Thank you for your kind words. I think one of the most interesting stories was Wolf 1061c which, alongside Proxima Centauri b, makes two possible nearby semi-Earth worlds.
So, you can still make out earths continents on mars?
Imagine you were an alien species, making theories of speculations from that perspective...
^ Absolutely this. Just as we can see clouds, ice caps and regions of Mars from Earth, telescopes on the Martian surface would be able to image oceans, clouds and continents on Earth.
Thank you for your kind words. I think one of the most interesting stories was Wolf 1061c which, alongside Proxima Centauri b, makes two possible nearby semi-Earth worlds.
^ Absolutely this. Just as we can see clouds, ice caps and regions of Mars from Earth, telescopes on the Martian surface would be able to image oceans, clouds and continents on Earth.
Would there be any signs of life from that distance? I'm thinking city's at night perhaps.
Would there be any signs of life from that distance? I'm thinking city's at night perhaps.
An equivalent of the Hubble Space Telescope around Mars would almost certainly pick that up and the advancing and receding green patches coinciding with the seasons would indicate vegetation. Furthermore, atmospheric spectroscopy done from the surface of Mars would clearly show atmospheric disequilibrium, in other words a metastable atmosphere with components that could only have originated from the presence of life, e.g. oxygen, ozone, methane, etc.
In contrast, Mars has a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere in chemical equilibrium (very stable, no interactions and dynamic changes) and that basically says, "No life is present". Similarly, neither the high image resolution orbiters nor any of the surface rovers has ever found anything indicative of life which also says, "No life is present".
Despite the hopes, Mars is giving every sign that it is a barren world. That said, some of Earth's Antarctic and other vegetation might just be able to survive there if they were introduced to the Red Planet.
Just been viewing the Sky News website and it says later on in the 21st century the Northern Lights might not be viewable at all anywhere in UK. Similar situation happened apparently in the 17th century as the solar cycle was so low then with no sunspots and the Northern Lights in that period was just viewable in the arctic region and the weather was much much colder in that period as well. Of course the weather won't change as dramatically as that period because of climate change.
Ian
This evocative movie of four planets more massive than Jupiter orbiting the young star HR 8799 is a composite of sorts, including images taken over seven years at the W.M. Keck observatory in Hawaii.
The movie clearly doesn’t show full orbits, which will take many more years to collect. The closest-in planet circles the star in around 40 years; the furthest takes more than 400 years.
But as described by Jason Wang, an astronomy graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers think that the four planets may well be in resonance with each other.
Scarily, there are even bigger muthas out there like NML Cygni and UY Scuti. When those humongous stars do eventually blow up (which is their inevitable fate), the rest of the galaxy will almost certainly will find out sooner or later.
Scarily, there are even bigger muthas out there like NML Cygni and UY Scuti. When those humongous stars do eventually blow up (which is their inevitable fate), the rest of the galaxy will almost certainly will find out sooner or later.
SpaceX have aborted their launch for today, at T-13. They didn't like the telemetry they were getting from the self-test of the gimbles used to steer the second stage.
Next launch opportunity is 14:38:59 UT tomorrow. This mission is to resupply the ISS. It is the first use by SpaceX of historic pad 39A, which was used in 1969 by Saturn Vs to put men on the moon. The first stage will be returning to a near-by pad (on land, rather than at sea), in daylight, so it should be worth watching.
The important thing is not only being in the habitable zone but also having a large mass like Earth so that there's active volcanoes replenishing the atmosphere with gas and water vapour and a hot, quickly rotating core that can generate a protective magnetic field. The smallest of these planets has 3x the mass of dead Mars so that's really promising but I still think it's right to be cautious and only 1 or 2 of these planets might be potentially life-friendly. That said, it's probably the best solar system I've seen so far and it ought to be a candidate system for Project Starshot (see https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3 )
SpaceX plan to send two people, who have already paid for the privilege, around the Moon as early as next year! https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/27/spacex-moon-private-mission-2018-elon-musk
I'm guessing that of the few people who could afford the trip, two candidates would be Jeff Bezos & Richard Branson. Thing is, would Elon Musk want them to come back?!!
SpaceX plan to send two people, who have already paid for the privilege, around the Moon as early as next year! https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/27/spacex-moon-private-mission-2018-elon-musk
I'm guessing that of the few people who could afford the trip, two candidates would be Jeff Bezos & Richard Branson. Thing is, would Elon Musk want them to come back?!!
I would say "as early as next year" is highly optimistic, but hopefully sooner rather than later.
SpaceX plan to send two people, who have already paid for the privilege, around the Moon as early as next year! https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/27/spacex-moon-private-mission-2018-elon-musk
I'm guessing that of the few people who could afford the trip, two candidates would be Jeff Bezos & Richard Branson. Thing is, would Elon Musk want them to come back?!!
They've paid a deposit, not the whole amount. It's likely to cost between $150m and $200m. Even if you are a billionaire, that's 20% of your wealth for a week's holiday. It's roughly 100 times what Blue Origin will charge, although you get 7 days of weightlessness rather than 7 minutes.
2018 is a NET date - "No Earlier Than", meaning it is the earliest it could happen. NET dates often slip. First SpaceX have to get their Falcon Heavy to work, with the first test-flight planned for this summer. They have to get their Dragon 2 crew-certified, and then make at least two trips to the ISS with it. If any of that goes badly or is delayed, the Moon trip will be delayed too.
^^ I got 8 out of 10. I would disagree about the interpretation of the two I got wrong, 6 and 10.
If Opportunity has been on Mars for 13 years, it has also been there for 3 years. And I don't think it's very meaningful to talk of mankind owning space.
8/10 too and I totally disagree with the two I got wrong.
Mankind does not 'own' outer space. No-one 'owns' it! And Mars is not 1000 times further away from us than the Moon. At furthest it is but most of the time it's closer
I scored 5/10..... but It is late here and my war wound is playing up.
Actually I'll just stand in the corner and wear a pointy cap with a letter D on it...
Comments
As always excellent stuff from you.
A very interesting video on the Dipole Repeller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKGa5D5BaRI
Imagine you were an alien species, making theories of speculations from that perspective...
Thank you for your kind words. I think one of the most interesting stories was Wolf 1061c which, alongside Proxima Centauri b, makes two possible nearby semi-Earth worlds.
^ Absolutely this. Just as we can see clouds, ice caps and regions of Mars from Earth, telescopes on the Martian surface would be able to image oceans, clouds and continents on Earth.
Would there be any signs of life from that distance? I'm thinking city's at night perhaps.
An equivalent of the Hubble Space Telescope around Mars would almost certainly pick that up and the advancing and receding green patches coinciding with the seasons would indicate vegetation. Furthermore, atmospheric spectroscopy done from the surface of Mars would clearly show atmospheric disequilibrium, in other words a metastable atmosphere with components that could only have originated from the presence of life, e.g. oxygen, ozone, methane, etc.
Link: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/origin-of-oxygen-in-atmosphere/
In contrast, Mars has a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere in chemical equilibrium (very stable, no interactions and dynamic changes) and that basically says, "No life is present". Similarly, neither the high image resolution orbiters nor any of the surface rovers has ever found anything indicative of life which also says, "No life is present".
Despite the hopes, Mars is giving every sign that it is a barren world. That said, some of Earth's Antarctic and other vegetation might just be able to survive there if they were introduced to the Red Planet.
Ian
https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/a-four-planet-system-in-orbit-directly-imaged-and-remarkable/
F****** big!
http://www.livescience.com/57808-how-big-can-stars-get-awesome-visualization-shows-scale.html
Scarily, there are even bigger muthas out there like NML Cygni and UY Scuti. When those humongous stars do eventually blow up (which is their inevitable fate), the rest of the galaxy will almost certainly will find out sooner or later.
Wassup...in February:
Feb !5 - Jupiter's close to the Moon
Feb 17 - Venus is at its greatest brilliancy in the night sky
Feb 27 - Mars and Uranus are close together
Feb 28 - Venus and the Moon are close together
UY Scuti is an absolute beast.:D
A journey to Jupiter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZc1Y662jtk
60 new planets orbiting stars close to our solar system have just been discovered by astronomers, including one that scientists are referring to as a "Super Earth". The findings resulted from observations at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii as part of the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey, said the United Kingdom's University of Hertfordshire. The research team made 61,000 individual observations of 1,600 stars.
By the way, the super Earth planet turns out be a lemon, and a roasted lemon at that.
Meanwhile, back in this solar system, there is a non-update about Planet Nine:
Why Is It Taking So Long To Figure Out Planet Nine?
Why Can't Scientists Find Planet 9?
Moar news:
New support for British spaceports. The government is looking to push forward commercial spaceflight activity in the UK with a series of grants totalling £10m.
Scientists narrow list of landing sites for NASA’s next Mars rover. A rover NASA plans to launch to Mars in 2020 will likely explore one of three locations selected last week by a scientific advisory group, which picked candidate landing sites that were once homes to ancient lakes and hot springs.
Next launch opportunity is 14:38:59 UT tomorrow. This mission is to resupply the ISS. It is the first use by SpaceX of historic pad 39A, which was used in 1969 by Saturn Vs to put men on the moon. The first stage will be returning to a near-by pad (on land, rather than at sea), in daylight, so it should be worth watching.
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-scientists-geology-ceres.html
http://www.seeker.com/organics-found-on-dwarf-planet-ceres-2266073354.html
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/organic-material-found-chilly-ceres-180962227/
The wonderful and mysterious Saturnian moon Enceladus - another prime candidate for life.
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-nasa-cassini-saturn-mission-habitable.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6xl9abYL2k
http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/nasa-discovers-seven-new-exoplanets-that-could-sustain-life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HfgHhMg6vY
The important thing is not only being in the habitable zone but also having a large mass like Earth so that there's active volcanoes replenishing the atmosphere with gas and water vapour and a hot, quickly rotating core that can generate a protective magnetic field. The smallest of these planets has 3x the mass of dead Mars so that's really promising but I still think it's right to be cautious and only 1 or 2 of these planets might be potentially life-friendly. That said, it's probably the best solar system I've seen so far and it ought to be a candidate system for Project Starshot (see https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3 )
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/27/spacex-moon-private-mission-2018-elon-musk
I'm guessing that of the few people who could afford the trip, two candidates would be Jeff Bezos & Richard Branson. Thing is, would Elon Musk want them to come back?!!
I would say "as early as next year" is highly optimistic, but hopefully sooner rather than later.
2018 is a NET date - "No Earlier Than", meaning it is the earliest it could happen. NET dates often slip. First SpaceX have to get their Falcon Heavy to work, with the first test-flight planned for this summer. They have to get their Dragon 2 crew-certified, and then make at least two trips to the ISS with it. If any of that goes badly or is delayed, the Moon trip will be delayed too.
March 14 - Jupiter is close to the Moon
Comet Encke is on view in the constellation of Pisces and it can be seen with binoculars: https://theskylive.com/encke-info
Leo's distinctive sickle can be seen this month too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_(constellation)
The Beehive Cluster in next door Cancer looks good in binoculars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beehive_Cluster#/media/File:Bf64580dfb9f301a0949e60106526057.1824x0_q100_watermark_watermark_opacity-10_watermark_position-6_watermark_text-Copyright_Intihuatana.jpg
New!
NASA proposes building artificial magnetic field to restore Mars’ atmosphere...According to NASA Planetary Science Division director Jim Green, a powerful magnetic dipole positioned at the Mars L1 Lagrange Point could potentially deflect the solar wind like a natural magnetic field.
^ Now that really would be an important development and such a shield would be placed at the Lagrangian L1 gravitational neutral point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point#L1
It's Mars season on BBC Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08hdnhv/episodes/player
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gxx7k
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04t360q
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04vk80r/episodes/downloads
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gw7md
http://play.bbc.co.uk/play/pen/gkrz5zm65x
Actually I'll just stand in the corner and wear a pointy cap with a letter D on it...