Astronomy

[Danik 2016]

"Observations of the asteroid’s orbit have also revealed that it made its closest pass to our Sun back in September of 2017, and it is currently on its way back to interstellar space. Because of the mysteries this body holds, there are those who are advocating that it be intercepted and explored. One such group is Project Lyra, which recently released a study detailing the challenges and benefits such a mission would present."
https://www.universetoday.com/137960...ar-asteroid-1/

I wonder if Oumuamua is worth the expenditure. It was only a courtesy call, it´s already traveling back.

[Dreamwoven]

Unless its second visit was just the first the astronomers had noticed. Perhaps it comes back every other year?

[Danik 2016]

If it does it won´t pass unoticed any more I think. The astronomers are fascinated by it:
"Surveys like Pan-STARRS and the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST, currently under construction near the Gemini South telescope in Chile) will undoubtedly increase the detections of these interstellar wanderers. “The discoveries of rare surprises like ‘Oumuamua from outside our Solar System will be greatly accelerated by the power and grasp of the LSST,” said Richard Green of the US National Science Foundation (NSF). “LSST is going to produce a torrent of data and revolutionize this sort of time domain astronomy when it begins operations early in the next decade,” adds Green. LSST is funded by a partnership with the NSF, the Department of Energy, and the LSST Corporation.

‘Oumuamua loosely means “a messenger that reaches out from the distant past,” fitting the nature of the object’s interstellar origin. In Hawaiian ‘ou means “to reach out for,” while mua means “first” and is repeated for emphasis." "
https://www.technology.org/2017/11/2...is-an-oddball/

[Dreamwoven]

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will broaden our view of space beyond th solar system:

"The goal of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project is to conduct a 10-year survey of the sky that will deliver a 200 petabyte set of images and data products that will address some of the most pressing questions about the structure and evolution of the universe and the objects in it. The LSST survey is designed to address four science areas:

• Understanding the Mysterious Dark Matter and Dark Energy
• Hazardous Asteroids and the Remote Solar System
• The Transient Optical Sky
• The Formation and Structure of the Milky Way

The scientific questions that LSST will address are profound, and yet the concept behind the design of the LSST project is remarkably simple: conduct a deep survey over an enormous area of sky; do it with a frequency that enables images of every part of the visible sky to be obtained every few nights; and continue in this mode for ten years to achieve astronomical catalogs thousands of times larger than have ever previously been compiled."

[Dreamwoven]

So the sighting of the Oumuamua is redirecting attention to the larger issues around our interest in Space. That is a major step.

[Danik 2016]

I agree with you. I think this is true specially for the celestial bodies that don´t fit into the usual categories as planets, stars, suns, moons, asteroids, etc.

[Dreamwoven]

I thought this was interesting: we still do not have a clear understanding of dynamics of the life-cycle of stars

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/1...ng-white-dwarf

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/38880-james-we...ay-freeze.html

The launch is scheduled for mid-2019.

[Danik 2016]

I thought this was interesting: we still do not have a clear understanding of dynamics of the life-cycle of stars

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/1...ng-white-dwarf

"Consider a Sun-like star, a red giant, and a white dwarf. They all seem pretty different. But really, one star can be all three of these throughout its life. In about 5 billion years, the Sun will turn into a red giant, bloating until it swallows the Earth. Then about a billion years after that, it will expand too far and lose its outer layers, leaving just its hot, dense core behind. This core will be a white dwarf. "
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/1...ng-white-dwarf
I am astonished at this sistematization of processes that started so many billions of years ago.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/38880-james-we...ay-freeze.html

The launch is scheduled for mid-2019.

[Danik 2016]

That might be interesting too.
"Unexpected atmospheric vortex behavior on Saturn's moon Titan
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn, is bigger than the planet Mercury, and is the only moon in our solar system to have a substantial atmosphere.

Usually, the high altitude polar atmosphere in a planet's winter hemisphere is warm because of sinking air being compressed and heated -- similar to what happens in a bicycle pump.

Puzzlingly, Titan's atmospheric polar vortex seems to be extremely cold instead."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...1121121510.htm

[Danik 2016]

https://www.space.com/38880-james-we...ay-freeze.html

The launch is scheduled for mid-2019.

It´s probably going to be a big event. Hopefully the results will justify it.

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, that's the general idea. But it is complicated by the variety of situations the white dwarf can be in:

"This simplified graphic displays the different evolutionary pathways stars can take depending on their mass. Sun-like stars (top) typically end up going through a red giant phase before eventually forming a white dwarf."

and:

"A lot of white dwarfs have been spotted over the years, but a study published this week in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society presented the first observational evidence of a shrinking white dwarf, which they found has been consistently contracting for the past 2 million years.

According to theory, a typical white dwarf can shrink its radius by several hundred kilometers during its first million years, but astronomers have never actually witnessed this behavior before. “For decades it has been theoretically clear that young white dwarfs are contracting,” said astrophysicist and lead author of the study, Sergei Popov, in a press release. “Yet, that very phase of contraction has never been observed in ‘real time.’”

The sheer variety of different situations within which the star can be in will require observations of different situations enough times to develop the empirical validation.

[Danik 2016]

This shrinking of white dwarfs (and maybe of other celestial bodies) takes million years. Our planet might be shrinking and expanding and with our current technology we might not notice it.

Another interesting question:

Will the tardigrade be the first interstellar pet?

"Since some bacteria, plants, and even small animals — known as tardigrades — can survive in space, it is possible that these organisms could also get caught in the dust conveyor belt and hitch a ride to another planet. The same mechanism outlined in the study also allows for distant planets within the same solar system to exchange atmospheric particles with one another. "

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/11/life-in-dust

I´m linking this to the video about the tardigrade from the link "About Animals":
http://www.online-literature.com/for...=1#post1336621

[Dreamwoven]

Tardigrades are tiny, under 0.5 of a millimetre long: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade. They are very tough, so they can likely survive anywhere. How much wiser would we be if their presence were confirmed on other planets/moons? Unless also other animals were discovered there as well...