Space Never Fails to Blow My Mind, 2nd Edition

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Bruce Wayne, Apr 13, 2015.

  1. Fargin' Icehole

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  2. Fargin' Icehole

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    This one's a little better

     
  3. CraigAnne Conway

    CraigAnne Conway Putting that ball into the basketball ring
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    So fucking awesome.

    ISS has been flying over Ohio almost every evening lately. Been fun going out, weather permitting, and watching.
    Also Venus has been bright as fuck in the evenings lately.
    Great space watching time.
     
  4. CraigAnne Conway

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    I use SkyLive and Star Walk 2 apps.
    Anyone else have any app recs?
     
  5. CraigAnne Conway

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  6. broken internet

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    I hope it stays that way. 2 fatal events out of more than a hundred successful launches still tarnished the shuttle program.
     
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  7. blotter

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  8. CUAngler

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    I wonder how long it's going to take then to find that planet X? Last I saw was that they had an idea of where to look based on their modeling.
     
  9. Popovio

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    Most NASA press briefings end up being underwhelming, but if it's a major discovery regarding a single exoplanet this might be interesting. My hopeful guess is that they've found evidence of liquid water in the atmospheric composition of an exoplanet through spectroscoping. Only problem is I've seen a lot of discoverie(s) and exoplanet(s) plural in the description for the presser, so maybe they'll announce that they've discovered that there are far more exoplanets orbiting other suns than they previously expected; which would forever change the Drake equation.

    I've also seen a tweet and a since taken down news article on Business Insider that's saying they've discovered 7 earth sized planets around TRAPPIST-1, 6 of them being within the habitable zone of the star. Trappist-1 is an M sequence ultra cool dwarf that will probably burn for another 3-4 trillion years. It is way smaller and cooler than our sun.

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Heavy Mental

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    "It will be announced tomorrow by NASA that Michael Gillon et al have confirmed 4 more Earth-sized planets circling TRAPPIST-1 in addition to 3 already discovered.

    It is possible that most of the planets confirmed thus circling far TRAPPIST-1 could be in the star's habitable zone. The inner 6 planets are probably rocky in composition and may be just the right temperature for liquid water to exist (between 0 - 100 degrees C) - if they have any water, that is. The outermost 7th planet still needs some more observations to nail down its orbit and composition."

    http://spaceref.com/exoplanets/nearby-star-has-7-earth-sized-worlds---most-in-habitable-zone.html
     
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  11. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    Sweet, all that means is that we need to figure out how to travel at the speed of light and then right about the time I'm about to die we can check these planets out.
     
  12. Popovio

    Popovio The poster formerly known as "MouseCop"
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    Pretty significant, but I always hope for some groundbreaking shit whenever they call a press conference. I remember in 2010 when they held a presser on a major discovery regarding alien life and I was really excited. It ended up being an organism in Mono Lake that substituted arsenic for phosphorus in its DNA sequence, thus "changing our perception of life as we know it". A couple years later and they've found that if the phosphorous levels are reduced further the organism dies, so they only really discovered a bacteria that relies on a shockingly tiny amount of phosphorous; not really that exciting. I'll keep waiting for the aliens announcement.
     
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  13. Heavy Mental

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    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.5af2ba465352

    upload_2017-2-22_13-9-31.png

    A newfound solar system just 39 light years away contains seven warm, rocky, Earthlike planets, scientists say.

    The discovery, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, represents the first time astronomers have ever detected so many terrestrial planets orbiting a single star. Researchers say the system is an ideal laboratory for studying alien worlds and could be the best place in the galaxy to search for life beyond Earth.

    “Before this, if you wanted to study terrestrial planets, we had only four of them and they were all in our solar system,” said lead author Michaël Gillon, an exoplanet researcher at the University of Liège in Belgium. “Now we have seven Earth-sized planets to expand our understanding. Yes, we have the possibility to find water and life. But even if we don't, whatever we find will be super interesting.”
     
  14. Heavy Mental

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    the details of this are pretty exciting.
     
  15. angus

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    I'm hearing the JWT can't get here soon enough.

    Also looks like, in my mind anyway, since they are tidally locked anyone of the inner five planets could have liquid water on some part of them.
     
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  16. angus

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    Anyone else catch that part about based on the orbital ratios (?) they should have developed further out in and ice rich environment and migrated in. Therefore they should be very water rich.
     
  17. EagleDuck

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    :peekaboo:
     
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  18. Voodoo

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    That's cool but is it to scale?
     
  19. Popovio

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    Seems right.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. Voodoo

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    Wow. I knew Saturn was big but seeing that really drives home just how big it is.
     
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  21. Popovio

    Popovio The poster formerly known as "MouseCop"
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    This one is pretty cool too.

    [​IMG]
     
  22. Popovio

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    Here's the reverse angle from Saturn's orbit, blue dot is Earth. Second one shows the Earth and Moon.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  23. TDintheCorner

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    Gat damn this thread is sexier than the Milana thread today.
     
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  24. -Asshole-

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    I don't even know what question to ask.

    Where are those pictures taken from?
     
  25. Heavy Mental

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    if I had to guess, the Cassini probe.
     
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  26. Popovio

    Popovio The poster formerly known as "MouseCop"
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    Yeah, it's Cassini. I think it's only the third or fourth picture of Earth taken from the outer solar system, they were only able to take it because the sun moved behind Saturn. If they point the camera even remotley at the sun, it overloads the sensitive equipment.
     
    #1877 Popovio, Feb 24, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2017
  27. je ne suis pas ici

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    we so blue and special
     
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  28. angus

    angus Well-Known Member
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    And tiny.
     
  29. Emma

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    And insignificant
     
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  30. Open Carry

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  31. Kevintensity

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  32. Emma

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    [​IMG]
    Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS; Processing: Roman Tkachenko

    Explanation: This storm cloud on Jupiter is almost as large as the Earth. Known as a white oval, the swirling cloud is a high pressure system equivalent to an Earthly anticyclone. The cloud is one of a "string of pearls" ovals south of Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot. Possibly, the Great Red Spot is just a really large white oval than turned red. Surrounding clouds show interesting turbulence as they flow around and past the oval. The featured image was captured on February 2 as NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno made a new pass just above the cloud tops of the Jovian world. Over the next few years, Juno will continue to orbit and probe Jupiter, determine atmospheric water abundance, and attempt to determine if Jupiter has a solid surface beneath its thick clouds.
     
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  33. je ne suis pas ici

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    eh.. they havent tested falcon heavy, the capsule itself is still in design mode, and regardless, sending it around with 2 fucking tourists vs. experienced astronauts is dumb

    sounds like a PR move
     
  34. angus

    angus Well-Known Member
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    Sounds like they need the money.
     
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  35. je ne suis pas ici

    je ne suis pas ici Well-Known Member
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    also if they had the people signed up, why not tell the world who they are

    #FakeNews
     
  36. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    Pardon my ignorance. Is this an actual photo or an enhanced photo based upon interpretation of data being sent back? If that's an actual photo, that's amazing.
     
  37. TimJimothy

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    Elon's idea all along has been to use 'space tourism' to raise money for his future manned missions to Mars.
     
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  38. shawnoc

    shawnoc My president is black, my logos are red...
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    Photo processing credit listed under the photo goes to Roman Tkachenko.
    Roman Tkachenko is an "Amateur astronomer, image processor, 3D artist, sound producer." Also commonly listed as a "citizen scientist" by NASA.

    The probe is sending back video, not still, iirc, so these photos are made by compiling hundreds of frames of video into one photo and then colorizing them based on different factors.

    Here's what one still from that video looks like:
    [​IMG]

    Edit - found a tutorial on how to turn a "stack" of 1000 of those images into 1 good still of Jupiter:
    http://www.rkblog.rk.edu.pl/w/p/processing-planetary-images/
     
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  39. Barves2125

    Barves2125 "Ready to drive the Ferarri" - Reuben Foster
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    Perhaps the people spending all the money don't want their names disclosed? Seems like there would be several reasons they wouldn't release that information at this point.
     
  40. angus

    angus Well-Known Member
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    Not criticizing, power to them. Hope they make a butt load of money for the way they are advancing the industry.

    Just stating that not making money on it is probably wearing out it's welcome.
     
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  41. broken internet

    broken internet Everything I touch turns to gold.
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    Space-y related, so it counts. Here's LHC scientists talking about what would happen if you stuck your hand into the beam of the LHC.



    And here's a guy who stuck his HEAD into a smaller one:

    [​IMG]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoli_Bugorski
     
    #1894 broken internet, Mar 3, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2017
  42. angus

    angus Well-Known Member
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    LHC is 170 times more powerful then the one the russian was hit with for scale.
     
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  43. broken internet

    broken internet Everything I touch turns to gold.
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    #1896 broken internet, Mar 5, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2017
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  44. Mr Bulldops

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    I was told about this for 25 years growing up in Eugene. Then I moved to Florida and the people I know from there tell me I should be scared of hurricanes. I can see a hurricane coming for days sometimes weeks out. The "big one" scientists have been talking about forever is just going to happen without any real warning. Who should be scared?
     
    #1897 Mr Bulldops, Mar 5, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
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  45. angus

    angus Well-Known Member
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    NASA's plans to explore Europa and other "ocean worlds"
    March 6, 2017 by , Universe Today
    [​IMG]
    The fascinating surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view, made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. This is the color view of Europa from Galileo that shows the …more

    Earlier this week, NASA hosted the "Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop" at their headquarters in Washington, DC. Running from Monday to Wednesday – February 27th to March 1st – the purpose of this workshop was to present NASA's plans for the future of space exploration to the international community. In the course of the many presentations, speeches and panel discussions, many interesting proposals were shared.


    Among them were two presentations that outlined NASA's plan for the exploration of Jupiter's moon Europa and other icy moons. In the coming decades, NASA hopes to send probes to these moons to investigate the oceans that lie beneath theirs surfaces, which many believe could be home to extra-terrestrial life. With missions to the "ocean worlds" of the solar system, we may finally come to discover life beyond Earth.

    The first of the two meetings took place on the morning of Monday, Feb. 27th, and was titled "Exploration Pathways for Europa after initial In-Situ Analyses for Biosignatures". In the course of the presentation, Kevin Peter Hand – the Deputy Chief Scientist for solar system Exploration at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory – shared findings from a report prepared by the 2016 Europa Lander Science Definition Team.

    This report was drafted by NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD) in response to a congressional directive to begin a pre-Phase A study to assess the scientific value and engineering design of a Europa lander mission. These studies, which are known as Science Definition Team (SDT) reports, are routinely conducted long before missions are mounted in order to gain an understanding of the types of challenges it will face, and what the payoffs will be.

    In addition to being the co-chair of the Science Definition Team, Hand also served as head of the project science team, which included members from the JPL and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The report he and his colleagues prepared was finalized and issued to NASA on February 7th, 2017, and outlined several objectives for scientific study.

    As was indicated during the course of the presentation, these objectives were threefold. The first would involve searching for biosignatures and signs of life through analyses of Europa's surface and near-subsurface material. The second would be to conduct in-situ analyses to characterize the composition of non-ice near-subsurface material, and determine the proximity of liquid water and recently-erupted material near the lander's location.

    [​IMG]
    Artist’s rendering of a potential future mission to land a robotic probe on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
    The third and final goal would be to characterize the surface and subsurface properties and what dynamic processes are responsible for shaping them, in support for future exploration missions. As Hand explained, these objectives are closely intertwined:

    "Were biosignatures to be found in the surface material, direct access to, and exploration of, Europa's ocean and liquid water environments would be a high priority goal for the astrobiological investigation of our solar system. Europa's ocean would harbor the potential for the study of an extant ecosystem, likely representing a second, independent origin of life in our own solar system. Subsequent exploration would require robotic vehicles and instrumentation capable of accessing the habitable liquid water regions in Europa to enable the study of the ecosystem and organisms."

    In other words, if the lander mission detected signs of life within Europa's ice sheet, and from material churned up from beneath by resurfacing events, then future missions – most likely involving robotic submarines – would definitely be mounted. The report also states that any finds that are indicative of life would mean that planetary protections would be a major requirement for any future mission, to avoid the possibility of contamination.

    But of course, Hand also admitted that there is a chance the lander will find no signs of life. If so, Hand indicated that future missions would be tasked with gaining "a better understanding of the fundamental geological and geophysical process on Europa, and how they modulate exchange of material with Europa's ocean." On the other hand, he claimed that even a null-result (i.e. no signs of life anywhere) would still be a major scientific find.

    Ever since the Voyager probes first detected possible signs of an interior ocean on Europa, scientists have dreamed of the day when a mission might be possible to explore the interior of this mysterious moon. To be able to determine that life does not exist there could no less significant that finding life, in that both would help us learn more about life in our solar system.

    The Science Definition Team's report will also be the subject of a townhall meeting at the 2017 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) – which will be taking place from March 20th to 24th in The Woodlands, Texas. The second event will be on April 23rd at the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) held in Mesa, Arizona. Click here to read the full report.

    [​IMG]
    Artist’s impression of a hypothetical ocean cryobot (a robot capable of penetrating water ice) in Europa. Credit: NASA
    The second presentation, titled "Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds" took place later on Monday, Feb. 27th. This presentation was put on by members of the the Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) team, which is chaired by Dr. Amandra Hendrix – a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tuscon, Arizona – and Dr. Terry Hurford, a research assistant from NASA's Science and Exploration Directorate (SED).

    As a specialist in UV spectroscopy of planetary surfaces, Dr. Hendrix has collaborated with many NASA missions to explore icy bodies in the solar system – including the Galileo and Cassini probes and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Dr. Hurford, meanwhile, specializes in the geology and geophysics of icy satellites, as well as the effects orbital dynamics and tidal stresses have on their interior structures.

    Founded in 2016 by NASA's Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), ROW was tasked with laying the groundwork for a mission that will explore "ocean worlds" in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. During the course of the presentation, Hendrix and Hurford laid out the findings from the ROW report, which was completed in January of 2017.

    As they state in this report, "we define an 'ocean world' as a body with a current liquid ocean (not necessarily global). All bodies in our solar system that plausibly can have or are known to have an ocean will be considered as part of this document. The Earth is a well-studied ocean world that can be used as a reference ("ground truth") and point of comparison."

    By this definition, bodies like Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and Enceladus would all be viable targets for exploration. These worlds are all known to have subsurface oceans, and there has been compelling evidence in the past few decades that point towards the presence of organic molecules and prebiotic chemistry there as well. Triton, Pluto, Ceres and Dione are all mentioned as candidate ocean worlds based on what we know of them.

    Titan also received special mention in the course of the presentation. In addition to having an interior ocean, it has even been ventured that extremophile methanogenic lifeforms could exist on its surface:

    [​IMG]
    Saturn’s moon Enceladus is another popular destination for proposed missions since it is believed to potentially host extra-terrestrial life. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
    "Although Titan possesses a large subsurface ocean, it also has an abundant supply of a wide range of organic species and surface liquids, which are readily accessible and could harbor more exotic forms of life. Furthermore, Titan may have transient surface liquid water such as impact melt pools and fresh cryovolcanic flows in contact with both solid and liquid surface organics. These environments present unique and important locations for investigating prebiotic chemistry, and potentially, the first steps towards life."

    Ultimately, the ROW's pursuit of life on "ocean worlds" consists of four main goals. These include identifying ocean worlds in the solar system, which would mean determining which of the worlds and candidate worlds would be well-suited to study. The second is to characterize the nature of these oceans, which would include determining the properties of the ice shell and liquid ocean, and what drives fluid motion in them.

    The third sub-goal involves determining if these oceans have the necessary energy and prebiotic chemistry to support life. And the fourth and final goal would be to determine how life might exist in them – i.e. whether it takes the form of extremophile bacteria and tiny organisms, or more complex creatures. Hendrix and Hurford also covered the kind of technological advances that will be needed for such missions to happen.

    Naturally, any such mission would require the development of power sources and energy storage systems that would be suitable for cryogenic environments. Autonomous systems for pinpoint landing and technologies for aerial or landed mobility would also be needed. Planetary protection technologies would be necessary to prevent contamination, and electronic/mechanical systems that can survive in an ocean world environment too,

    While these presentations are merely proposals of what could happen in the coming decades, they are still exciting to hear about. If nothing else, they show how NASA and other space agencies are actively collaborating with scientific institutions around the world to push the boundaries of knowledge and exploration. And in the coming decades, they hope to make some substantial leaps.

    If all goes well, and exploration missions to Europa and other icy moons are allowed to go forward, the benefits could be immeasurable. In addition to the possibility of finding life beyond Earth, we will come to learn a great deal about our solar system, and no doubt learn something more about humanity's place in the cosmos.
     
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  46. Mr Bulldops

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  47. Popovio

    Popovio The poster formerly known as "MouseCop"
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    Anybody seen Europa Report? It's no Interstellar, but it's pretty solid for a space exploration flick.