I really like this page for showing the scale of our solar system. I think this really puts it into perspective, even better than the video can. The video is still awesome though.
I really like this page for showing the scale of our solar system. I think this really puts it into perspective, even better than the video can. The video is still awesome though.
I really like this page for showing the scale of our solar system. I think this really puts it into perspective, even better than the video can. The video is still awesome though.
I really like this page for showing the scale of our solar system. I think this really puts it into perspective, even better than the video can. The video is still awesome though.
Imagine Stephen Hawking and Buzz Aldrin in the same room, at the same time, celebrating space exploration and the wonders it has brought to us on Earth...
...and you can be there with them, on January 23 in Pasadena, California, as The Planetary Society honors these two heroes of exploration.
We'll be presenting Dr. Hawking with our prestigious Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science, created to honor the legacy of Planetary Society co-founder Carl Sagan.
And then, we'll be wishing Dr. Aldrin a happy 80th birthday and thanking him for the years of support he's given The Planetary Society as a member of our distinguished Advisory Council.
Because this day will be such a special one, we want to give every Member, no matter where on Earth you live, a chance to join the party.
Here are the details:
DATE: Saturday, January 23, 2010
TIME: 12:00 - 2:00 PM
PLACE: The Langham Huntington Hotel Ballroom
1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue, Pasadena CA
Titled "The Unbroken Thread", this new song features David Attenborough, Jane Godall and once again Carl Sagan. The song has a great message and a good video with a biology theme, but it is not my favourite. Hard to top the first few imo but still I am grateful for his continued effort.
Credit again to photon for originally exposing all of us to this website.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
A top NASA official and other leading scientists say that within four or five years they should discover the first Earth-like planet where life could develop, or may have already. A planet close to the size of Earth could even be found sometime this year if preliminary hints from a new space telescope pan out.
At the annual American Astronomical Society conference this week, each discovery involving so-called "exoplanets" - those outside our solar system - pointed to the same conclusion: Quiet planets like Earth where life could develop probably are plentiful, despite a violent universe of exploding stars, crushing black holes and colliding galaxies.
NASA's new Kepler telescope and a wealth of new research from the suddenly hot and competitive exoplanet field generated noticeable buzz at the convention. Scientists are talking about being at "an incredible special place in history" and closer to answering a question that has dogged humanity since the beginning of civilization.
"The fundamental question is: Are we alone? For the first time, there's an optimism that sometime in our lifetimes we're going to get to the bottom of that,"
I was honored to have as my personal tour guide at JPL in November, the Project Manager on the Kepler Project.
Very interesting... I would love to see some kind of photo evidence of another earth like planet in my life time. Civilization or not doesn't matter to me, I am more interested to see what they atmosphere consists of and how it interacts with the environment compared to our own.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
Hey, I've got a hypothetical question: let's say that you developed: a) a super powerful telescope that can detect earth-sized planets even billions of light years away; and b) faster than light space travel. You should be able to mount your telescope to your spaceship, travel 4.5 billion light years away, and then turn around and observe the creation of the earth, correct? Is there anything wrong with that scenario, other than that such a telescope and such a spaceship are both almost inconceivable?
Very interesting... I would love to see some kind of photo evidence of another earth like planet in my life time. Civilization or not doesn't matter to me, I am more interested to see what they atmosphere consists of and how it interacts with the environment compared to our own.
I don't think we'll see photo evidence. The existence of these planets is inferred as they pass in front of their suns.
Kepler will detect planets indirectly, using the "transit" method. A transit occurs each time a planet crosses the line-of-sight between the planet's parent star that it is orbiting and the observer. When this happens, the planet blocks some of the light from its star, resulting in a periodic dimming. This periodic signature is used to detect the planet and to determine its size and its orbit.
Hey, I've got a hypothetical question: let's say that you developed: a) a super powerful telescope that can detect earth-sized planets even billions of light years away; and b) faster than light space travel. You should be able to mount your telescope to your spaceship, travel 4.5 billion light years away, and then turn around and observe the creation of the earth, correct? Is there anything wrong with that scenario, other than that such a telescope and such a spaceship are both almost inconceivable?
Heh, that's like asking is there anything wrong with 2+2=5 except for the answer being 4 and not 5
But yes, if you could go faster than light then you could go out and watch the creation of the earth.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Location: In my office, at the Ministry of Awesome!
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
Hey, I've got a hypothetical question: let's say that you developed: a) a super powerful telescope that can detect earth-sized planets even billions of light years away; and b) faster than light space travel. You should be able to mount your telescope to your spaceship, travel 4.5 billion light years away, and then turn around and observe the creation of the earth, correct? Is there anything wrong with that scenario, other than that such a telescope and such a spaceship are both almost inconceivable?
Compltelely ignoring relativity and how traveling faster than light might affect how the light from the earth travels, ie is no longer constant wrt the observer and hence you could catch up with and pass it, then yeah, that's exactly what you'd see. Of course that's just one opinion. It would be equally valid to say, that for you to do that, the laws of physics would have to be different, so who knows what you'd see?
But, take away the starting somewhere and traveling away from it, and you have exactly what we do now, we look at things they way they were a long time ago.
That's why you often hear about things like the Hubble Ultra Deep field in terms of how LONG ago they are looking back, right along side how far away the objects are.
__________________
THE SHANTZ WILL RISE AGAIN. <-----Check the Badge bitches. You want some Awesome, you come to me!
If you could fold space time (therefore circumventing Einstein/relativity and keeping within current laws of physics) and travel ~4.5 billion light years instantaneously, the light you would see would be photons that left the earth 4.5b years ago, and therefore, you would be able to witness the creation of the earth, yes.
I don't think we'll see photo evidence. The existence of these planets is inferred as they pass in front of their suns.
Kepler will detect planets indirectly, using the "transit" method. A transit occurs each time a planet crosses the line-of-sight between the planet's parent star that it is orbiting and the observer. When this happens, the planet blocks some of the light from its star, resulting in a periodic dimming. This periodic signature is used to detect the planet and to determine its size and its orbit.
Right and they talked about identifying water, carbon dioxide etc.. whatever method they are using to detect this, that is what I am looking forward to seeing. There has to be some kind of reading, some kind of data they can produce, picture was a general and a bad term I should have just said proof. Whatever they are using as proof, that is what I look forward to seeing.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
Right and they talked about identifying water, carbon dioxide etc.. whatever method they are using to detect this, that is what I am looking forward to seeing. There has to be some kind of reading, some kind of data they can produce, picture was a general and a bad term I should have just said proof. Whatever they are using as proof, that is what I look forward to seeing.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life.
This successful demonstration of looking at near-infrared light emitted from a planet is very encouraging for astronomers planning to use NASA's James Webb Space Telescope after it is launched in 2013. These biomarkers are best seen at near-infrared wavelengths. Astronomers look forward to using the Webb telescope to look spectroscopically for biomarkers on a terrestrial planet the size of Earth or a "super-Earth" several times our planet's mass.
<-----Check the Badge bitches. You want some Awesome, you come to me!
