Space and Astronomy Megathread (MERGED)

[CorpusBlack]

Regarding the moon Europa and possible life

I was expecting a good article not a Wiki page.

 

[redmarvel]

My June issue of Asimov's recommends:

The Atlas of the Universe

 

[Arcturus]

I was expecting a good article not a Wiki page.

I'm sorry.

 

[Arcturus]

My June issue of Asimov's recommends:

The Atlas of the Universe

A wonderful website, redmarvel!

 

[redmarvel]

Thanks Arcturus, when I saw it in the magazine I thought it sounded perfect for this thread.

 

[Arcturus]

Yeah, it's been one of my bookmarks for awhile. Astronomy is one my interests, it's always great to see astronomy related stuff!

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

What about mysteries of the Universe? One myth is that the Asteroid Belt was once a planet that was broken apart. The same thing goes is that there was a planet in between Earth and Mars..and it smashed into the Earth,causing it's moon to be formed.

 

[FaT_tONle]

What about mysteries of the Universe? One myth is that the Asteroid Belt was once a planet that was broken apart. The same thing goes is that there was a planet in between Earth and Mars..and it smashed into the Earth,causing it's moon to be formed.

More like mysteries of the solar system.

 

[Arcturus]

What about mysteries of the Universe? One myth is that the Asteroid Belt was once a planet that was broken apart. The same thing goes is that there was a planet in between Earth and Mars..and it smashed into the Earth,causing it's moon to be formed.

It was believed that the asteroid belt was once a planet that somehow got destroyed. It is now theorized that the asteroid belt is composed of materials left over from the formation of the solar system. As for the moon, scientists believe that the moon coalesced from a disk of debris which was produced after a planet, possibly the size of Mars smashed into the earth.

 

[Arc-Light]

My June issue of Asimov's recommends:

The Atlas of the Universe

wow that is a real nice site Redmarvel.

 

[Galactus]

Earth-like Planet Found in Leo
Based on a University College London news release




Spanish and UCL (University College London) scientists have discovered a possible terrestrial-type planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo. The new planet, which lies at a distance of 30 light years from the Earth, has a mass five times that of our planet but is the smallest found to date. One full day on the new planet would be equivalent to three weeks on Earth.

The team of astronomers from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) working with Dr Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, a visiting astrophysicist at UCL, made the discovery from model predictions of a new exoplanet (meaning planet outside our solar system) orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo. Simulations show that the exoplanet, dubbed GJ 436c, orbits its host star (GJ 436) in only 5.2 Earth days, and is thought to complete a revolution in 4.2 Earth days, compared to the Earth’s revolution of 24 hours and full orbit of 365 days. On Earth, a full day (sunset to sunset) coincides quite closely with the rotation period. On the new planet these two periods do not coincide, since the orbital translation period and the rotation period are very similar. For this reason, a full day on the new planet would take four planetary years, or roughly 22 Earth days.


The host star of GJ 436c is an 11th magnitude red dwarf and is estimated to have a radius that is about 42% of the Sun's.

The study, published this week in Astrophysical Journal, predicted the presence of a small exoplanet perturbing an inner planet (already known), producing changes on its orbit. A re-analysis of archival radial velocities also permitted the identification of a signal that perfectly matches the simulations and corresponds to a planet in resonance with the inner one, meaning that for every two orbits of the known planet the new planet completes one.

Ignasi Ribas, lead author of the study from CSIC, says: “After final confirmation, the new exoplanet will be the smallest found to date. It is the first one to be identified from the perturbations exerted on another planet of the system. Because of this, the study opens a new path that should lead to the discovery of even smaller planets in the near future, with the goal of eventually finding worlds more and more similar to the Earth." Finding Earth-like planets is a major step in the search for habitable planets beyond our Solar System.




Dr Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, visiting astrophysicist at UCL Physics and Astronomy, says: “This is the fourth super-Earth planet discovered. This planet is the hot twin of the frozen super-Earth (OGLE-2005-BLG-390lb) we discovered by microlensing two years ago. Other previously discovered planets of this class are the two hot super-Earths Gl 581b and Gl 876d detected by their Doppler wobble.“

Dr Giovanna Tinetti, UCL Physics and Astronomy who recently calculated the putative properties of this planet, says: “Calculations indicate that the temperature of the planet could be within 400-700 Kelvin [127-427 Celsius], but it could locally be as low as 350 K [77 C] at the poles, depending on the type of atmosphere.”

Most of the 280 or so planets discovered to date are gas giants similar to Jupiter, although some with masses below 10 times that of the Earth have already been found. Planets with masses of between one and 10 times the Earth are often dubbed super-Earths. In this case, current models predict that the new planet is a rocky type and has a radius some 50 per cent larger than the Earth.

 

[CorpusBlack]

Earth-like Planet Found in Leo
Based on a University College London news release




Spanish and UCL (University College London) scientists have discovered a possible terrestrial-type planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo. The new planet, which lies at a distance of 30 light years from the Earth, has a mass five times that of our planet but is the smallest found to date. One full day on the new planet would be equivalent to three weeks on Earth.

The team of astronomers from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) working with Dr Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, a visiting astrophysicist at UCL, made the discovery from model predictions of a new exoplanet (meaning planet outside our solar system) orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo. Simulations show that the exoplanet, dubbed GJ 436c, orbits its host star (GJ 436) in only 5.2 Earth days, and is thought to complete a revolution in 4.2 Earth days, compared to the Earth’s revolution of 24 hours and full orbit of 365 days. On Earth, a full day (sunset to sunset) coincides quite closely with the rotation period. On the new planet these two periods do not coincide, since the orbital translation period and the rotation period are very similar. For this reason, a full day on the new planet would take four planetary years, or roughly 22 Earth days.


The host star of GJ 436c is an 11th magnitude red dwarf and is estimated to have a radius that is about 42% of the Sun's.

The study, published this week in Astrophysical Journal, predicted the presence of a small exoplanet perturbing an inner planet (already known), producing changes on its orbit. A re-analysis of archival radial velocities also permitted the identification of a signal that perfectly matches the simulations and corresponds to a planet in resonance with the inner one, meaning that for every two orbits of the known planet the new planet completes one.

Ignasi Ribas, lead author of the study from CSIC, says: “After final confirmation, the new exoplanet will be the smallest found to date. It is the first one to be identified from the perturbations exerted on another planet of the system. Because of this, the study opens a new path that should lead to the discovery of even smaller planets in the near future, with the goal of eventually finding worlds more and more similar to the Earth." Finding Earth-like planets is a major step in the search for habitable planets beyond our Solar System.




Dr Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, visiting astrophysicist at UCL Physics and Astronomy, says: “This is the fourth super-Earth planet discovered. This planet is the hot twin of the frozen super-Earth (OGLE-2005-BLG-390lb) we discovered by microlensing two years ago. Other previously discovered planets of this class are the two hot super-Earths Gl 581b and Gl 876d detected by their Doppler wobble.“

Dr Giovanna Tinetti, UCL Physics and Astronomy who recently calculated the putative properties of this planet, says: “Calculations indicate that the temperature of the planet could be within 400-700 Kelvin [127-427 Celsius], but it could locally be as low as 350 K [77 C] at the poles, depending on the type of atmosphere.”

Most of the 280 or so planets discovered to date are gas giants similar to Jupiter, although some with masses below 10 times that of the Earth have already been found. Planets with masses of between one and 10 times the Earth are often dubbed super-Earths. In this case, current models predict that the new planet is a rocky type and has a radius some 50 per cent larger than the Earth.

That's really f'n cool.

Are you going to eat it Galactus?

 

[FaT_tONle]

Old article... I am sure we'll find a lot of similar planets like that in the coming years... I don't know how much liquid water actually means as far as finding lifeforms. There is water everywhere in the solar system. Once we are able to detect atmospheric composition we can start to narrow it down.

 

[Arcturus]

New Image of Phobos

And for those to lazy to click on the link, I'll post the article. But be sure to click the above link for the amazing images of Phobos, one of the two moons, of Mars.

New image of Phobos
HiRISE captured one of Mars' moons on March 23.
Provided by the University of Arizona, Tuscon

April 10, 2008
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, run from The University of Arizona, has produced a new color stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons.

The HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two images of Phobos 10 minutes apart on March 23. Scientists combined the images for a stereo view.

"Phobos is of great interest because it may be rich in water ice and carbon-rich materials," professor Alfred McEwen of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and HiRISE principal investigator, says.

Previous spacecraft, notably Mars Global Surveyor, have taken higher resolution pictures of Phobos because they flew closer to it, HiRISE team member Nathan Bridges of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says.

"But the HiRISE images are higher quality, making the new data some of the best ever for Phobos," Bridges says. "The new images will help constrain the origin and evolution of this moon."

By combining information from the HiRISE camera's blue-green, red and near-infrared color channels, scientists confirmed that material around the rim of Phobos' largest surface feature, Stickney crater, appears bluer than the rest of Phobos. The impact that excavated 9-K, or 5.5-mile, Stickney is thought to have almost shattered the moon.

If Phobos' surface is analogous with surface of our own moon, "the bluer color could mean that the regolith is fresher, or hasn't been exposed to space as long as the rest of Phobos' surface has," Bridges says.

The HiRISE view also shows landslides along the walls of Stickney and other large craters, Phobos' striking surface grooves and crater chains, and craters hidden on the moon's dark side illuminated by Marsshine.

Marsshine is sunlight reflected by Mars onto the moon. The phenomenons analogous to Earthshine, where Earth reflects sunlight that illuminates the dark side of our Moon. Like Earth's Moon, Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos are tidally locked on their planet—that is, they always present the same side to the planet they orbit.

The HiRISE images are among several new HiRISE images being released today on the HiRISE web site. The images include an anaglyph, or 3-D view of Phobos that can be viewed with red-blue glasses.

MRO flies at about 7,800 mph between 155 and 196 miles, or between 250 and 316 kilometers, above the surface of Mars.

Phobos was 6,800 kilometers, or about 4,200 miles, away when the HiRISE camera took the first photograph. At that distance, the HiRISE camera was able to resolve surface features at a scale of 6.8 meters, or about 22 feet, per pixel, and see features as small as 20 meters, or 65 feet, across.

Phobos was 5,800 kilometers, or about 3,600 miles, away when the HiRISE camera took the second picture minutes later. At that distance, the HiRISE camera was able to resolve features about 15 meters, or 50 feet, across.

Phobos, only about 13.5 miles, or 22 kilometers, in diameter, has less than one-thousandth the gravity of Earth. That's not enough gravity to pull the moon into a sphere, so it's oblong. Mars' second moon, Deimos, is even smaller, at about 7.5 miles, or 12 kilometers, across. The very dark, diminutive moons may be captured asteroids from the outer, carbon-rich, Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt.

 

[CorpusBlack]

Awesome. Thanks Arcturus.

 

[Alex The Great]

NASA Spacecraft Fine Tunes Course for Mars Landing
04.10.08

This artist's concept shows NASA's Phoenix spacecraft en route to Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25 landing on the Red Planet.
"This is our first trajectory maneuver targeting a specific location in the northern polar region of Mars," said Brian Portock, chief of the Phoenix navigation team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The mission's two prior trajectory maneuvers, made last August and October, adjusted the flight path of Phoenix to intersect with Mars.
NASA has conditionally approved a landing site in a broad, flat valley informally called "Green Valley." A final decision will be made after NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter takes additional images of the area this month.
The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera has taken more than three dozen images of the area. Analysis of those images prompted the Phoenix team to shift the center of the landing target 13 kilometers (8 miles) southeastward, away from slightly rockier patches to the northwest. Navigators used that new center for planning today's maneuver.
The landing area is an ellipse about 62 miles by about 12 miles (100 kilometers by 20 kilometers). Researchers have mapped more than five million rocks in and around that ellipse, each big enough to end the mission if hit by the spacecraft during landing. Knowing where to avoid the rockier areas, the team has selected a scientifically exciting target that also offers the best chances for the spacecraft to set itself down safely onto the Martian surface.
"Our landing area has the largest concentration of ice on Mars outside of the polar caps. If you want to search for a habitable zone in the arctic permafrost, then this is the place to go," said Peter Smith, principal investigator for the mission, at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Phoenix will dig to an ice-rich layer expected to lie within arm's reach of the surface. It will analyze the water and soil for evidence about climate cycles and investigate whether the environment there has been favorable for microbial life.
"We have never before had so much information about a Mars site prior to landing," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis. Arvidson is chairman of the Phoenix landing-site working group and has worked on Mars landings since the first successful Viking landers in 1976.
"The environmental risks at landing -- rocks and slopes -- represent the most significant threat to a successful mission. There's always a chance that we'll roll snake eyes, but we have identified an area that is very flat and relatively free of large boulders," said JPL's David Spencer, Phoenix deputy project manager and co-chair of the landing site working group.
Today's trajectory adjustment began by pivoting Phoenix 145 degrees to orient and then fire spacecraft thrusters for about 35 seconds, then pivoting Phoenix back to point its main antenna toward Earth. The mission has three more planned opportunities for maneuvers before May 25 to further refine the trajectory for a safe landing at the desired location.
In the final seven minutes of its flight on May 25, Phoenix must perform a challenging series of actions to safely decelerate from nearly 21,000 kilometers per hour (13,000 mph). The spacecraft will release a parachute and then use pulse thrusters at approximately 914 meters (3,000 feet) from the surface to slow to about 8 kilometers per hour (5 mph) and land on three legs.
"Landing on Mars is extremely challenging. In fact, not since the 1970s have we had a successful powered landing on this unforgiving planet. There's no guarantee of success, but we are doing everything we can to mitigate the risks," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
For more information about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu .
The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions are provided by the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; the Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

May 25th. cool. what happened to spirit and oppurtunity? they've lasted for years and now i've heard nuthin.

 

[redmarvel]

Trying to grasp the size of the universe?

 

[Mike_D202]

..we need starships to explore these galaxies dammit.

 

[CorpusBlack]

..we need starships to explore these galaxies dammit.

I've been building one. Permits are a b-tch though.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

It was believed that the asteroid belt was once a planet that somehow got destroyed. It is now theorized that the asteroid belt is composed of materials left over from the formation of the solar system. As for the moon, scientists believe that the moon coalesced from a disk of debris which was produced after a planet, possibly the size of Mars smashed into the earth.

I suppose so,new facts can sometimes debunk old myths. I saw on a astronomy website that Pluto's orbit is so different that it's path is WAY out of the solar system and comes in distance only for a short while.

The sun's gravity field is so powerful that it's reach is basically all the way to the oort cloud. Imagine what the strength of a red giant's is..

 

[Super Kal]

..we need starships to explore these galaxies dammit.

hell yeah

 

[Arcturus]

Trying to grasp the size of the universe?

Absolutely wonderful video, redmarvel. I've seen this video before, it is very intriguing.

Thanks for posting it up!

Oh and another video from that same author of the video you posted;

Life in the Universe (#1): Just on Earth, or Everywhere?

 

[Docker2.0]

A black hole vomitting?



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080415/sc_afp/spaceastronomy;_ylt=AvsPY2mSzLw5SpcHXKOfdBaHgsgF

 

[Docker2.0]

Just something I thought you guys would want to see...............and hopefully keep this thread alive.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=NS1SWabmjoo&feature=related

 

[JoeCat]

I posted this in the God/Higher power thread so,