NASA Hubble Finds a True Blue Planet(nasa.gov)
nasa.gov
NASA Hubble Finds a True Blue Planet
http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-hubble-finds-a-true-blue-planet/
4 comments
"I wonder if I'll live long enough to see images beamed back from an interstellar probe?"
I would say you have a small, but definitely non-zero, chance of that - but it probably depends more on the development of effective life prolonging therapies that anything else. We're quite a long way from being motivated enough to build a dedicated interstellar probe and then you would probably have to wait a few decades for the probe to actually get somewhere and a, much smaller, time for the signals to get back.
Personally, I'd settle for seeing manned exploration of Mars and I think that may just happen...
I would say you have a small, but definitely non-zero, chance of that - but it probably depends more on the development of effective life prolonging therapies that anything else. We're quite a long way from being motivated enough to build a dedicated interstellar probe and then you would probably have to wait a few decades for the probe to actually get somewhere and a, much smaller, time for the signals to get back.
Personally, I'd settle for seeing manned exploration of Mars and I think that may just happen...
Mankind is into space since what, 75 years?
Its too early to think of traveling to far points in space using the technology we have.
Imagine some thousands of years back, planning to explore the world using an ox cart. Yet today, airplanes have made that perfectly possible.
Its too early to think of traveling to far points in space using the technology we have.
Imagine some thousands of years back, planning to explore the world using an ox cart. Yet today, airplanes have made that perfectly possible.
Well, if we really wanted to we could probably hack something together along the lines of the Project Orion designs right now, but it would be hugely expensive and pretty messy so I can't see anyone doing that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propul...
I suspect if we do send out interstellar probes they will be tiny rather than flying battleships:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starwisp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propul...
I suspect if we do send out interstellar probes they will be tiny rather than flying battleships:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starwisp
The hominid diaspora occurred using feet and canoes. Tens of thousands of years ago.
Of course no individuals 'traveled the globe' in that era, but a gradual process was plenty sufficient to cover the globe with humans.
Of course no individuals 'traveled the globe' in that era, but a gradual process was plenty sufficient to cover the globe with humans.
[deleted]
What's frustrating to me is that apparently a modestly priced (for spacecraft) dual-satellite telescope system has been designed that could return images of extrasolar planets like we were snapping pictures of Saturn, but it hasn't made any progress because of budget limitations.
Edit: here's a brief article that gives an overview of a lower-budget, swarm technique being proposed by Planetary Resources - http://www.dvice.com/archives/2012/04/could_planetary.php
Edit: here's a brief article that gives an overview of a lower-budget, swarm technique being proposed by Planetary Resources - http://www.dvice.com/archives/2012/04/could_planetary.php
Dose NASA have a full time staff of artists? Or do they outsource these "artistic interpretations" we some frequently see?
I think they have actual photos. Only, the government hides them from us... maybe the alien overlords don't want to reveal themselves yet?
That would be cheaper, yes.
When I looked at the word 'blue' in the title, my first thought was there could be life but. But reading further...
>> It is only 2.9 million miles from its parent star, so close that it is gravitationally locked. One side always faces the star and the other side is always dark.
and
>>day side and night side temperatures on HD 189733b differ by about 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Means life similar to us doesn't exist there.
Seems like our exploration of the cosmos and some drastic results with regards to that will only happen after some drastic changes in technology. It took a ship, and a few determined men to explore places on earth.
It will take some radical invention in transport systems. And few determined men this time too.
I don't think we will ever discover anything substantial as long as the physics of that is limited by things like speed of light. Its like thinking of heavier than air flying machines before the discovery of bernoulli's theorem.
>> It is only 2.9 million miles from its parent star, so close that it is gravitationally locked. One side always faces the star and the other side is always dark.
and
>>day side and night side temperatures on HD 189733b differ by about 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Means life similar to us doesn't exist there.
Seems like our exploration of the cosmos and some drastic results with regards to that will only happen after some drastic changes in technology. It took a ship, and a few determined men to explore places on earth.
It will take some radical invention in transport systems. And few determined men this time too.
I don't think we will ever discover anything substantial as long as the physics of that is limited by things like speed of light. Its like thinking of heavier than air flying machines before the discovery of bernoulli's theorem.
I think this part made it sound nastier:
> On this turbulent alien world, the daytime temperature is nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and it possibly rains glass -- sideways -- in howling, 4,500-mph winds.
> On this turbulent alien world, the daytime temperature is nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and it possibly rains glass -- sideways -- in howling, 4,500-mph winds.
> The cobalt blue color comes not from the reflection of a tropical ocean as it does on Earth, but rather a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing high clouds laced with silicate particles. Silicates condensing in the heat could form very small drops of glass that scatter blue light more than red ligh
Are they using something in addition to a spectograph to know this?
Are they using something in addition to a spectograph to know this?
That description makes Venus look like a habitable planet.
Actually, if you could somehow use balloons filled with human-breathable air as floating devices, you could float about 50 km above Venus surface, in a nice earth-like 1 atm pressure and 0–50 C temperature range.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Venus#Aerostat_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Venus#Aerostat_...
Keep in mind there won't be a perfectly clean boundary between the light and dark sides -- there will be a border area between the "night side" and "day side" that is always in partial sun. Not that I think similar-to-Earth life is likely here (for other reasons), but theoretically you could find it on other planets with synchronous rotation, if you looked in that border area.
>>day side and night side temperatures on HD 189733b differ by about 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also, it's a gas giant...
Also, it's a gas giant...
Going off at a tangent slightly, but what would happen if I dropped, say, 1kg steel weight on to the surface of a gas giant? Does it sink to the core? Or close to the core and then melt due to temperature and pressure?
The surface is kind of fuzzy, like Earth it starts with a thin atmosphere at the outer boundary of the planet. (Actually HD 189733 b's atmosphere is evaporating, so you'll encounter a lot of it in a thin fog around the planet as you approach with your 1kg-weight planet bombing vessel.)
After dropping the weight, the same thing happens with the weight as if you dropped it from Earth orbit: it speeds up in free fall and will start to heat up quickly as it compresses the gases in front of it, like any space rock falling on a planet. In HD 189733 b's case the atmosphere is crazy hot from the outset, so the steel weight will flicker like a bright light and evaporate very fast. After that the matter of the weight becomes part of the planet's atmosphere. Since iron gas is heavier than the other gases in the atmosphere, it will slowly sink towards the center - but due to wind motion that may take a long time.
On its way down, the matter of the steel weight will encounter increasing pressures and temperatures until it reaches a fuzzy transition layer where gases are liquid, and even further down may exist in pseudo-liquid states that are like nothing found on Earth, called metallic hydrogen. At the center of the gas giant, there may be a molten or solid core of rocky elements, where the iron from the steel weight will eventually settle.
If you'd try gently dropping a larger object (preferrably into a cooler gas giant), it will survive the heat of atmospheric entry mostly intact, however. After that, it will reach terminal velocity and fall down based purely on its buoyancy. Traversing the atmosphere might take a long time during which the object may encounter many layers of clouds and other cool weather phenomena. As it falls, it too will encounter ever-increasing density and temperature which will eventually result in the dissolution of the object.
After dropping the weight, the same thing happens with the weight as if you dropped it from Earth orbit: it speeds up in free fall and will start to heat up quickly as it compresses the gases in front of it, like any space rock falling on a planet. In HD 189733 b's case the atmosphere is crazy hot from the outset, so the steel weight will flicker like a bright light and evaporate very fast. After that the matter of the weight becomes part of the planet's atmosphere. Since iron gas is heavier than the other gases in the atmosphere, it will slowly sink towards the center - but due to wind motion that may take a long time.
On its way down, the matter of the steel weight will encounter increasing pressures and temperatures until it reaches a fuzzy transition layer where gases are liquid, and even further down may exist in pseudo-liquid states that are like nothing found on Earth, called metallic hydrogen. At the center of the gas giant, there may be a molten or solid core of rocky elements, where the iron from the steel weight will eventually settle.
If you'd try gently dropping a larger object (preferrably into a cooler gas giant), it will survive the heat of atmospheric entry mostly intact, however. After that, it will reach terminal velocity and fall down based purely on its buoyancy. Traversing the atmosphere might take a long time during which the object may encounter many layers of clouds and other cool weather phenomena. As it falls, it too will encounter ever-increasing density and temperature which will eventually result in the dissolution of the object.
You should ask XKCD.
(Really! This seems like a very suitable question for that treatment.)
(Really! This seems like a very suitable question for that treatment.)
Yeah, I thought of that as I was posting it but guessed someone on here would know ^^^^^^
It could happen sooner than you think:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4542210
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4834306
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4542210
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4834306
Drastic changes in technology happen all the time. It's not that simple to go from space travel where we could visit the moon to hyperspace one where we could reach the stars. It would take some centuries to get there and not because we're lazy or incompetent. Science has made tremendous achievements in the last 50 years. Transportation issues are not the only problem for interstellar travel, you'd also have to solve problems regarding logistics, life support systems, resources, time dilation and a few dozen more.
Even if we never manage to get past the limit of speed of light eventually we will reach out and populate other planets, even if we have to terraform them before. But our destiny lies on the stars. For all that matters let's be grateful of what we've achieved so far. In just fifty years of space exploration we've already managed to land a car on Mars and we've send some probes at the limits of our solar system. Fifty years from now we could already have a self-sustained colony on Mars or the Moon. This is huge by any measure.
Even if we never manage to get past the limit of speed of light eventually we will reach out and populate other planets, even if we have to terraform them before. But our destiny lies on the stars. For all that matters let's be grateful of what we've achieved so far. In just fifty years of space exploration we've already managed to land a car on Mars and we've send some probes at the limits of our solar system. Fifty years from now we could already have a self-sustained colony on Mars or the Moon. This is huge by any measure.
And here I was thinking they had found an Australian Planet...
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=true%20blue
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=true%20blue
Maybe I'm showing my age, but it astonishes me how quickly the study of exo-planets has progressed. I wonder if I'll live long enough to see images beamed back from an interstellar probe?