Geology Picture of the Long Week, June 20-27, 2010: Microbialites in Pavilion Lake, BC
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
NASA is funding a group of scientists to investigate the strange structures called "microbialites" on the bottom of Pavilion Lake, British Columbia. Read the article at the link. Weirdly, while they think that they are bio-geological formations like stromatolites, they might not be. Here's are a couple pictures of them. Here's what the lake looks like; somewhat akin to a fjord. Link to the project Web site: Pavilion Lake Research Project
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
Jupiter loses one of its stripes and scientists are stumped as to why
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
Jupiter has lost one of its iconic red stripes and scientists are baffled as to why. The largest planet in our solar system is usually dominated by two dark bands in its atmosphere, with one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere. However, the most recent images taken by amateur astronomers have revealed the lower stripe known as the Southern Equatorial Belt has disappeared leaving the southern half of the planet looking unusually bare. The band was present in at the end of last year before Jupiter ducked behind the Sun on its orbit. However, when it...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
Astronomers Add at Least 4 New Low-Mass Planets to Their Posse
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Astronomers announced today the discovery of at least four — and as many as six — planets orbiting two nearby stars. These planets are relatively low mass, ranging from 5 to 25 times the mass of the Earth. For comparison, Jupiter is over 300 times more massive than the Earth, and Uranus 15 times our mass. Three of these extrasolar planets orbit the nearby star 61 Virginis, which is only about 28 light years away (that’s a stone’s throw in galactic terms). 61 Vir has been a target for planet hunters for some time because it’s very much like our...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
To Find New Planets, Look for the Lithium? [headline wrong -- s/b look for low lithium levels]
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
Sunlike stars that harbor planets are low on lithium, according to a recent study that may offer a new tool in the hunt for planets beyond our solar system. Stars are made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. A small percentage of a star's mass comes from heavier elements, which astronomers refer to as metals. Young, yellow stars like our sun usually have more metals than older, redder stars, although the exact mix of those metals can vary. But astronomers have been unable to explain why otherwise similar sunlike stars have widely different lithium levels.The new study suggests that the...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
Search For ET Just Got Easier: Effective Way To Search Atmospheres Of Planets For Signs Of Life
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
Astronomers using the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma have confirmed an effective way to search the atmospheres of planets for signs of life, vastly improving our chances of finding alien life outside our solar system. The team from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) used the WHT and the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) to gather information about the chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere from sunlight that has passed through it. The research is published June11 in Nature. When a planet passes in front of its parent star, part of the...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
Life on other planets? You bet, says SETI pioneer
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
If you'd asked 20 years ago the question he's heard over and over -- whether humanity will discover extraterrestrial intelligence in his lifetime -- Frank Drake would have shrugged and said, "sure." Today, the renowned astronomer, who turns 79 next month, admits the chances are slimming. "It's going to be a close call," he said. But even if Drake, professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, doesn't see the day we learn we're not alone, he knows it's coming. To him, it's a mathematical inevitability. He should know. He wrote the formula. And...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
Kepler and the Odds
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
The Kepler launch is coming up on March 5, marking the first time we will have the ability to find a true Earth analogue around another star; i.e., a planet of about Earth’s mass in the habitable zone where water can exist in liquid form on the surface. Which is not to say that COROT may not come close, though Kepler’s enormous star-field (100,000 targets in the Cygnus-Lyra region) and incredibly sensitive camera — a 95-megapixel array of charged coupled devices (CCDs) — is optimized for planets down to Earth size rather than larger ’super-Earths.’ Image (click to enlarge): Kepler’s...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
One Hundred Billion Trillion Habitable Planets
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
Alan Boss, whose new book The Crowded Universe will soon be on my shelves (and reviewed here), has driven the extrasolar planet story to the top of the news with a single statement. Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting in Chicago, Boss (Carnegie Institution, Washington) said that the number of Earth-like planets in the universe might be the same as the number of stars, a figure he pegged at one hundred billion trillion. A universe teeming with life? Inevitably. The Telegraph quoted Boss on the matter in an early report on his presentation: “If...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
Super-Neptune Planet Found
Posted by admin / Under Planets In Astrology
Astronomers have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth. While Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses. HAT-P-11b was discovered because it passes directly in front of its parent star, thereby blocking about 0.4 percent of the star's light. This periodic dimming, called a transit, was detected by a network of small, automated telescopes known as "HATNet," which is operated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for...
Published on Wednesday 28th of July 2010 05:52:14 AM
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