tkdguy Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Re: More space news! Shifting sand dunes on Mars Europa satisfies second requirement for life Galaxy halos recycling interstellar gas Runaway stars may come from threesomes breaking up A new Maunder minimum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Re: More space news! Not if you ask a creationist*: http://chuckleaduck.com/comic/crunchy/ *not really from one of them, but still funny. "You're gonna need a bigger boat..." -sherriff Brody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverway Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Re: More space news! Neutrinos still faster than light: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/18/neutrinos-still-faster-than-light?newsfeed=true although they're still holding out for clock irregularities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 18, 2011 Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Re: More space news! Neutrinos still faster than light: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/18/neutrinos-still-faster-than-light?newsfeed=true although they're still holding out for clock irregularities. OK, so how many of us will go to that linked site and then read the item linked there about "Female orgasm caught on brain scan"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted November 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2011 Re: More space news! Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider claim they have found particles that don't mirror the behavior of their antimatter counterparts. Did the solar system once have a fifth gas giant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted November 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 Re: More space news! New high resolution lunar map Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Re: More space news! Army Successfully Tests Hypersonic Weapon Design Cooool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted November 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Re: More space news! Slight delay in launching the Mars Rover 1. Look at what it's equipped with, though. NASA is recruiting new astronauts. I tried my luck in 2008; I may just do so again this year. I doubt I'll get through, but nothing chanced, nothing gained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Re: More space news! Army Successfully Tests Hypersonic Weapon Design Cooool. I especially liked the helpful and technical diagram at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Re: More space news! Not exactly "space news" per sé, but with all the sociopolitical dysfunction in the news lately, the first thing I thought here was "Occupy Space". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Re: More space news! well, space is 99% vacuum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Re: More space news! Slight delay in launching the Mars Rover 1. Look at what it's equipped with' date=' though.[/quote'] You mean the power source? Well, that is not a nuclear reactor. In fact RTG's are closer to a non-rechargeable battery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narf the Mouse Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Re: More space news! We've also been using "nuclear batteries" for decades in space stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted November 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2011 Re: More space news! You mean the power source? Well, that is not a nuclear reactor. In fact RTG's are closer to a non-rechargeable battery I was actually looking at the laser to be used for spectroscopy. According to the Wikipedia article you linked, this is to be the first laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy system used for planetary science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted December 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: More space news! 18 Gas Giants Discovered New Details About Enceladus Ultra-red Galaxies Russian Probe Still Unresponsive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: More space news! NASA Rover Embarks on 8-Month Mission to Mars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: More space news! NASA Rover Embarks on 8-Month Mission to Mars I think you used the wrong link here... That was what you wanted: http://news.yahoo.com/video/science-15749654/nasa-rover-embarks-on-8-month-mission-to-mars-27414063.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Re: More space news! I think you used the wrong link here... That was what you wanted: http://news.yahoo.com/video/science-15749654/nasa-rover-embarks-on-8-month-mission-to-mars-27414063.html Oops. Yeah, I pasted in the wrong link. Fixed. And thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted December 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Re: More space news! Kepler confirms extrasolar planet in habitable zone Fastest rotating star found to date Giant black holes discovered Wild ride around Vesta (link to video is in the article) Edit: Video posted in the NGD here. Star crumbs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Re: More space news! I'm having a hell of a time finding out more about Kepler-22 at the moment. Very little of the technical details seem to be out at this point. If only I could find out what its KOI number was then I could say more. EDIT: OK, I think this is KOI 87, which in the data release earlier this year is the only planet candidate with a 289 day period. The other characteristics are as they were published before; today's announcement is a confirmation based on a longer data run, I would guess. That earlier data release is available here if you are a glutton for numbers. By that initial data release, the central star supposedly has as a surface temperature of 5606 K (compare Sun's 5780), a mass of 1.07 times the Sun. The orbital size is 0.877 AU. I assume the full orbital characteristics are part of the scientific data published today, that I can't find on the Web yet. There is a scientific conference about the Kepler results so far going on at Moffett Field this week, hence the press release. EDIT^2: Hah! Their discoveries page looks to have today's announced results. The row for Kepler-22b is a little confusing (the planetary mass is listed with an upper limit in the Earth-mass column but no upper limit indicator in the Jupiter-mass column; my guess is the latter is an error of omission), but the mass of the planet is not yet determined. There are decent reasons why that would be so (the velocity variation of the star can reasonably be expected to smaller than what existing instruments can reliably measure). The star's characteristics are updated from the earlier data release ... Temperature = 5518 K, mass = 0.970 solar masses, R = 0.979 solar radii, [Fe/H] = -0.29 (which means it's metal-poor compared to the Sun by about a factor of 2, which isn't a great deal). It looks like the orbital eccentricity was assumed to be zero in the solution (again, there's plausible reasons to make do with that assumption if the data aren't adequate to distinguish it from zero). The planet's orbital period is updated to 289.8623 days and orbital size to 0.849 AU. EDIT^3: Finally, the surface temperature of the planet with a standard set of assumptions (which excludes any consideration of atmosphere) is 262 K. Using the same assumptions and appropriate data for Earth, you get 255 K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted December 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Re: More space news! I'm having a hell of a time finding out more about Kepler-22 at the moment. Very little of the technical details seem to be out at this point. If only I could find out what its KOI number was then I could say more. Please keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Re: More space news! I'm having a hell of a time finding out more about Kepler-22 at the moment. Very little of the technical details seem to be out at this point. If only I could find out what its KOI number was then I could say more. EDIT: OK, I think this is KOI 87, which in the data release earlier this year is the only planet candidate with a 289 day period. The other characteristics are as they were published before; today's announcement is a confirmation based on a longer data run, I would guess. That earlier data release is available here if you are a glutton for numbers. By that initial data release, the central star supposedly has as a surface temperature of 5606 K (compare Sun's 5780), a mass of 1.07 times the Sun. The orbital size is 0.877 AU. I assume the full orbital characteristics are part of the scientific data published today, that I can't find on the Web yet. There is a scientific conference about the Kepler results so far going on at Moffett Field this week, hence the press release. EDIT^2: Hah! Their discoveries page looks to have today's announced results. The row for Kepler-22b is a little confusing (the planetary mass is listed with an upper limit in the Earth-mass column but no upper limit indicator in the Jupiter-mass column; my guess is the latter is an error of omission), but the mass of the planet is not yet determined. There are decent reasons why that would be so (the velocity variation of the star can reasonably be expected to smaller than what existing instruments can reliably measure). The star's characteristics are updated from the earlier data release ... Temperature = 5518 K, mass = 0.970 solar masses, R = 0.979 solar radii, [Fe/H] = -0.29 (which means it's metal-poor compared to the Sun by about a factor of 2, which isn't a great deal). It looks like the orbital eccentricity was assumed to be zero in the solution (again, there's plausible reasons to make do with that assumption if the data aren't adequate to distinguish it from zero). The planet's orbital period is updated to 289.8623 days and orbital size to 0.849 AU. EDIT^3: Finally, the surface temperature of the planet with a standard set of assumptions (which excludes any consideration of atmosphere) is 262 K. Using the same assumptions and appropriate data for Earth, you get 255 K. Sounds good enough to me. Let's go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Re: More space news! Works out to be 207 parsecs (675 light-years) away when you take the apparent magnitude and the stellar Teff and radius above, though I omitted the bolometric correction, which would push the system closer by a couple percent, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Re: More space news! It's okay, I'm immortal. Sounds like I should pack a book, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Re: More space news! It's okay' date=' I'm immortal. Sounds like I should pack a book, though.[/quote'] I think you have an extra 't' in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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