Kentucky Space

"Haul" of new exoplanets being reported

Discovered by the European Southern Observatory's La Silla facility in Chile using the radial velocity technique, 32 new exoplanets are being reported this week, according to the BBC. Key quote:

The discovery is exciting because it suggests that low-mass planets could be numerous in our galaxy.

'From [our] results, we know now that at least 40% of solar-type stars have low-mass planets. This is really important because it means that low-mass planets are everywhere, basically,' explained Stephane Udry from Geneva University, Switzerland.

'What's very interesting is that models are predicting them, and we are finding them; and furthermore the models are predicting even more lower-mass planets like the Earth.'

The report pushes the number of known exoplanets to over 400.

Wayne

What surprises await?

One of my favorite bloggers, the "bad astronmer" Phil Plait, is hosts a Discover panel on the big questions of universe. Here is part two - "what surprises might be lurking out there?" - of that panel. As astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter explains near the end, a theory about everything would truly be unexpected.

Wayne

Space

TED Video: Could Enceladus harbor life?

In a very brief return engagement, planetary scientist Carolyn Porco tells the audience at this year's TED that the particular heated chemistry of the Saturn moon Enceladus could be an indication that the the small moon with the big geology could harbor life.

Wayne

Ancient Antarctic "extremophile" discovered

Discovered: Antarctic microbe hibernating for a million and a half years with no food, sunlight. Such "extremophiles" might hold implications for life elsewhere.

The fact that organisms can survive in extreme — seemingly lethal — conditions is nothing new. Researchers have found creatures living at boiling vents on the floor of the ocean, in desert sands that virtually never see water; fossilized remains of microorganisms have even been found inside of rocks. Antarctic life, however, has always been a more complex matter. Antarctica was once a warmer, wetter land than it is now, but continental migration pushed it from place to place, leaving it — for the current epoch at least — at the bottom of the planet, where it became little more than a frozen desert. Its valleys are some of the driest places on the Earth, receiving less than 4 inches of precipitation per year. Species that thrived when Antarctica was green would have been entirely wiped out, unless they could adapt — and fast.

Wayne

Robert Zee, Low cost missions at Space Flight Laboratory

Robert Z, Space Flight Laboratory, University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, is up.

Programs include MOST, an astronomy satellite, the CanX series, and NTS - nanosat tracking of ships. NTS is passively magnetically stabilized.

MOST fixes on starts to gauge characteristics of the stars. It's pointing capability is impressive. Now imaging about 30 stars at a time.

CanX2 is a 3U with propulsion system experiment - it's not designed to change orbit.

He describesthe launch campaign, which uses Indian PLLV-C9. Space Flight Laboratory can act a flight facilitator and he invites other flyers. As for ITAR, if Canada sends technology to the states, restrictions are much less onerous.

He points out that XPOD and PPOD will accept any standard CubeSat.

Their sats employ S-band and UHF ground stations. The S-band is networked to other locations.

CanX-2 and CanX-6 are one month away from one year anniversary on orbit.

Nanosat space astronomy mission, BRight Target Explorer (CanX-3) uses nanosatellite star tracker developed in Canada to contribute to BRITE is only 6Kg. MOST is 53Kg.

CanX 4 and 5 will employ formation flying, which could enable stereo imaging, among other technical achievements. They will employ intersatellite communications and three axis attitude control. The bus developed for multi-missions is very versatile.

Have looked at generic nanosatellite missions to the moon and Mars.

Commercial future for these sats? Work left in miniaturization and power reduction technology. De-orbiting requirement, efficient propulsion systems needed.

Flight Laboratory, Funding comes from sixty percent foreign. No funding from university itself. That's it.

Wayne

Video: Spitzer takes in atmospheres of distant planets

Though it wasn't designed to do so, the Spitzer Space Telescope is observing the atmospheres of distant worlds, as this JPL video explains. With the launch of Kepler - which is also regularly tweeting - and the ongoing work of CoROT, technology and science could be gaining on some age old questions.

Wayne

Video of Kepler launch

In case you missed Friday's launch of Kepler, here are the last few moments of the countdown and first four minutes, with telemetry callouts, of the flight.

Wayne

"Billions" of other Earths?

Kepler, which will focus for three years on the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way with the goal of locating potential Earth-like planets, is set to launch in the coming week. Needless to say the find of a planet in the habitable zone of another star could startle.

But a recent CNN article points out perhaps it shouldn't come as too big a surprise.

Does Jupiter hide a super-Earth?

At the Planetary Society Emily Lakdawalla asks, does Jupiter have a "super-Earth" at its center?

The results of a new computer model developed by Burkhard Militzer and four coauthors suggest that deep inside the solar system's largest planet sits an inner rock-and-metal core the mass of 14 to 18 Earths, surrounded by an envelope of ices of methane, ammonia, and water, surrounded by an atmosphere of mostly hydrogen and helium containing few ices. Essentially, the model says that Jupiter = Neptune with a whole lot of hydrogen and helium around it.

As she points out, the issue could be really important to understanding how planetary formation begins. If Militzer is right, we can't be sure about we know of recently discovered gas giants elsewhere in the Milky Way.

Wayne

Exoplanet image best ever

Based on data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, this digital rendering of HD80606B, which has a very highly eccentric, comet-like orbit around its parent star, is the most accurate image of an exoplanet yet. Video of that orbit has also found its way to YouTube. More about his image can be found at the outstanding blog Centauri Dreams.

Wayne

NASA/JPL-Caltech/G. Laughlin (UCO/Lick Observatory)