five hundred exoplanets - second stage

A new topic heading for dukedom_enough's exoplanets - we can still link back for topics to the old thread

NASA website for Voyager which may be finally leaving the solar system for interstellar space.  Really interesting data is still being transmitted from the satellite as is explained in the article. We will soon be finding out more of what conditions will be like for travel to an exoplanet.


Voyager 1 Encounters Stagnation Region

"NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space, which scientists are calling the stagnation region. In the stagnation region, the wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has slowed and turned inward for the first time, our solar system's magnetic field has piled up and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space. This image shows that the inner edge of the stagnation region is located about 113 astronomical units (10.5 billion miles or 16.9 billion kilometers) from the sun. Voyager 1 is currently about 119 astronomical units (11 billion miles or 17.8 billion kilometers) from the sun. The distance to the outer edge is unknown. "

::edited in:: Randal has a better article on this {from over a year ago} in one of the Astronomy groups that does not get a lot posting evidently. Link http://www.librarything.com/topic/128382

Thank you for starting the continuation thread - we were about due.

The Exoplanets app I quoted orginally, now has the count at 777. As I understand it, there are many candidate detections awaiting confirmation, so the number for which we have some evidence is probably much higher.

Exoplanets App? I must have missed that in the previous thread. If I may ask, is that available for Android?

Sorry, no, but the catalog is available separately. I suppose you could contact him and offer encouragement for an Android app.

Aha, thank you. And will do :)

You're welcome.

Thanks DugsBooks.

Now if we can just find a water & dirt covered rock with a g of 0.6 to 1.2 and an atmos. N2, O2 (16-22%), CO2, and CH4 we can rush over there in our advanced propulsion tin can we can set up a cable TV franchise and relax.

I'll bet we find such a sweet zone planet sooner than anyone would expect. Then we'll have a place we're itching to explore and no way to get there.

We're already finding so much variety.

Does anyone know if they ever fixed that satellite already in orbit around Mars which had planned to take photos of the Curiosity landing late this Sunday Aug 5th? The landing is so complex, I hope it is successful.

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — NASA's new robot rover named Curiosity has spent 8½ months hurtling through space toward its destination Sunday on Mars. It is set to land near the foot of a mountain rising from a giant crater. This marks NASA's 19th mission and eighth landing attempt.

NPR's 'Science Friday" had an interview with a couple of people running the show for the Curiosity Sunday 1:30am EST time landing but the subject of the existing satellite at Mars was never broached. If I remember correctly other landing attempts were photographed by the orbiting eye in the sky but recent technical glitches might have taken that chance away.

Really a crucial landing for the USA program, I heard with budget cuts the USA had dropped out of a Euro lead Mars project.

NASA is going to have a live broadcast of the Curiosity landing event. I am not sure what this will comprise, reactions of people in the control room perhaps? There is the time lapse from Mars to Earth plus the wait time for Curiosity to transmit after a successful landing. Below is info from the NASA webpage:

Watch Curiosity's Landing!
Aug 5, 2012 10:31 p.m. Pacific
Aug 6, 2012 1:31 a.m. Eastern
Aug 6, 2012 5:31 a.m. Universal

Watch NASA TV Show Online
Begins Aug 5: 2012
8:30 p.m. Pacific
11:30 p.m. Eastern

Landed and have images!!!

"The very first images are likely to arrive more than two hours after landing, due to the timing of NASA's signal-relaying Odyssey orbiter. They will be captured with the left and right Hazcams at the back and front of the rover, and they will not yet be full-resolution (the two images arriving on Earth first are "thumbnail" copies, which are 64 by 64 pixels in size). The Hazcams are equipped with very wide-angle, fisheye lenses, initially capped with clear dust covers. The covers are designed to protect the cameras from dust that may be kicked up during landing; they are clear just in case they don't pop off as expected.

These first views will give engineers a good idea of what surrounds Curiosity, as well as its location and tilt. "Ensuring that the rover is on stable ground is important before raising the rover's mast," said Mission Manager Jennifer Trosper at JPL. "We are using an entirely new landing system on this mission, so we are proceeding with caution."

Color pictures from the rover's Mars Descent Imager, or MARDI, acquired as the rover descends to the Martian surface, will help pinpoint the rover's location. Initial images from MARDI are expected to be released Aug. 6, the day after landing. These will also be in the form of thumbnails (in the case of the science cameras, thumbnails can vary in size, with the largest being 192 pixels wide by 144 pixels high). One full-resolution image may also be returned at this time. "

The shadow of curiosity on Mars http://twitter.com/NASA/status/232352483492630529/photo/1



nuther photo of wheel

It was one heck of a ride!

I now have that "Shadow of Curiosity" image as my desktop background.

For the technically inclined here is an article on the hardware and software used with Curiosity by Extremetech. It shows the "motherboards" and discusses the software & other hardware.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134041-inside-nasas-curiosity-its-an-apple-ai...

::edit:: Link to photo gallery for Curiosity
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html

More Mars spamfest!!! I wondered who else had satellites around Mars and could check to make sure all the photos we see weren't shot in an abandoned limestone quarry and photoshopped by scientists "exploring" south seas vacation areas. I found that Europe has the Mars Express spacecraft orbiting Mars and it actually recorded signals from Curiosity as it landed- as noted in this article at Phys.Org.

Also India has plans to send a satellite to Mars with a launch date of Nov. 2013 according to Science Magazine

So unless those guys are "in on the action" the Curiosity project is money well spent so far, inasmuch as science is concerned. I also read a global net receives the signals from Mars so there are many international ties to the project.

Space exploration is a great investment. I read many articles where people are trying to explain the value of space exploration and they correctly describe the spin-off technologies and gadgets that have helped progress here on Earth, and the expansion of our knowledge of the known universe.

Very few of them have highlighted the fact that the billions spent on space programmes create jobs that would not otherwise exist. These jobs create further jobs and keep people in a position to earn a living. These jobs also yield taxes to the government.

Well done to everyone involved in the Curiosity programme. Thank you for keeping the spirit of human exploration alive and for feeding the imaginations of present and future generations.

For Mars Curiosity latest "raw" photos you can click on this link to check in and see the "latest images"

They are going to be great! Look at this image taken today , August 8th , by one of the cameras which has evidently taken its dust cover off. After clicking on "full resolution", then enlarge, and looking midway on the left side you can see the very tip of a huge black pyramid that has been buried in the Martian sand for a million years or so. ;-)

::edited this later to make simpler::

#17 DugsBooks

Thanks for posting the link.

#18, no problem - I got excited over the whole affair and watched it real time. To tell you the truth I was thinking 50/50 chance of a soft landing because of the complexity. My guess was not coming from any expertise on my part just the ghost of past Mars failures haunting my thoughts and causing anxiety.

Those 720p movies that Curiosity is going to take are going to be phenomenal if the photos taken so far are of any indication. I wish I could stream them somehow to my 1080p TV through netflix or whatever. It will be like sitting on the couch and looking through the windshield of a car on Mars! With a slow pan of the horizion I guess you could imagine you were standing there, btw I wonder how high the camera can be raised from ground level? To the eye height of a normal sized person perhaps?

#19

Yea, it's fascinating. It takes me back to 1969 and the grainy pictures we received from the Moon. Just as awe inspiring at the time, though not as technologically advanced.

The stuff dreams are made of.

DugsBooks@19,

Here, it says the mast camera's boresight is just under 2 meters above the ground. So, the eye height of a very tall person.

Thanks for the link dukedom.

Here is a neat link to a "panorama of 817 stitched images taken by the Opportunity rover from December 2011 to May 2012. The shots were taken on Greeley Haven, on the western edge of Mars’ Endeavor Crater.". It is interactive and fills the screen. Kind of like the pan I was thinking about in 19. It is kind of spectacular. I have a difficult time judging the distance and size of things however. I wonder how far to the horizon?

http://www.panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-haven.html

That is a supper panorama. It reminded me of the Heineken advert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_iPvUWyzhE

>22 For an eye height of 1.7m the distance to the horizon on Mars would be about 3.4Km. (As opposed to about 4.6Km on Earth.)

Hey, I am still alive to see this!

I can hardly wait for the by-pass of "Pluto".
Only a few more years to go.

Loved the "panorama" #22. Now book marked.

WOW, I am living in one of the most exciting era's in science.
Just wish I could see the rest :-)

Sometimes I gaze at "small infants" in their stroller, and am jealous that they will (probably) see the year 2100. And definitly 2050 (the so called 'spike', or is this already a passe idea?)

I just want to see where we are going.

Guido

A little reminder that there's a very good, lyrical blog about the earlier Mars rover, Opportunity, here:

http://roadtoendeavour.wordpress.com/

It's an unofficial blog by a UK-based Mars enthusiast who has some Photoshop skills which he uses on the raw image output from Opportunity; but, perhaps of more interest to those of us with a literary bent, the writer also has a more than reasonable facility with words and a good sense of the artistic potential of exploring a new world from afar.

(Usual disclaimer, as they say.)

I just had a thought and , despite good advice to the contrary, wanted to share it with you. When I saw the photos of the "titanium ballasts" that were ejected from the Curiosity lander I thought, "I hope that there are plans for the titanium." I am enthralled by "3D printing" and wondering if that technology might define this century. The printing of body organs on substrates etc. and of course tools and parts.

Should all the stuff sent to Mars be comprised of material that can be useful in the future? I'll bet a 3D printer will be on any long lived Mars base {or interstellar expedition} , be it manned or unmanned. Titanium has a high melting point I assume but could you use a mold printed in resin or some "lost wax" whatever to make tools on Mars? Maybe the expendable landers and chutes could be amendable as feedstock for making unanticipated technology updates? Whatdaya think?, should we keep in mind a "Star Trek replicator" application or do you think the NASA guys are already thinking this way?

> 27: Well, I've always thought that 3D printers are potentially the basis of (albeit very crude) matter transmitters. If your source object and your printer are separated not by the distance across a desk, but by the distance between continents - or even worlds - then you've basically got a teleport device. After all, that was basically the principle behind the MT in Rogue Moon, wasn't it?

Exactly, we could fiddle about on earth with the same "printer" on earth and once a solution was had just transmit the data. It would require a lab on Mars. I guess that in itself would be huge expenditure of energy, a long term project perhaps.

I think I have read Rogue Moon but a very long time ago - it sounds familiar....

From the BBC: The Drake Equation: How Many Alien Civilizations Exist?

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120821-how-many-alien-worlds-exist

brianjungwi > 30,

Always fun to play with the Drake equation. Being often pessimistic these days, I dropped the L value to 100 years; gives 188 civilizations now existing. Also, means we're about halfway through our expected communication span.

An article to the "Second annual 100 Year Starship Symposium" at space.com. I know we have broached this topic: " to ponder the technology, psychology, sociology, and economics of interstellar spaceflight." before here on SF at LT.

A few interesting posts analogous to this topic are here in the earlier "Exoplanets" thread.

Hi DugsBooks,

Do you have anymore links on/for/to that topic. ie. "realistic" interstellar travel?

guido47,

Centauri Dreams is "The News Forum of the Tau Zero Foundation." It has fascinating articles, at a higher level than usual for popular science, on exoplanets, space science, and speculation about future space technology. Numerous links along the sidebar.

OK, I see this is the fourth time I've mentioned that site on LT - but it really is worthwhile.

#33 Guido, Yep what Dukedom said ;-) A list of bookmarks along that topic would be neat.

Aha , I just found out my idea about the "3D" printers in space has reaffirmed my membership in the "rear guard" as usual {as opposed to the "avant-garde"}. Here is a link to an article about people who are already working on that, albeit in the very early stages.

http://www.techhive.com/article/251397/3d_printing_in_space_how_to_repair_your_s...

Aha! Here is another link that I found buried on my computer. It was posted here in SF some time ago. It is "Space Math", a great link to play with!

http://www.cthreepo.com/lab/math1.shtml/

My Exoplanets app reports this evening that a planet has been found around Alpha Centauri B. Only a 3 day year, so very toasty - but 1.13 Earth masses. Closest exoplanet known. Speculators, start your engines.

Just on TV (thus take with a grain of salt)

Google find:

http://dvice.com/archives/2012/10/astronomers-dis.php

>38: Should be a fillip to the Project Icarus guys:

http://www.icarusinterstellar.org/

saw this and thought of this thread, a courera course on astrobiology and the search for extraterrestial life given by the university of edinburgh
https://www.coursera.org/course/astrobio

The course looks interesting Brian, a chance for students to apply stuff they have already learned.

I clicked through to the recommended reading link which brought me to the Amazon.com page for the book recommended. While the "Also bought by people..." section of the page contained worthy books like "A brief history of time", etc... it also listed Dan Brown's "Deception Point".

I thought that was amusing.

Tau Ceti has five planets, one in its habitable zone. I love seeing another classic locus for SF stories shown actually to have planets.

So far this is the closest yet to old Sol, correct? We could draft 10 year olds and send them on a round trip perhaps?

Wondering if anyone has some stats. re. the % of
stars (of a certain nature - ie. no dwarfs, giants)
with exoplanets. And then the % with planets in the "goldilocks" zone?

I'm not 10yo. but I volunteer. I could bring the mission 'memory'. I remember watching "sputnik as a 10 yo. We'll just have to go faster :-)

ETA. Just noticed that WIKI has already mentioned the exoplanets.

>45: Not quite - Alpha Centauri also appears to have planets - but this would be very high on a survey list.

I believe Alpha Centauri has 1 confirmed planet, a gas giant, near the habitable zone. If it has moons that might be a possibility. Tau Ceti is the nearest star, of G or K type that is not a binary, with known planets. It does have a heavy debris disc however so the risk of asteroid impacts could be high.

I came across this 17 minute lecture on spectroscopy by Garik Israelian while browsing Ted Talks videos on Netflix. He does a good job of explaining how information is teased from data to find out what are the properties of astronomical bodies, using exoplanets as one example. The youtube vid was posted 3 years ago and I found it very entertaining. I don't think this has already been posted.

Garik Israelian: What's inside a star?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPLGuwXomYQ

I wonder if there is more up to date info on exoplanets by Garik on the net.

Proof of extraterrestrial Life? I stumbled on this article, I thought it would have made more headlines. The claims are rather spectacular but evidently disputed.

"In December 2012, a fireball was seen over the skies of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. Over the following few days, fragments of the fireball were collected and sent to Sri Lanka’s Medical Research Institute, where initial microscopic analysis revealed siliceous microalgae known as diatoms."

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/150417-astrobiologists-discover-fossils-in-me...

Diatomite used to be extracted on the northern shores of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. It was used in making explosives.

2 Good Places to Live, 1,200 Light-Years Away
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/science/space/2-new-planets-are-most-earth-lik...

1200 light years is depressing. Even if we'd sent a message beamed directly at them at around the time the Vikings were running up on North America, it'd still be in transit. Even if we'd launched a probe using today's fastest propulsion technology back when Stonehenge was built, it'd probably still not made it off the on ramp.