Gives a comprehensive look on size, speeds and explosions in space with real life comparisons, I really liked it.

A preview of Speed

PS: Before Known Universe there was on a show on the Hubble Telescope and I never knew Deep Field was photographed in 1995!

 

[Tom_Cody]

I just watched Star Trek: TMP which lead me to research the Voyager program. I came across this image of the famous Golden Record and I thought it would be a good fit in this thread. Also, I had never known that Carl Sagan was in charge of producing the disks.

NASA placed an ambitious message aboard Voyager 1 and 2-a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record-a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is in audio, designed to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute. It contains the spoken greetings, beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music, including both Eastern and Western classics and a variety of ethnic music. Once the Voyager spacecraft leave the solar system (by 1990, both will be beyond the orbit of Pluto), they will find themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they make a close approach to any other planetary system. As Carl Sagan has noted, “The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet.

Source

 

[Teknoman]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7891132.stm?lss

There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard.

Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.

Kinda nice that more people seem to be open to lifeforms elsewhere than on our planet these days.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

The voyager record is pretty cool idea. I hope we can one day send out signals by light (ie lightspeed) just as optical technology works today.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Or 3,000, or 30,000, or even 300,000 years ago. It's a humbling yet exciting thought

or 3 million, or 30 million, or 300 million years ago!

 

[Ikael]

Huh. So basically we live in the boondocks of the Milky Way?

Yep, and that annoys me inmensely. Imagine if we would live near the center of the galaxy, with star systems nearer than 4 light years away. We could have already sent non manned probes to other solar systems. We are probably the rednecks of our galaxy

 

[fallout]

Yep, and that annoys me inmensely. Imagine if we would live near the center of the galaxy, with star systems nearer than 4 light years away. We could have already sent non manned probes to other solar systems. We are probably the rednecks of our galaxy

It's difficult to say if that area would be habitable. There's an older theory that states that there should be a habitable zone of our galaxy and the centre of it would most likely not be in there. The specific problem with the centre of the galaxy is the high levels of radiation. Have a read here:

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01o.html

 

[DarkJediKnight]

Yep, and that annoys me inmensely. Imagine if we would live near the center of the galaxy, with star systems nearer than 4 light years away. We could have already sent non manned probes to other solar systems. We are probably the rednecks of our galaxy

If we lived near the center of the galaxy, the heat, the light from other stars would wither away all life. Intelligent life can only exist in the outer rim of the galaxy.

 

[Walshicus]

If we lived near the center of the galaxy, the heat, the light from other stars would wither away all life. Intelligent life can only exist in the outer rim of the galaxy.

Are you sure?

 

[kkaabboomm]

It appears that the Hubble might end up as collateral damage from the recent collision between an Iridium and Russian satellite. Without another service mission, the Hubble may meet its end within a year or two.

The collision has sent more than 600 pieces of debris whizzing around the Earth at 17,500 mph. At those speeds, shards can take out a spacecraft (and you don't even want to think about what it could do to astronauts on a spacewalk). NASA has calculated the chance of a catastrophic impact at around 1 in 185—just below their 1 in 200 threshold. A decision on whether or not to progress with the Hubble repair mission in May is expected to come down within the next week or two

http://i.gizmodo.com/5155931/satellite-collision-could-doom-the-hubble-telescope
http://blogs.discovery.com/news_space/2009/02/debris-field-danger-could-nix-hubble-fix.html

fuck russia and their shit satellite crashing and fucking things up.

 

[Borman]

Are you sure?

I doubt it, since no one can be sure. Who the heck knows what life will actually resemble when we find it elsewhere