Astronomy

[Danik 2016]

Good News! Worms Make Babies in ‘Martian’ Soil

"Worms can not only survive in faux Martian soil — they can start a new generation. That’s the conclusion from biologist Wieger Wamelink who recently discovered two baby worms in his simulated Mars soil experiment.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/12/worms-on-mars

[Dreamwoven]

https://astronomynow.com/2016/07/20/moons-imbrium-basin-formed-by-protoplanet-sized-asteroid-impact/

"Around 3.8 billion years ago, an asteroid more than 150 miles across, roughly equal to the length of New Jersey, slammed into the Moon and created the Imbrium Basin — the right eye of the fabled Man in the Moon. This new size estimate, published in the journal Nature, suggests an Imbrium impactor that was two times larger in diameter and 10 times more massive than previous estimates."

“We show that Imbrium was likely formed by an absolutely enormous object, large enough to be classified as a protoplanet,” said Pete Schultz, professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown University. “This is the first estimate for the Imbrium impactor’s size that is based largely on the geological features we see on the Moon.”

[Dreamwoven]

More about https://www.universetoday.com/138054/breakthrough-listen-is-going-to-scan-oumuamua-you-know-just-to-be-sure-its-just-an-asteroid-and-not-a-spaceship/.

"On October 19th, 2017, the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System-1 (Pan-STARRS-1) in Hawaii announced the first-ever detection of an interstellar asteroid, named 1I/2017 U1 (aka. ‘Oumuamua). Based on subsequent measurements of its shape (highly elongated and thin), there was some speculation that it might actually be an interstellar spacecraft (the name “Rama” ring a bell?).

For this reason, there are those who would like to study this object before it heads back out into interstellar space. While groups like Project Lyra propose sending a mission to rendezvous with it, Breakthrough Initiatives (BI) also announced its plans to study the object using Breakthrough Listen. As part of its mission to search for extra-terrestrial communications, this project will use the Greenbank Radio Telescope to listen to ‘Oumuamua for signs of radio transmissions."

I don't believe this myself, but it makes for a good fill-in post!

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/39032-nasa-alien-planet-kepler-discovery-announcement.html

There will be an announcement on Thursday 14 December about alien planets that have been discovered by Kepler:

"NASA is about to announce some more big alien-planet news.

The agency will hold a news conference Thursday (Dec. 14) at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) to reveal a new discovery made by its prolific Kepler space telescope, which has been searching the heavens for alien worlds since 2009. Space.com will air the briefing live, courtesy of NASA.

"The discovery was made by researchers using machine learning from Google," NASA officials wrote in a media advisory. "Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence, and demonstrates new ways of analyzing Kepler data." [7 Ways to Discovery Alien Planets]

[Dreamwoven]

http://www.astronomytoday.com/astronomy/earthmoon.html

"The Earth is unique amongst the terrestrial planets in having a large satellite, the Moon, which, relative to the Earth, has the largest mass of any satellite-parent system. Numerous lines of evidence indicate that the Moon was derived from the Earth as the result of a singular impact event soon after the initial formation of the Earth. As a result, the subsequent evolution of the Earth and the emergence and development of life has been strongly influenced by the presence of the Moon.

This article will highlight and explain the key areas in which the Moon has both directly and indirectly influenced the emergence and evolution of life on the Earth, a process that has culminated in the development of an intelligent, technologically advanced species."

Tides
Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of the influence of the Moon on the Earth are the ocean tides, particularly the spring tides where the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon combine to give the greatest effect. The regular rise and fall of sea level creates an unique environment in the Solar System, where life is exposed to both immersion in water and exposure to air in the space of a few hours. This interface between two distinct ecological niches is thought by many to be crucial in evolutionary terms.

[Danik 2016]

More about https://www.universetoday.com/138054/breakthrough-listen-is-going-to-scan-oumuamua-you-know-just-to-be-sure-its-just-an-asteroid-and-not-a-spaceship/.

"On October 19th, 2017, the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System-1 (Pan-STARRS-1) in Hawaii announced the first-ever detection of an interstellar asteroid, named 1I/2017 U1 (aka. ‘Oumuamua). Based on subsequent measurements of its shape (highly elongated and thin), there was some speculation that it might actually be an interstellar spacecraft (the name “Rama” ring a bell?).

For this reason, there are those who would like to study this object before it heads back out into interstellar space. While groups like Project Lyra propose sending a mission to rendezvous with it, Breakthrough Initiatives (BI) also announced its plans to study the object using Breakthrough Listen. As part of its mission to search for extra-terrestrial communications, this project will use the Greenbank Radio Telescope to listen to ‘Oumuamua for signs of radio transmissions."

I don't believe this myself, but it makes for a good fill-in post!

I believe that the most startling feature of Oumuamua is its elongated shape. But I don´t know if there is much to discover there. it looks more like a joke of the universe.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/juno-probes-depths-of-jupiters-great-red-spot

Juno has been probing the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, by diving into it and then emerging out of it:

"Data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its first pass over Jupiter’s Great Red Spot in July 2017 indicate that this iconic feature penetrates well below the clouds. The findings were announced Monday (December 11, 2017) at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans.

To date, NASA’s Juno spacecraft, launched in 2011, has completed eight science passes over Jupiter. Juno’s ninth pass will be on December 16. During these flybys, Juno is probing beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and studying its auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere. Scott Bolton is Juno’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Bolton said in a statement:

One of the most basic questions about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is: how deep are the roots? Juno data indicate that the solar system’s most famous storm is almost one-and-a-half Earths wide, and has roots that penetrate about 200 miles (300 kilometers) into the planet’s atmosphere."

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/39066-jupiter-great-red-spot-depth-juno-spacecraft.html

Jupiter's red spot is 50 times deeper than the Earth's oceans, and it is warmer the lower down in the spot that the probe goes.

"One of the most basic questions about Jupiter's Great Red Spot is, how deep are the roots?" Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement. Bolton and his team presented Juno's results at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans yesterday (Dec. 11).

"Juno data indicate that the solar system's most famous storm is almost one-and-a-half Earths wide, and has roots that penetrate about 200 miles [300 kilometers] into the planet's atmosphere," Bolton said. [Jupiter's Great Red Spot: An Iconic Monster Storm in Pictures]"

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/120982/what-is-the-habitable-zone/

"Red dwarf stars have become a major focal point for exoplanet studies lately, and for good reason. For starters, M-type (red dwarf) stars are the most common type in our Universe, accounting for 75% of stars in the Milky Way alone. In addition, in the past decade, numerous terrestrial (i.e rocky) exoplanets have been discovered orbiting red dwarf stars, and within their circumstellar habitable zones (“Goldilocks Zones”) to boot.

This has naturally prompted several studies to determine whether or not rocky planets can retain their atmospheres. The latest study comes from NASA, using data obtained by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter. Having studied Mars’ atmosphere for years to determine how and when it was stripped away, the MAVEN mission is well-suited when it comes to measuring the potential habitability of other planets."

concluding:
"In conclusion, the researchers determined that orbiting at the edge of the habitable zone of a quiet M-type star (instead of our Sun) could shorten the habitable period for a Mars-like planet by a factor of about 5 to 20. For a more active M-type star, the habitable period could be cut by as much as 1,000 times. In addition, solar storm activity around a red dwarf, which is thousands of times more intense than with our Sun, would also be very limiting.

However, the study is based on how an exo-Mars would fair around and M-type star, which kind of stacks the odds against habitability in advance. When different planets are considered, which possess mitigating factors Mars does not, things become a bit more promising. For instance, a planet that is more geologically active than Mars would be able to replenish its atmosphere at a greater rate.

Other factors include increase mass, which would allow for the planet to hold onto more of its atmosphere, and the presence of a magnetic field to shield it from stellar wind."

[Dreamwoven]

https://astronomynow.com/2017/12/06/first-light-achieved-for-next-generation-planet-hunter/

The Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) has successfully made its first observations. Installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, ESPRESSO will search for exoplanets with unprecedented precision by looking at the minuscule changes in the light of their host stars. For the first time ever, an instrument will be able to sum up the light from all four VLT telescopes and achieve the light collecting power of a 16-metre telescope.

ESPRESSO has achieved first light on ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. This new, third-generation echelle spectrograph is the successor to ESO’s hugely successful HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory. HARPS can attain a precision of around one metre per second in velocity measurements, whereas ESPRESSO aims to achieve a precision of just a few centimetres per second, due to advances in technology and its placement on a much bigger telescope.

The lead scientist for ESPRESSO, Francesco Pepe from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, explains its significance: “This success is the result of the work of many people over 10 years. ESPRESSO isn’t just the evolution of our previous instruments like HARPS, but it will be transformational, with its higher resolution and higher precision. And unlike earlier instruments it can exploit the VLT’s full collecting power — it can be used with all four of the VLT Unit Telescopes at the same time to simulate a 16-metre telescope. ESPRESSO will be unsurpassed for at least a decade — now I am just impatient to find our first rocky planet!”

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/space/juno-probes-depths-of-jupiters-great-red-spot

Juno has been probing the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, by diving into it and then emerging out of it:

"Data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its first pass over Jupiter’s Great Red Spot in July 2017 indicate that this iconic feature penetrates well below the clouds. The findings were announced Monday (December 11, 2017) at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans.

To date, NASA’s Juno spacecraft, launched in 2011, has completed eight science passes over Jupiter. Juno’s ninth pass will be on December 16. During these flybys, Juno is probing beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and studying its auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere. Scott Bolton is Juno’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Bolton said in a statement:

One of the most basic questions about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is: how deep are the roots? Juno data indicate that the solar system’s most famous storm is almost one-and-a-half Earths wide, and has roots that penetrate about 200 miles (300 kilometers) into the planet’s atmosphere."

Interesting naming Juno the spacecraft that confronted Jupiter. Reminds one of mythological times

[Danik 2016]

https://www.space.com/39066-jupiter-great-red-spot-depth-juno-spacecraft.html

Jupiter's red spot is 50 times deeper than the Earth's oceans, and it is warmer the lower down in the spot that the probe goes.

"One of the most basic questions about Jupiter's Great Red Spot is, how deep are the roots?" Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a statement. Bolton and his team presented Juno's results at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans yesterday (Dec. 11).

"Juno data indicate that the solar system's most famous storm is almost one-and-a-half Earths wide, and has roots that penetrate about 200 miles [300 kilometers] into the planet's atmosphere," Bolton said. [Jupiter's Great Red Spot: An Iconic Monster Storm in Pictures]"

The Great Red Spot is impressive, but I got the impression that more sophisticated instruments are needed to get at the bottom of it.

[Danik 2016]

https://www.universetoday.com/120982/what-is-the-habitable-zone/

"Red dwarf stars have become a major focal point for exoplanet studies lately, and for good reason. For starters, M-type (red dwarf) stars are the most common type in our Universe, accounting for 75% of stars in the Milky Way alone. In addition, in the past decade, numerous terrestrial (i.e rocky) exoplanets have been discovered orbiting red dwarf stars, and within their circumstellar habitable zones (“Goldilocks Zones”) to boot.

This has naturally prompted several studies to determine whether or not rocky planets can retain their atmospheres. The latest study comes from NASA, using data obtained by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) orbiter. Having studied Mars’ atmosphere for years to determine how and when it was stripped away, the MAVEN mission is well-suited when it comes to measuring the potential habitability of other planets."

concluding:
"In conclusion, the researchers determined that orbiting at the edge of the habitable zone of a quiet M-type star (instead of our Sun) could shorten the habitable period for a Mars-like planet by a factor of about 5 to 20. For a more active M-type star, the habitable period could be cut by as much as 1,000 times. In addition, solar storm activity around a red dwarf, which is thousands of times more intense than with our Sun, would also be very limiting.

However, the study is based on how an exo-Mars would fair around and M-type star, which kind of stacks the odds against habitability in advance. When different planets are considered, which possess mitigating factors Mars does not, things become a bit more promising. For instance, a planet that is more geologically active than Mars would be able to replenish its atmosphere at a greater rate.

Other factors include increase mass, which would allow for the planet to hold onto more of its atmosphere, and the presence of a magnetic field to shield it from stellar wind."
If I understood that rightly, Red Dwarfs have become an important object in the study of the atmosphere of exo-planets.

[Dreamwoven]

They also need to dive deeper into the Red Spot. Another couple of dives are planned i believe.

[Dreamwoven]

I guess red dwarf stars are important, especially as there are so many of them in the Milky Way, and quite a few that look promising for life in planets that have a decent looking habitable zone. But the real test will come when the new telescopes have been launched and also become operable.

[Danik 2016]

https://astronomynow.com/2017/12/06/first-light-achieved-for-next-generation-planet-hunter/

The Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) has successfully made its first observations. Installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, ESPRESSO will search for exoplanets with unprecedented precision by looking at the minuscule changes in the light of their host stars. For the first time ever, an instrument will be able to sum up the light from all four VLT telescopes and achieve the light collecting power of a 16-metre telescope.

ESPRESSO has achieved first light on ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. This new, third-generation echelle spectrograph is the successor to ESO’s hugely successful HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory. HARPS can attain a precision of around one metre per second in velocity measurements, whereas ESPRESSO aims to achieve a precision of just a few centimetres per second, due to advances in technology and its placement on a much bigger telescope.

The lead scientist for ESPRESSO, Francesco Pepe from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, explains its significance: “This success is the result of the work of many people over 10 years. ESPRESSO isn’t just the evolution of our previous instruments like HARPS, but it will be transformational, with its higher resolution and higher precision. And unlike earlier instruments it can exploit the VLT’s full collecting power — it can be used with all four of the VLT Unit Telescopes at the same time to simulate a 16-metre telescope. ESPRESSO will be unsurpassed for at least a decade — now I am just impatient to find our first rocky planet!”
I think this telescope with its coffee name is going to reveal a lot. But it is meant for rocky planets.

[Danik 2016]

I thought that interesting:

Weightlessness and Its Effect on Astronauts

"The sensation of weightlessness, or zero gravity, happens when the effects of gravity are not felt. Technically speaking, gravity does exist everywhere in the universe because it is defined as the force that attracts two bodies to each other. But astronauts in space usually do not feel its effects."
https://www.space.com/23017-weightlessness.html

[Dreamwoven]

Today I got the Society for Popular astronomy notes that I get sent regularly. But this time there is nothing in the news that we have not already covered. We await news from a wide range of sources.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/39104-saturn-moon-rhea-cassini-last-photo.html

Information on the moon of Saturn, Rhea. It seems to have a microscopic atmosphere of oxygen.

"Rhea has an oxygen atmosphere that is about 5 trillion times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. Some scientists propose that the oxygen atmosphere is caused by the icy surface getting exposure to radiation from Saturn's magnetosphere, according to the statement."

"Rhea is the second largest moon in orbit around Saturn, at about 949 miles (1,527 kilometers) across, and was one of the four moons spotted in 1672 by astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Initially named "Saturn V," the moon was later renamed in 1847 to Rhea, the goddess wife of Cronos in Greek mythology. Cronos, in Roman mythology, was known as Saturn."

Clearly, NASA don't release all their information at once.

[Danik 2016]

Yes, there are even secret programs:

Secret Pentagon Program Spent Millions To Research UFOs

"A secret Pentagon program existed for at least three years and spent more than $20 million in research on UFOs, according to multiple media reports published Saturday."

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/17/571446881/secret-pentagon-program-spent-millions-to-research-ufos

[Dreamwoven]

Meanwhile the New Horizons probe continues through the Kuiper Belt, and has sent back more images: https://astronomynow.com/2017/01/22/new-horizons-to-continue-mission-of-discovery-with-kuiper-belt-encounter/. It seems as if it is made up of several objects, perhaps having a moon of its own. We should get more information on this in the New Year.

[Danik 2016]

Yes, DW. Astronauts deserve a holiday, too. But have you had a look at the Pentagon program? It was in the Brazilian news these days. Rather intriguing that such a lot of money is spent on the investigation of ovnis. Is this just paranoia or have they found something important?

[Dreamwoven]

We are getting weird ET announcements from the Pentagon, like this one: https://www.space.com/39147-navy-pilots-ufo-sightings.html. Sure it is old, but that doesn't matter.

[Danik 2016]

Well, on the video it looks like a bug.

Some of these links get deformed on Opera, I don´t know why. I have to change the browser to be able to view them.

[Danik 2016]

Piercing the mystery of the cosmic origins of gold

"Where does gold, the precious metal coveted by mortals through the ages, come from? How, where and when was it produced? Last August, a single astrophysical observation finally gave us the key to answer these questions. The results of this research were published on October 16, 2017."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-12-piercing-mystery-cosmic-gold.html#jCp

[Dreamwoven]

This was an interesting post, Danik.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/39104-saturn-moon-rhea-cassini-last-photo.html

Information on the moon of Saturn, Rhea. It seems to have a microscopic atmosphere of oxygen.

"Rhea has an oxygen atmosphere that is about 5 trillion times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. Some scientists propose that the oxygen atmosphere is caused by the icy surface getting exposure to radiation from Saturn's magnetosphere, according to the statement."

"Rhea is the second largest moon in orbit around Saturn, at about 949 miles (1,527 kilometers) across, and was one of the four moons spotted in 1672 by astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Initially named "Saturn V," the moon was later renamed in 1847 to Rhea, the goddess wife of Cronos in Greek mythology. Cronos, in Roman mythology, was known as Saturn."

Clearly, NASA don't release all their information at once.

[Danik 2016]

Yes, I noticed that too.

[Dreamwoven]

The Milky Way Galaxy will end when it merges with a smaller galaxy, a violent union. See this: https://www.space.com/39158-galaxy-collision-dawn-hubble-photo-video.html. Or perhaps this will only be preparatory to an even more violent galactic union. Who knows. Interesting to see what happens to galaxies that we learn from Hubble...

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138088/gaia-looks-beyond-galaxy-islands-stars/. Perhaps this is the way it will happen. We will never know, as this will be in the completely unknown future.

[Dreamwoven]

From galaxies to one planet:

https://astronomynow.com/2017/12/21/mars-and-earth-may-not-have-always-been-neighbours/

I thought this theory, unlike the big bang theory, is interesting, not to mention also being testable.

[Danik 2016]

"The assumption has generally been that Mars formed near Earth from the same building blocks, but that conjecture raises a big question: why are the two planets so different in composition? Mars contains different, lighter, silicates than Earth, more akin to those found in meteorites. In an attempt to explain why the elements and isotopes on Mars differ widely from those on Earth, researchers from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom ran simulations to gain insights into the Red Planet’s movement within the Solar System."
https://astronomynow.com/2017/12/21/mars-and-earth-may-not-have-always-been-neighbours/

Yes it is, DW. Another thing that one learns from several articles we posted is that not only the composition and/ or the atmosphere of several neighbor planets are different they are also wholly unexpected if one uses the composition of the earth as a parameter.

[Danik 2016]

I thought this assumption interesting too:

Oldest fossils ever found suggest life in the universe is common

"In a study published December 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists confirmed that the oldest fossils ever discovered — found in a nearly 3.5-billion-year-old rock from western Australia — contain 11 complex microbes that are members of five distinct species.

The findings not only suggest that life on our planet originated some 4 billion years ago, but also help support the increasingly widespread theory that life in the universe is much more common than we previously thought."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/12/oldest-fossil-ever-found

[Dreamwoven]

This may well be true!

[Dreamwoven]

Another interesting post on earthsky.org

They suggest other explanations, but to copy them all out would be a bit much.

http://earthsky.org/space/winking-star-rz-piscium-consuming-planets?

A team of U.S. astronomers said on December 21, 2017 that they’ve found evidence suggesting the strange, unpredictable dimming episodes of the star RZ Piscium might be caused by vast orbiting clouds of gas and dust, the remains of one or more destroyed planets. This star is located about 550 light-years away, in the direction to the constellation Pisces the Fish. Its erratic dimming episodes can last as long as two days, during which time the star becomes as much as 10 times fainter. Kristina Punzi – a doctoral student at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York and lead author of a paper about this star published in the peer-reviewed Astronomical Journal, said in a statement:

Our observations show there are massive blobs of dust and gas that occasionally block the star’s light and are probably spiraling into it. Although there could be other explanations, we suggest this material may have been produced by the break-up of massive orbiting bodies near the star.

The evidence for the dust is pretty clear. RZ Piscium produces far more energy at infrared wavelengths than emitted by stars like our sun, indicating a disk of warm dust surrounding the star. In fact, said the statement from these astronomers:

[Danik 2016]

Interesting post, DW. The dimming episodes perhaps explain the "twinkling stars".

[Danik 2016]

I thought this one of interest too:

Enormous bubbles observed on the surface of a red giant

"The Sun’s surface is speckled with roughly two million convective cells (imagine boiling water), each about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) across. Though the Sun’s pockmarks – more scientifically known as granulation patterns – have been well-studied over the years, never before have astronomers observed the convective cells of another star.

You guessed it: until now.

For the first time, astronomers using the PIONIER instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope have directly observed the surface activity of another star. Unsurprisingly, the star is giant; a cool red giant to be precise. "
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/12/enormous-bubbles-observed-on-the-surface-of-a-red-giant

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138122/mysterious-filament-stretching-towards-milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole/

EarthSky published the same today: http://earthsky.org/space/filament-image-milky-way-black-hole-sgra.

No-one is sure what the significance of this is.

[Dreamwoven]

I wonder if Oumuamua will be captured by the sun (our star) or if it will just disappear from Earth and if so where will it be heading for. It is altogether a mysterious object, very long and made entirely of rock, no ice, which when approaching the sun melts ice and leaves a trail of water vapour. It travels very fast, too.

[Danik 2016]

I suspect that Oumuamua is just a fragment of a bigger heavenly body. I don´t know if it will yeld any important information.

[Danik 2016]

Just a funny intermezzo: Barbie 21C

American Girl's New NASA-Advised Doll is Aspiring Astronaut

" An 11-year-old aspiring astronaut who dreams of being the first person to go to Mars is blasting off as American Girl's 2018 Girl of the Year.

Launching for sale on Monday (Jan. 1), "Luciana Vega" is the latest addition to the popular 18-inch-tall (46 centimeters) doll line aimed at inspiring young girls' sense of spirit and strength of character.

"Luciana is a role model for today's girls, empowering them to defy stereotypes, and embrace risks that will teach them about failure and success as they chart their own course in life, whatever the goal," Katy Dickson, president of American Girl, said in a statement. "For us, it's all about building girls of strong character." [Meet Luciana Vega, American Girl's Aspiring Astronaut (Photos)]"
https://www.space.com/39229-american-girl-2018-luciana-vega-astronaut-doll.html

[Dreamwoven]

The children who are lining up to join the Mars expedition have no idea why they are letting themselves in for. Even many of the adults don't.

[Dreamwoven]

Oumuamua is more like a planet than an icy comet, comets lose a bit of their ice every time they come close enough to a star to start melting.

[Danik 2016]

The children who are lining up to join the Mars expedition have no idea why they are letting themselves in for. Even many of the adults don't.

You are quite right, DW. My idea was to make you and other readers laugh, but viewed as propaganda, this toy is rather serious.
Watch this female astronaut success story. The propaganda is of one of the biggest Brazilian bank concerns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m2NZkXqUHY

Text: Imagination is the first step for a child to be what it wants to be. Read this to a child.

[Danik 2016]

Oumuamua is more like a planet than an icy comet, comets lose a bit of their ice every time they come close enough to a star to start melting.

Sure. Maybe a piece that got detached of a planet.

[Danik 2016]

The full moons in 2018:

Full Moon Names 2018: From Wolf Moons to Cold Moons
"Each year since 2004, Space.com has provided a listing of full moon names that date back to a few centuries ago, when Native Americans occupied the region that's now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes of long ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred.
There were some variations in these moon names, but in general, the same ones were used by the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. European settlers who arrived in those areas followed their own customs and created some of their own names. Because the lunar ("synodic") month is roughly 29.5 days long on average, the dates of these full moons shift from year to year."

https://www.space.com/39238-full-moon-names.html

[Dreamwoven]

https://astronomynow.com/2017/01/22/new-horizons-to-continue-mission-of-discovery-with-kuiper-belt-encounter/

The Kuiper Belt is surprisingly wide. New Horizons is continuing out beyond Pluto and has been doing so after flying past it in 2015. We now know more about Pluto than we did before, when it was just a dot in the sky. The Kuiper Belt is the first of two regions of space. The other, much larger is the Oort Cloud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud, as yet unvisited. But an object in the Kuiper Belt is the second target for New Horizons, designated as 2014 MU69.

It is now thought to be comprised of a number of smaller objects, including perhaps moons. We know that Pluto is also accompanied by another planet, Eris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet), with its own moon, and further out still, Makemake - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makemake.

But we now think that 2014 MU69 consists of several objects, so it will be interesting to learn more. It will take another year to reach even at the fast speed that New Horizons travels at.

[Danik 2016]

Eris and Makemake, two interesting dwarf planets.

[Danik 2016]

That is an important scientific step:

Astronauts Identify Mystery Microbes in Space for the 1st Time

"NASA astronauts successfully sequenced the DNA of microbes found aboard the International Space Station, marking the first time unknown organisms were sequenced and identified entirely in space.
Previously, microbes had to be sent to Earth for analysis, and this new sequencing marks an important step in diagnosing astronaut illnesses and, someday, identifying any DNA-based life found on other planets, NASA officials said in a statement. Researchers back on Earth have now verified the microbe identifications are correct, marking the experiment a success."
https://www.space.com/39254-astronauts-sequence-microbes-dna-in-space.html

[Dreamwoven]

https://astronomynow.com/2017/01/22/new-horizons-to-continue-mission-of-discovery-with-kuiper-belt-encounter/

The Kuiper Belt is surprisingly wide. New Horizons is continuing out beyond Pluto and has been doing so after flying past it in 2015. We now know more about Pluto than we did before, when it was just a dot in the sky. The Kuiper Belt is the first of two regions of space. The other, much larger is the Oort Cloud: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud, as yet unvisited. But an object in the Kuiper Belt is the second target for New Horizons, designated as 2014 MU69.

It is now thought to be comprised of a number of smaller objects, including perhaps moons. We know that Pluto is also accompanied by another planet, Eris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet), with its own moon, and further out still, Makemake - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makemake.

But we now think that 2014 MU69 consists of several objects, so it will be interesting to learn more. It will take another year to reach even at the fast speed that New Horizons travels at.

[Dreamwoven]

Thi post explains the concept of https://www.universetoday.com/138141/gravitational-microlensing-method/

[Danik 2016]

Yes, I read it, but I became interested in the two dwarfs planets that accompany Pluto, Eris and Makemake. I wonder what impact all these discoveries will have on astrology, as it is entirely based on the solar system as it was known some decades ago.

[Dreamwoven]

You mean astronomy, not astrology...

[Danik 2016]

No, I mean astrology. Astrology, as we know it today, is wholly based on what we know about the solar system.

[Danik 2016]

Just to start 2018 a list of the astronomical celestial event for 2018:
http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2018.html

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138197/upcoming-chinese-lander-will-carry-insects-plants-surface-moon/

"It would be no exaggeration to say that we live in an age of renewed space exploration. In particular, the Moon has become the focal point of increasing attention in recent years. In addition to President Trump’s recent directive to NASA to return to the Moon, many other space agencies and private aerospace companies are planning their own missions to the lunar surface.

A good example is the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), otherwise known as the Chang’e Program. Named in honor of the ancient Chinese lunar goddess, this program has sent two orbiters and one lander to the Moon already. And later this year, the Chang’e 4 mission will begin departing for the far side of the Moon, where it will study the local geology and test the effects of lunar gravity on insects and plants.

The mission will consist of a relay orbiter being launched aboard a Long March 5 rocket in June of 2018. This relay will assume orbit around the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrange Point, followed by the launch of the lander and rover about six months later. In addition to an advanced suite of instruments for studying the lunar surface, the lander will also be carrying an aluminum alloy container filled with seeds and insects."

[Danik 2016]

President Trump’s recent directive to NASA to return to the Moon Just wondering at the meaning of it.

[Dreamwoven]

No-one has been there since the US sent a mission there in the 1960s. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing.

[Danik 2016]

Yes, I know. That´s why I am wondering at they taking up the project at this moment.

[Dreamwoven]

The Cold War, especially as China is active at the moon. Also, the plan to go jointly with Russia was quickly abandoned by Trump. So it is back to the 1950s.

[Dreamwoven]

Got posts from Popular Astronomy, so new material is available. Posting separately on this.

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
Electronic News Bulletin No. 460 2018 January 7


Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular Astronomy. The SPA is arguably Britain's liveliest astronomical society, with members all over the world. We accept subscription payments online at our secure site and can take credit and debit cards. You can join or renew via a secure server or just see how much we have to offer by visiting http://www.popastro.com/

[Dreamwoven]

Society for Popular Astronomy:

BRIGHT AREAS ON CERES SUGGEST 'GEO'LOGICAL ACTIVITY

NASA

Since Dawn arrived in orbit around Ceres in 2015 March, scientists have located more than 300 bright areas on Ceres' surface. A new study divides the features into four categories. The first group of bright spots contains the most reflective material on Ceres, which is found on crater floors. The most iconic examples are in Occator Crater, which hosts two prominent bright areas. Cerealia Facula, in the centre of the crater, consists of bright material covering a 10-km-wide pit, within which sits a small dome. East of the centre is a collection of slightly less reflective and more diffuse features called Vinalia Faculae. All the bright areas in Occator Crater are made of salt-rich material, which was probably once mixed in water. Although Cerealia Facula is the brightest area on all of Ceres, it would resemble dirty snow to the human eye. More commonly, in the second category, bright material is found on the rims of craters, streaking down toward the floors. Impacting bodies probably exposed bright material that was already in the sub-surface or had formed in a previous impact event.Separately, in the third category, bright material can be found in the material ejected when craters were formed. The mountain Ahuna Mons gets its own fourth category -- the one instance on Ceres where bright material is not associated with any impact crater. It is probably a cryovolcano, a volcano formed by the gradual accumulation of thick, slowly flowing icy materials; it has prominent bright streaks on its flanks. Over hundreds of millions of years, bright material has mixed with the dark material that forms the bulk of Ceres' surface, as well as debris ejected by impacts. That means that billions of years ago, when Ceres experienced more impacts, the dwarf planet's surface would probably have been peppered with thousands of bright areas.

Why do the different bright areas of Occator seem so distinct from one another? The leading explanation for what happened is that Occator could have had, at least in the recent past, a reservoir of salty water beneath it. Vinalia Faculae, the diffuse bright regions to the northeast of the crater's central dome, could have formed from a fluid driven to the surface by a small amount of gas, similar to champagne surging out of its bottle when the cork is removed. In the case of the Vinalia Faculae, the dissolved gas could have been a volatile substance such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane or ammonia. Volatile-rich salty water could have been brought close to Ceres' surface through fractures that connected to the briny reservoir beneath Occator. The lower pressure at Ceres' surface would have caused the fluid to boil off as a vapour. Where fractures reached the surface, the vapour could escape energetically, carrying with it ice and salt particles and depositing them on the surface. Cerealia Facula must have formed by a somewhat different process, given that it is more elevated and brighter than Vinalia Faculae. The material at Cerealia may have been more like an icy lava, seeping up through the fractures and swelling into a dome. Intermittent phases of boiling, similar to what happened when Vinalia Faculae formed, may have occurred during that process, littering the surface with ice and salt particles that formed the Cerealia bright spot. The analyses do not depend on the initial impact that formed Occator. However, the current thinking among Dawn scientists is that when a large body slammed into Ceres, excavating the 92-kilometre-wide crater, the impact may also have created fractures through which liquid later emerged. As Dawn continues the final phase of its mission, in which it will descend to lower altitudes than ever before, scientists hope to continue learning about the origins of the bright material on Ceres and what gave rise to the enigmatic features in Occator.

[Dreamwoven]

Society for Popular Astronomy:

'OUMUMUAMA WAS A NATURAL BODY

Queen's University Belfast

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have led worldwide investigations into a mysterious object that passed close to the Earth after arriving from deep interstellar space. Since the object was first observed in October, an international team of astronomers has pieced together a profile of the strange visitor, which has been named `Oumuamua. The team measured the way that `Oumuamua reflects sunlight, and found it similar to icy objects covered with a dry crust. That is because `Oumuamua has been exposed to cosmic rays for millions of years, creating an insulating organic-rich layer on its surface. The research suggests that `Oumuamua's dry crust could have protected its icy interior from being vaporised -- even though the object was just 23 million miles from the Sun in September when it flew past. Researchers have discovered that the surface of `Oumuamua is similar to small Solar-System bodies that are covered in carbon-rich ices, whose structure is modified by exposure to cosmic rays. The object was the same colour as some of the icy minor planets that they had been studying in the outskirts of the Solar System. That implies that other planetary systems in our Galaxy contain minor planets like our own. Astronomers have discovered that `Oumuamua is a planetesimal with a well-baked crust that looks a lot like the tiniest worlds in the outer regions of the Solar System, has a greyish/red surface and is highly elongated, probably about the size and shape of the Gherkin skyscraper in London. It is fascinating that the first interstellar object discovered looks so much like a tiny world from our own home system. That suggests that the way our planets and asteroids formed has a lot in common with the systems around other stars.

[Danik 2016]

Society for Popular Astronomy:

BRIGHT AREAS ON CERES SUGGEST 'GEO'LOGICAL ACTIVITY

NASA

Since Dawn arrived in orbit around Ceres in 2015 March, scientists have located more than 300 bright areas on Ceres' surface. A new study divides the features into four categories. The first group of bright spots contains the most reflective material on Ceres, which is found on crater floors. The most iconic examples are in Occator Crater, which hosts two prominent bright areas. Cerealia Facula, in the centre of the crater, consists of bright material covering a 10-km-wide pit, within which sits a small dome. East of the centre is a collection of slightly less reflective and more diffuse features called Vinalia Faculae. All the bright areas in Occator Crater are made of salt-rich material, which was probably once mixed in water. Although Cerealia Facula is the brightest area on all of Ceres, it would resemble dirty snow to the human eye. More commonly, in the second category, bright material is found on the rims of craters, streaking down toward the floors. Impacting bodies probably exposed bright material that was already in the sub-surface or had formed in a previous impact event.Separately, in the third category, bright material can be found in the material ejected when craters were formed. The mountain Ahuna Mons gets its own fourth category -- the one instance on Ceres where bright material is not associated with any impact crater. It is probably a cryovolcano, a volcano formed by the gradual accumulation of thick, slowly flowing icy materials; it has prominent bright streaks on its flanks. Over hundreds of millions of years, bright material has mixed with the dark material that forms the bulk of Ceres' surface, as well as debris ejected by impacts. That means that billions of years ago, when Ceres experienced more impacts, the dwarf planet's surface would probably have been peppered with thousands of bright areas.

Why do the different bright areas of Occator seem so distinct from one another? The leading explanation for what happened is that Occator could have had, at least in the recent past, a reservoir of salty water beneath it. Vinalia Faculae, the diffuse bright regions to the northeast of the crater's central dome, could have formed from a fluid driven to the surface by a small amount of gas, similar to champagne surging out of its bottle when the cork is removed. In the case of the Vinalia Faculae, the dissolved gas could have been a volatile substance such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane or ammonia. Volatile-rich salty water could have been brought close to Ceres' surface through fractures that connected to the briny reservoir beneath Occator. The lower pressure at Ceres' surface would have caused the fluid to boil off as a vapour. Where fractures reached the surface, the vapour could escape energetically, carrying with it ice and salt particles and depositing them on the surface. Cerealia Facula must have formed by a somewhat different process, given that it is more elevated and brighter than Vinalia Faculae. The material at Cerealia may have been more like an icy lava, seeping up through the fractures and swelling into a dome. Intermittent phases of boiling, similar to what happened when Vinalia Faculae formed, may have occurred during that process, littering the surface with ice and salt particles that formed the Cerealia bright spot. The analyses do not depend on the initial impact that formed Occator. However, the current thinking among Dawn scientists is that when a large body slammed into Ceres, excavating the 92-kilometre-wide crater, the impact may also have created fractures through which liquid later emerged. As Dawn continues the final phase of its mission, in which it will descend to lower altitudes than ever before, scientists hope to continue learning about the origins of the bright material on Ceres and what gave rise to the enigmatic features in Occator.

It seems that salt is contained in the composition of several celestial bodies.

[Dreamwoven]

Skanska was originally a Swedish company, now a multinational: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanska

[Danik 2016]

That might be interesting too, though I do hope that they don´t bring any martian microbes to the earth:

ExoMars Rover Will Drill Deep Into Mars to Search for Life (Op-Ed)

"Finding past or present microbial life on Mars would without doubt be one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time. And in just two years' time, there's a big opportunity to do so, with two rovers launching there to look for signs of life – Mars2020 by NASA and ExoMars by the European Space Agency and Roscosmos.

I am helping to develop one of the instruments for the ExoMars rover, which will be Europe's first attempt to land a mobile platform on the red planet. It will also be the first rover to drill into the martian crust to a depth of two metres."
https://www.space.com/39299-exomars-rover-could-discover-life-on-mars.html

[Danik 2016]

Society for Popular Astronomy:

'OUMUMUAMA WAS A NATURAL BODY

Queen's University Belfast

Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have led worldwide investigations into a mysterious object that passed close to the Earth after arriving from deep interstellar space. Since the object was first observed in October, an international team of astronomers has pieced together a profile of the strange visitor, which has been named `Oumuamua. The team measured the way that `Oumuamua reflects sunlight, and found it similar to icy objects covered with a dry crust. That is because `Oumuamua has been exposed to cosmic rays for millions of years, creating an insulating organic-rich layer on its surface. The research suggests that `Oumuamua's dry crust could have protected its icy interior from being vaporised -- even though the object was just 23 million miles from the Sun in September when it flew past. Researchers have discovered that the surface of `Oumuamua is similar to small Solar-System bodies that are covered in carbon-rich ices, whose structure is modified by exposure to cosmic rays. The object was the same colour as some of the icy minor planets that they had been studying in the outskirts of the Solar System. That implies that other planetary systems in our Galaxy contain minor planets like our own. Astronomers have discovered that `Oumuamua is a planetesimal with a well-baked crust that looks a lot like the tiniest worlds in the outer regions of the Solar System, has a greyish/red surface and is highly elongated, probably about the size and shape of the Gherkin skyscraper in London. It is fascinating that the first interstellar object discovered looks so much like a tiny world from our own home system. That suggests that the way our planets and asteroids formed has a lot in common with the systems around other stars.


Researchers have discovered that the surface of `Oumuamua is similar to small Solar-System bodies that are covered in carbon-rich ices, whose structure is modified by exposure to cosmic rays. The object was the same colour as some of the icy minor planets that they had been studying in the outskirts of the Solar System. That implies that other planetary systems in our Galaxy contain minor planets like our own.

That is important for the study of other heavenly bodies.

[Dreamwoven]

This EarthSky article is interesting. Especially on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn: http://earthsky.org/space/10-places-ice-snow-beyond-earth

[Dreamwoven]

The Kuiper Belt is interesting for other bodies that are found there. See http://aasnova.org/2016/07/15/new-objects-beyond-the-kuiper-belt/.

I have not been able to copy any of this post, except in small pieces. To read more go to the original and check it out.

"What has the search for the hypothetical Planet Nine led to? In the case of this study, the discovery of a collection of new — and puzzling — objects located in the outer reaches of our solar system.

Characterizing the Outer Solar System
The Kuiper belt is a collection of small icy bodies that lies just beyond the orbit of Neptune — but it turns out that Neptune is still a major factor in the shaping of this belt.

Objects in the Kuiper belt fall broadly into two categories: those that orbit between the resonances of Neptune, and those that have been captured into those resonances, likely during Neptune’s outward migration in the past. All of these objects have low or moderate eccentricities and semimajor axes within ~48 AU, making this distance the approximate “edge” of the outer Kuiper belt.

Beyond this distance, objects tend to have much more interesting orbits. These objects have very eccentric or inclined orbits with large semimajor axes and high perihelia (> 40 AU) — and they were likely scattered into these orbits by encounters with Neptune in their past."

[Dreamwoven]

Note that an AU is the distance between the earth and the sun.

[Dreamwoven]

Astronomical Unit: defined as the average distance between the Earth and its star (the sun). This definition can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit. The definition is somewhat ethnocentric!

[Danik 2016]

This EarthSky article is interesting. Especially on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn: http://earthsky.org/space/10-places-ice-snow-beyond-earth

A very interesting article, DW. Comparative studies on snow/ice on several celestial bodies.Where there is ice there is water. And maybe the ice/snow layers work as a kind of protection too.

[Danik 2016]

Astronomical Unit: defined as the average distance between the Earth and its star (the sun). This definition can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit. The definition is somewhat ethnocentric!

Thanks, DW. I didn´t know that.

[Danik 2016]

Another curious article.Sounds a bit like a spionage story:

Strange Sky Spiral May Come from Secretive SpaceX Zuma Launch

"A pair of spectacular images of an ethereal spiral in the night sky may show the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after it launched a secret satellite for the U.S. government on Sunday night (Jan. 7).

The photos, posted on Twitter, show a brilliant spiral that appeared in the night sky shortly after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Zuma satellite on a mystery mission for the U.S. government. Some media reports, citing anonymous government officials, have reported that the Northrop Grumman-built Zuma spacecraft may have failed after it launched into orbit. SpaceX representatives have said their Falcon 9 rocket performed as expected during the Zuma launch. A Northrop Grumman representative said the company cannot comment on the mission due to its classified nature."
https://www.space.com/39338-spacex-zuma-rocket-sky-spiral-photos.html

[Danik 2016]

Wellcome back, DW!

Some Plants Grow Well in Martian Soil

By: Camille M. Carlisle | January 12, 2018

"NASA and private entrepreneurs are pushing to land people on Mars within the next generation. To survive on Mars, colonists will need a lot of gear, not least of which is food. Since lugging food adds a lot of weight to spacecraft — and packaged food only retains its nutrients for so long, anyway — any would-be Martians will need to grow food on site in To see how terrestrial plants might fare in Martian soil, students at Villanova University last semester conducted the Red Thumbs Mars Garden Project. They obtained simulated Martian soil, made from volcanic basalts similar to those on Mars, and mixed it with other compounds to make it about 90% similar to Martian regolith.

The students focused on nutritious plants, including lettuce, kale, garlic, and potatoes, as well as hops (the business students were looking for inventive ways to make Martian greenhouse products marketable, professor Edward Guinan quipped during his talk January 12th at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, D.C.). They then planted the seedlings in different concentrations of Martian soil in a campus greenhouse rigged for light levels on the Red Planet and let things unfold.order to survive."

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/some-plants-grow-well-in-martian-soil/

Quite a salad! But Martian soil isn´t Mars!

[Danik 2016]

Speaking about salad, Here is an interesting link about Astronaut food:

https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/apollo-to-the-moon/online/astronaut-life/food-in-space.cfm

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138308/upcoming-telescopes-able-detect-mountains-landscapes-extrasolar-planets/

The study of exoplanets has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past few decades. Between ground-based observatories and spacecraft like the Kepler mission, a total of 3,726 exoplanets have been confirmed in 2,792 systems, with 622 systems having more than one planet (as of Jan. 1st, 2018). And in the coming years, scientists expect that many more discoveries will be possible thanks to the deployment of next-generation missions.

These include NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and several next-generation ground based observatories. With their advanced instruments, these and other observatories are not only expected to find many more exoplanets, but to reveal new and fascinating things about them. For instance, a recent study from Columbia University indicated that it will be possible, using the Transit Method, to study surface elevations on exoplanets.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting study. I´m sure that the surface of the exoplanets has a lot to teach us.

I´m glad you are back, DW. Other Litnetters are also having posting issues.

[Dreamwoven]

Thank you Danik. I am going to revert to fewer posts, until we get more useful posts that can generate discussion.

[Danik 2016]

That´s ok with me. Fewer posts are easier to follow up.

[Dreamwoven]

http://astronomy.com/magazine/press-releases/2018/01/astronomer-proposes-new-definition-of-a-planet

We do have very inadequate definitions of what a planet is:

See this:
"Pluto hogs the spotlight in the continuing scientific debate over what is and what is not a planet, but a less conspicuous argument rages on about the planetary status of massive objects outside our solar system. The dispute is not just about semantics, as it is closely related to how giant planets like Jupiter form."

"Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist Kevin Schlaufman aims to settle the dispute.

In a paper just published in the Astrophysical Journal, Schlaufman has set the upper boundary of planet mass between four and 10 times the mass of the planet Jupiter. The paper is online in the journal at: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aa961c. It is also archived at: https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.06185."

[Dreamwoven]

See also this discussion on EarthSky

http://earthsky.org/space/new-planet-definition-from-johns-hopkins

[Danik 2016]

Interesting discussion, DW. In the light of the new discoveries of celestial bodies, the traditional definitions of "planet" and "star" one learnt at school have become obsolete. An important stage of the discussion happened in 2006 when Pluto was declared to be a dwarf planet. Before that the concept of dwarf planet didn´t exist.
Still I think new definitions of the concept of "planet" at this moment can only be tentatively. New discoveries are being made dayly.

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, quite. Someone should tell the gaffers and gammers who decide the new definitions, that their attempt to update the old definitions is already out of date. Especially the claim that planets have their own cleared path.

[Danik 2016]

Something that happens today in all fields of knowledge I suppose is a thirst for visibility, specially in the social medias. Of course many of the researches are serious. But from all the articles that we have been reading about Astronomy only one thing seems to be sure: Astronomy is experiencing a boom of dicoveries, due to the perfectioning of their tools and space ships. Probably there is still much more ahead. And all this will take much time to sort out and conceptualize.
Yesterday in the soap opera one lover told his girl friend: the stars are many, but the moon is unique. No more! The moon only was unique as long as we didn´t know about the other ones.

[Danik 2016]

A controversial theme:
The hunt for viruses in space

You’ve probably heard of the field of astrobiology, but what about the field of astrovirology?

To date, almost no research has looked into the possibility of viruses “living” in space or on other worlds. But now, Portland State University biology professor Ken Stedman wants to kick-start the search.

According to an article published in the February 2018 issue of Astrobiology, Stedman and his colleagues argue that it's time for astronomers to broaden their cosmic search for life by also combing space for viruses. “More than a century has passed since the discovery of the first viruses,” said Stedman, “entering the second century of virology, we can finally start focusing beyond our own planet.”

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/01/the-hunt-for-viruses-in-space

[Dreamwoven]

That's true (#1585). And we still have not discovered - still less explored - many of the moons in this, our solar system. It is possible too, that in the Kuiper Belt, once New Horizons gets to the next Kuiper Belt objects (in about a year's time!) that they will find another moon.

[Danik 2016]

The role played by citizen cientists deserves to be discussed I think

Citizen scientists discover new exoplanet system named K2-138

"Four new planets orbiting a distant star have been discovered by citizen scientists around the world, a report has revealed.

Researchers discovered the K2-138 planetary system, home to at least five “sub-Neptune” planets between the size of Earth and Neptune, nearly 620 light years from Earth.

The exoplanet family was discovered after researchers launched a crowdsourcing project to help sift through three years’ worth of data from 280,000 stars."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/k2-128-new-planets-where-discovered-exoplanet-explorers-crowdfunding-nasa-a8169471.html

[Dreamwoven]

Interesting. Somehow the crowdsourcing project gave the project access to Hubble. I wonder how this was practically done?

[Danik 2016]

Here the project is explained in more details:
"Enter the Exoplanet Explorers citizen scientist project, developed by UC Santa Cruz astronomer Ian Crossfield and Caltech staff scientist Jessie Christiansen. Exoplanet Explorers is hosted on Zooniverse, an online platform for crowdsourcing research.

"People anywhere can log on and learn what real signals from exoplanets look like, and then look through actual data collected from the Kepler telescope to vote on whether or not to classify a given signal as a transit, or just noise," says Christiansen. "We have each potential transit signal looked at by a minimum of 10 people, and each needs a minimum of 90 percent of 'yes' votes to be considered for further characterization."

In early April, just two weeks after the initial prototype of Exoplanet Explorers was set up on Zooniverse, it was featured in a three-day event on the ABC Australia television series Stargazing Live. In the first 48 hours after the project was introduced, Exoplanet Explorers received over 2 million classifications from more than 10,000 users. Included in that search was a brand-new dataset from the K2 mission—the reincarnation of the primary Kepler mission, ended three years ago. K2 has a whole new field of view and crop of stars around which to search for planets. No professional astronomer had yet looked through this dataset, called C12.

Back in California, Crossfield and Christiansen joined NASA astronomer Geert Barentsen, who was in Australia, in examining results as they came in. Using the depth of the transit curve and the periodicity with which it appears, they made estimates for how large the potential planet is and how close it orbits to its star. On the second night of the show, the researchers discussed the demographics of the planet candidates found so far—44 Jupiter-sized planets, 72 Neptune-sized, 44 Earth-sized, and 53 so-called Super Earth's, which are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.

"We wanted to find a new classification that would be exciting to announce on the final night, so we were originally combing through the planet candidates to find a planet in the habitable zone—the region around a star where liquid water could exist," says Christiansen. "But those can take a while to validate, to make sure that it really is a real planet and not a false alarm. So, we decided to look for a multi-planet system because it's very hard to get an accidental false signal of several planets."

After this decision, Barentsen left to get a cup of tea. By the time he returned, Christiansen had sorted the crowdsourced data to find a star with multiple transits and discovered a star with four planets orbiting it. Three of the four planets had 100 percent "yes" votes from over 10 people, and the remaining one had 92 percent "yes" votes. This is the first multi-planet system of exoplanets discovered entirely by crowdsourcing.

After the discovery was announced on Stargazing Live, Christiansen and her colleagues continued to study and characterize the system, dubbed K2-138. They statistically validated the set of planet signals as being "extremely likely," according to Christiansen, to be signals from true planets. They also found that the planets are orbiting in an interesting mathematical relationship called a resonance, in which each planet takes almost exactly 50 percent longer to orbit the star than the next planet further in. The researchers also found a fifth planet on the same chain of resonances, and hints of a sixth planet as well. A paper describing the system has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.

This is the only system with a chain of unbroken resonances in this configuration, and may provide clues to theorists looking to unlock the mysteries of planet formation and migration.

"The clockwork-like orbital architecture of this planetary system is keenly reminiscent of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter," says "What's exciting is that we found this unusual system with the help of the general public."

The paper is titled "The K2-138 system: A Near-Resonant Chain of Five Sub-Neptune Planets Discovered by Citizen Scientists." In addition to Christiansen, Crossfield, and Barentsen; other coauthors include Chris Lintott, Campbell Allen, Adam McMaster, Grant Miller, Martin Veldthuis of the University of Oxford; Thomas Barclay of NASA Goddard and the University of Maryland; Brooke Simmons of UC San Diego; Caltech postdoctoral scholar Erik Petigura; Joshua Schlieder of NASA Goddard; Courtney Dressing of UC Berkeley; Andrew Vanderburg of Harvard; Sarah Allen and Zach Wolfenbarger of the Adler Planetarium; Brian Cox of the University of Manchester; Julia Zemiro of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; Caltech Professor of Astronomy Andrew Howard; John Livingston of the University of Tokyo; Evan Sinukoff of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa; Timothy Catron of Arizona State University; Andrew Grey, Joshua Kusch, Ivan Terentev, and Martin Vales of Zooniverse as part of the University of Oxford; and Martti Kristiansen of the Technical University of Denmark. Funding was provided by the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Google, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Written by Lori Dajose
Contact:
Whitney Clavin
(626) 395-1856
[email protected]
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY1200 EAST CALIFORNIA BOULEVARD, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91125Site co"

http://www.caltech.edu/news/citizen-scientists-discover-five-planet-system-80989

But the citizen scientists weren´t included in the credits it seems. Anyway it is a new form of scientific research and it may well become the science method in future, as cultural products seem to get more and more massified.

[Dreamwoven]

That's interesting. I think I need to sign on to one of these "Exoplanet Explorers citizen scientist project" next time, I will need to first log into website where this sort of thing is done. I suppose it doesn't happen very often, though I might be wrong...

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/jupiter-moon-europa-spacecraft-lander-sink?

Sometimes its useful to have pointed out fairly simple obstacles to landing on a moon like Europa. I think one of the plans involved using a helicopter to hover over the surface...

[Danik 2016]

That's interesting. I think I need to sign on to one of these "Exoplanet Explorers citizen scientist project" next time, I will need to first log into website where this sort of thing is done. I suppose it doesn't happen very often, though I might be wrong...
That would be great, DW. Have you got a good telescope?

[Dreamwoven]

Nah, I don't have a telescope at all. And our old croft is in deep forest, so no good view of the stars. I guess its not a good idea for me to be involved in a citizen science project...

[Danik 2016]

Take a look at that link. Maybe there is something for you there.

https://www.iau.org/public/themes/citizen-science-projects/

[Dreamwoven]

Those are useful links! Zoouniverse is one I will try. Will let you know how I got on.

[Dreamwoven]

I abandoned the attempt to use zooniverse, there is another linking system there, academia instead of LinkedIn that I use. Its the apps that tripped me up. I didn't realise apps cost something to use! And since I had closed my PayPal account I wouldn't be able to pay the bill, so I abandoned my attempt to join academia.

[Danik 2016]

I think you were right. I suppose there are free ups to but what everyone wants mostly is money. One can´t be too careful these days. Some things are offered as free and then they guide you to the taxes or the donation.

[tailor STATELY]

Awesome !

Watching the Super/Blue/Blood Moon eclipse... nearly 50% now in Northern California where I live. Clear skies and warm outside... also on the NASA cable channel and on youtube live at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDvPCGeE0

We should see totality in my location.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, tS. Great show!

[Dreamwoven]

Lucky you! Haven't seen a clear sky in all off January. Here it snowed all day today, we had about 3 inches of snow. Snows just about every day here...Piles of it along the roadside.

[Dreamwoven]

From Popular Astronomy, monthly publication
TITAN HAS 'SEA LEVEL' LIKE THE EARTH
NASA

Saturn's moon Titan is nearly a thousand million miles away from the Earth,
but a recently published paper based on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft
reveals a new way in which Titan and our own planet are similar. Just as the
surfaces of oceans on the Earth lie at an average elevation that we call
'sea level', Titan's seas also lie at an average elevation. That is the
latest finding that shows remarkable similarities between the Earth and
Titan, the only other object that we know of in our Solar System that has
stable liquid on its surface. The twist at Titan is that its lakes and seas
are filled with hydrocarbons rather than with liquid water, and water ice
overlain by a layer of solid organic material serves as the bedrock
surrounding the lakes and seas. The new paper finds that Titan's seas
follow a constant elevation relative to Titan's gravitational pull -- just
like the Earth's oceans. Smaller lakes on Titan, it turns out, appear at
elevations several hundred feet, or metres, higher than Titan's sea level.
Lakes at high elevation are commonly found on Earth. The highest lake
navigable by large ships, Lake Titicaca, has a water volume of nearly 900
cubic kilometres and a surface that is over 3,800 metres above sea level.
The new study of Titan suggests that elevation is important, because Titan's
liquid bodies appear to be connected under the surface in something akin to
a terrestrial aquifer system. Hydrocarbons appear to be flowing underneath
Titan's surface in the way that water flows through underground porous rock
or gravel on Earth, so nearby lakes communicate with each other and share a
common liquid level.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting paper DW. I wonder if thiese hydrocarbons funtion as noutishment for any species.

[Danik 2016]

A curious story:

NASA confirms amateur astronomer has discovered a lost satellite

"Some 12 years since it was thought lost because of a systems failure, NASA’s Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) has been discovered, still broadcasting, by an amateur astronomer. The find, which he reported in a blog post this week, presents the possibility that NASA could revive the mission, which once provided unparalleled views of Earth’s magnetosphere.

The astronomer, Scott Tilley, spends his free time following the radio signals from spy satellites. On this occasion, he was searching in high-Earth orbit for evidence of Zuma, a classified U.S. satellite that’s believed to have failed after launch. But rather than discovering Zuma, Tilley picked up a signal from a satellite labeled “2000-017A,” which he knew corresponded to NASA’s IMAGE satellite. Launched in 2000 and then left for dead in December 2005, the $150 million mission was back broadcasting. It just needed someone to listen."

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/amateur-astronomer-discovers-revived-nasa-satellite

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, it is interesting how space projects that we assumed were dead and finished suddenly spring back to life.

[Dreamwoven]

Popular Astronomy Monthly Publication 2


SURFACE OF GIANT STAR IMAGED
Georgia State University

Astronomers have produced the first detailed images of the surface of a
giant star, revealing a nearly spherical, dust-free atmosphere with complex
areas of moving material, known as convection cells or granules. The giant
star, named pi1 Gruis, is one of the stars in the southern constellation
Grus. An evolved star in the last major phase of its life, pi1 Gruis is
350 times the size of the Sun and resembles what our Sun will become at the
end of its life in five billion years. Studying that star gives scientists insight about the future activity, characteristics and appearance of the Sun. Convection, the transfer of heat by the bulk movement of gases and liquids, plays a major role in astrophysical processes, such as energy transport, pulsation and winds. The Sun has about two million convective
cells that are typically 2,000 km across, but theorists believe that giant
and supergiant stars should have only a few large convective cells because
of their low surface gravities. Determining the convection properties of
most evolved and supergiant stars, such as the sizes of granules, has been
challenging because their surfaces are frequently obscured by dust. In the
study summarized here, the researchers discovered that the surface of the
giant star pi1 Gruis had a complex convective pattern, and that a typical
granule measured 1.2 x 10^11 metres horizontally or 27% of the diameter of
the star.

This is the first time that astronomers have unambiguously imaged such a
giant star with that level of detail. The reason is that there is a limit
to the details that can be seen, related to the size of the telescope used
for the observations. The team used an interferometer, in which the light
from several telescopes is combined, achieving a resolution equivalent to
that of a much larger telescope. The star pi1 Gruis was observed with the
PIONIER instrument, which has four combined telescopes, in Chile in 2014
September. That study was also the first to confirm theories about the
characteristics of granules on giant stars. The images are important,
because the size and number of granules on the surface actually fitted very
well with models that predict what astronomers should be seeing. The
detailed images also showed different colours on the star's surface, which
correspond to varying temperatures. A star does not have the same surface
temperature throughout, and its surface provides our only clues to under-
stand its interior. As temperatures rise and fall, the hotter, more fluid
areas become brighter colours (whiter) and the cooler, denser areas become
darker (redder).

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/methane-puzzle-worden-estimate-biomass-burning

EarthSky gave published findings on methane in the atmosphere. This post is well worth reading!

[Danik 2016]

Two very interesting articles, DW. The first is concerned with the materials a giant star is made of. At this point I have the impression that each of the examined celestial bodies has a different composition.

The second about the increase of methane in the atmosphere of the earth examines the biomass burning emissions. I hope they are wrong about the ruminants as a cause of increased methane in the atmosphere.

[Dreamwoven]

The EarthSky thread is particularly interesting, many don't think of EarthSky as an astronomy website, but it certainly is.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138488/good-news-for-the-search-for-life-the-trappist-system-might-be-rich-in-water/

The search for life in the universe is clearly on, starting with a neighbouring star.

"When we finally find life somewhere out there beyond Earth, it’ll be at the end of a long search. Life probably won’t announce its presence to us, we’ll have to follow a long chain of clues to find it. Like scientists keep telling us, at the start of that chain of clues is water.

The discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system last year generated a lot of excitement. 7 planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1, only 40 light years from Earth. At the time, astronomers thought at least some of them were Earth-like. But now a new study shows that some of the planets could hold more water than Earth. About 250 times more."

[Dreamwoven]

I've now re-read the article "Is Proxima b Habitable"? in Popular Astronomy Jan-Feb 2017 (my one year subscription). It is in the habitable zone of its star the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, so it is in the best goldilocks position for abundant water. Ultra violet radiation may be a problem but there are ways of adapting to it, living underground, in rocks or under water. On Earth there are ways for corals to contain special proteins which absorb harmful UV rays. The next generation of advanced telescopes might be able to detect such biofluorescent glows.

[Dreamwoven]

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun, so it will be interesting to learn what the next generation of advanced telescopes will detect.

[Danik 2016]

https://www.universetoday.com/138488/good-news-for-the-search-for-life-the-trappist-system-might-be-rich-in-water/

The search for life in the universe is clearly on, starting with a neighbouring star.

"When we finally find life somewhere out there beyond Earth, it’ll be at the end of a long search. Life probably won’t announce its presence to us, we’ll have to follow a long chain of clues to find it. Like scientists keep telling us, at the start of that chain of clues is water.

The discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system last year generated a lot of excitement. 7 planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1, only 40 light years from Earth. At the time, astronomers thought at least some of them were Earth-like. But now a new study shows that some of the planets could hold more water than Earth. About 250 times more."

Yes. There was a comment on this article in the Brazilian news yesterday and I was going to look for it, but you were faster. Maybe the moment of finding water in another planet isn´t so far away any more.

[Danik 2016]

I've now re-read the article "Is Proxima b Habitable"? in Popular Astronomy Jan-Feb 2017 (my one year subscription). It is in the habitable zone of its star the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, so it is in the best goldilocks position for abundant water. Ultra violet radiation may be a problem but there are ways of adapting to it, living underground, in rocks or under water. On Earth there are ways for corals to contain special proteins which absorb harmful UV rays. The next generation of advanced telescopes might be able to detect such biofluorescent glows.
In fact I wonder why they haven´t found water yet. Is it indispensable only to us, creatures of the earth?

[Danik 2016]

And now that:
Humanity’s new star
"You now have nine months to enjoy the recently launched Humanity Star — an artificial satellite designed specifically for maximum visibility from anywhere on the planet over the course of its nine-month orbit. This reflective geodesic sphere was deployed during Rocket Lab’s January 21 Electron rocket launch, which also carried three commercial satellites into space and ushered New Zealand into the growing number of nations capable of reaching Earth orbit.

The Humanity Star is a small sphere about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter. It’s designed to reflect sunlight from its 65 panels, much like the Iridium satellites reflect light from their flat panels (called Iridium flares). But while Iridium flares are unintentional, the Humanity Star’s reflections are meant to act as a sort of interactive space art piece, with the goal of not only encouraging a sense of planetary community, but also instilling a sense of wonder about the night sky."
http://astronomy.com/news/2018/02/humanitys-new-star

To say we want the moon has long ceased to be a methapher.

[Dreamwoven]

It is probably a bit premature to be finding water, all they are claiming is that Proxima b looks to be hopeful for finding water. The next generation of ground-based telescopes will be when they will start looking seriously, Spitzer and James Webb will be ready in 1990, and there are others too.

[Dreamwoven]

And now that:
Humanity’s new star
"You now have nine months to enjoy the recently launched Humanity Star — an artificial satellite designed specifically for maximum visibility from anywhere on the planet over the course of its nine-month orbit. This reflective geodesic sphere was deployed during Rocket Lab’s January 21 Electron rocket launch, which also carried three commercial satellites into space and ushered New Zealand into the growing number of nations capable of reaching Earth orbit.

The Humanity Star is a small sphere about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter. It’s designed to reflect sunlight from its 65 panels, much like the Iridium satellites reflect light from their flat panels (called Iridium flares). But while Iridium flares are unintentional, the Humanity Star’s reflections are meant to act as a sort of interactive space art piece, with the goal of not only encouraging a sense of planetary community, but also instilling a sense of wonder about the night sky."
http://astronomy.com/news/2018/02/humanitys-new-star

To say we want the moon has long ceased to be a metaphor.

There is a Swedish song about that, roughly it says "I want to have my own moon, where I can sit and forget about you". The Astronomy now journal comes up with some curious ideas. Who knows, it may capture a few peoples' imaginations and convert some to astronomy.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138494/solar-system-probably-thousands-captured-interstellar-asteroids/

I think this is quite likely, it makes sense.

[Danik 2016]

There is a Swedish song about that, roughly it says "I want to have my own moon, where I can sit and forget about you". The Astronomy now journal comes up with some curious ideas. Who knows, it may capture a few peoples' imaginations and convert some to astronomy.

"Blue Moon" by fado singer Amalia Rodrigues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqjTtLMRPg

[Danik 2016]

"It would be no exaggeration to say that the discovery of ‘Oumuamua has set off something of a revolution in astronomy. In addition to validating something astronomers have long suspected, it has also provided new opportunities for research and the testing of scientific theories (such as lithopanspermia).

In the future, with any luck, robotic missions will be dispatched to these bodies to conduct direct studies and maybe even sample return missions. What these reveal about our Universe, and maybe even the spread of life throughout, is sure to be very illuminating!"
https://www.universetoday.com/138494/solar-system-probably-thousands-captured-interstellar-asteroids/

Well, I hope they are cautious with this studies as microbes, where ever they come from, may cause a lot of harm.

[Danik 2016]

A Carnival visitor:

Asteroid to pass between Earth and Moon on Friday
The asteroid, which is between 50 and 130 feet wide, will miss Earth by a distance of 39,000 miles — less than one-fifth the distance between Earth and the Moon.
"On February 4, astronomers using the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) detected two asteroids with orbits that take them between Earth and the Moon this week. Fortunately, neither object’s trajectory presents a threat to Earth.

In fact, the week’s first visiting asteroid — dubbed asteroid 2018 CC — has already completed its closest approach to Earth. The small rocky body zoomed by our planet on Tuesday, February 6, at 3:10 p.m. EST, just 35 minutes before SpaceX launched their Falcon Heavy rocket. Asteroid 2018 CC, which is estimated to be between 50 and 100 feet (15 and 30 meters) wide, came within about 114,000 miles (184,000 kilometers) of Earth.

On the other hand, the potentially more interesting asteroid — named asteroid 2018 CB — will pass by Earth on Friday, February 9, at around 5:30 p.m. EST. With an estimated size of between 50 and 130 feet (15 and 40 meters), this asteroid is not just larger than 2018 CC, but it also passes much closer to our planet. Asteroid 2018 CB will skirt by Earth at a distance of 39,000 miles (64,000 km), bringing it five times closer to us than the Moon. "
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/02/asteroid-to-pass-by-earth-on-friday

[Dreamwoven]

Thanks for that, Danik, very interesting.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138516/researchers-just-scanned-14-worlds-kepler-mission-technosignatures-evidence-advanced-civilizations/

The search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) continues:

“We searched for signals that are narrow (< 10 Hz) in the frequency domain,” said Margot. “Such signals are technosignatures because natural sources do not emit such narrowband signals… We identified approximately 850,000 candidate signals, of which 19 were of particular interest. Ultimately, none of these signals were attributable to an extraterrestrial source.”

You can read the whole post for the complete picture.

[Danik 2016]

Amazing, DW! The article can be downloaded in pdf. It might interest you and such Litnetters that are comfortable with mathematical data analysis like Yes/No and desirejab.

A SEARCH FOR TECHNOSIGNATURES FROM 14 PLANETARY SYSTEMS IN THE KEPLER
FIELD WITH THE GREEN BANK TELESCOPE AT 1.15{1.73 GHZ
ABSTRACT
"Analysis of Kepler mission data suggests that the Milky Way includes billions of Earth-like planets
in the habitable zone of their host star. Current technology enables the detection of technosignatures
emitted from a large fraction of the Galaxy. We describe a search for technosignatures that is sensitive
to Arecibo-class transmitters located within 450 ly of Earth and transmitters that are 1000 times
more eective than Arecibo within 14 000 ly of Earth. Our observations focused on 14 planetary
systems in the Kepler eld and used the L-band receiver (1.15{1.73 GHz) of the 100 m diameter
Green Bank Telescope. Each source was observed for a total integration time of 5 minutes. We
obtained power spectra at a frequency resolution of 3 Hz and examined narrowband signals with
Doppler drift rates between 9 Hz s��1. We
agged any detection with a signal-to-noise ratio in
excess of 10 as a candidate signal and identied approximately 850 000 candidates. Most (99%) of
these candidate signals were automatically classied as human-generated radio-frequency interference
(RFI). A large fraction (>99%) of the remaining candidate signals were also
agged as anthropogenic
RFI because they have frequencies that overlap those used by global navigation satellite systems,
satellite downlinks, or other interferers detected in heavily polluted regions of the spectrum. All
19 remaining candidate signals were scrutinized and none could be attributed to an extraterrestrial
source.
Keywords: astrobiology|extraterrestrial intelligence|planets and satellites: general
| (stars: planetary systems | techniques: spectroscopic
Corresponding author: Jean-Luc Margot
[email protected]
arXiv:1802.01081v1"

Are we heading in the direction of radiocomunication with ETs?

[Dreamwoven]

I have been returning to the question of searching for extra-terrestrial intelligence.

See https://astronomynow.com/2016/03/03/repeat-fast-radio-bursts-detected-from-same-sky-location/

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.seti.org
is the website concerned fully with this issue.

[Dreamwoven]

The cosmology topic that YesNo started (and that I contributed to some time ago now) is thriving with desiresjab involved. I'm very glad to see this!

[Danik 2016]

https://www.seti.org
is the website concerned fully with this issue.
Artificial or natural intelligence in other planets: its a dream that may come true but Iam not sure wheter we are going to like what we discover.

[Dreamwoven]

The cosmology thread seems to be starting to discuss the future of humankind on this planet. This is where cosmology and astronomy appear to be meeting. The 2 posts in astronomy now and universe today the I gave links for above is not a coincidence. The Carl Sagan Center and the CETI Institute - https://www.seti.org/node/647 - are two nodes the come together.

[Dreamwoven]

No, I agree with you. We will see, I guess.

[Danik 2016]

I definitely don´t like that information:

Viruses -- lots of them -- are falling from the sky

Date:
February 6, 2018
Source:
University of British Columbia
Summary:
An astonishing number of viruses are circulating around the Earth's atmosphere -- and falling from it -- according to new research. The study marks the first time scientists have quantified the viruses being swept up from the Earth's surface into the free troposphere, beyond Earth's weather systems but below the stratosphere where jet airplanes fly. The viruses can be carried thousands of kilometers there before being deposited back onto the Earth's surface.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180206090650.htm

[Dreamwoven]

I wonder what the viruses are, what illnesses they are from. Horrid!

[Danik 2016]

I don´t know if all of them are that harmful. But it seems to me that the idea, that all viruses where generated on earth is changing. That caught my attention in this article.

[Danik 2016]

NASA releases record-breaking photos from beyond Pluto
In two hours, New Horizons smashed a 27-year-old record set by Voyager 1 … twice.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/02/nasa-releases-record-breaking-photos-from-beyond-pluto

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, these record-breaking images presage the even more record-breaking images that we will see once the next target comes into view in early 2019.

[Dreamwoven]

We have only seen the next imagers as blurs, but you can tell there are several objects including probably one moon. Out there in the Kuiper Belt gravity is much weaker.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/interstellar-asteroid-oumuamua-tumble-violent-past

"The strange interstellar visitor to our solar system – dubbed ‘Oumuamua´ by astronomers – is tumbling as it moves through space. A new study suggests its chaotic tumble is likely to continue at least another billion years, and it suggests ‘Oumuamua’s tumble is the result of a violent collision with another asteroid in the past. This collision might have knocked ‘Oumuamua out of its original solar system and sent it toward our solar system.

Astronomer Wes Fraser of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, led this new research. Fraser and his team analyzed all the available data from optical photometry; that is, they looked at the data on how ‘Oumuamua’s brightness varied over time. Then they used computer modeling to understand why ‘Oumuamua varied in brightness, and to spin out reasonable possibilities for its past and future. Their study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy on February 9, 2018."

[Danik 2016]

Stunning pictures of Jupiter (Juno Mission)

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/5/27/15698204/jupiter-new-photos-juno

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, very nice!

[Dreamwoven]

A new monthly number of astronomy posts:

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 463 2018 February 18

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy.

DOUBT CAST ON EVOLUTION OF MARTIAN LIFE
The University of Hong Kong

"Mars has long been of interest as a place to search for evidence of life
beyond the Earth, because the surface has numerous features that appear to be dried-up river channels and dried lake beds that hint at a warmer,
wetter, more-Earthlike climate in the past. However, new research has cast
doubt on the idea of surface life evolving on Mars. For the last 2.5
billion years, surface life on Earth has thrived largely through the
evolution of photosynthesis. Surface life is abundant and very successful
because of the availability of sunlight, surface water, generally moderate
climate conditions, and the protection of our magnetic field. But Mars would never
have experienced such habitable conditions at the surface.

Now scientists show that the climate of Mars has probably been extremely cold and dry most of the time. They argue that the familiar aqueous features on Mars include widespread, weathered soil horizons that could have formed in 'geologically' short climate 'excursions'. In other words, Mars has been cold and dry almost throughout its history and has only had abundant liquid water on its surface during relatively short episodes of climate change. However, all hope for life on Mars is not lost. The scientists point out that the prospects for surface life on Mars might be dim, but the possibilities for sub-surface life are promising. Life on Earth probably began in hydrothermal systems (environments where hot water reacts with rocks), and there is abundant evidence for many locations where hydrothermal environments existed on Mars at the time when life might have originated in similar environments on Earth. The scientists argue that, in order to understand how life formed on Earth, we should ignore the surface environments on Mars and focus exploration on hydrothermal deposits. Using infrared data on Mars collected by spacecraft, astronomers can interpret which minerals are there and describe the 'geology' of ancient hydrothermal systems. That type of work is based on laboratory measurements, which provide the necessary mineralogical background with which to interpret spectroscopic data from Mars."

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 463 2018 February 18

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy.


COMPOSITION OF TRAPPIST-1 PLANETS
ESO

The seven Earth-size planets of TRAPPIST-1 are all mostly made of rock, with some having the potential to hold more water than the Earth. The planets' densities, now known much more precisely than before, suggest that some of them could have up to 5 per cent of their mass in water -- which is 250 times more than the oceans on Earth. The form that water would take on TRAPPIST-1 planets would depend on the amount of heat they receive from their star, which is a mere 9 per cent as massive as our Sun. Planets closest to the star are more likely to have water in the form of atmospheric vapour, while those farther away may have water frozen on their surfaces as ice. TRAPPIST-1e is the rockiest planet of them all, but still is believed potentially to have some liquid water. Astronomers now know more about TRAPPIST-1 than about any other planetary system apart from our own. Since the extent of the TRAPPIST system was recognized in 2017 February, researchers have been working hard to characterize the planets better and to collect more information about them. The new study offers better estimates than were available previously for the planets' densities. The TRAPPIST name comes from the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope in Chile, which discovered two of the seven planets we know of today --announced in 2016. The Spitzer space telescope, in collaboration with ground-based telescopes, confirmed those planets and discovered the other five in the system. Since then, the Kepler space telescope has also observed the TRAPPIST-1 system, and Spitzer began a new programme of 500 additional hours of TRAPPIST-1 observations, which will conclude in March. The new body of data has helped the authors of the study to paint a clearer picture of the system than ever before -- although there is still much more to learn about TRAPPIST-1.

The TRAPPIST-1 planets huddle so close to one another that a person standing on the surface of one of them would have a spectacular view of the neighbouring planets in the sky. Those planets would sometimes appear larger than the Moon looks to an observer on Earth. They may also be tidally locked, meaning that the same side of the planet is always facing the star, with each side in perpetual day or night. Although the planets are all
closer to their star than Mercury is to the Sun, TRAPPIST-1 is such a cool
star that some of its planets could still, in theory, hold liquid water.
It is impossible to know exactly how each planet looks, because they are so
far away. In our own Solar System, the Moon and Mars have nearly the same density, yet their surfaces appear entirely different. TRAPPIST-1b, the innermost planet, is likely to have a rocky core, surrounded by an atmosphere much thicker than the Earth's. TRAPPIST-1c also probably has a rocky interior, but with a thinner atmosphere than planet b. TRAPPIST-1d is the lightest of the planets -- about three-tenths the mass of the Earth.
Scientists are uncertain whether it has a large atmosphere, an ocean or an
ice layer -- all three of those would give the planet an 'envelope' of
volatile substances, which would make sense for a planet of its density.
Scientists were surprised that TRAPPIST-1e is the only planet in the system
slightly denser than the Earth, suggesting that it may have a relatively
larger iron core than our home planet. Like TRAPPIST-1c, it does not
necessarily have a thick atmosphere, ocean or ice layer -- making those two
planets distinct in the system. It is a mystery why TRAPPIST-1e has a much
rockier composition than the rest of the planets. In terms of size, density
and the amount of radiation it receives from its star, it is the planet that
is most similar to the Earth. TRAPPIST-1f, g and h are far enough from the
host star that water could be frozen as ice on their surfaces. If they have
thin atmospheres, they would be unlikely to contain heavy molecules such as carbon dioxide.

Scientists can calculate the densities of the planets because their orbits
happen to be oriented in such a way that they transit in front of their
star, causing a slight dimming of the starlight. The amount of dimming is
related to the radius of the planet. To get the density, scientists take
advantage of what are called 'transit timing variations'. If there were no
other gravitational forces on a transiting planet, it would always cross in
front of its host star in the same amount of time -- for example, the Earth
orbits the Sun every 365 days. But because the TRAPPIST-1 planets are
packed so close together, they change the timing of one another's 'years'
ever so slightly. Those variations in orbital timing are used to estimate
the planets' masses. Then, mass and radius are used to calculate density.
The next step in exploring TRAPPIST-1 will be with the James Webb space
telescope, which may be able to determine whether these planets have
atmospheres and, if so, what those atmospheres are like. A recent study
using the Hubble telescope found no detection of hydrogen-dominated
atmospheres on planets TRAPPIST-1d, e and f -- another piece of evidence for rocky composition -- although a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere cannot be ruled out for good.

[Danik 2016]

The scientists argue that, in order to understand how life formed on Earth, we should ignore the surface environments on Mars and focus exploration on hydrothermal deposits. Using infrared data on Mars collected by spacecraft, astronomers can interpret which minerals are there and describe the 'geology' of ancient hydrothermal systems. That type of work is based on laboratory measurements, which provide the necessary mineralogical background with which to interpret spectroscopic data from Mars.

Sounds like a valid approach.

[Danik 2016]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 463 2018 February 18

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy.


COMPOSITION OF TRAPPIST-1 PLANETS
ESO

The seven Earth-size planets of TRAPPIST-1 are all mostly made of rock, with some having the potential to hold more water than the Earth. The planets' densities, now known much more precisely than before, suggest that some of them could have up to 5 per cent of their mass in water -- which is 250 times more than the oceans on Earth. The form that water would take on TRAPPIST-1 planets would depend on the amount of heat they receive from their star, which is a mere 9 per cent as massive as our Sun. Planets closest to the star are more likely to have water in the form of atmospheric vapour, while those farther away may have water frozen on their surfaces as ice. TRAPPIST-1e is the rockiest planet of them all, but still is believed potentially to have some liquid water. Astronomers now know more about TRAPPIST-1 than about any other planetary system apart from our own. Since the extent of the TRAPPIST system was recognized in 2017 February, researchers have been working hard to characterize the planets better and to collect more information about them. The new study offers better estimates than were available previously for the planets' densities. The TRAPPIST name comes from the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope in Chile, which discovered two of the seven planets we know of today --announced in 2016. The Spitzer space telescope, in collaboration with ground-based telescopes, confirmed those planets and discovered the other five in the system. Since then, the Kepler space telescope has also observed the TRAPPIST-1 system, and Spitzer began a new programme of 500 additional hours of TRAPPIST-1 observations, which will conclude in March. The new body of data has helped the authors of the study to paint a clearer picture of the system than ever before -- although there is still much more to learn about TRAPPIST-1.

The TRAPPIST-1 planets huddle so close to one another that a person standing on the surface of one of them would have a spectacular view of the neighbouring planets in the sky. Those planets would sometimes appear larger than the Moon looks to an observer on Earth. They may also be tidally locked, meaning that the same side of the planet is always facing the star, with each side in perpetual day or night. Although the planets are all
closer to their star than Mercury is to the Sun, TRAPPIST-1 is such a cool
star that some of its planets could still, in theory, hold liquid water.
It is impossible to know exactly how each planet looks, because they are so
far away. In our own Solar System, the Moon and Mars have nearly the same density, yet their surfaces appear entirely different. TRAPPIST-1b, the innermost planet, is likely to have a rocky core, surrounded by an atmosphere much thicker than the Earth's. TRAPPIST-1c also probably has a rocky interior, but with a thinner atmosphere than planet b. TRAPPIST-1d is the lightest of the planets -- about three-tenths the mass of the Earth.
Scientists are uncertain whether it has a large atmosphere, an ocean or an
ice layer -- all three of those would give the planet an 'envelope' of
volatile substances, which would make sense for a planet of its density.
Scientists were surprised that TRAPPIST-1e is the only planet in the system
slightly denser than the Earth, suggesting that it may have a relatively
larger iron core than our home planet. Like TRAPPIST-1c, it does not
necessarily have a thick atmosphere, ocean or ice layer -- making those two
planets distinct in the system. It is a mystery why TRAPPIST-1e has a much
rockier composition than the rest of the planets. In terms of size, density
and the amount of radiation it receives from its star, it is the planet that
is most similar to the Earth. TRAPPIST-1f, g and h are far enough from the
host star that water could be frozen as ice on their surfaces. If they have
thin atmospheres, they would be unlikely to contain heavy molecules such as carbon dioxide.

Scientists can calculate the densities of the planets because their orbits
happen to be oriented in such a way that they transit in front of their
star, causing a slight dimming of the starlight. The amount of dimming is
related to the radius of the planet. To get the density, scientists take
advantage of what are called 'transit timing variations'. If there were no
other gravitational forces on a transiting planet, it would always cross in
front of its host star in the same amount of time -- for example, the Earth
orbits the Sun every 365 days. But because the TRAPPIST-1 planets are
packed so close together, they change the timing of one another's 'years'
ever so slightly. Those variations in orbital timing are used to estimate
the planets' masses. Then, mass and radius are used to calculate density.
The next step in exploring TRAPPIST-1 will be with the James Webb space
telescope, which may be able to determine whether these planets have
atmospheres and, if so, what those atmospheres are like. A recent study
using the Hubble telescope found no detection of hydrogen-dominated
atmospheres on planets TRAPPIST-1d, e and f -- another piece of evidence for rocky composition -- although a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere cannot be ruled out for good.

Again.They are studying the composition of these planets specially to find an answer for the origin of life.

[Danik 2016]

I thought this article very interesting too:

How does space change the human body?
NASA’s Twins Study sent one identical twin to space for a year, while the other stayed on Earth. Ten separate research projects then tracked how each twin changed.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/02/how-does-space-change-the-human-body

I only didn´t understand why they sent the twin to space, that wasn´t an astronaut.

[Dreamwoven]

It is interesting how they research the differences. They have tried to do really far-reaching studies that explore the differences in great detail.

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 463 2018 February 18

MASSIVE, DENSE SUPER-EARTH DETECTED
Carnegie Institution for Science

A star about 100 light-years away in the constellation Pisces, GJ 9827, has
what may be one of the most massive and dense super-Earth planets detected to date, according to new research. That new information provides evidence to help astronomers understand the process by which such planets form. The GJ 9827 star actually hosts three planets, discovered by the exoplanet-hunting Kepler/K2 mission, and all three are slightly larger than the Earth. That is the size that the Kepler mission found to be most common in the Galaxy with periods between a few and several hundred days. Intriguingly, no planets of that size exist in the Solar System. That makes scientists curious about the conditions under which they form and evolve. One important key to understanding a planet's history is its composition. Are these super-Earths rocky like our own planet? Or do they have solid cores surrounded by large, gassy atmospheres? To try to understand what an exo-planet is made of, scientists need to measure both its mass and its radius, which allow them to determine its bulk density. When quantifying planets in that way, astronomers have noticed a trend. It turns out that planets with radii greater than about 1.7 times that of the Earth have a gassy envelopes, like Neptune's, and those with radii smaller than that are rocky, like ours. Some researchers have proposed that the difference is caused by photo-evaporation, which strips planets of their envelopes of so-called volatiles -- substances like water and carbon dioxide that have low boiling points -- creating smaller-radius planets. But more information is needed to test that theory. That is why GJ 9827's three planets are special -- with radii of 1.64 (planet b), 1.29 (planet c) and 2.08 (planet d), they span the dividing line between super-Earth (rocky) and sub-Neptune (somewhat gassy) planets.

Luckily, scientists have been monitoring GJ 9827 with their Planet-Finding
Spectrograph (PFS), so they were able to constrain the masses of the three
planets with data in hand, rather than having to scramble to get many new
observations of GJ 9827. Usually, if a transiting planet is detected, it
takes months if not a year or more to gather enough observations to measure its mass. Because GJ 9827 is a fairly bright (tenth-magnitude) star, the team already had it in the catalogue of stars that it been monitoring for planets since 2010. The spectrograph was mounted on the Magellan Clay Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory. The PFS observations indicate that planet b is roughly eight times the mass of the Earth, which would make it one of the most-massive and dense super-Earths yet discovered. The masses for planets c and d are estimated to be about two and a half and four times that of the Earth respectively, although the uncertainty in those two determinations is very high. That information suggests that planet d has a significant volatile envelope, and leaves open the question of whether planet c has a volatile envelope or not. But the better constraint on the mass of planet b suggests that that it is roughly 50% iron. More observations are needed to pin down the compositions of the three planets, but they do seem to be some of the best candidates to test our ideas about how super-Earths form and evolve.

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 463 2018 February 18
PLANETS FOUND IN ANOTHER GALAXY
University of Oklahoma

A team of astronomers has discovered for the first time a population of
planets beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Using microlensing, researchers were able to detect objects in extragalactic systems that range from the mass of the Moon to the mass of Jupiter. The discovery was made using data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, a telescope in space that is controlled by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The small planets are the best candidates for observations by the microlensing technique. While planets are often discovered within the Milky Way using microlensing, the gravitational effect of even small objects can create high magnification, leading to a signature that can be modelled and explained in external galaxies. Until this study, there had been no evidence of planets in other galaxies. The galaxy concerned is 3800 million light-years away, and there is not the slightest chance of observing the planets directly. However, microlensing makes it possible to study them, unveil their presence and even obtain an idea of their masses.

[Danik 2016]

Well, here we are with four new planets. It´s still early to say if the news are good or bad.

[Dreamwoven]

That was a poor post I made! Struggling to find something new on the astronomy front.

[Danik 2016]

Idon´t think so. But there really isn´t much to report today.

With the approach of Valentine day, NASA seems to be getting sentimental. But the image is beautiful indeed.

A lonely beauty
Date:
February 14, 2018
Source:
ESA/Hubble Information Centre
Summary:
Beauty, grace, mystery -- this magnificent spiral galaxy has all the qualities of a perfect galactic Valentine. The galaxy NGC 3344 presents itself face-on, allowing astronomers a detailed look at its intricate and elegant structure. And Hubble's ability to observe objects over a wide range of different wavelengths reveals features that would otherwise remain invisible.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180214150237.htm

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 463 2018 February 18

GRAVITATIONAL LENS SETS NEW RECORD
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Extremely distant galaxies are mostly too faint to be seen, even by the
largest telescopes. But nature has a solution: gravitational lensing,
predicted by Einstein and observed many times by astronomers. Now, an
international team of astronomers has discovered one of the most extreme
instances of magnification by gravitational lensing. Using the Hubble
Telescope to survey a sample of huge clusters of galaxies, the team found a
distant galaxy, eMACSJ1341-QG-1, that is magnified 30 times thanks to the
distortion of space-time created by the massive 'foreground' galaxy cluster
dubbed eMACSJ1341.9-2441. The underlying physical effect of gravitational lensing was first confirmed during the solar eclipse of 1919, and can dramatically magnify images of distant celestial sources if a sufficiently massive object lies between the background source and the observers. Galaxy clusters, enormous concentrations of dark matter and hot gas surrounding hundreds or thousands of individual galaxies, all bound by the force of gravity, are valued by astronomers as powerful gravitational lenses. By magnifying the galaxies situated behind them, massive clusters act as natural telescopes that allow scientists to study faint and distant sources that would otherwise be beyond the reach of even the most powerful man-made telescopes. In the present instance, The high magnification of the image provides astronomers with a rare opportunity to investigate the stellar populations of that distant object and, ultimately, to reconstruct its undistorted shape and properties. Although similarly extreme magnifications have been observed before, the discovery sets a record for the magnification of a rare 'quiescent' background galaxy -- one that, unlike our Milky Way, is not forming new stars in giant clouds of cool gas. The team specializes in finding extremely massive clusters that act as natural telescopes and has already discovered many exciting cases of gravitational lensing. This discovery stands out, though, as the huge magnification provided by eMACSJ1341 allows us to study in detail a rare type of galaxy.

[Dreamwoven]

I think I understand the concept of Gravitational lensing from the above post.

[Danik 2016]

By magnifying the galaxies situated behind them, massive clusters act as natural telescopes that allow scientists to study faint and distant sources that would otherwise be beyond the reach of even the most powerful man-made telescopes.

This is not clear to me, how these massive clusters act as magnifying lenses.

[Dreamwoven]

Well, Einstein predicted this 100 year ago. But I agree, it is still unclear what he meant, as is the way it works.

[Danik 2016]

A quite different kind of research:

A new study shows mankind’s reaction to alien life would be quite positive
News of extraterrestrials would likely generate upbeat attitudes.
"As technology rapidly advances, we’re making astronomical discoveries faster than ever before. Many think it’s just a matter of time before we come across extraterrestrial life and prove that we’re not alone in the universe. So let’s say it actually happens. We uncover or are approached by alien life. Now what? How does the public react? Do our defensive instincts or humble curiosities take over? New research suggests that the general population’s reaction would be quite positive."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/02/a-new-study-shows-mankinds-reaction-to-alien-life-would-be-quite-positive

[Dreamwoven]

I would agree with that conclusion, but the real test will come when we meet intelligent life. No sign of the yet.

[Danik 2016]

I couldn´t agree more, DW!

[Danik 2016]

Improved Hubble yardstick gives fresh evidence for new physics in the universe

Date:
February 22, 2018
Source:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Summary:
Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make the most precise measurements of the expansion rate of the universe since it was first calculated nearly a century ago. Intriguingly, the results are forcing astronomers to consider that they may be seeing evidence of something unexpected at work in the universe.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180222162005.htm

[Dreamwoven]

Universe today https://www.universetoday.com has some interesting posts about NASA's SOHO - the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory - https://www.universetoday.com/138664/22-years-of-the-sun-from-soho/. This website has many different projects, including one when the total eclipse passed over the USA, which gave a prolonged view of solar eclipses.

This is one of the quiet successes of the study of solar eclipses.

"The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is celebrating 22 years of observing the Sun, marking one complete solar magnetic cycle in the life of our star. SOHO is a joint project between NASA and the ESA and its mission is to study the internal structure of the sun, its extensive outer atmosphere, and the origin of the solar wind.

The activity cycle in the life of the Sun is based on the increase and decrease of sunspots. We’ve been watching this activity for about 250 years, but SOHO has taken that observing to a whole new level."

"Though sunspot cycles work on an 11-year period, they’re caused by deeper magnetic changes in the Sun. Over the course of 22 years, the Sun’s polarity gradually shifts. At the 11 year mark, the orientation of the Sun’s magnetic field flips between the northern and southern hemispheres. At the end of the 22 year cycle, the field has shifted back to its original orientation. SOHO has now watched that cycle in its entirety."

"SOHO is a real success story. It was launched in 1995 and was designed to operate until 1998. But it’s been so successful that its mission has been prolonged and extended several times."

[Dreamwoven]

An astroid will pass by Earth really close. There is no danger of it hitting Earth. See http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2018-dv1-closer-than-moon-mar-2-2018

[Danik 2016]

Yes, it can be seen tomorrow.

[Dreamwoven]

I don't know if this is a practical joke or not but I add this post here: http://earthsky.org/space/signal-from-1st-stars-detected?

"By Karl Glazebrook, Swinburne University of Technology

A signal caused by the very first stars to form in the universe has been picked up by a tiny but highly specialised radio telescope in the remote Western Australian desert.

Details of the detection are revealed in a paper published February 28, 2018, in Nature, and tell us these stars formed only 180 million years after the Big Bang.

It’s potentially one of the most exciting astronomical discoveries of the decade. A second Nature paper, also published February 28, links the finding to possibly the first detected evidence that dark matter, thought to make up much of the universe, might interact with ordinary atoms."

[Danik 2016]

I don´t think it is meant as a joke, DW. I read something about it in the Brazilian news. However no sources were mentioned so I couldn´t trace the information.
Your article mentions two papers published in Nature, which make a more sober approach. I reproduce both abstracts here:

1-An absorption profile centred at 78 megahertz in the sky-averaged spectrum

"Abstract
After stars formed in the early Universe, their ultraviolet light is expected, eventually, to have penetrated the primordial hydrogen gas and altered the excitation state of its 21-centimetre hyperfine line. This alteration would cause the gas to absorb photons from the cosmic microwave background, producing a spectral distortion that should be observable today at radio frequencies of less than 200 megahertz1. Here we report the detection of a flattened absorption profile in the sky-averaged radio spectrum, which is centred at a frequency of 78 megahertz and has a best-fitting full-width at half-maximum of 19 megahertz and an amplitude of 0.5 kelvin. The profile is largely consistent with expectations for the 21-centimetre signal induced by early stars; however, the best-fitting amplitude of the profile is more than a factor of two greater than the largest predictions2. This discrepancy suggests that either the primordial gas was much colder than expected or the background radiation temperature was hotter than expected. Astrophysical phenomena (such as radiation from stars and stellar remnants) are unlikely to account for this discrepancy; of the proposed extensions to the standard model of cosmology and particle physics, only cooling of the gas as a result of interactions between dark matter and baryons seems to explain the observed amplitude3. The low-frequency edge of the observed profile indicates that stars existed and had produced a background of Lyman-α photons by 180 million years after the Big Bang. The high-frequency edge indicates that the gas was heated to above the radiation temperature less than 100 million years later."

2-Possible interaction between baryons and dark-matter particles revealed by the first stars

"Abstract
The cosmic radio-frequency spectrum is expected to show a strong absorption signal corresponding to the 21-centimetre-wavelength transition of atomic hydrogen around redshift 20, which arises from Lyman-α radiation from some of the earliest stars1,2,3,4. By observing this 21-centimetre signal—either its sky-averaged spectrum5 or maps of its fluctuations, obtained using radio interferometers6,7—we can obtain information about cosmic dawn, the era when the first astrophysical sources of light were formed. The recent detection of the global 21-centimetre spectrum5 reveals a stronger absorption than the maximum predicted by existing models, at a confidence level of 3.8 standard deviations. Here we report that this absorption can be explained by the combination of radiation from the first stars and excess cooling of the cosmic gas induced by its interaction with dark matter8,9,10. Our analysis indicates that the spatial fluctuations of the 21-centimetre signal at cosmic dawn could be an order of magnitude larger than previously expected and that the dark-matter particle is no heavier than several proton masses, well below the commonly predicted mass of weakly interacting massive particles. Our analysis also confirms that dark matter is highly non-relativistic and at least moderately cold, and primordial velocities predicted by models of warm dark matter are potentially detectable. These results indicate that 21-centimetre cosmology can be used as a dark-matter probe."

[Dreamwoven]

Thanks for that, Danik.

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 464 2018 March 4

http://earthsky.org/earth/wildfires-forecast-US-west

My cousin in California, George Weisz, will know about this, I look forward to a brief correspondence on this.

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 464 2018 March 4

SUN'S MAGNETIC CAGE STOPPED SOLAR ERUPTION
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

New research using NASA data shows that a dramatic magnetic power struggle
at the Sun's surface lies at the heart of solar eruptions. The work high-
lights the role of the Sun's magnetic landscape, or topology, in the dev-
elopment of solar eruptions that can trigger 'space weather' events around
the Earth. The scientists examined solar flares, which are intense bursts
of radiation and light. Many strong solar flares are followed by a coronal
mass ejection, or CME, a massive, bubble-shaped eruption of solar material
and magnetic field, but some are not -- what differentiates the two
situations is not clearly understood. Using data from NASA's Solar Dynamics
Observatory, or SDO, the scientists examined a 2014 October Jupiter-sized
sunspot group, an area of complex magnetic fields, often the site of solar
activity. That was the biggest group in the past two solar cycles and a
highly active region. Though conditions seemed ripe for an eruption, the
region never produced a major CME on its journey across the Sun. It did,
however, emit a powerful X-class flare, the most intense class of flares.
What determines, the scientists wondered, whether a flare is associated
with a CME?

The team of scientists included SDO's observations of magnetic fields at the
Sun's surface in powerful models that calculated the magnetic field of the
Sun's corona, or upper atmosphere, and examined how it evolved in the time
just before the flare. The model reveals a battle between two key magnetic
structures: a twisted magnetic rope -- known to be associated with the onset
of CMEs -- and a dense cage of magnetic fields overlying the rope. The
scientists found that that magnetic cage physically prevented a CME from
erupting that day. Just hours before the flare, the sunspot's natural
rotation contorted the magnetic rope and it grew increasingly twisted and
unstable, like a tightly coiled rubber band, but the rope never erupted from
the surface: the model demonstrated that it did not have enough energy to
break through the cage. It was, however, volatile enough to lash through
part of the cage, triggering the strong solar flare. By changing the
conditions of the cage in their model, the scientists found that if the
cage had been weaker that day, a major CME would have erupted. The group is
interested in developing its model further to study how the conflict between
the magnetic cage and rope plays out in other eruptions.

[Danik 2016]

Don´t mention it!

This might also interest peers who live in that area. Here we go:

Wildfires will likely get worse in western North America
A new study projects increases in burning across the U.S. West and Canada. It suggests large fires – such those we’ve seen recently in California – may become more common.
http://earthsky.org/earth/wildfires-forecast-US-west

[Danik 2016]

Very curious!

[QUOTE=Dreamwoven;1349237]THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 464 2018 March 4

SUN'S MAGNETIC CAGE STOPPED SOLAR ERUPTION
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

New research using NASA data shows that a dramatic magnetic power struggle
at the Sun's surface lies at the heart of solar eruptions. The work high-
lights the role of the Sun's magnetic landscape, or topology, in the dev-
elopment of solar eruptions that can trigger 'space weather' events around
the Earth.

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 464 2018 March 4

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS NAVIGATE BY THE STARS
Lund University:

Nocturnal animals can use the stars and the Milky Way to find their way
during the darkest hours. There are advantages to being active in the
night. Fewer parasites are active, and the same goes for predators.
Moreover, there are not as many competitors for food as there are during
the day. For animals that migrate or search for food over vast distances in
particular, the cooler hours of the night are preferable to the heat of the
day. A key requirement for nocturnal animals is that they can hold their
course in the dark. Migrating birds that take off at sunset rely on their
magnetic compass, but also the star compass when they use individual stars
for orientation. Dung beetles do not use individual stars. Instead they
travel through the night with the help of the light from the Milky Way,
which contrasts with the surrounding dark sky. Studies also support that
seals, moths, frogs and other animals use the starry sky to navigate at
night. Animals with camera eyes, the type of eyes that we humans possess,
can discern individual stars. Insects with compound eyes most likely can
not, but scientists believe that they can interpret the starry sky and the
Milky Way as patterns of light. We still know very little about how
nocturnal animals experience and interpret the night sky. For example, no
one has yet determined whether, and how, migrating birds change their point
of reference in the night sky when they pass the equator. Emerging
technologies, such as highly-sensitive cameras, may allow us to discover
many more species that also use the starry skies to guide them during the
darkest hours of the night.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting post. Even cats seem to feel safer at night, which in human environments can be a mistake. I´m linking this post to the thread "about animals".

[Dreamwoven]

Good, thanks Danik. Astonishing that animals can navigate by the stars in the night sky!

[Danik 2016]

It certainly is. Here is another article on another recent theme you posted;

Fingerprinting the very first stars

Using a radio antenna the size of a tabletop, astronomers found evidence suggesting the first stars formed just 180 million years after the Big Bang.
"Like detectives, astronomers can't always just examine a simple image when they want to solve a mystery. Most of the time, the have to meticulously piece together tiny bits of evidence, often by scouring the heavens to hunt for clues. And one of the biggest cosmic cold cases that astronomers have been attempting to solve for years is: When exactly did the first stars form?

This week in the journal Nature, after over a decade of intense experimental investigation, a team of astronomers announced that they have finally cracked the case of the first stars. Using a simple radio antenna the size of a tabletop located in the Australian desert, the researchers discovered the faint fingerprints of the earliest stars in the infant universe, which formed when the cosmos was just 180 million years old."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/03/fingerprinting-the-very-first-stars

What I like about this article is that its wording is very simple.

[Danik 2016]

Not quite sure where to post this. I refuse to put it in the animal thread. Anyway, meet "Cyberslug":

Virtual predator is 'self-aware', behaves like living counterpart

"Scientists report in the journal eNeuro that they've built an artificially intelligent ocean predator that behaves a lot like the original flesh-and-blood organism on which it was modeled. The virtual creature, "Cyberslug," reacts to food and responds to members of its own kind much like the actual animal, the sea slug Pleurobranchaea californica, does."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180301103130.htm

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/scientists-discover-colony-adelie-penguins-danger-islands

A large colony of Adelie penguins has been discovered in the Danger Islands, Antarctica.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/scientists-discover-colony-adelie-penguins-danger-islands

"Scientists recently discovered a “supercolony” of more than 1,500,000 Adélie penguins on the Danger Islands, a chain of remote, rocky islands off the Antarctic Peninsula’s northern tip.

For the past 40 years, the total number of Adélie penguins, one of the most common species of penguins live on the Antarctic peninsula, has been steadily declining — or so biologists thought."

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/earth/scientists-discover-colony-adelie-penguins-danger-islands

"Scientists recently discovered a “supercolony” of more than 1,500,000 Adélie penguins on the Danger Islands, a chain of remote, rocky islands off the Antarctic Peninsula’s northern tip.

For the past 40 years, the total number of Adélie penguins, one of the most common species of penguins live on the Antarctic peninsula, has been steadily declining — or so biologists thought."
That´s funny. I was sure that I had answered this post because I linked it to "About animals."
What I don´t like about this kind of discoveries is that with it comes human interference into the animal environment.

[Danik 2016]

Making a splash in search for interstellar water
Date:
March 9, 2018
Source:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Summary:
Water is crucial for life, but how do you make water? Cooking up some H2O takes more than mixing hydrogen and oxygen. It requires the special conditions found deep within frigid molecular clouds, where dust shields against destructive ultraviolet light and aids chemical reactions. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will peer into these cosmic reservoirs to gain new insights into the origin and evolution of water and other key building blocks for habitable planets.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180309125213.htm

[Dreamwoven]

No, that was post #1670. :)

[Danik 2016]

Stars can exhibit cute behavior too. At least in the eyes of their describers:

Red giant brings its companion star back to life

"There’s some adage out there about helping out your neighbor, right? Well, a red giant star was recently spotted lending more than just a cup of flour to its companion neutron star — it blasted it with winds that nourished the dead star back to life in a burst of X-ray light."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/03/red-giant-brings-its-companion-star-back-to-life

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/measuring-universe-expansion-reveals-mystery

By Donna Weaver and Ray Villard/Johns Hopkins

Here’s the good news: Astronomers have made the most precise measurement to date of the rate at which the universe is expanding since the Big Bang.

Here’s the possibly unsettling news: The new numbers remain at odds with independent measurements of the early universe’s expansion, which could mean that there is something unknown about the makeup of the universe.

Is something unpredicted going on in the depths of space?

Adam Riess is a Nobel Laureate and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University. He said:

The community is really grappling with understanding the meaning of this discrepancy.

Riess leads a team of researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the expansion rate of the universe. He shared a Nobel Prize in 2011 for the discovery of the accelerating universe.

The team, which includes researchers from Hopkins and the Space Telescope Science Institute, has used the Hubble Space Telescope over the past six years to refine the measurements of the distances to galaxies, using stars as milepost markers. Those measurements are used to calculate how fast the universe expands with time, a value known as the Hubble constant.
By Donna Weaver and Ray Villard/Johns Hopkins

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/1st-direct-black-hole-2018-image-event-horizon-telescope

Editor’s Note: We originally posted this story in late 2017, but it has proven so popular that we’re bringing it back to the forefront now. This story is definitely one to watch in 2018.

In late 2017, scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope – an international collaboration that’s created a virtual Earth-sized telescope, with the goal of capturing the first direct image of a black hole – reported on a the long-awaited shipment of hard disk drives from the South Pole. They said they were busily analyzing the data on these drives, which is expected to be a key component in giving us the first-ever direct image of a black hole sometime in 2018. An article at news.com.au reported:

The data is in. The numbers are being crunched.

The Vox.com video above explains that nearly all images we see of black holes are artist’s illustrations. The ones that aren’t illustrations show, at best, the effects of black holes on the space around them – for example, stars in tightly bound orbits, gas heated to high temperatures, or relativistic jets.

So what are scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope expecting to see?

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/space/measuring-universe-expansion-reveals-mystery

By Donna Weaver and Ray Villard/Johns Hopkins

Here’s the good news: Astronomers have made the most precise measurement to date of the rate at which the universe is expanding since the Big Bang.

Here’s the possibly unsettling news: The new numbers remain at odds with independent measurements of the early universe’s expansion, which could mean that there is something unknown about the makeup of the universe.

Is something unpredicted going on in the depths of space?

Adam Riess is a Nobel Laureate and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University. He said:

The community is really grappling with understanding the meaning of this discrepancy.

Riess leads a team of researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the expansion rate of the universe. He shared a Nobel Prize in 2011 for the discovery of the accelerating universe.

The team, which includes researchers from Hopkins and the Space Telescope Science Institute, has used the Hubble Space Telescope over the past six years to refine the measurements of the distances to galaxies, using stars as milepost markers. Those measurements are used to calculate how fast the universe expands with time, a value known as the Hubble constant.
By Donna Weaver and Ray Villard/Johns Hopkins

Very interesting article, DW. But most of the recent publications show that the usual models for evaluating the universe have to be updated. As astronomical knowledge increases, new questions arise.

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/space/1st-direct-black-hole-2018-image-event-horizon-telescope

Editor’s Note: We originally posted this story in late 2017, but it has proven so popular that we’re bringing it back to the forefront now. This story is definitely one to watch in 2018.

In late 2017, scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope – an international collaboration that’s created a virtual Earth-sized telescope, with the goal of capturing the first direct image of a black hole – reported on a the long-awaited shipment of hard disk drives from the South Pole. They said they were busily analyzing the data on these drives, which is expected to be a key component in giving us the first-ever direct image of a black hole sometime in 2018. An article at news.com.au reported:

The data is in. The numbers are being crunched.

The Vox.com video above explains that nearly all images we see of black holes are artist’s illustrations. The ones that aren’t illustrations show, at best, the effects of black holes on the space around them – for example, stars in tightly bound orbits, gas heated to high temperatures, or relativistic jets.

So what are scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope expecting to see?

That is a good question:
"Astronomers with the Event Horizon Telescope aren’t aiming to capture the black nothingness of a black hole itself (that’s not possible), but instead a black hole’s event horizon, the sphere-like point-of-no-return surrounding a black hole."

[Dreamwoven]

Good point, Danik!

[Danik 2016]

Thanks!

The Complete Transmission Spectrum of WASP-39b with a Precise Water Constraint
H. R. Wakeford
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hvi/uploads/science_paper/file_attachment/309/published_AJ_WASP_39b_paper.pdf

[Danik 2016]

https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_hawking_asks_big_questions_about_the_unive rse

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/pluto-spacecraft-new-horizons-mu69-ultima-thule

This is an update on the next New Horizons encounter. It is a long journey:

"Some 115,000 people from around the world recently suggested some 34,000 possible nicknames for the distant object 2014 MU69, the next target of the New Horizons spacecraft, whose historic sweep past Pluto took place in July 2015. The New Horizons mission team announced on March 13, 2018, it has selected the name Ultima Thule – pronounced ultima thoo-lee – for New Horizon’s next target, a Kuiper Belt object officially named 2014 MU69. New Horizons will sweep closest to Ultima Thule on January 1, 2019. The mission team describes the object as:

… the most primitive world ever observed by spacecraft, in the farthest planetary encounter in history.

In a statement, the team explained their reasons for their choice:

Thule was a mythical, far-northern island in medieval literature and cartography. Ultima Thule means “beyond Thule” – beyond the borders of the known world – symbolizing the exploration of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons is performing, something never before done.

[Dreamwoven]

I've never pronounced it as Thulee, odd.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/39992-dwarf-planet-ceres-water-active-surface

Growing patches of ice and minerals associated with liquid water reveal that the dwarf planet Ceres is still evolving.

Researchers studying the warmer region of Ceres — the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — have noticed that a patch of ice has grown larger over time. In addition, a separate team found carbon-rich minerals on Ceres' surface that do not last long . Together, the new discoveries suggest that water still has a powerful presence on the tiny world.

Using NASA's Dawn spacecraft, the researchers studied the surface of the dwarf planet. The first team, led by Andrea Raponi, of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), found a growing patch of ice on Juling Crater, found in the midlatitudes. They suspect that water from the crater floor is condensing on the wall, causing a patch of ice to grow larger. [7 Strange Facts About Dwarf Planet Ceres]

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/space/pluto-spacecraft-new-horizons-mu69-ultima-thule

This is an update on the next New Horizons encounter. It is a long journey:

"Some 115,000 people from around the world recently suggested some 34,000 possible nicknames for the distant object 2014 MU69, the next target of the New Horizons spacecraft, whose historic sweep past Pluto took place in July 2015. The New Horizons mission team announced on March 13, 2018, it has selected the name Ultima Thule – pronounced ultima thoo-lee – for New Horizon’s next target, a Kuiper Belt object officially named 2014 MU69. New Horizons will sweep closest to Ultima Thule on January 1, 2019. The mission team describes the object as:

… the most primitive world ever observed by spacecraft, in the farthest planetary encounter in history.

In a statement, the team explained their reasons for their choice:

Thule was a mythical, far-northern island in medieval literature and cartography. Ultima Thule means “beyond Thule” – beyond the borders of the known world – symbolizing the exploration of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons is performing, something never before done.
última= last.
I would have preferred Tiramisu!

[Danik 2016]

https://www.space.com/39992-dwarf-planet-ceres-water-active-surface

Growing patches of ice and minerals associated with liquid water reveal that the dwarf planet Ceres is still evolving.

Researchers studying the warmer region of Ceres — the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — have noticed that a patch of ice has grown larger over time. In addition, a separate team found carbon-rich minerals on Ceres' surface that do not last long . Together, the new discoveries suggest that water still has a powerful presence on the tiny world.

Using NASA's Dawn spacecraft, the researchers studied the surface of the dwarf planet. The first team, led by Andrea Raponi, of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), found a growing patch of ice on Juling Crater, found in the midlatitudes. They suspect that water from the crater floor is condensing on the wall, causing a patch of ice to grow larger. [7 Strange Facts About Dwarf Planet Ceres]

Looks like a kind of winter on Ceres.

[Dreamwoven]

I guess its climate is similar. Wintery and cold!

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 465 2018 March 18

"THE WORSENING COSMIC-RAY SITUATION
Spaceweather.com
New research conducted by the University of New Hampshire has revealed that
radiation from deep space is dangerous and intensifying faster than was
previously predicted. The story begins four years ago when scientists first
sounded the alarm about cosmic rays. Analyzing data from the Cosmic Ray
Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) instrument onboard NASA's
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), they found that cosmic rays in the
Earth--Moon system were peaking at levels never before seen in the Space
Age. The worsening radiation environment, they pointed out, was a potential
peril to astronauts, curtailing how long they could safely travel through
space. A figure from their original 2014 paper shows the number of days a
30-year old male astronaut flying in a spaceship with 10 g/cm2 of aluminium
shielding (a wall thickness of nearly 4 cm) could go before reaching NASA-
mandated radiation limits. In the 1990s, the astronaut could spend 1000
days in interplanetary space, but in 2014 only 700 days. Galactic cosmic
rays come from outside the Solar System. They are a mixture of high-energy
photons and sub-atomic particles accelerated towards the Earth by supernova
explosions and other violent events in the cosmos. Our first line of
defence is the Sun. The Sun's magnetic field and the solar wind combine to
create a porous 'shield' that fends off cosmic rays attempting to enter the
Solar System. The shielding action of the Sun is strongest during Solar
Maximum and weakest during Solar Minimum. The problem is, as the authors
note in their new paper, the shield is weakening. Over the last decade, the
solar wind has exhibited low densities and magnetic field strengths,
representing anomalous states that have not been observed previously during
the Space Age. As a result of the remarkably weak solar activity, there
have also been the highest fluxes of cosmic rays. In 2014, the team used a
leading model of solar activity to predict how bad cosmic rays would become
during the next Solar Minimum, now expected in 2019-2020. Their previous
work suggested a ~20% increase of dose rates from one solar minimum to the
next. In fact, the actual dose rates observed by CRaTER in the last 4 years
exceed the predictions by ~10%, showing that the radiation environment is
worsening even more rapidly than was expected.

The data have come from CRaTER on the LRO spacecraft in orbit around the
Moon, which is point-blank exposed to any cosmic radiation that the Sun
allows to pass. Here on Earth, we have two additional lines of defence: the
magnetic field and the atmosphere of our planet. Both mitigate cosmic rays.
But even on Earth the increase is being felt. Scientists have been
launching space-weather balloons to the stratosphere almost weekly since
2015. Sensors onboard those balloons show a 13% increase in radiation
(X-rays and gamma-rays) penetrating our planet's atmosphere. X-rays and
gamma-rays detected by the balloons are 'secondary cosmic rays', produced
by the crash of primary cosmic rays into the upper atmosphere. They trace
radiation percolating down toward our planet's surface. The energy range of
the sensors, 10 keV to 20 MeV, is similar to that of medical X-ray machines
and airport security scanners. How does that affect us? Cosmic rays
penetrate commercial airlines, dosing passengers and flight crews so much
that pilots are classified by the International Commission on Radiological
Protection as occupational radiation workers. Some research shows that
cosmic rays can seed clouds and trigger lightning, potentially altering
weather and climate. Furthermore, there are studies linking cosmic rays
with cardiac arrhythmias in the general population. Cosmic rays can be
expected to intensify even more in the years ahead as the Sun enters what
may be the deepest Solar Minimum in more than a century."

[Danik 2016]

That seems a much more relevant study than all that wish fulfillment dreams about habitable planets and ETs. It might explain maybe why so much people are affected by cancer.


"How does that affect us? Cosmic rays
penetrate commercial airlines, dosing passengers and flight crews so much
that pilots are classified by the International Commission on Radiological
Protection as occupational radiation workers. Some research shows that
cosmic rays can seed clouds and trigger lightning, potentially altering
weather and climate. Furthermore, there are studies linking cosmic rays
with cardiac arrhythmias in the general population. Cosmic rays can be
expected to intensify even more in the years ahead as the Sun enters what
may be the deepest Solar Minimum in more than a century."

[Dreamwoven]

The link to cardiac arrhythmias is what I have had since I got an artificial mitral valve in my heart operation in 1999. I suffered a bit from this when I went out for a short walk in very cold weather a couple of weeks ago. There was a bitterly cold north wind at the time, during the deepest Solar Minimum in more than a century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_arrhythmia. I am much more careful since then.

[Danik 2016]

You do well in being careful, DW. There is also the danger of getting a cold. But the weather ought to be getting warmer. Spring in the Northern Hemisphere has begun today.

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, I should be able to get out twice a day!

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/138824/new-horizons-team-new-nickname-spacecrafts-next-target/

In July of 2015, NASA’s New Horizons mission made history when it became the first spacecraft to conduct a flyby of Pluto. Since that time, the spacecraft’s mission was extended so it could make its way farther into the outer Solar System and explore some Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). Another historic first, the spacecraft will study these ancient objects in the hopes of learning more about the formation and evolution of the Solar System.

By Jan. 1st, 2019, it will have arrived at its first destination, the KBO known as 2014 MU69. And with the help of the public, this object recently received the nickname “Ultima Thule” (“ultima thoo-lee”). This object, which orbits our Sun at a distance of about 1.6 billion km (1 billion miles) beyond Pluto, will be the most primitive object ever observed by a spacecraft. It will also be the farthest encounter ever achieved in the history of space exploration.

[Danik 2016]

I would have preferred a name without "ultima"(last) in it.

[Danik 2016]

As there aren´t so many news at present:



https://www.space.com/40039-watch-auroras-from-space-swarm-satellites.html

[Dreamwoven]

It is funny how we have at least 2 unknown animals in our world the Yeti in Nepal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster.

We can now add a third to this list https://www.livescience.com/62081-mysterious-sea-creature-washes-ashore.html.

[Danik 2016]

Now this guy looks like a modest runaway from Jurassic Park.

9864

[Danik 2016]

What Stephen Hawking’s Final Paper Says (And Doesn’t Say)

Stephen Hawking’s last paper is titled “A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation?” It tackles the idea of a multiverse, a vast collection of universes that exist simultaneously, though they’re spread out almost unimaginably far from each other. Multiverses arose, the theory goes, because of something called inflation. In the fractions of a second after our universe emerged, space-time expanded at an immense rate. As it did so, tiny quantum fluctuations expanded to become the large-scale features of the universe we observe today, and which serve as evidence that the theory might be true.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/03/what-stephen-hawkings-final-paper-says-and-doesnt-say

[Dreamwoven]

post #1698 hasn't been answered. Like to have a go?

[Danik 2016]

I answeres it with #1699. Only it was a short answer relating to the matter of the name.
This subject of the name "Ultima Thule" also came up in post #1987.

[Dreamwoven]

I think its fascinating the variety of space objects there are in the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto was found. Weird shapes, and several worlds with their own moons. Gravity is so weak out there that you get peculiar combinations.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/great-pacific-garbage-patch-bigger-than-thought

This is a sort of sad thing. The Great Pacific garbage patch seems to be growing...

[Danik 2016]

I think its fascinating the variety of space objects there are in the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto was found. Weird shapes, and several worlds with their own moons. Gravity is so weak out there that you get peculiar combinations.

Yes. And the better instruments they build more of these objects are discovered.

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/earth/great-pacific-garbage-patch-bigger-than-thought

This is a sort of sad thing. The Great Pacific garbage patch seems to be growing...

Yes it´s terrible and the problem tends to grow. Here in São Paulo the administration doesn´t even manage to clean the most important rivers though billions were put into it.

[Danik 2016]

What the first American astronauts taught us about living in space
Date:
March 27, 2018
Source:
Baylor College of Medicine
Summary:
Project Mercury proved that humans could live and work in space, paving the way for all future human exploration.
"The Project Mercury astronauts were military test pilots on active duty who volunteered for these missions. They were between 35 and 40 years of age at the time of the flight, and, because room was limited inside the space capsule, they had to be no taller than 5 feet 11 inches.

Depending on the mission, the flights were either in a suborbital or in a low-orbit path and lasted between 15 minutes and 34 hours. During the flights, the astronauts wore a 20-pound spacesuit designed to back up the capsule's support system and remained restrained by a harness in a semi-supine position while performing their tasks. Common clinical measures, such as heart rate, body temperature and breathing rate, were taken to monitor their medical condition. At the time, scientists and physicians knew little about the human tolerance to a sustained weightless environment, only what ground simulations -- 'dress rehearsals' -- would predict. These first flights provided some answers to what to expect during short-term space flights."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180327141707.htm

[Dreamwoven]

http://astronomy.com/news/2018/03/chime-begins-its-cosmic-search

This radically different telescope is opening the door to new types of radio astronomy.


CHIME, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, is up and running in the mountains of southern British Columbia. A ceremony on September 7, 2017, inaugurated the telescope and its pioneering approach to studying the universe.

“This telescope is radically different from other telescopes,” says Matt Dobbs, Associate Professor of Physics at McGill University and a CHIME investigator. “CHIME is really a stepping stone to a new way of doing radio astronomy.”

"A new approach
The radio telescope – Canada’s biggest – is a joint venture co-led by the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, McGill University and the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). Participating institutions come from across North America.

CHIME is a digital telescope, which means all of its “imaging” is done digitally by software. It accomplishes this with commercial components: Amplifiers developed for cell phones and graphics cards developed for video game systems power an instrument that cost only $13 million USD ($16 million CAD) to build. General-purpose, programmable computing hardware like this also gives CHIME the flexibility to explore three frontiers of modern astronomy: dark energy, pulsars, and fast radio bursts (FRBs)."

[Danik 2016]

Interesting post, DW!Yes it was time that they incorporated cell phone tecnoogy when building new telescopes. I guess in the long run it will prove cheaper and perhaps more precise.

[Danik 2016]

Is there life adrift in the clouds of Venus?
Date:
March 30, 2018
Source:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Summary:
In the search for extraterrestrial life, scientists have turned over all sorts of rocks. Mars, for example, has geological features that suggest it once had -- and still has -- subsurface liquid water. Scientists have also eyed Saturn's moons as well as Jupiter's as possible havens for life in the oceans under their icy crusts. Now, however, scientists are dusting off an old idea that promises a new vista in the hunt for life beyond Earth: the clouds of Venus.

"In a paper published online today (March 30, 2018) in the journal Astrobiology, an international team of researchers led by planetary scientist Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center lays out a case for the atmosphere of Venus as a possible niche for extraterrestrial microbial life."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180330171302.htm

[Dreamwoven]

This post is interesting.

This is a a Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform, or VAMP. The aircraft, which would fly like a plane and float like a blimp, could help explore the atmosphere of Venus, which has temperature and pressure conditions that do not preclude the possibility of microbial life.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40196-black-hole-swarm-milky-way-heart.html

A swarm of thousands of black holes may surround the giant black hole at the heart of our galaxy, a new study finds.

At the hearts of most, if not all, galaxies are supermassive black holes with masses that are millions to billions of times that of the sun. For example, at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, lies Sagittarius A*, which is about 4.5 million solar masses in size.

A key way in which scientists think supermassive black holes grow is by engulfing stellar-mass black holes each equal in mass to a few suns. Learning how that growth process works is vital to understanding the effects they can have on the evolution of their galaxies.

[Danik 2016]

These black holes, how they appear and their effect is still a partial mystery, I think.

[Danik 2016]

A fluffy galaxy!

A Galaxy Without (Much) Dark Matter
Astronomers have found a peculiar object: a fluffy galaxy that has little to no dark matter.

"You can’t have a cup of coffee without the cup. Astronomers have long thought the same goes for galaxies and dark matter: the dark matter forms the cup, and the galaxy coalesces from the gas that pours into that cup, pulled there by gravity. *
The fluffy galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 makes no sense in this picture: it’s the coffee without the cup. Using an impressive collection of ground- and space-based observations, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale) and colleagues have found that this diffuse galaxy has at most 1⁄400 as much dark matter as expected, based on other systems of similar mass. In fact, the best explanation may be that there’s no dark matter at all."

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/a-galaxy-without-much-dark-matter/

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 466 2018 April 8

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy. The SPA is arguably Britain's liveliest astronomical
society, with members all over the world. We accept subscription
payments online at our secure site and can take credit and debit
cards. You can join or renew via a secure server or just see how
much we have to offer by visiting http://www.popastro.com/

INSIGHT TO STUDY CENTRE OF MARS

NASA

InSight -- short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations,
Geodesy and Heat Transport -- is a stationary lander scheduled to be
launched towards Mars as soon as May 5. It will be the first mission ever
dedicated to Mars' deep interior, and the first NASA mission since the
Apollo moon landings to place a seismometer on the soil of another planet.
Scientists hope that by detecting marsquakes and other phenomena inside the
planet, InSight can enable them to understand how Mars formed. InSight
carries a suite of sensitive instruments to gather such data; unlike a rover
mission, they require a spacecraft that sits still and carefully places its
instruments on the Martian surface. NASA is not the only agency excited
about the mission. Several European partners contributed instruments, or
instrument components. For example, France's Centre National d'Etudes
Spatiales (CNES) led a multinational team that built an ultra-sensitive
seismometer for detecting marsquakes. The German Aerospace Center (DLR)
developed a thermal probe that can bury itself up to 5 metres underground
and measure heat flowing from inside the planet. Looking deep into Mars
will let scientists understand how different its crust, mantle and core are
from their counterparts on Earth. In a sense, Mars is the exo-planet next
door -- a nearby example of how gas, dust and heat combine and arrange
themselves into a planet.

[Danik 2016]

A May 5 expedition to Mars!That is less than a month hence. I,m very curious about the results, DW.

[Danik 2016]

Might be of interest:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180404093935.htm

[Dreamwoven]

Is there a link to the post #1719?

[Dreamwoven]

OK I found it: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-targets-may-2018-launch-of-mars-insight-mission

[Dreamwoven]

Here is how it opens:
"NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018.

InSight’s primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved. The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument prompted NASA in December to suspend preparations for launch.

InSight project managers recently briefed officials at NASA and France's space agency, Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), on a path forward; the proposed plan to redesign the science instrument was accepted in support of a 2018 launch.

“The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018.”

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will redesign, build and conduct qualifications of the new vacuum enclosure for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), the component that failed in December. CNES will lead instrument level integration and test activities, allowing the InSight Project to take advantage of each organization’s proven strengths. The two agencies have worked closely together to establish a project schedule that accommodates these plans, and scheduled interim reviews over the next six months to assess technical progress and continued feasibility.

The cost of the two-year delay is being assessed. An estimate is expected in August, once arrangements with the launch vehicle provider have been made.

The seismometer instrument's main sensors need to operate within a vacuum chamber to provide the exquisite sensitivity needed for measuring ground movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom. The rework of the seismometer's vacuum container will result in a finished, thoroughly tested instrument in 2017 that will maintain a high degree of vacuum around the sensors through rigors of launch, landing, deployment and a two-year prime mission on the surface of Mars."

[Danik 2016]

Is there a link to the post #1719?

Sorry, just back! Post #1719 is just a comment on the article you posted on # 1718

[Danik 2016]

Here is how it opens:
"NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018.

InSight’s primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved. The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument prompted NASA in December to suspend preparations for launch.

InSight project managers recently briefed officials at NASA and France's space agency, Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), on a path forward; the proposed plan to redesign the science instrument was accepted in support of a 2018 launch.

“The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018.”

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, will redesign, build and conduct qualifications of the new vacuum enclosure for the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), the component that failed in December. CNES will lead instrument level integration and test activities, allowing the InSight Project to take advantage of each organization’s proven strengths. The two agencies have worked closely together to establish a project schedule that accommodates these plans, and scheduled interim reviews over the next six months to assess technical progress and continued feasibility.

The cost of the two-year delay is being assessed. An estimate is expected in August, once arrangements with the launch vehicle provider have been made.

The seismometer instrument's main sensors need to operate within a vacuum chamber to provide the exquisite sensitivity needed for measuring ground movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom. The rework of the seismometer's vacuum container will result in a finished, thoroughly tested instrument in 2017 that will maintain a high degree of vacuum around the sensors through rigors of launch, landing, deployment and a two-year prime mission on the surface of Mars."
Interesting post, DW! The main goal of the project:
"InSight’s primary goal is to help us understand how rocky planets – including Earth – formed and evolved. The spacecraft had been on track to launch this month until a vacuum leak in its prime science instrument prompted NASA in December to suspend preparations for launch."
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-targets-may-2018-launch-of-mars-insight-mission

[Danik 2016]

Also impoertant:

X-rays may sterilize otherwise habitable exoplanets

"Red dwarfs are far and away the most common type of star. These slow and steady burners are thought to account for roughly 75 percent of the stars in the Milky Way, and for the most part, astronomers agree that red dwarfs are prevalent throughout the entire universe. Furthermore, many exoplanets — including the seven Earth-size planets found in the TRAPPIST-1 system — have been detected around red dwarfs.

Because these stable stars are relatively cool (around 7,000 degree Fahrenheit) and live exceptionally long (trillions of years), it may seem like they would be the perfect places to hunt for habitable exoplanets. However, according to new research presented on April 3 at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool, red dwarfs may be much more inhospitable to life than we previously thought.

The problem lies in the fact that red dwarfs are so darn cool. For any exoplanet to get enough heat to be in a red dwarf’s habitable zone — the region around a star where liquid water can exists — the planet must sit extremely close to the star itself. And since red dwarfs often emit large radiation flares, spew out charged particles, and undergo coronal mass ejections (CMEs; think plasma torpedoes), being near one is a risky proposition.
[...]the X-ray radiation associated with the flare-up would have cut through an Earth-sized planet’s atmosphere like a hot knife through butter. This means that copious amounts of harmful X-rays would penetrate straight down to the surface of any potential exoplanet in the habitable zone around AD Leo, effectively sterilizing the entire planet."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/04/x-rays-may-sterilize-otherwise-habitable-exoplanets

[Dreamwoven]

This was interesting. Thanks, Danik!

[Danik 2016]

Interesting images:

Fascinating zoo of discs discovered around young stars

Date:
April 11, 2018
Source:
ESO
Summary:
New images from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope are revealing the dusty discs surrounding nearby young stars in greater detail than previously achieved. They show a bizarre variety of shapes, sizes and structures, including the likely effects of planets still in the process of forming.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411111106.htm

[Dreamwoven]

There is a new storm brewing on Saturn: https://www.universetoday.com/138939/new-saturn-storm-emerging/

[Danik 2016]

The impressive fact is that we get to know about these storms.

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, Saturn is quite far away from us.

[Dreamwoven]

This is fascinating: https://www.universetoday.com/139031/look-at-this-fascinating-variety-of-planet-forming-disks-around-other-stars/

[Danik 2016]

Sure! See also #1728.

[Danik 2016]

Good news for amateur astronomers

THE NEWSPACE REVOLUTION IS ABOUT TO BRING US TINY SPACE TELESCOPES WE CAN ALL CONTROL

"One of the defining characteristics of the modern era of space exploration is the way the public and private aerospace companies (colloquially referred to as the NewSpace industry) and are taking part like never before. Thanks to cheaper launch services and the development of small satellites that can be built using off-the-shelf electronics (aka. CubeSats and microsats), universities and research institutions are also able to conduct research in space.

Looking to the future, there are those who want to take public involvement in space exploration to a whole new level. This includes the California-based aerospace company Space Fab that wants to make space accessible to everyone through the development the Waypoint Space Telescope – the first space telescope that people will be able to access through their smartphones to take pictures of Earth and space."
https://www.universetoday.com/138942/the-newspace-revolution-is-about-to-bring-us-tiny-space-telescopes-we-can-all-control/

[Dreamwoven]

Yes I saw this in Universe today. Also luxury hotels in space.

[Danik 2016]

Lol! That will take a very long time, I think!

[Dreamwoven]

Two facts stand out regarding the Piri Reis Map of the Americas.

One is the island of Cuba in the far north: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_map. It looks like it is drawn on an equidistant projection based on Cairo, Egypt. Such a map would have Cuba running north-south , instead of east-west just as on the Piri Reis map (see figures 25 to 27, pages 52 to 53).

The other is the map of Antarctica, its coasts shown free of ice, and possibly directly connected to the tip of South America (see the Piri Reis map above).

[Danik 2016]

Sure. But in this comparison with a later image you can see what I mean. The Brazilian coast is very accurately drawn.
http://silentcircle.co.uk/the-mysterious-piri-reis-map-is-this-evidence-of-a-very-advanced-prehistoric-civilization/
Thanks for introducing me to Piri Reis Maps.

[Dreamwoven]

Charles H. Hapgood's book is called Maps of the Ancient Sea KingsThe subtitle for this book is "Evidence for Advanced Civilisations in the Ice Age". This is not discussed in the book I bought, not at all. But it seems to be a conclusion Hapgood comes to anyway.

What has to do with space, or with astronomy?
See this article in Universe Today: https://www.universetoday.com/139034/could-we-detect-an-ancient-industrial-civilization-in-the-geological-record/

[Danik 2016]

It all started with the Piri Maps. So I think we remained in the realm of space, but digressed from astronomy

So, back to astronomy:

"COULD WE DETECT AN ANCIENT INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION IN THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD?

As a species, we humans tend to take it for granted that we are the only ones that live in sedentary communities, use tools, and alter our landscape to meet our needs. It is also a foregone conclusion that in the history of planet Earth, humans are the only species to develop machinery, automation, electricity, and mass communications – the hallmarks of industrial civilization.

But what if another industrial civilization existed on Earth millions of years ago? Would we be able to find evidence of it within the geological record today? By examining the impact human industrial civilization has had on Earth, a pair of researchers conducted a study that considers how such a civilization could be found and how this could have implications in the search for extra-terrestrial life."

I think a similar civilization to ours in the regions astronomers have access to by now, would have been detected already. But who warants, there aren´t more sophisticated civilizations around, that are able to hide from our scrutinies and that aren´t interested in humans?

[Dreamwoven]

There is a lot of discussion about earlier periods of mild weather. Albert Einstein commented this in a communication to Professor Hapgood (see Note 18 p.239).

[Dreamwoven]

Back to the Antarctic. The coasts of the Piri Reis map showed the Antarctic to be ice-free, even putting two ships along the coast. The Oronteus Finaeus Map of Antarctica of 1531 gives the impression of the coasts being ice-free. It is also very close to how Antarctica is portrayed today. It even had rivers flowing into the sea. In 1949 one of the Byrd Antarctic Expeditions lowered coring tubes into the sea. Three cores were taken t learn something of the climate of Antarctica.

[Dreamwoven]

All three cores agree that the warm period ended about 6,000 years ago (about 4,000 BC). It was then that the glacial kind of sediment began to be deposited on the Ross Sea bottom in the most recent of Antarctic ice ages. The cores indicate that warm conditions had prevailed for a long time before that.

[Dreamwoven]

An important fact about they Oronteus Finaeus map is that all the rivers on it are flowing from the mountain ranges near the coast, except those near the southern tip of South America. No rivers are shown in the deep interior. This suggests that, very possibly, when the source maps were made, the interior was already covered by the ice cap. In that case, the ice cap was an advancing continental glacier that had not yet brimmed the encircling mountain ranges to reach the sea, nor had it yet stopped the flow of rivers n the seaward side of the mountains (p.98).

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139077/did-you-know-the-earth-has-a-second-magnetic-field-its-oceans/

Earth’s magnetic field is one of the most mysterious features of our planet. It is also essential to life as we know it, ensuring that our atmosphere is not stripped away by solar wind and shielding life on Earth from harmful radiation. For some time, scientists have theorized that it is the result of a dynamo action in our core, where the liquid outer core revolves around the solid inner core and in the opposite direction of the Earth’s rotation.

In addition, Earth’s magnetic field is affected by other factors, such as magnetized rocks in the crust and the flow of the ocean. For this reason, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Swarm satellites, which have been continually monitoring Earth’s magnetic field since its deployment, recently began monitoring Earth’s oceans – the first results of which were presented at this year’s European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, Austria.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139080/earth-is-an-exoplanet-to-someone-else-what-would-aliens-be-able-to-discover/

"In the course of looking for habitable planets, astronomers have used Earth as a guiding example. But would we recognize a truly “Earth-like” planet if we saw one? This question was addressed in a recent paper by two professors, one of whom is an exoplanet-hunter and the other, an Earth science and astrobiology expert. Together, they consider what advances (past and future) will be key to the search for Earth 2.0."

Earth is still undergoing major changes to its climate as a result of global warming. A couple more centuries will see this taken even further to extremes.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139054/this-meteorite-is-one-of-the-few-remnants-from-a-lost-planet-that-was-destroyed-long-ago/

"What if our Solar System had another generation of planets that formed before, or alongside, the planets we have today? A new study published in Nature Communications on April 17th 2018 presents evidence that says that’s what happened. The first-generation planets, or planet, would have been destroyed during collisions in the earlier days of the Solar System and much of the debris swept up in the formation of new bodies.

This is not a new theory, but a new study brings new evidence to support it."

[Danik 2016]

https://www.universetoday.com/139080/earth-is-an-exoplanet-to-someone-else-what-would-aliens-be-able-to-discover/

"In the course of looking for habitable planets, astronomers have used Earth as a guiding example. But would we recognize a truly “Earth-like” planet if we saw one? This question was addressed in a recent paper by two professors, one of whom is an exoplanet-hunter and the other, an Earth science and astrobiology expert. Together, they consider what advances (past and future) will be key to the search for Earth 2.0."

Earth is still undergoing major changes to its climate as a result of global warming. A couple more centuries will see this taken even further to extremes.

Here is the summary of the pdf of the paper"Earth as an exoplanet". It can be downloaded easily:
"Earth as an Exoplanet
Tyler D. Robinson
Northern Arizona University
Christopher T. Reinhard
Georgia Institute of Technology
The search for habitable and inhabited environments beyond our planet commonly focuses on analogs to
Earth, especially in the case of exoplanets. Observations from ground-based facilities, satellites, and spacecraft
have yielded a rich collection of data that can be used to effectively view a distant Earth within the
context of exoplanet characterization. Application of planetary and exoplanetary remote sensing techniques
to these datasets then enables the development of approaches to detecting signatures of habitability and life
on other worlds. In addition, an array of models have also been used to simulate exoplanet-like datasets for
the distant Earth, thereby providing insights that are often complementary to those from existing observations.
Of course, Earth’s atmosphere and surface environment has evolved substantially in the 4.5 billion
years since our planet formed. A combination of in situ geological and bio-geochemical modeling studies
of our planet have provided glimpses of environments that, while technically bellonging to our Earth, are
seemingly alien worlds. Understanding the myriad ways Earth has been habitable and inhabited, coupled
with remote sensing approaches honed on the distant Earth, provides a key guide to recognizing potentially
life-bearing environments in distant planetary systems."

This paper is a proof how the methods of astronomical investigation are changing.

[Danik 2016]

https://www.universetoday.com/139054/this-meteorite-is-one-of-the-few-remnants-from-a-lost-planet-that-was-destroyed-long-ago/

"What if our Solar System had another generation of planets that formed before, or alongside, the planets we have today? A new study published in Nature Communications on April 17th 2018 presents evidence that says that’s what happened. The first-generation planets, or planet, would have been destroyed during collisions in the earlier days of the Solar System and much of the debris swept up in the formation of new bodies.

This is not a new theory, but a new study brings new evidence to support it."

"Models of planetary formation show that terrestrial planets are formed by the accretion of smaller bodies into larger and larger bodies. Follow the process long enough, and you end up with planets like Earth. The smaller bodies that join together are typically between the size of the Moon and Mars. But evidence of these smaller bodies is hard to find.

One type of unique and rare meteorite, called a ureilite, could provide the evidence to back up the models, and that’s what fell to Earth in the Nubian Desert in 2008. Ureilites are thought to be the remnants of a lost planet that was formed in the first 10 million years of the Solar System, and then was destroyed in a collision.

Ureilites are different than other stony meteorites. They have a higher component of carbon than other meteorites, mostly in the form of the aforementioned nanodiamonds. Researchers from Switzerland, France and Germany examined the diamonds inside 2008 TC3 and determined that they probably formed in a small proto-planet about 4.55 billion years ago."

And here is the abstractc of the also downloadable study:

"A large planetary body inferred from diamond inclusions in a ureilite meteorite

Abstract
Planetary formation models show that terrestrial planets are formed by the accretion of tens of Moon- to Mars-sized planetary embryos through energetic giant impacts. However, relics of these large proto-planets are yet to be found. Ureilites are one of the main families of achondritic meteorites and their parent body is believed to have been catastrophically disrupted by an impact during the first 10 million years of the solar system. Here we studied a section of the Almahata Sitta ureilite using transmission electron microscopy, where large diamonds were formed at high pressure inside the parent body. We discovered chromite, phosphate, and (Fe,Ni)-sulfide inclusions embedded in diamond. The composition and morphology of the inclusions can only be explained if the formation pressure was higher than 20 GPa. Such pressures suggest that the ureilite parent body was a Mercury- to Mars-sized planetary embryo."

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/loggerhead-sea-turtles-use-magnetic-field-like-gps

"It’s well known that loggerhead sea turtles will often return, sometimes over thousands of miles, to the beach where they hatched to lay their eggs. They use Earth’s magnetism to navigate back to their home beaches. But, as it turns out they might not always make it back to the exact beach where they were born, and instead might opt for beaches with similar magnetic properties, even if the beaches are far away from each other. It’s as if their internal GPS has just slightly mixed up addresses, said biologists from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose new research shows that loggerheads that nest on beaches with similar magnetic fields are genetically similar to one another."