Milestone in the search for earth-like exoplanets: Kepler-10b
January 11, 2011
A major milestone has been achieved by the Kepler Spacecraft- the smallest exoplanet found thus far. Kepler-10b is a small, dense, rocky world only 1.4 times the size of earth. It’s not earth-like, but it is earth-sized. This planet orbits its parent star very close- even closer than Mercury is to our sun, and it’s tidally-locked- meaning the same side always faces its star. It’s so hot that most of its surface is probably molten, and the star’s point-blank radiation would have long since “blown” away any atmosphere it might’ve had, so there’s no way it could support life. Still, this is a major milestone simply because it’s such a small planet. Detecting planets using the transit method is very difficult to begin with and the smaller they are, the harder they are to see. I’ve said this many times before, but it is literally only a matter of time, possibly only months, until Kepler uncovers a true earth-twin. That will create a fundamental shift in the mindset of the entire astronomy community from “are we alone?” toward the direction of “what are they like?”
(Via Universe Today, Bad Astronomy, and NASA)
NYE plans and some good 2011 lists
December 31, 2010
I’m not going to attempt to rundown all the party possibilities for tonight in Nashville. Just head over to the Nashville Cream and check out their NYE flow chart. There’s really nothing better for determining your course of action for tonight. Whatever you do, be safe and if you plan on drinking, arrange for a DD or a cab or Zingo or SOMETHING.
Instead of creating or linking to any “best of” lists about 2010, I thought I’d round up a couple of articles about what to expect in the science world in 2011.
Discovery News: The Biggest, Boldest, and Baddest Space Missions of 2011
Live Science: The Top Science Breakthroughs That 2011 May Bring
That’s it. I’m out. See you in 2011.
Amazing Space Shuttle footage
December 13, 2010
NASA has released a stunning and awe-inspiring collection of footage of Space Shuttle launches called Ascent. It’s narrated by two shuttle engineers, so you know exactly what you’re looking at the whole time. Most of these scenes are in ultra slow-motion and fairly high definition, revealing tiny details that go by far too fast for the naked eye. PLEASE, take the time to sit down and watch all 45 minutes. TRUST ME, it is well worth your time. You will not be disappointed. These scenes have previously only been for NASA eyes only, but with the imminent retirement of the shuttle fleet, NASA is starting the long process of “commemorative this, remembering that” PR. I’m sure there will be more footage and imagery released, along with documentaries and short films, etc…
Put this video on its 480p resolution, throw it on fullscreen, and sit back. (Via Universe Today)
Space X successfully launches & recovers Dragon Capsule
December 8, 2010
This morning Space X launched the first full version of their Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The company’s rocket underwent a successful test launch back in July, and this launch successfully put their Dragon capsule into orbit. The capsule orbited earth for about 3 1/2 hours, then re-entered the atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered later this afternoon. This was the first successful commercial spaceflight involving re-entry and recovery. The Dragon capsule is under contract to NASA to carry cargo to the International Space Station. Space X is in a battle to also win a contract from NASA to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS once the Space Shuttle is retired next year. A slightly different version of the Dragon capsule would be used for this, atop the same Falcon 9 rocket. This test’s success puts Elon Musk’s Space X much closer to that goal.
I am quite confident that Space X, or whatever other commercial spaceflight company that wins the NASA contract, will be able to cheaply and safely get our astronauts to and from the ISS. There is absolutely no reason NASA should devote more than basic oversight and money to this task. What NASA needs to focus its efforts on now is going beyond the ISS- to asteroids, to Mars, and even farther than that.
In other news, Mozilla has adopted two Red Pandas (aka firefoxes) and is streaming their activities live at http://firefoxlive.mozilla.org. What’s most awesome about this is that they’re being kept at the Knoxville Zoo, right here in Tennessee. I DARE you to watch the videos of them and not smile. (Via Candice Burnside)
California “missle launch” was likely only a jet contrail
November 10, 2010
Monday night must’ve been a slow news night in California, and everywhere really… but what most media has been calling a “mystery missle launch” was probably just a jet airliner contrail. It’s all a matter of perspective, really.
The footage came from a news helicopter that was flying off the coast of Orange County, CA, Monday night. The footage is shot looking westward and the object appears to be a rocket rising from the ocean. But if a jet airliner is flying directly toward you from over the horizon, and leaving a contrail behind it, it will look as though it is rising from the ground going straight up. If the atmospheric conditions are right, the contrail will quickly get widened by upper-level winds, and vortexes left by the plane’s wings can cause a spiral-like appearance. The bright light at the tip of the plume is only visible for a short time, which would indicate that it’s simply the glint of the setting sun reflecting off the plane’s underbelly. After some blog-reading I found that in fact, contrails have been mistaken for missles from this very same area before, and the culprits are planes traveling from Hawaii to Phoenix. There’s also a small possibility that it was a small target rocket from an island west of LA and used to test the military’s new airborne laser defense system, but the company that conducts those tests has said that it did not have any launches that day.
I think what we have here is a case of sensationalist media capitalizing on the mistake of a helicopter news team. Normal people probably see contrails from this same flight path almost every night and may think it’s interesting, but they forget about it and move on. Because it happened to be a news helicopter team who were fooled by the illusion this time, it instantly became a media blitz and got blown waaaay out of proportion. I’m saying I’m 100% sure it was a jet airliner contrail, but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. More detailed info on this particular incident’s explanation can be found at NewScientist. Also, a detailed explanation and comparison of this incident to other contrail incidents can be found at the Contrail Science blog.
Eye-gasm: virtual tour of Space Shuttle launchpad
November 2, 2010
Screenshot from NASA Tech virtual tour
So yesterday’s post was a bit of a downer… in some ways. Let me now point you in the direction of something totally awesome: a virtual tour of Space Shuttle Discovery on launch pad 39A. With the final liftoff of Discovery scheduled for tomorrow, I thought it perfect today to share this website I discovered via Universe Today. NASA’s Jim O’Connor runs the NASA Tech website and does 360 degree hi-resolution photographic virtual tours, and they’re nothing short of amazing. While virtual tours are nothing new, getting this kind of view (and from as many viewpoints) of a space shuttle is as close as most of us will ever get to actually seeing the full assembly up-close and in-person. It really helps you grasp how big the whole thing is… as much as one can without actually being there. Right now there are several different views of the space shuttle, all of which can be rotated a full 360 degrees. While the website itself is rather hideously designed, the awesome views offered by the virtual tours make up for it. I’d say my favorite is the one from under the orange external fuel tank.
In other news: GET OFF YOUR ASS AND VOTE TODAY!
Doubt cast on Gliese 581g planet
October 13, 2010
Credit: Lynette Cook/NSF
Planet hunting is a delicate and tedious science. A very strong emphasis is placed on multiple teams of astronomers being able to replicate the results of the first team to announce any kind of discovery. If another team is unable to replicate the findings of the first, it casts a serious shadow of doubt on the validity of the initial findings. That’s exactly what is happening with the Gliese 581g exoplanet that was announced just last week. Sadly, a team that works directly with the HARPS detector on the 3.6m telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile has been unable to confirm the existence of Gliese 581f or g. They have access to more data than the team who initially announced the discovery, and they can’t find a clear enough signal in the background “noise” of the observations to confirm this planet. As more teams run computer models and look at observations from other telescopes with radial velocity planet-finding instruments, maybe we’ll get a clearer picture of whether these two planets actually exist. (Via Universe Today via Dynamics of Cats blog)
Don’t worry though, the Kepler mission will undoubtedly start popping out earth-twin discoveries in another year or so, mark my word.
Breaking news: new earth-sized planet found in Gliese 581 system
September 29, 2010
Image via Wikipedia
Our old friend Gliese 581 just keeps getting more and more interesting. Astronomers have discovered yet another VERY interesting planet orbiting this star. The star itself is a red dwarf- much smaller and cooler than our own sun, which mean it’s habitable zone is much closer than that of our sun. This new planet is only about 3 times the mass of earth, and it is within the star’s habitable zone!
Clearly this is exciting, but it’s still not a true “earth-twin” because we have no way to determine if the planet even has an atmosphere. It was discovered the same way all 5 other planets in this system have been discovered- the radial velocity, or “wobble” method in which astronomers measure the planet’s tug on the star as it orbits. I’m assuming the planet does not line on the plane of our line of sight to the star, otherwise we’d have transit observations to go along with these RV observations. Also, because it is so close (it orbits in only about 37 days) it’s probably tidally locked. This means the planet rotates at the same rate it orbits the star, resulting the same face of the planet always facing the star, exactly how or own moon always faces us with same side. Thus, one side of the planet would be much hotter than the other, and this is big mitigating factor in the likelihood of the planet harboring life.
The big deal here is simply that there is a somewhat earth-like planet orbiting a star right at our galactic doorstep. The Gliese 581 system is only about 20 light years away. Statistically, if earth-like planets were rare in our galaxy, the chances of one being so close to us would be VERY VERY low. So having one at our doorstep means that earth-like planets must be pretty common in our galaxy, VERY common, in fact. I have a strong feeling that as more data from the Kepler mission comes in, they’re going to start popping up everywhere, and that’s exciting.
I could go on and on, but what I’ve presented thus far is a condensed version of the Bad Astronomy post that just went up, so head over there to get the full details. As always Phil does a great job presenting the facts in laymen’s terms.
Ask your congressman to vote YES on NASA Authorization Act of 2010 TODAY
September 29, 2010
It is imperative for the future of NASA that you IMMEDIATELY call your congressman’s Washington office and ask they vote YES on S. 3729- NASA Authorization Act of 2010! If you’re in Nashville then your congressman is Jim Cooper and his # is 202-225-4311. The bill is up for a vote TODAY and the session ends this Friday, so if they don’t pass the bill now, NASA will have NO BUDGET for the next fiscal year, which also starts Friday. Phil Plait explains quite well on his blog why you should do this, but honestly, time is of the essence, please take my word for it: it is IMPERATIVE that this bill get passed! If you’re not in Nashville and read this in time, use this link to find you representative and CALL HIM/HER NOW.
I’m back, here are some cool links
September 21, 2010
Eating lunch with the Darlins in the Bronx.
So I’m back! It was a blast and I’d do it all again in heartbeat. I don’t have time to give a full rundown, but quite possibly the most memorable moment was realizing that a tornado was hitting Brooklyn while Those Darlins were soundchecking in Bowery Ballroom. Here’s the official weather report from the NWS. Needless to say, tornadoes are pretty rare in NYC. Thankfully we were in Manhattan while all this was happening. Those Darlins have some great new songs on their new record, and their setlist for this tour is mostly those new songs, peppered with the favs from their debut, and the free single “Nightjogger” which you can download at the Nashville Cream. Basically they’ve taken on a bit more of a pure rock & roll character, and drummer “Sheriff” Linwood Regansburg has taken on a much more prominent role in the songwriting, and even sings on one of the new songs, though they’re not yet playing that song live. Stay tuned for more on them and more on the results of my photo documentary project.
Meanwhile, here are some awesome things I came across while catching up on all my RSS feeds:
Vaccines absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, do NOT cause autism. A new study explored every possible way that thimerosal containing vaccines (TCVs) could be linked to autism and there was none. Absolutely no connection whatsoever; the same findings as the many other studies that have been done to investigate the claims of the anti-vax crowd. In fact, the result hinted that the administration of TCVs between birth and 7 months may actually reduce the risk of autism. It’s very simple, get your kids vaccinated! If you don’t, you are a threat to public health. Vaccines are one of mankind’s greatest scientific breakthroughs and have saved countless lives. There will always be a miniscule (and utterly negligible) risk of a bizarre allergic reaction or other complication, as there is with any medication or vaccine, but that risk is far, far, FAR outweighed by the benefits. And those risks have now been proven once and for all NOT to include autism.
A pair of astronomers have made an official prediction that the discovery of the first truly earth-like exoplanet will happen in less than a year– May of 2011. They used a well-known methodology called Scientometrics to make this prediction. I’d venture to say that to me, nothing in the field of astronomy, or even science in general, is more exciting than the very likely possibility of life on other planets. The discovery of the first true earth twin is a major step in that path. I really hope this prediction comes true.
Five awesome facts about NASA’s next robotic mission to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory (a.k.a. Curiosity) which will launch in late 2011.
23 amazing photographs from the 1940s and 50s of nuclear bomb tests conducted by the US Military. This New York Times photos series is utterly fascinating, mainly because of images 5 through 7. Most of us have seen plenty of images of the mushroom clouds created by nuclear blasts, but those 3 images are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They were taken with a super high-speed camera and literally captured the blast at the very instant the explosion began. If I saw this image out of context I would probably think it was a microscope image of some sort of virus. The amazing irony here is that both a virus and an atomic bomb are incredibly destructive, yet in such completely different ways.
The actual scale of the observable universe, from the smallest possible thing the largest possible thing, is utterly impossible for the human mind to comprehend. Mathematicians came up with the concept of “orders of magnitude” to help with this, but I say it’s still impossible for any human to really grasp. But this fun little interactive Flash animation is pretty cool way of displaying the concept. (Via Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Twitter)
steve cross loves music and science 