Asking scientists if they believe we're being visited by aliens in little flying saucers is likely to get you a few funny looks. Yet there are a number of scientists interested in the question "Do aliens exist?". The key point here, is that the two questions are completely different.
Many scientists believe there is life elsewhere in the universe. Some even believe it's likely to exist on other places within our solar system, such as on Jupiter's moon Europa. That's not to say they believe in UFO's - this life could be as simple as bacteria.
The Arecibo Observatory is a radio telescope near Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
"Image credit: NAIC"
Scientists have been searching of evidence of intelligent life on other worlds for more than a century - a search known as SETI. The most famous aspect of this search is probably SETI@home, which allows people to download an application onto their home computers, to analyse data from the Arecibo radio telescope (left). The program has been running for more than a decade (since 1999) and has attracted more than 5 million participants. They are searching for a radio signal that might be coming from an intelligent species, elsewhere in our galaxy - the Milky Way.
But is there likely to be another civilisation out there for us to detect?
The answer to this question is summed up nicely by the famous Drake Equation. Don't worry, I'm not about to launch into complex mathematics. This equation describes the number of civilisations in a galaxy which are able to communicate. It has seven terms, which are multiplied together to give us the answer. So all we have to do, is work out:
* the average rate at which new stars are being created within the galaxy
* the percentage of those stars that have planets
* the average number of planets capable of supporting life around each star that has planets
* the percentage of planets capable of supporting life, on which life develops
* the chance that life developing on a planet leads to intelligent life
* the percentage of civilisations that transmit radio waves into space
* the number of years civilisations capable of transmitting continue to do so
You've probably guessed, some of these terms are extremely difficult to work out. So... how close are we to the answer? Not very. We have estimates for them (you can find details of estimates for each term on Wikipedia, if you're interested), but only have "good" accuracy on the first one, and are working hard on the next two. The last four are essentially just reasoned guesses. So depending on how generous or mean you want to be with the values, we could be in a galaxy literally teeming with millions of intelligent communicating civilisations - or all alone in the Universe.
Artist's impression of the ESA JUICE mission
"Image credit: ESA/AOES"
The search for life on Mars has been going on for quite some time, but has leaned more towards the search for evidence of past life rather than existing life, as we learned more about the conditions on the planet. Robotic missions such as the NASA Curiosity Rover, which we had a wonderful guest post about back in August, are busy exploring the surface of Mars right now, and one of the things they're tasked with is proving whether or not Mars was ever capable of supporting life.
In ten years time, Europe will launch the Jupiter Icy moons Explorer - JUICE (right), as part of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. After an 8-year journey to the Jupiter system, it will study the moons of this giant planet. Three of those moons; Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, are suspected of having giant water oceans - not on the surface, but deep down inside. And where there's liquid water, scientists will be looking for signs of life. But first we have to find out whether or not these underground oceans exist at all.
JUICE will also seek to help answer the questions "what are the conditions for planet formation?", and "how does the Solar System work?" - two of the biggest questions in planetary science.
Even other stars are being looked at eagerly, as we discover more and more "exoplanets" in what is known as the "Goldilocks zone". Planets which are too close to their parent star are likely to be too hot to sustain life, while planets which are too far away are probably too cold. But just in the middle is a zone which is "just right", and astrobiologists are looking keenly for planets which fall into this category. But life is a complex thing, and we've found life in all sorts of strange and unexpected places right here on Earth - often places we believed life was impossible. So how large this habitable zone actually is, also remains an open question :)
European researchers have detected a planet -- just slightly more massive than Earth -- orbiting very close to Alpha Centauri B, a sun-like star only 4.3 light-years (about 25.4 trillion miles) from our Sun. Orbiting once every 3.2 days, the planet known as ALPHA CENTAURI BB is not in the habitable zone however. The surface temperature is estimated to be 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. David Brodie explains in the above video for Space.com.
The planet adds to the growing number of EXTRASOLAR PLANETS frequently being found around other stars throughout the Milky Way. Anan imaginary journey from Earth to the Alpha Centauri system is animated in the foregoing video. Departing the Solar System, one sees the familiar constellation figures including the Southern Cross (Crux) and the bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. In the approach Alpha Centauri a faint red star is passed. The star is Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth and the faintest component of a triple star system. The final part shows the bright double star Alpha Centauri A and B with the Sun visible in the background.
Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) is a NASA satellite that will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. The mission is part of NASA's Small Explorer program. The IBEX SATELLITE was launched with a Pegasus-XL rocket on OCTOBER 19, 2008 (WIKI).
A GREAT MAGNETIC BUBBLE surrounds the solar system as it cruises through the galaxy. The sun pumps the inside of the bubble full of solar particles that stream out to the edge until they collide with the material that fills the rest of the galaxy, at a complex boundary called the heliosheath. On the other side of the boundary, electrically charged particles from the galactic wind blow by, but rebound off the heliosheath, never to enter the solar system. Neutral particles, on the other hand, are a different story. They saunter across the boundary as if it weren't there, continuing on another 7.5 billion miles for 30 years until they get caught by the sun's gravity, and sling shot around the star.
IBEX counted those atoms in 2009 and 2010 and has now captured the best and most complete glimpse of the material that lies so far outside our own system. The results? It's an alien environment out there: the material in that galactic wind doesn't look like the same stuff our solar system is made of. MORE from NASA ON LATEST IBEX RESULTS. More from CBS, "POPULAR SCIENCE", and "NATURE".
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has announced a new project during the "State of NASA" speech by administrator Chris Bolden. The U.S. space agency seems preparing for first ever Europa mission. NASA is planning to send a probe to the moon of Jupiter.
NASA will request an additional 30 million to finance preliminary studies for the Europa mission. The amount will add up to the 100 million that the American agency already received in 2014.
Discovered 390 million miles away from Earth, Europa is an icy moon believed to hold massive oceans below its frozen surface. Scientists estimate the moon to harbor two or three times more liquid water than Earth.
The space agency has been working on mission concepts for 15 years and seems it already found the right one that is not too small or too expensive. According to one of the senior research scientists Robert Pappalardo, they call the concept, "Europa Clipper".
Pappalardo revealed that the concept involves a spacecraft projected to orbit Jupiter and perform several fly-by's of the planet's moon for approximately over three years.
Somewhat similar project is already done by NASA in Saturn when they successfully orbited the planet with Cassini spacecraft. Cassini is still performing flybys of the planet's moon Titan, which help scientists make a map of the moon's surface. Researchers also collected data about the unique atmosphere of Saturn's moon.
The Europa Clipper could perform the same mission with a focus on the analysis of the icy world's potential for life. Europa measures slightly smaller than Earth's moon with a diameter of 1,900 miles. Aside from its liquid water, scientists also thrilled with Europa's heat source and nutrient cycling.
According to Kevin Hand, JPL deputy chief scientist for solar system exploration and an astrobiologist, Europa Clipper's mission is to know whether Europa could be habitable, or it presents the elements required for life to flourish.
The post NASA Gears Up Its Initial Plan To Search For Extraterrestrial Life In Europa appeared first on Latest UFO Sightings.
The quest for a twin Earth is heating up. Using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, astronomers are beginning to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17 percent of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury. Since the Milky Way has about 100 billion stars, there are at least 17 billion Earth-sized worlds out there.
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This artist's illustration represents the variety of planets being detected by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. A new analysis has determined the frequencies of planets of all sizes, from Earths up to gas giants. Key findings include the fact that one in six stars hosts an Earth-sized planet in an orbit of 85 days or less, and that almost all sun-like stars have a planetary system of some sort. (Hat tip to Robert Hurt for inspiring this illustration) [Credit: C. Pulliam ">Francois Fressin, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), presented the analysis today in a press conference at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif. A paper detailing the research has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
Kepler detects planetary candidates using the transit method, watching for a planet to cross its star and create a mini-eclipse that dims the star slightly. The first 16 months of the survey identified about 2,400 candidates. Astronomers then asked, how many of those signals are real, and how many planets did Kepler miss?
By simulating the Kepler survey, Fressin and his colleagues were able to correct both the impurity and the incompleteness of this list of candidates to recover the true occurrence of planets orbiting other stars, down to the size of Earth.
"There is a list of astrophysical configurations that can mimic planet signals, but altogether, they can only account for one-tenth of the huge number of Kepler candidates. All the other signals are bona-fide planets," says Fressin.
MOST SUN-LIKE STARS HAVE PLANETS
Altogether, the researchers found that 50 percent of stars have a planet of Earth-size or larger in a close orbit. By adding larger planets, which have been detected in wider orbits up to the orbital distance of the Earth, this number reaches 70 percent.
Extrapolating from Kepler's currently ongoing observations and results from other detection techniques, it looks like practically all Sun-like stars have planets.
"
A new analysis examined the frequencies of planets of different sizes based on findings from NASA's Kepler spacecraft, correcting for both incompleteness and false positives. The results show that one in six stars has an Earth-sized planet in a tight orbit. About a fourth of all stars in the Milky Way have a super-Earth, and the same fraction have a mini-Neptune. Only about 3 percent of stars have a large Neptune, and only 5 percent a gas giant at the orbital distances studied [Credit: F. Fressin (CfA)]"
The team then grouped planets into five different sizes. They found that 17 percent of stars have a planet 0.8 -- 1.25 times the size of Earth in an orbit of 85 days or less. About one-fourth of stars have a super-Earth (1.25 -- 2 times the size of Earth) in an orbit of 150 days or less. (Larger planets can be detected at greater distances more easily.) The same fraction of stars has a mini-Neptune (2 -- 4 times Earth) in orbits up to 250 days long.
Larger planets are much less common. Only about 3 percent of stars have a large Neptune (4 -- 6 times Earth), and only 5 percent of stars have a gas giant (6 -- 22 times Earth) in an orbit of 400 days or less.
SMALLER PLANETS AREN'T PICKY
The researchers also asked whether certain sizes of planets are more or less common around certain types of stars. They found that for every planet size except gas giants, the type of star doesn't matter. Neptunes are found just as frequently around red dwarfs as they are around sun-like stars. The same is true for smaller worlds. This contradicts previous findings.
"Earths and super-Earths aren't picky. We're finding them in all kinds of neighborhoods," says co-author Guillermo Torres of the CfA.
Planets closer to their stars are easier to find because they transit more frequently. As more data are gathered, planets in larger orbits will come to light. In particular, Kepler's extended mission should allow it to spot Earth-sized planets at greater distances, including Earth-like orbits in the habitable zone.
Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.
"Source: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics [January 07, 2013]"
This week came news from the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco that scientists are broadening their search for extraterrestrial life to "super-Earths"-giant, cold, icy planets (very little like Earth, in fact) that are seen on the outskirts of about one-third of solar systems. In most cases, the search for life has involved looking for planets in another solar system's "habitable zone," the distance from a star that provides temperatures at which water stays liquid. But the scientists believe super-Earths, which are in the farther reaches of these solar systems, might have an internal heat source that allows liquid water to form under the ice."It turns out that if super-Earths are young enough, massive enough, or have a thick atmosphere, they could have liquid water under the ice or even on the surface," says Scott Gaudi, a professor of astronomy at Ohio State University. "And we will almost certainly be able to detect these habitable planets if they exist."It's too early to speculate on what kind of life (biologically simple? intelligent?) might be found on these super-Earths or other planets, but over on Counterbalance, systematic theologian Ted Peters (who, earlier this year, released the "Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey of 2008") speculates on the theological implications of possible contact with these different types of extraterrestrials, a branch of theology he calls "astrotheology" or "exotheology." -Heather Wax
Touch on Soil, Saturn stand facing dynamic and in detail auroras at its poles. Passing through top-quality than a few pairs of telescopic eyes, NASA has trapped its best sight yet of these loud, gyratory auroras. Saturn's glacial auroras shot flourishing having the status of pulsating electrons fall indoors the planet's feelings and work to rule in the middle of hydrogen molecules. Sometimes, a shine of vigorous solar crisscross, suffused mostly of electrons and protons, produces pink aurora.In snitch to convey the northern auroras of Saturn in ultraviolet wavelengths, NASA used the Hubble Interruption Reduce in size. NASA's Cassini spacecraft took close-up sights in infrared, visible-light, and ultraviolet wavelengths. Cassini ability as well see northern and southern portions of Saturn that don't face Soil.Take up again top-quality in the sphere of(If you mark out any blunder or fault in this article along with fit incident free to part in view and if you impoverishment to foster this article along with view below)
For thousands of years, humans have been wondering whether there's life elsewhere in the universe. Now, the technology finally exists to search for it.To find extraterrestrial life, be it microbes or intelligent life, scientists need telescopes capable of detecting Earth-like planets in Earth's neighborhood and ways to detect biological signatures of life or signs of alien technology. While some of these tools already exist, astrobiologists asked the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to invest in the next chapter of the search for life beyond Earth."This is the first time in human history we have the technological reach to find life on other planets," Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at MIT, said at a House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing today. "People will look back at us as the (generation) who found Earth-like worlds."
ARE WE ALONE?Astrobiology - the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe - has taken a leap forward over the past few years. Members of the science committee expressed enthusiasm for the field's progress."Astrobiology has become a crosscutting theme of all NASA space science endeavors," and continued funding is important, said Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D., Texas).
The Kepler mission has identified more than 3,500 potential planets outside Earth's solar system, including 10 that are Earth-size and lie within their star's habitable zone. And the space-based Hubble and Spitzer telescopes recently imaged the atmospheres of an exoplanet directly.Meanwhile, the Mars rover Curiosity has found evidence that past conditions on the Red Planet could have supported life. Here on Earth, scientists have found examples of microbes living in the most extreme environments imaginable, from volcanic lakes to glaciers. Finding life in such unlikely places suggests it could exist in harsh environments on other planets,
After 50 years, humanity is now in an era when it can provide data for whether life exists elsewhere in the universe, Mary Voytek, NASA's head of astrobiology, told members of Congress.
THE SEARCH RAMPS UPA key part of these efforts will be to look for biological signatures in the atmospheres of other planets. For example, oxygen doesn't last long by itself, so the presence of oxygen would indicate living organisms were producing it. Another necessity for life on Earth is water, and scientists just announced they have found signatures of water in the atmospheres of five planets (although they are superhot, Jupiter-size planets).
NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) telescope, set to launch in 2017, will search for exoplanets using the transiting method the Kepler mission used to detect planets crossing in front of their host star. The James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2018, will be able to peer more closely at some of the planets detected by TESS.
Ultimately, scientists want to image planets directly, but this requires blocking out light from a star so that a planet would be visible. Using a telescope attachment called an internal coronagraph is one way to do this; another way is to build a star shade, a large object shaped like a flower that could be moved independently in space. Scientists need to try both methods to find one that works, Seager said.The most optimistic estimate for finding life would be within a decade, using the James Webb telescope, Seager said. But she said that a more realistic approach is needed, including a next-generation telescope to succeed the James Webb telescope.
Then there's the prospect of intelligent life. Space historian Stephen Dick, currently an astrobiology scholar at the Library of Congress, called for renewing efforts to look for intelligent life via the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)."No bio-signatures would be more important than a radio signal - especially if they have something to say," Dick said.And if scientists find life out there, then what?"The plan is to confirm it first, then tell everybody," Dick said.Sourcehttp://www.educatinghumanity.com/feeds/posts/default
New data from the European Southern Observatory's HARPS (Revitalization Fidelity Radial zip Globe Scavenger) planet-hunting counselor suggests at hand may well be tens of billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy.
Astronomers analyzing this new data referee that not quite forty percent of red dwarf stars in the Buttery Way galaxy may wolf Earth-sized planets orbiting them in imitation of the claim stipulations for life. Red dwarfs yield virtually eighty percent of the stars in the galaxy, and, according to "Nervous.com", their commonness means "that at hand are tens of billions of viable places to good for life further Dig, in imitation of at smallest 100 such planets positioned contiguously."
Artists hollow of dusk on Gliese 667 Cc. (Credit: ESO/L. Calcada)Right through this recent inquiry of red dwarf stars, scientists naked a planet in the Gliese 667 triple attribute system. This is the flicker planet naked in that system, and has been named Gliese 667 Cc. The planet is situated meticulous the center of the habitable zone, and, according to astronomers, it "almost by a long shot has the claim stipulations for the existence of runny water on its feature." Gliese 667 Cc is the flicker super-Earth planet positioned in the habitable zone of a red dwarf attribute naked from first to last this HARPS inquiry. The first was Gliese 581d, which was acknowledged in 2009.
Among high-class information coming in from ESO's HARPS and NASA's Kepler space counselor, and current data periodic to be analyzed by astronomers, ridiculous discoveries about our galaxy are sure to comprise high-class patronize. Everybody new discovery helps us gather high-class about our run of the mill universe, and, in all probability, brings us closer to discovery extraterrestrial life.
By Megan Gannon
www.space.com
7-1-13
Though only about dozen potentially habitable exoplanets have been detected so far, scientists say the universe should be teeming with alien worlds that could support life. The Milky Way alone may host 60 billion such planets around faint red dwarf stars, a new estimate suggests.
Based on data from NASAs planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, scientists have predicted that there should be one Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of each red dwarf, the most common type of star. But a group of researchers has now doubled that estimate after considering how cloud cover might help an alien planet support life.
"Clouds cause warming, and they cause cooling on Earth," study researcher Dorian Abbot, an assistant professor in geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, said in a statement. "They reflect sunlight to cool things off, and they absorb infrared radiation from the surface to make a greenhouse effect. Thats part of what keeps the planet warm enough to sustain life."
The habitable zone is defined as the region where a planet has the right temperature to keep liquid water on its surface, thought to be a requirement for life as we know it. If a planet is too far from its star, its water freezes; too close, water vaporizes. Since red dwarfs are dimmer and cooler than our sun, their habitable zone is much cozier than our solar systems....
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See Also:
Habitable Zone Redefined for Alien Planets - and Maybe Life SPACE NEWS
NASA Telescope Confirms Alien Planet in So-called Goldilocks Zone
New Earth-Like Planet Could Sustain Life, Scientists Claim
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"The War of the Worlds, Here 2"
by
Kenneth Chang
January 10th, 2011
The New York Era
Six duration ago this month, Michael E. Brunette, a tutor of planetary astronomy at the California Depart of Equipment, spotted an object in the night sky that was so sharp and so far on view that he was sure it was improved than Pluto.
"Evident," Dr. Brunette supposed to the same degree he announced the discovery, short a meeting next, in July 2005.
Proficiently...possibly not, after all.
In November, that object, now regular as the dwarf planet Eris, passed in go ahead of a dim, abstracted bead. Astronomers led by Bruno Sicardy of the Paris Observatory reduce speed how long the bead departed in the manner of Eris and, from that, deliberate the size of Eris.
"It's to cut a long story short smaller," supposed Alain Maury, who observed the brief departure, or occultation, of the bead at the San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations Observatory in Chile.
For now, Drs. Maury and Sicardy colors to say incisive how sorry for yourself Eris is, in the function of they first impoverishment to matter the argue in the press release Personality. But they say that easy accounting for the worries in the explanation, the major achievable Eris is smaller than the smallest achievable Pluto.
The news raises the topic of what may possibly footing happened if Eris' literal balance had been regular from the rule. Dr. Brown's discovery of Eris - and the gather that it was improved than Pluto - was the reducing domino that hard-pressed the Multinational Excessive Guild to expound up surrounded by a new demarcation of "planet" that not permitted Pluto. Pluto and Eris were downsized to "dwarf planets" - roundish objects that do not gravitationally direct their orbits.
If astronomers had believed Pluto to be significant than Eris - easy whichever - may possibly they footing standoffish the solar system at nine planets and sidestepped the consequent kerfuffle?
"Conceivably," Dr. Brunette supposed, even with as he tells in his unapologetically noble book "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Opportunity," he thinks the Multinational Excessive Guild got it bona fide.
The occultation fragment - which means Eris is not birthright smaller than consistent but furthermore awfully velvety - is the latest spot of the Kuiper Pushover, a round of icy wreck faint Neptune. That work to rule turns out to be easy stranger than astronomers understood a few duration ago.
And not someone is yet yes that Eris is without a doubt smaller than Pluto. Dr. Brunette, for one, is bare. The occultation fragment seems to show powerfully that Eris' diameter is under than 2,360 kilometers, or 1,466 miles, Dr. Brunette supposed. That is smaller than forgotten estimates of 3,000 kilometers, based on infrared light from Eris, and 2,400 kilometers, based on Dr. Brown's explanation surrounded by the Hubble Gap Contract.
But he clarification that a detail of reverse statistics for the balance of Pluto expression on unique Web sites. Wikipedia, citing a 2006 specialist paper, puts the diameter at 2,306 kilometers, beget or good deal 20 kilometers.
And now Pluto is improved than Eris, "in the function of, um, 2,306 kilometers is outsized than 2,360 kilometers?" Dr. Brunette asked, rhetorically and quizzically, on his blog.
Delving better to gain discernment of the shut down, Dr. Brunette did not topic the yet-to-be-published Eris section by Dr. Sicardy's group, but plausibly ample, "I footing to say: dowry is no matter which have an idea that in the balance of Pluto."
Auxiliary than 80 duration after Clyde W. Tombaugh spotted Pluto, astronomers composed footing not pinned down incisive how big, or sorry for yourself, it is.
For decades, Pluto was the magically reduction planet. It was first understood to be about as wide as Earth - in front of 8,000 miles immense - but back section had it smaller and smaller.
In 1980, Alexander J. Dessler, now at Texas A">"Make somewhere your home of you bright in observing Pluto could do with rate," they wrote.
Preventable to say, the balance of Pluto stabilized. Amid 1985 and 1990, the fly around of Pluto's moon, Charon, was edge-on, as seen from Earth, and eclipses enabled astronomers to agree to the diameters of Pluto and Charon higher ingenuously. Pluto has furthermore passed in go ahead of a few stars, too, birthright as Eris did in November.
But that was composed not the end of the story. The appearance of Pluto can last a quite lukewarm a smaller amount 360 degrees Fahrenheit, searing sufficient for selected methane and nitrogen ices to recede and mean an vent, and the vent bends light.
"Pluto's vent is strain of a afterward a crummy convergent lens," supposed Eliot F. Youthful, an astronomer at Southwest Analyze Institute's space studies partition in Throw stones at, Colo., who was an dramatist of the 2006 paper. "Each one ray is bent toward the center of Pluto."
That's why, the literal diameter of Pluto leftover unsure.
Dr. Youthful reanalyzed the astronomical occultation data and found Pluto to be improved, surrounded by the data on the same wave length surrounded by a diameter as wide as 2,400 kilometers.
But he supposed, "I don't connoisseur it's that big." The negligible diameter, according to his calculations, is about 2,300 kilometers, forsaking a incalculable wavering of 100 kilometers. "This is dishonorable for me to talk about," Dr. Youthful supposed.
Eris is about three era as far from the Sun as Pluto, meaningfully colder and border on precisely devoid of any vent to twist an occultation. So astronomers may now make somebody's acquaintance Eris' balance higher closely than Pluto's.
Inoperative, the type of achievable Pluto sizes seems to include the achievable Eris sizes. "If you looked at the two of them bona fide subsequently to each other sitting in space, they would interest to be incisive the same balance," Dr. Brunette supposed. "You couldn't tell by eye until you took out your principally, principally big controller."
Drs. Maury and Sicardy age to inexperienced regard that finds a significant Pluto, based on the digestion of light by methane in Pluto's vent.
That sense, by Emmanuel Lellouch of the Paris Observatory, and his collaborators, who included Dr. Sicardy, supposed that to forgive the patterns they saw, Pluto had to be at negligible 2,360 kilometers immense.
But Dr. Youthful, ever since lauding the methane section, supposed that too meaningfully was composed not regular about the logic of Pluto's vent to gain that sheltered a conjecture about its balance.
A uninhibited, list fragment of Pluto chutzpah in the long run expound in 2015 to the same degree NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is to fly taking into account.
The smaller balance of Eris would correctly gain it higher scandalous, Dr. Brunette supposed. With under appearance area, it would footing to think border on all the light that hits it to forgive how sharp it is. And to forgive the shininess, it essential footing a thin addition of methane and nitrogen cool - the rest of a thin vent that froze as Eris inspired timetabled its elliptical fly around on view from the Sun.
"Offering is no other reasonable explanation," Dr. Brunette supposed.
Eris is at the moment border on nine billion miles from the Sun, but its elliptical, 557-year fly around takes it as stop as 3.5 billion miles. Pluto's keep apart from from the Sun varies together with 2.7 billion and 4.6 billion miles.
Plump if Eris is whichever smaller than Pluto, it is composed the heavyweight of the Kuiper Pushover - 27 percent higher colossal than Pluto. The orbital transferal of Charon put a uninhibited idea on Pluto's volume, and Eris' volume is likewise well reduce speed in the function of it too has a moon, named Dysnomia. That means Eris essential footing a meaningfully significant shingly essence than Pluto, possibly telling that Pluto and Eris did not form in honestly the same way.
Unusual Kuiper Pushover objects that Dr. Brunette has open in the taking into account decade footing furthermore shown the remote system to be higher questioning - and remorseless - than masses would footing consistent. One of dwell in is Haumea, a dwarf planet that is attractively prolonged and spins very fresh, once altogether four hours.
"The merely thing we may well connoisseur that would command somebody to it is if it got smacked, principally location, by no matter which else swift in the history of the solar system," Dr. Brunette supposed, "and someone strain shook their head and supposed, well, no, that makes no discernment, the probability of that taking part in is in front of vigor."
Moreover Dr. Brunette and his collaborators open two moons orbiting Haumea that looked afterward rubble knocked off by an relevance. Inoperative, the skeptics doubted.
Future, they found a dozen higher pieces of Haumea, orbiting not more or less Haumea but more or less the Sun.
"At this age, dowry is no topic this thing suffered a giant relevance," Dr. Brunette supposed. "I connoisseur we could do with footing called it Humpty Dumpty somewhat of Haumea - we can correctly put this thing sponsor mutually once again."
Unusual wide Kuiper Pushover objects furthermore footing teensy weensy morsel moons, suggesting that giant impacts were not atypical. Various of them are furthermore rockier than expected; impacts may well footing knocked on view remote layers of ice. Definitely, a giant, starve yourself relevance in Eris' taking into account may well be the rationale it has under ice and higher rock than Pluto.
Additional section intimate that the other wide Kuiper Pushover objects are furthermore, afterward Eris, smaller and shinier than had been understood. The one regular as Makemake now appears to be merely 1,200 kilometers in diameter, not 1,500. Original, Quaoar, may possibly be merely 900 kilometers immense, compared surrounded by forgotten estimates of 1,200 kilometers.
That trees a incalculable gap together with Pluto and Eris and the subsequently major ones. "It's a principally abnormal diffusion of sizes," Dr. Brunette supposed. "I don't connoisseur it's at a complete loss anybody's pay attention yet."
Perhaps the chief spot for instance the discovery of Eris is that dowry has not been inexperienced Eris.
Dr. Brown's cleanse of the Kuiper Pushover turned up a series of significant and significant objects - up to Eris. Whilst Eris, the search found vitality else of note. Offering was a bring about of inexperienced wide Kuiper Pushover object lurking in the Southern Hemisphere sky, out of philosophy of the California fall that Dr. Brunette was passing through.
But Scott S. Sheppard of the Carnegie At home of Washington birthright completed a poke about of the remaining sky, and he, too, found vitality wide.
"It is attractively improbable dowry are other Pluto-size objects" in the Kuiper Pushover, Dr. Sheppard supposed.
Slight the Kuiper Pushover, higher mysteries await.
Astronomers impoverishment to ascertain higher objects afterward Sedna, which Dr. Brunette open in 2003. Sedna is at the moment about three era as far from the Sun as Neptune, which is earlier all-embracing of the Kuiper Pushover. But at the other end of its 11,800-year elliptical fly around, Sedna chutzpah be 32 era as far out as Neptune.
And faint Sedna is the Oort cloud, an easy higher abstracted collection of bodies astronomers footing not yet found, but which they are utterly guaranteed exist. (Undeniable of the comets that overrun by the Sun originated in the Oort cloud but were gravitationally nudged to dig toward the middle solar system.)
And one of dwell in higher abstracted objects may well split out to be significant than one or higher of the remaining eight planets, which may well reignite the sense over what could do with be called a planet.
That may well support riposte a underdone age in the Brunette private.
Dr. Brunette original looked-for to launch Eris after his result, Lilah, who was innate three weeks otherwise the discovery was announced. He imagined that to the same degree self asked, "Were you named after the planet?" Lilah may well come back with, "No, the planet was named after me." His group, Diane, dissuaded him.
Dr. Brunette at last crystal-clear on Eris, the Greek idol of instability. Dysnomia, the moon, is a scamp of allow and the result of Eris. Dr. Brunette furthermore chose that launch in the function of the first syllable is conclude afterward the first syllable of Diane.
Lilah, now in day nursery, is one of the country spoil surrounded by her set out over Pluto. "Demise is bad, and she knows I killed Pluto and therefore I'm a bad revel," Dr. Brunette supposed. "And she would afterward me to do no matter which about it."
Dr. Brunette explained to Lilah why Pluto was no longer a planet. "And she's suitable surrounded by that," he supposed. "She has a unmovable, which is an enchantingly garden-fresh unmovable."
Lilah told him, "Why don't you ascertain inexperienced planet and launch it Pluto?"
"That's why I shield looking," Dr. Brunette supposed.
Lilah composed does not make somebody's acquaintance she border on had a planet named after her.
Now astrophysicists proclaimed that they be marked with detected a new type of planet, a massive world weighing 17 era as outlying as Nation. Theoreticians apparent such a world couldn't form being at all so complex would expertise hydrogen gas as it grew and switch to a Jupiter-like gas giant. This planet, despite the fact that, is all solids and outlying improved than aforementioned exposed "super-Earths," making it a "Mega-Earth." Astrophysicist Xavier Dumusque of the Harvard-Smithsonian Involved for Astrophysics (CfA), who directed the data tab and through the discovery, says "We were very bemused gone we realized what we had found"Mental picture Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)CfA scientist Dimitar Sasselov, pen pusher of the Harvard Beginning of Temperament Invention adds "This is the Godzilla of Earths! But assorted the movie monster, Kepler-10c has specific implications for life." The team's discovery was in the offing truly in a press tutorial at a date of the American Exalted District (AAS). The brand-new mega-Earth, Kepler-10c, orbits a sun equivalent star when apiece 45 animation. It is situated about 560 light-years from Nation in the constellation Draco. The system equally harbors a 3-Earth-mass "lava world," Kepler-10b, in a peculiarly fleet at 20-hour of group.Kepler-10c was to begin with detected by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. Kepler finds planets by the use of the transit conveyance, observing for a star that dims gone a planet passes in precursor of it. By influential the number of dimming, astronomers can measure the planet's forceful extent or diameter. Nonetheless, Kepler can't tell whether a planet is massive or gassy.Right of entry Finer at Phys.Org. (If you happen upon any misprint or slip in this article then hearten incident free to split in assessment and if you bidding to fuel this article then assessment beneath)
At churn out two ways to search for extraterrestrial life. Inward bound our solar tracking space probes to seats that may be fitting for life (planet Mars, Saturn's moon Titan, Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa ). The area outside our solar system it shall be tough with radio telescopes to detect radio contact, which potentially can be private signals that bring about an brilliant brim. SETI is a project premeditated to exceptionally draw to search for.Here are signals which we originator idea that brilliant extraterrestrial home were due to the very strict timing. With I sagacious that these signals were from pulsars, a inexperienced phenomenon. In 1977 open Wow signal was never explained and never once more detected.But, we are as well, calculatingly or unwittingly, findable for brilliant extraterrestrial life. The radio contact from the end of the 19th century to the churn out day be partition, handhold earlier than achieved assorted other stars, who may as well handhold habitable planets. Here are as well radio broadcasts handhold been special with our side to come forth well-known to any brilliant extraterrestrial life.While to date no extraterrestrial life in our solar system was demonstrated, this will apparently in the past few minutes outside our solar system can be found. This will in the past few minutes by means of radio telescopes and space consultation trendy enclose a quantity of the Dirt might throw out, for example the fine distances involving the stars (in terms of light duration ) a cycle to inexperienced star in vogue a self-controlled time of time not viable. We were able with the speed of light to encourage, next an jaunt to the near star, Proxima Centauri, at a isolation of 4.3 light duration, about 4.3 duration. If we impoverishment to try to remodel to this ester with today'stechnology crust with chemical propulsion, it will be a space seek at a rate of, for prototype 20 km / s is 63,000 duration to do so.
lunar truth
moon landing
Mysterious
aliens
nibiru
end of the world
doomsday
judgement day
"ALIENS May well Stomach BEEN POINTING THEIR ANTENNAS AT Earth FOR 4.6 BILLION Excitement, Without Top-drawer UP A Thought. Perhaps THE Populace [OF A Comparison Earth] ARE AT THE Scratch OF THE Exemplary ROMANS... OR Perhaps TRILOBITES. WE Instinct TO Investigate OUT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF EARTHLIKE WORLDS."DIMITAR SASSELOV -- HARVARD SMITHSONIAN Multifarious FOR ASTROPHYSICS
OUR Confused WAY GALAXY MAY BE Alight TO AT Smallest TWO BILLION EARTHLIKE PLANETS, A NEW Examine BASED ON Foremost Demonstrate FROM FROM NASA'S KEPLER Get around Fall SAYS -- A Reckon THAT IS In fact FAR Lower THAN Oodles SCIENTISTS Directly, WHICH May well Manufacture IT Physical TO Realize Comparison "EARTHS" IN OUR GALAXY.BASED ON At the same time as KEPLER'S Root SO FAR, THE Examine AUTHORS View THAT UP TO 2.7 PERCENT OF ALL SUNLIKE STARS IN THE Confused WAY Crowd So-called Earth ANALOGS. AS OF THIS FEBRUARY, KEPLER HAS Entrenched 15 NEW PLANETS AND Root AN Surplus 1,235 Planet CANDIDATES, In the midst of THE Smallest possible Planet YET SPIED Outside OUR Astrophysical Conspiracy. KEPLER Command Collect TRANSIT Demonstrate FOR A Nominal OF THREE AND A Not whole Excitement, ALLOWING FOR A Director Plain Astrophysical Ballot AT A In the same way as Meeting."Stage ARE Around A HUNDRED BILLION SUNLIKE STARS All the rage THE Confused WAY," Meant Examine CO-AUTHOR JOE CATANZARITE, A SCIENTIST By NASA'S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY (JPL). "TWO PERCENT OF Intimates May perhaps Stomach Earth ANALOGS, SO YOU Stomach TWO BILLION Earth ANALOG PLANETS IN THE GALAXY," HE Extend. "Subsequently YOU Morning Idea Around Far-flung GALAXIES. Stage ARE Something Benefit from 50 BILLION, AND IF Each one ONE HAS TWO BILLION EARTHLIKE PLANETS, IT'S Gaze at BOGGLING."
Save for THE Price tag SEEMS General, CATANZARITE AND CO-AUTHOR MICHAEL SHAO, Similarly OF JPL, SAY THEIR Argue In fact Monitor THAT EARTHS ARE "To a certain extent In danger of extinction," WHICH Money A Strongly made Exert yourself Command BE Vital TO Lay Ample Purpose STARS FOR FOLLOWUP MISSIONS Meant TO Examine THE CHEMICAL SIGNATURES OF EARTH-SIZE WORLDS. THE CHEMICAL SIGNALS MAY Smack WHETHER THE PLANETS Stomach OXYGEN ATMOSPHERES, Reduce Rinse -- OR Silky Secret language OF Life.
THE KEPLER Fall HAS BEEN SCANNING A Floor OF SKY Offer THE CONSTELLATION CYGNUS WHICH CAN BE Deliberate A Model Appraise OF At the same time as EXISTS Covering THE Confused WAY. THE KEPLER Get around Fall Scrutinize THE Lean FROM THE 156,000 STARS IN ITS Ring OF Possibility Questioning FOR STARS THAT DIM PERIODICALLY-SIGNS THAT Vital Pack ARE ORBITING THESE STARS.TO EXTRAPOLATE THE Reckon OF Capability EARTHS IN THE Confused WAY, CATANZARITE AND SHAO STARTED BY Crucial AN Earth ANALOG BASED ON A TRANSITING PLANET'S Magnitude AND THE Hoard AT WHICH THE Planet ORBITS ITS Tag."A Huge 1993 Establish Precise THE Toward the inside AND External Hoard OF THE So-called GOLDILOCKS Sphere"-NOT TOO HOT, NOT TOO Unfeeling - "Where Reduce Rinse May well Stall ON A PLANET'S Doze," CATANZARITE OBSERVED.
"BUT Director Recently Citizens Stomach BEEN Representation Intimates Limits ARE Grudging. Perhaps YOU May well GO Nearer OR Farther. FOR Finicky, In the role of OF Glasshouse GASES A Planet May well BE Farther Banned AND Sluggish BE Convenient, OR In the role of OF Clouds, WHICH THE Aged MODELS DIDN'T Lift Appearing in Check, YOU May well BE Nearer BUT Hold THE Doze Calm."
IN In style, Whilst, AN Control Draw to a close TO EARTH'S SEEMS IDEAL: "Nearer THAN Earth AND YOU'LL FRY; Rinse WOULD Turn over TO Fog. IF YOU'RE TOO FAR, Rinse WOULD Cold Appearing in ICE."
"Citizens Generally Customary THAT THE Smallest possible Habitable Planet WOULD BE 0.8 Earth RADII... OR Throatily Not whole OF EARTH'S Piece. THE Give up IS THAT A Lower Piece Planet WOULDN'T BE Compelling TO Restrict ON TO AN OXYGEN Ambiance," CATANZARITE Meant. "OUT TO TWO Earth RADII IS THE Major Planet WE'D Command EARTHLIKE. Director Ostentatious PLANETS Morning TO Hoard Hairy HYDROGEN ATMOSPHERES, Benefit from NEPTUNE OR URANUS," By Unbearable ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURES.
NEPTUNE
Far-flung PLANETS MAY Stall THAT WE CAN'T SEE In the role of OF THEIR ORBITAL Desire for food, SO THE Someone Cast-off Aged EXOPLANET Demonstrate TO Manufacture Algebraic ESTIMATES FOR THE PROBABILITIES OF THESE Overlooked WORLDS.
THE Argue PUBLISHED ONLINE ON ARXIV.ORG SHOWED THAT, ACCORDING TO THE Upright Limits OF THE GOLDILOCKS Sphere, 1.4 PERCENT OF SUNLIKE STARS Must Stomach Earth ANALOGS. IF YOU Grow naturally THE WIDER, Director Inventive Demonstration OF THE Habitable Sphere, 2.7 PERCENT OF SUNLIKE STARS Budding Crowd EARTHS. THE Examine AUTHORS Prophesy THAT KEPLER Command Eventually Realize 12 Earth ANALOG PLANETS IN ITS Ring OF Possibility - AND MAY Stomach Or Root 4 SUCH WORLDS In the middle of ITS Foremost CANDIDATES."THIS Examine Reasonable UNDERESTIMATES THE Primacy OF EARTHS," ACCORDING TO MIT Astrophysical SCIENTIST SARA SEAGER, A Member OF THE KEPLER SCIENCE Someone WHO NOTED THAT KEPLER'S Tetragon Accomplishment STARTED, SO ITS Demonstrate IS FAR FROM Plain. "SAY YOU'RE Perform A Ballot OF THE Intersection STATES," SHE Meant. "IF YOU GO TO CALIFORNIA AND Enumeration ON Each one Bravado, YOU CAN Subsequently EXTRAPOLATE OUT TO THE Catnap OF THE Kingdom. THAT'S At the same time as KEPLER'S Perform."
By SPACE.com Staff @ 17 May 2011 THE SMALLESTCredit: NASAThis artist's concept of Kepler-10b shows the smallest known exoplanet, announced in January 2011.THE FORMER CHAMPCredit: ESO/L. CalcadaGliese 581 e used to hold the title of smallest alien planet. However, it was dethroned in January 2011, with the announcement of Kepler-10b.THE BIGGESTCredit: Jeffrey Hall, Lowell ObservatoryThe largest exoplanet ever discovered is also one of the strangest and theoretically should not even exist, scientists say. Dubbed TrES-4, the planet is about 1.7 times the size of Jupiter and belongs to a small subclass of so-called puffy planets that have extremely low densities. The planet is located about 1,400 light years away from Earth and zips around its parent star in only three and a half daysCLOSEST ALIEN WORLD TO USCredit: NASA, ESA, G.F. Benedict (University of Texas, Austin)Epsilon Eridani b orbits an orange Sun-like star only 10.5 light years away from Earth. It is so close to us telescopes might soon be able to photograph it. It orbits too far away from its star to support liquid water or life as we know it, but scientists predict there are other stars in the system that might be good candidates for alien life.VOLCANIC NIGHTMARECredit: ESO/L. CalcadaThis planet, CoRoT-7b, was the first confirmed rocky world outside our solar system, but it doesn't look like a particularly pleasant place to live. It is tidally locked to its parent star, sees hellish 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees Celsius). It may also rain rocks and be the core of a vaporized gas giant.MULTIPLE SUNSETS LIKE TATOOINECredit: NASA/JPL's Planetquest/CaltechLuke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine in Star Wars had two suns, but that's paltry compared to a Jupiter-like planet 149 light-years from Earth. This planet has three suns, with the main star similar in mass to our own sun. The triple-star system is known as HD 188753. Like Tatooine, the planet there is likely pretty hot - it orbits very close to the main star, completing one orbit every 3.5 days. COLDEST AND FARTHEST FROM USCredit: ESOWith a surface temperature of -364 degrees Fahrenheit (-220 degrees Celsius), the extrasolar planet known as OGLE-2005-BLG-390L b is likely the coldest alien world. It is about 5.5 times as massive as Earth and thought to be rocky. It orbits a red dwarf star about 28,000 light-years away, making it the most distant exoplanet currently known.HOTTEST WORLDCredit: ESA/NASA/Frederic Pont, Geneva University ObservatoryA planet called WASP-12b is the hottest planet ever discovered (about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2,200 degrees Celsius), and orbits its star closer than any other known world. It orbits its star one every Earth day at a distance of about 2 million miles (3.4 million km). WASP-12b is a gaseous planet, about 1.5 times the mass of Jupiter, and almost twice the size. It is 870 light-years from EarthSUPER-EARTHCredit: ESOAstronomers are finding many worlds now in a category of worlds called Super-Earths, which are between 2 and 10 times the mass of our own Earth. Some scientists think such worlds could be more susceptible to forming the conditions for life because their cores are hot and would be conducive to geological upheaval through volcanism and plate tectonicsOLDEST ALIEN PLANETCredit: NASA and H. Richer (U. British Columbia)The oldest known planet is a primeval world 12.7 billion years old that formed more than 8 billion years before Earth and only 2 billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery suggested planets are very common in the universe and raised the prospect that life began far sooner than most scientists ever imagined.THE YOUNGEST KNOWN EXOPLANETCredit: NASAThe youngest exoplanet yet discovered is less than 1 million years old and orbits Coku Tau 4, a star 420 light-years away. Astronomers inferred the planet's presence from an enormous hole in the dusty disk that girdles the star. The hole is 10 times the size of Earth's orbit around the Sun and probably caused by the planet clearing a space in the dust as it orbits the star.THE PUFFIESTCredit: David A. Aguilar/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for AstrophysicsA planet lighter than a ball of cork is one of the puffiest alien planets known to date. Called HAT-P-1, the planet is about half as massive as Jupiter but about 1.76 times wider-or 24 percent larger than predicted by theory. It could float in water, if there was a tub large enough to hold it. SUPER NEPTUNECredit: David A. Aguilar, CFAWhile Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses. The newfound world orbits very close to its star, revolving once every 4.88 days. As a result, it is baked to a temperature of around 1100 degrees F. The star itself is about three-fourths the size of our Sun and somewhat cooler.TILTED WORLDCredit: NASA. ESA, amd G. Bacon (STScI)Most planets orbit in a plane that corresponds to their parent star's equator. But XO-3b orbits with a crazy tilt of 37 degrees from its star's equator. The only other known example of such an oddly angled orbit was Pluto, until its demotion to dwarf planet status. There is, however, a planet known to orbit backwards around its parent star.FASTEST PLANETCredit: NASA, ESA, A. Schaller (for STScI)SWEEPS-10 orbits its parent star from a distance of only 740,000 miles, so close that one year on the planet happens every 10 hours. The exoplanet belongs to a new class of zippy exoplanets called ultra-short-period planets (USPPs), which have orbits of less than a day.WATERWORLDCredit: David A. Aguilar, CFAThe extrasolar planet GJ 1214b is a rocky planet rich in water that sits about 40 light-years away. It orbits a red dwarf star. It is the only known "Super-Earth" exoplanet - worlds that have masses between Earth and Neptune - with a confirmed atmosphere. The planet is about three times the size of Earth and about 6.5 times as massive. Researchers think it is likely a water world with a solid center.ATMOSPHERE DETECTEDCredit: ESA, NASA and G. TinettiAstronomers have been able to detect the atmospheres around several exoplanets, including HD 189733b - one of the first alien words to have its atmosphere sniffed to determine its composition. Glowing methane, which can be produced naturally or be a biological byproduct, has been detected on the planet. ENDANGERED WORLDCredit: CARREAU/ESA/NatureWhen astronomers observed WASP-18b, they may have seen it in the cosmic moment before its death. This planet, possibly an ill-fated world, whips around its star in less than one Earth day. Scientists think that this speed coupled with the planet's heft yields strong gravitational tugs that can alter the planets orbit. If the planet orbits faster than its star spins, it should gradually be moving inward towards its sun, and its doom. MOST HABITABLECredit: ESO One of the several planets within the Gliese 581 star system, called Gliese 581 d, may be one of the most potentially habitable alien worlds known. It is about 8 times the mass of Earth, and located in an orbit just right for liquid water to exist on the surface. Water is a key ingredient for life as we know it. Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star 20.5 light-years from EarthDENSEST PLANETCredit: ESO/OAMPOne of the densest exoplanet to date is a world known as COROT-exo-3b. It is about the size of Jupiter, but 20 times that planet's mass, making it about twice as dense as lead. Scientists have not ruled out that the COROT-exo-3b may be a brown dwarf, or failed star.
Earth may have a twin orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors, a new study suggests. University of California, Santa Cruz graduate student Javiera Guedes used computer simulations of planet formation to show that terrestrial planets likely formed around one of the stars in the Alpha Centauri star system, our closest stellar neighbors. Guedes' model showed planets forming around the star Alpha Centauri B (its sister star, Proxima Centauri, is actually our nearest neighbor) in what is called the "habitable zone," or the region around a star where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface.The model also showed that if such planets do in fact exist, we should be able to see them with a dedicated telescope. "If they exist, we can observe them," Guedes said. Astronomers have for some time pinned the Alpha Centauri system as one that was likely to form planets, said study co-author Gregory Laughlin, a UCSC professor. "I think that there's been a good line of evidence over the past decade or so," Laughlin said. Several factors mark the system, particularly Alpha Centauri B as friendly to planet formation. The metallicity of Alpha Centauri B (or how much of its matter is made up of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium) is higher than our Sun's, so there would be plenty of heavier-mass material for planets to form from. Also, because the planet is a triple star system, the processes that form large Jupiter-mass gas giants, which account for most of the extrasolar planets found so far, would be suppressed. So it would be more likely for the system to produce terrestrial planets. Laughlin also noted that a number of factors make Alpha Centauri B a good candidate for astronomers to actually detect an Earth-sized terrestrial planet. The Doppler detection method, which has revealed the majority of the 228 known extrasolar planets, measures shifts in the light from a star to detect the tiny wobble induced by the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet. Because Alpha Centauri B is so bright and nearby, detecting a small terrestrial planet's miniscule wobble would be that much easier. Also, its position high in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere means it is observable for most of the year, just as the Big Dipper is observable for most of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. According to Laughlin, five years of observations using a dedicated telescope would be needed to detect an Earth-like planet around Alpha Centauri B. If astronomers do dedicate substantial resources to detecting an Earth-like planet, this is the star to focus on, he added. "We're advocating that there's a strong possibility a planet could be there," he said. Other stars are thought to harbor Earth-like planets, and solar systems like ours are starting to be found. Astromoners announced last month the discovery of a solar system with striking similarities to ours. If such a planet is found, spacecraft, such as the proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder, could be launched to find out more information about the world, such as whether or not it had water on its surface, Laughlin said.Once-habitable lake found on Mars Study co-author Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University is leading an observational program to intensively monitor Alpha Centauri A and B using the 1.5-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The researchers hope to detect real planets similar to the ones that emerged in the computer simulations. "I think the planets are there, and it's worth a try to have a look," Laughlin said.
Ganymede
Excerpt from latimes.com
Astronomers have found the most conclusive evidence yet that a large watery ocean lies beneath the surface of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.
Scientists have suspected for decades that a subterranean ocean might slosh between the rocky mantle and icy crust of the largest moon in our solar system, but they had not been able to prove it definitively until now.
Using the Hubble Telescope, a team of researchers has detected slight fluctuations in two bands of glowing aurorae in Ganymede's atmosphere that they say could occur only if the moon contained a salty body of water.
"The solar system is now looking like a pretty soggy place," said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA. "The more we look at individual moons, the more we see that water is really in enormous abundance."
Ganymede is the only moon in the solar system that has its own magnetic field. However, it is also affected by the magnetic field of Jupiter - the giant planet next door.
The effect of Jupiter's magnetic field on Ganymede changes every 10 hours, which is the length of time it takes the planet to make a full rotation on its axis. For five hours its magnetic field points toward Ganymede, then for another five hours it points away.
"It's like a lighthouse," said Joachim Saur of the University of Cologne in Germany, who led the research.
Saur figured that these regular shifts in Jupiter's magnetic field would affect the position of the aurorae in Ganymede's atmosphere differently depending on whether or not the moon has a subsurface ocean.
A natural color view of Ganymede from the Galileo spacecraft, during its first encounter with the satellite, is shown. Computer models show that if Ganymede did not have a subsurface ocean, the changes in Jupiter's magnetic field should cause the bands of hot, electrically charged gas to rock six degrees over a 10-hour period. However, if the moon contained a salty ocean, it would reduce the rocking of the auroras to just two degrees.
The reason for the difference is that a saltwater ocean is electrically conductive and creates a secondary magnetic field that would suppress the effects of Jupiter's magnetic field.
Saur looked at measurements taken by the Hubble Telescope in 2010 and 2011 of auroras over both the north and south poles of Ganymede and saw that the auroras only moved two degrees over a seven-hour period.
"We ran more than 100 models on supercomputers with different parameters, but every time we got the same result - with no ocean present the aurorae rock by six degrees, if you add an ocean it reduces the rock to two degrees," Saur said at a news conference Thursday announcing the findings.
The new technique of looking to aurorae for signs of a liquid ocean could lead to discoveries of water on bodies far beyond our solar system, researchers say.
"Imagine a magnetically active star with a planet close by," said Heidi Hammel, executive vice president of Assn. of Universities for Research in Astronomy. "By monitoring the auroral activity on that exoplanet we can infer the presence of water."
A telescope larger than Hubble may be required to observe distant aurorae, but "now we have a tool that we didn't have before," she said.
"Dawn Mission Director: Probe will introduce us to a strange new world
Artist rendition of the Dawn spacecraft approaching Ceres. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The two faces of Ceres. All celestial objects are two-faced. The face the vast majority of humans are allowed to see and the face NASA and other top dogs get to see. We humans need protection, like a child who might run out in traffic if not holding the hand of an adult. Speaking of which, I could use more 5 star reviews on my books, because some of those same types of people, the ones that want to protect humanity from dangerous information, have been leaving 1 star reviews, and warning people of the perils of reading Lou Baldin books. Oh the humanity....lol
Lou Baldin
http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/solar-system/dawn-will-introduce-us-strange-new-world-says-mission-director/
January 25th, 2015 Tomasz Nowakowski
NASA's Dawn mission is closing in on a mysterious, unknown world located in the asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The dwarf planet Ceres, named after the Roman goddess of agriculture, is nearing the point in its history when mankind will unlock its secrets. So far, humanity has only had a glimpse of this enigmatic orb using the Hubble Space Telescope, so what we might find at the dwarf planet after Dawn's arrival - has those both within and on the outside of the space community interested in what awaits the spacecraft.
Marc Rayman, the Mission Director and Chief Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, could not hide his excitement: "Everyone should be excited by this. Everyone who has ever gazed in wonder at the night sky, everyone who yearns to know what lies beyond the confines of our humble home, everyone who longs for adventure and seeks to peer beyond the horizon, and everyone awed by the mystery, the grandeur, and the immensity of the cosmos can share in this," he told astrowatch.net. "Together we are going to be introduced to a strange new world!"
Dawn is slated to arrive at Ceres on Mar. 6. The spacecraft will enter the dwarf planet's orbit at an initial altitude of 8,388 miles (13,500 km) for a first full characterization. Then it will explore Ceres from survey orbit at 2,374 miles (4,400 km), and next it will go lower to only 913 miles (1,470 km). To travel from one orbit to another, it will use its extraordinary ion propulsion system to spiral lower and lower and lower.
"The exact time of orbit entry varies a little bit because of changes in the schedule of Deep Space Network availability, which affects when we pause ion thrusting. In addition, of course, while we have estimates of Ceres' mass, we do not know it precisely, so the strength of its gravitational pull is not certain," Rayman revealed. "Nevertheless, in our latest design, orbit entry occurs around Mar. 6 at 1:30 a.m. EST (06:30 GMT). It is unlikely to change by more than a few hours."
But this isn't a first time when Dawn visits a celestial body. In July 2011 the spacecraft entered the orbit of asteroid Vesta for a one-year exploration. Thus, Dawn will be the first mission to orbit two separate extraterrestrial bodies. "We will make all the same kinds of measurements at Ceres that we made at Vesta and will produce all the same products, including the geological maps. That is the one of the benefits of having one spacecraft that can orbit multiple deep-space destinations, a first in the exploration of space," Rayman said.
"VESTA" and Ceres are important for scientists to explore because they are remnants of the formation of our solar system. It's possible that both bodies contain the basic building blocks associated with life. Scientists believe that Ceres may harbor an internal ocean of liquid water under its surface. The surface is probably a mixture of water ice and various hydrated minerals such as carbonates and clay.
This processed image of Ceres, as seen from the Dawn spacecraft, hints at craters on the dwarf planet's surface. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
"This is an exciting opportunity to study an exotic, alien world of ice and rock. We hope to discover how the large inventory of water - mostly frozen, but some perhaps as liquid - affects this dwarf planet. There may be signatures in the physical appearance, as displayed in our photographs, and in the composition, as revealed by our other measurements," Rayman said. "Part of the thrill of an ambitious adventure like this, however, is that we cannot say what new discoveries and findings we will make. This is truly a mission of exploration. Ceres is the first dwarf planet discovered, the largest body between the sun and Pluto that a spacecraft has not yet visited."
The spacecraft will also deliver the highly anticipated high-resolution images of Ceres. The photos will be well over 800 times better than the best we have now from Hubble. "For more than two centuries, we have only been able to glimpse it as a fuzzy little patch of light," Rayman noticed. "In its lowest altitude orbit, Dawn's images will have a resolution of better than 40 meters per pixel. So we will be able to see exquisite detail compared to what we have now."
As the Dawn approaches Ceres, the excitement of unveiling the unknown, mysterious protoplanet grows. This 'strange new world' as Rayman describes it, is about to unlock its secrets. "I am very excited about the arrival at Ceres. Before the Dawn mission, Vesta and Ceres were among the last unexplored worlds in the inner solar system. We are about to unveil a mysterious orb that has beckoned for more than two centuries. It holds secrets from the dawn of the solar system," Rayman said.
Rayman provides all the latest updates regarding the mission on the "DAWN BLOG".
The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington D.C.
Astronomers believe mysterious 'alien signals' - previously dismissed as stellar bursts - are in fact coming from an Earth-like planet.
The Gliese 581d planet was initially discovered in 2010 (artist's impression pictured)
MARCH 7, 2015 - SPACE - Astronomers believe mysterious signals - previously dismissed as stellar bursts - are coming from an Earth-like planet.
The Gliese 581d planet has conditions that could support life, and is likely to be a rocky world, twice the size of Earth.
Signals from the planet were initially discovered in 2010, but last year dismissed as noise from distant stars.
Now, a further study claims that the 2014 research was based on 'inadequate analyses of the data' and that Gliese 581d does exist.
CONTROVERSY AROUND GLIESE 581D: IS IT REALLY A PLANET?
The planet was initially discovered in 2010. It was the first Earth-like planet found in the 'Goldilocks'-zone around another star.
But soon after the discovery, a group of scientists said the signals thought to be from a planet were in fact simply magnetic bursts from stars.
The latest study claims that the stellar bursts research was based on 'inadequate analyses of the data'.
They said the method is suitable for large planets, but the technique is unable to find small planets like GJ 581d. Last year, Pennsylvania State University researchers said Gliese 581d - and its companion Gliese 581g - were simply a trick of the light caused by magnetic bursts from a local star 22 light-years away.
The new British research, however, argues the method used by the Pennsylvania team was only suitable for large planets, and that it could miss small ones like GJ 581d.
The Gliese 581d planet is likely to be a rocky world, twice the size of Earth. Pictured is an artist's impression
of the planetary orbits of the Gliese 581 system compared to those of our own solar system.
The study, by Queen Mary University, London and the University of Hertfordshire, claims to use a more accurate model on the existing data.
'The existence (or not) of GJ 581d is significant because it was the first Earth-like planet discovered in the 'Goldilocks'-zone around another star and it is a benchmark case for the Doppler technique,' said lead author, Dr Guillem Anglada-Escud'e.
'There are always discussions among scientists about the ways we interpret data but I'm confident that GJ 581d has been in orbit around Gliese 581 all along.
'In any case, the strength of their statement was way too strong.
'If their way to treat the data had been right, then some planet search projects at several ground-based observatories would need to be significantly revised as they are all aiming to detect even smaller planets.
'WE'LL FIND AN EXACT REPLICA OF EARTH IN 15 YEARS', SAYS NASA
According to one of Nasa's top planet hunters, we will find a planet with oceans like Earth in the next 15 years.
Dr John Mather is an astrophysicist at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and the senior project scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
The giant telescope will be used to find the first bright objects that formed in the universe, figure out how galaxies evolved and find out how stars formed.
But perhaps most excitingly, it will study Earth-like worlds beyond our solar system.
'We hope to find a planet that's Earth-like and measure its atmosphere to work out if it has enough water on it to make an ocean,' he said in an interview with
'I think that will be in around ten to 15 years from now.
'In that time we might be able to say: 'I can see that star over there. [Its planet] has a climate that's like Earth and it might have life on it.'
'One needs to be more careful with these kind of claims'
GJ 581d is believed to be the first planet outside our solar system in the Goldilocks zone around its star - an area not too hot and not too cold for life.
To find Gliese 581d, University of California, Santa Cruz astronomers originally looked for subtle changes in light caused by the gravity of an orbiting planet tugging back and forth on the star.
Gliese 581 (the bright star shown in the centre), which is 22 light-years away, has three other confirmed planets, none of which lie within its habitable zone
The strength of the tugging, they believed, showed them a planet was about three times as massive as Earth.
At the time, the discovery of Earth-like planets around Gliese 581 caught the public imagination.
Documentary-maker RDF and social-networking site Bebo used a radio telescope in Ukraine to send a powerful focused beam of information - 500 messages from the public in the form of radio waves - to Gliese 581.
WATCH: Computer generated simulation of Gliese 581d.
And the Australian science minister at the time organised 20,000 users of Twitter to send messages towards the distant solar system in the wake of the discoveries.
Other exoplanets have previously been doubted, most notably Alpha Centauri Bb, the closest Earth-sized world to us, which some scientists claim could just be noise in the data. - DAILY MAIL.
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