1235 replies to this topic

[Roh234]

Galaxy may swarm with 100,000 times more ‘nomad planets’ than stars

February 24, 2012




An artistic rendition of a nomad object wandering the interstellar medium (intentionally blurry to represent uncertainty about whether it has an atmosphere). A nomadic object may be an icy body akin to an object found in the outer solar system, a more rocky material akin to asteroid, or even a gas giant similar in composition to the most massive solar system planets and exoplanets. (Credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)


There may be 100,000 times more wandering “nomad planets” in the Milky Way than stars, and some may carry bacterial life, according to a new study by researchers at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC).

http://news.stanford...ets-022312.html

[Time_Traveller]

Galaxy may swarm with 100,000 times more ‘nomad planets’ than stars

February 24, 2012




An artistic rendition of a nomad object wandering the interstellar medium (intentionally blurry to represent uncertainty about whether it has an atmosphere). A nomadic object may be an icy body akin to an object found in the outer solar system, a more rocky material akin to asteroid, or even a gas giant similar in composition to the most massive solar system planets and exoplanets. (Credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)


There may be 100,000 times more wandering “nomad planets” in the Milky Way than stars, and some may carry bacterial life, according to a new study by researchers at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC).

http://news.stanford...ets-022312.html

As seen at http://www.futuretim...dpost__p__15526

[Logically Irrational]

Preparing for Mars Sample Return

http://www.wired.com...-sample-return/

At the next coffee break, excited chatter about the prospect of a sample return mission is interrupted by unwelcome emails: the budget news is in, and it’s not pretty. People like Beaty receive the news with measured disappointment: he’s been at this a while, ridden the funding peaks and valleys for years. But the planning must go on: the sample return mission might not be happening soon, but when it does, we’ll be ready.

[Roh234]

Galaxy may swarm with 100,000 times more ‘nomad planets’ than stars

February 24, 2012




An artistic rendition of a nomad object wandering the interstellar medium (intentionally blurry to represent uncertainty about whether it has an atmosphere). A nomadic object may be an icy body akin to an object found in the outer solar system, a more rocky material akin to asteroid, or even a gas giant similar in composition to the most massive solar system planets and exoplanets. (Credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)


There may be 100,000 times more wandering “nomad planets” in the Milky Way than stars, and some may carry bacterial life, according to a new study by researchers at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC).

http://news.stanford...ets-022312.html

As seen at http://www.futuretim...dpost__p__15526

whoops

[mic of orion]

First Orbit - the movie

[Logically Irrational]

*clears throat*

http://www.futuretim...s/page__st__220

[Logically Irrational]

It is a very cool video to be sure.

[mic of orion]

Big Asteroid 2011 AG5 Could Pose Threat to Earth in 2040

http://www.space.com...reat-earth.html




Scientists are keeping a close eye on a big asteroid that may pose an impact threat to Earth in a few decades.

The space rock, which is called 2011 AG5, is about 460 feet (140 meters) wide. It may come close enough to Earth in 2040 that some researchers are calling for a discussion about how to deflect it.

Talk about the asteroid was on the agenda during the 49th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), held earlier this month in Vienna.

A UN Action Team on near-Earth objects (NEOs) noted the asteroid’s repeat approaches to Earth and the possibility — however remote — that 2011 AG5 might smack into our planet 28 years from now.



The object was discovered in January 2011 by Mount Lemmon Survey observers in Tucson, Ariz. While scientists have a good bead on the space rock's size, its mass and compositional makeup are unknown at present. [The 7 Strangest Asteroids in the Solar System]

An asteroid desktop exercise

"2011 AG5 is the object which currently has the highest chance of impacting the Earth … in 2040. However, we have only observed it for about half an orbit, thus the confidence in these calculations is still not very high," said Detlef Koschny of the European Space Agency’s Solar System Missions Division in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

"In our Action Team 14 discussions, we thus concluded that it not necessarily can be called a ‘real’ threat. To do that, ideally, we should have at least one, if not two, full orbits observed," Koschny told SPACE.com.

Koschny added that the Action Team did recommend to the NEO Working Group of COPUOS to use 2011 AG5 as a "desktop exercise" and link ongoing studies to the asteroid.

"We are currently also in the process of making institutions like the European Southern Observatory aware of this object," Koschny said. "We hope to make the point that this object deserves the allocation of some special telescope time."



read more here http://www.space.com...reat-earth.html

[Craven]

Odds of hit: 1 in 625. ETA 28 years. We're good. Too bad around 2040 Bruce Willis will be really old. But if we clone him... His clone would be 28years old by that time! He was 43 at time of Armageddon.

[Time_Traveller]

China paces to the Moon



China announces its next manned spaceflight to be launched next summer. What are the implications for 'senior space powers'? On February 21, Chinese space officials announced that the next manned Shenzhou-9 spacecraft will be launched between June and August this year. Its main task will be to dock with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module, launched in September 2011.

From http://www.space-tra...e_Moon_999.html

[GNR Rvolution]

Playboy, Virgin Galactic tout zero-grav nookie in spaaaaace!


Quality journalism bastion Playboy has teamed up with boffins at Virgin Galactic to create the one thing missing in the universe - a Playboy Club in space

http://www.theregist..._club_in_space/

Sorry, I couldn't help myself

Edited by GNR Rvolution, 28 February 2012 - 12:43 PM.

[Time_Traveller]

Galileo on the ground reaches some of Earth's loneliest places



A worldwide chain of Galileo ground stations on some of the remotest sites on Earth is nearing completion ahead of this year's launch of two more satellites.

From http://www.spacedail...places_999.html

[Time_Traveller]

Curiosity, the Stunt Double


With a pair of bug eyes swiveling on a stalk nearly 8 feet off the ground, the 6-wheeled, 1800-lb Mars rover Curiosity doesn't look much like a human being. Yet, right now, the mini-Cooper-sized rover is playing the role of stunt double for NASA astronauts.

"Curiosity is riding to Mars in the belly of a spacecraft, where an astronaut would be," explains Don Hassler of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "This means the rover experiences deep-space radiation storms in the same way that a real astronaut would.

From http://www.marsdaily...Double_999.html

Edited by Time_Traveller, 29 February 2012 - 11:41 AM.

[Raklian]

Playboy, Virgin Galactic tout zero-grav nookie in spaaaaace!


Quality journalism bastion Playboy has teamed up with boffins at Virgin Galactic to create the one thing missing in the universe - a Playboy Club in space

http://www.theregist..._club_in_space/

Sorry, I couldn't help myself

Lol, that's a brothel but way out in space. That's outside U.S. jurisdiction.

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

New twist in antimatter mystery



Physicists have taken a step forward in their efforts to understand why the Universe is dominated by matter, and not its shadowy opposite antimatter.

From http://www.bbc.co.uk...onment-17200308

[Logically Irrational]

I know that voice.



Couldn't resist. NASA does a really good job at making these videos. It will be interesting to see how space explorations goes the next decade or so.

[Craven]

Couldn't resist. NASA does a really good job at making these videos.

Yeah If only they were true. Last 40 years shown otherwise.

[Craven]

VLT rediscovers life on Earth by looking at the Moon:

http://www.sciencene...2920570016.html

Great news in field of looking for extraterrestial life.
Scientists looked at light from Earth reflected from Moon, and did not only spectral analysis, but also looked at polarisation (spectropolarimetry). They were able to deduce that the Earth's atmosphere is partly cloudy, that part of its surface is covered by oceans and — crucially — that there is vegetation present. They could even detect changes in the cloud cover and amount of vegetation at different times as different parts of the Earth reflected light towards the Moon.

[Raklian]

VLT rediscovers life on Earth by looking at the Moon:

http://www.sciencene...2920570016.html

Great news in field of looking for extraterrestial life.
Scientists looked at light from Earth reflected from Moon, and did not only spectral analysis, but also looked at polarisation (spectropolarimetry). They were able to deduce that the Earth's atmosphere is partly cloudy, that part of its surface is covered by oceans and — crucially — that there is vegetation present. They could even detect changes in the cloud cover and amount of vegetation at different times as different parts of the Earth reflected light towards the Moon.

That's pretty cool! Hopefully, it means discovering a planet that has life (in any form) sooner than predicted.