Living the fast life: Kepler-70b

The Kepler spacecraft (which was feared lost earlier this week) has discovered a veritable treasure trove of exoplanets over its seven year mission. Some of these planets may even be habitable.

Kepler-70b is decidedly not one of them.

Kepler-70b is the closer of two terrestrial planets to KOI-55, a subdwarf star which was once a red giant. Its radius is approximately three quarters of Earth’s radius. However, that may be where the similarities end.

The planet is remarkably close to its parent star, and thus has one of the shortest recorded orbital periods: 5.76 hours. Being so close, it is almost certainly too hot and irradiated to be habitable. How is a terrestrial planet so close to a star which was once a red giant? Astronomers postulate that Kepler-70b was once a gas giant, but was enveloped as its parent star grew, evaporating most of its gas and leaving only the rocky core behind. It is also speculated that Earth too will someday be swallowed by the Sun, but it isn’t thought that the planet will survive in any form.

Read what I read!

Universe Today

Exoplanet.eu

Artist’s impression of Kepler-70b. Source

Comet vs. Jupiter: the unfortunate fate of Shoemaker-Levy 9

On March 24, 1993, a comet was discovered by Eugene & Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy. It was the ninth comet that the the three had collaborated to discover, thus it was dubbed “Shoemaker-Levy 9”. However, as they soon discovered, this was no ordinary comet; it was a fragmented one that had been captured and was on a collision course with Jupiter. Scientists eagerly anticipated the impacts of the fragments, which were ascertained to take place between July 16 and July 24th of 1994.

The impacts were massive, and created fireballs which lit up infrared telescopes around the world. The marks left by the collisions were present for months and were the darkest spots to ever be observed on Jupiter.

For more on the impacts, including media coverage, images, and scientific conclusions, read what I read at Ron Baalke’s NASA site on the impact. Baalke’s site was one of the most influential in the history of the internet, and helped the world to recognize the potential that this new information-sharing medium held.

Pictured: the impact of SL9 on the bottom left of the planet. The bright object on the right is the satellite Io. Source

The moon of Europa, or your practical guide to ice skating in space

On this blog we answer the questions that matter.

Do you love astronomy? Do you also love ice skating? (I’m looking at you, Dr. G..) What if I told you that you could have the best of both worlds? You can(!), albeit approximately 4.2 AU away from Earth.

Enter Europa, Jupiter’s icy sixth (both largest and closest) moon.

Pictured: tracks from Jupiter’s ice skates

Europa is an extremely young moon despite being the second extraterrestrial moon ever discovered, and as such features a liquid water ocean beneath the icy crust, and a layer of volcanic activity beneath the ocean. In addition to its composition, Europa also has several quirky features such as its lineae on its surface, the massive water plumes it fires into space, and an (extremely thin) oxygenated atmosphere.  It is this unique composition and its other quirks which give scientists hope that there may be extraterrestrial life here in our solar system beneath the icy surface of Europa.

Currently NASA is investigating the feasibility of landing a probe on Europa, and there are multiple scheduled missions that will collect data on the moon without actually landing on it.

Meanwhile, I’m going to start learning how to ice skate.

Read what I read!

NASA

Europa Lander Mission

Forgotten, but not always gone: the various fates of planetary probes

 

Pictured: an artist’s depiction of Voyager 1, also known as one of the lucky ones. Sometime around 2025, however, it(s power supply) too shall come to pass, and it will die a free probe – more on that later. Source

Bad news: your favorite space probe has been deactivated or worse – its power ran out. What’s the next step? For us as humans, tears for what we’ve lost but ultimately, hope – as long as the government (or Elon Musk) cares, more things will be shot into space. For the space probe, well, that can depend on the mission. There are three main fates for wayward probes: orbit, impact, and jailbreak escape from the solar system.

Orbit

By and large, the primary fate which space probes meet (other than failure to escape the Earth’s gravity – I’m looking at you, early Soviet probes and no-longer-early Russian probes) is that of orbit, be it around the Sun or around other solar system objects. However, probes orbiting other planets or moons will eventually…

Impact

The same civilization which derives viewing pleasure from this also has no qualms about crashing some of its most sophisticated technological achievements into other planets. While all artificial objects in orbit around planets or moons will fall eventually, sometimes we take matters into our own hands by smashing probes into comets or even the moon – for the sake of knowledge, of course! But although impact is certainly more glamorous than a slow death orbiting the Sun, it can’t hold a candle to…

Escape!

Among all the objects mankind has ever constructed, from Lamborghinis to Pintos, from Yeezys to your dad’s flip-flops, only one has escaped (the oppression of) our solar system: the Voyager 1 probe, which was launched on 5 September 1976 and is still somehow transmitting data back to Earth. Also on the way out of the solar system (but not quite out yet) are two derelict Pioneer probes (10 and 11), launched in 1972, Voyager 2 (also launched in 1976), and the New Horizons spacecraft, which was launched in 2006, in addition to four rocket boosters and two counterweights from New Horizons. The Voyager craft and Pioneer craft each carry messages to any extra terrestrial life that may encounter the probes in the future. Below is a video about Voyager 1 crossing into interstellar space.

 

Read what I read!

Click the links in the text!

Objects escaping the solar system

I’ve got this giant telescope and I don’t know where to put it: a guide for all your telescope placement needs.

Light pollution, alternatively known as the astronomer’s worst enemy. Source

Hey, where should I put my giant telescope?

Ideally, you would put your telescope into space! Space is most advantageous for observing the stars because most types of non-visible light are blocked by our atmosphere; this wider spectrum of detectable light allows for more detailed study of some of the universe’s greatest extremes. Some of the most famous telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope are actually located in Earth’s orbit instead of here on earth!

 

Pictured: the best place to put your telescope. Source

Look man, I’m no Elon Musk. I saved for years to get my giant telescope, can’t I just cut costs now by putting it in my backyard?

Do you live in a city? Do you live near a city? Do you live within a few miles of any source of artificial light?

Yeah…

Well then you might want to hold off on setting up your own little observatory in your backyard! If you want your telescope to be a world class stargazing machine, you need to get it away from light pollution. Light pollution is an artificial brightening of the night sky caused by man-made lights. It is extremely destructive to astronomical observations – some telescopes have even been decommissioned because of encroaching light pollution! Most observatories have no form of external lighting on them, so watch your step when you’re headed inside.

Pictured: a light pollution map of the United States, alternatively known as where not to put your telescope. Source

Okay, so I can’t put it anywhere convenient to human civilization. Whatever, I can deal – stars are cool! Is there anything else I should worry about?

Well, there’s a couple more things to consider: you don’t want there to be any wind.

No wind?

No wind. Turbulence in the air can lead to some serious distortion of your images. This means that you shouldn’t put your observatory directly on the coast, where there’s lots of wind.

Okay, what about the second thing? You said a “couple more things”.

Oh yeah! Clouds. You should probably make sure it isn’t cloudy all the time wherever you decide to put your telescope. It’s hard to see through clouds.

So, away from the coast, away from cities, and where it’s sunny? How about the middle of the desert?

Great idea! Many of the world’s foremost observatories are located in the middle of the desert, including Cornell University’s planned observatory in the middle of the Chilean desert.

It seems like you’ve got a pretty good handle on this – I’ll leave the rest up to you!

Read what I read!

Caltech: Why do we put telescopes in space?

Cornell: How does light pollution affect astronomers?

Telescope Optics: Turbulence error

 

Celestial NASCAR: Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

Kepler’s Second Law as interpreted by our friends at XKCD

Before 1609, the scientific consensus in Europe was that the planets orbited the Earth in perfect circles; even dissenting views such as Copernican heliocentricism relied upon perfect circles to guide objects around the Sun. Johannes Kepler, however, motivated by minute errors in planetary distances discovered when attempting to construct Copernicus’ model, revolutionized astronomy with his laws of planetary motion.

First Law of Planetary Motion

Kepler’s First Law asserts that a planet’s orbit is the shape of an ellipse, and the Sun is located at one of the foci of the ellipse.

Source

Second Law of Planetary Motion

Kepler’s Second Law states that a line connecting the planet to the Sun will “sweep out” equal areas in equal times during the planet’s orbit; this means that a planet will move faster the closer it is to the Sun and it will move slower as it goes further from the Sun.

Source

Third Law of Planetary Motion

Although the Third Law was not published until 1618, nine years after the first two laws, it is no less significant than the preceding laws. The Third Law says that the square of a planet’s orbital period is proportional to the cube of its semimajor axis. This establishes that there is a positive relationship between how far a planet is from the Sun and how long it takes to orbit the Sun

Source

Read what I read!

Johannes Kepler – Britannica

Kepler’s laws of planetary motion – Britannica

Johannes Kepler’s 3 Laws of Planetary Motion – Buzzle

Johannes Kepler: The Laws of Planetary Motion – UT Knoxville Astrophysics

More than just a Queen lyric: Galileo and his part in 17th century Europe

Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Justus Sustermans – Source

Galileo Galilei (15 Feb 1564 – 8 Jan 1642) played an integral role in the astronomical community’s transition from the Aristotelian geocentric model of the universe to the heliocentric model of the universe, which, although still incorrect, was a more accurate representation of the heavens. While he did not invent the telescope, Galileo refined the instrument, allowing him to make several astronomical discoveries, including the phases of Venus, the Moon’s imperfect edges, sunspots, and four of Jupiter’s moons. Such discoveries shattered the Aristotelian worldview which was officially sponsored by the Catholic Church, thus marking the beginning of the split between the Church and the sciences – Galileo would be sentenced to house arrest because of his continued public support of the heliocentric worldview following a previous (ambiguous) warning not to do so. (Read more!)

While Galileo was gazing at the heavens, the majority of Continental Europe was embroiled in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), a war which escalated from a religious conflict within the Holy Roman Empire and eventually saw a decline in Hapsburg supremacy and the rise of Bourbon France at the cost of nearly 8,000,000 killed. (Read more!)

Meanwhile in the Western Hemisphere, in 1620, the Puritan Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in present day Massachusetts; they wished to escape Europe’s climate of religious tension and conflict. (Read more!)

In the twilight of Galileo’s life, philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) was in his childhood. Locke would go on to define the philosophical concept of self and his political philosophy was very influential on democratic movements (such as the American Revolution) in the 18th century and beyond. (Read more!)

Understanding the context of Galileo’s world allows us to view his scientific contributions as a piece of what was a tumultuous period of much upheaval in European history – the world of astronomy was a just one part of the maelstrom which was 17th century Europe.

The best way to propose to an astronomer: Solar eclipses

 

You measure this kind of ring in candelas instead of carats. Image

A solar eclipse, which is the only acceptable way to propose to an astronomer, is a fairly uncommon event which occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. Although the Moon is much smaller than the Sun, it is able to completely block the Sun because it is much closer to the Earth. There are four types of solar eclipses: total, partial, annular, and hybrid.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon completely blocks sunlight from reaching a part of the Earth. The shadow created by the Moon is called an umbra, and it covers a small portion of the Earth, traveling along the ground as the Earth rotates. The amount of time that the Sun is completely blocked is referred to as the period of totality.

A total solar eclipse, photograph courtesy of NASA

A partial solar eclipse takes place when the Moon partially blocks the Sun’s light from reaching the Earth. In the case of partial eclipses, the Moon’s shadow is a penumbra, and can be visible across large portions of the Earth’s surface. Even during total eclipse events, most areas will only experience a partial eclipse.

A partial solar eclipse, photograph courtesy of NASA

An annular solar eclipse is an eclipse which occurs when the Moon is at or near its farthest point from the Earth in its orbit (the Moon varies in distance from the Earth, fluctuating between 362,600 km and 405,400 km away from the Earth), causing the sun to not be fully obscured by the Moon. This occurs because the umbra is projected no longer than 379,000 km from the Moon. During these eclipses, an annulus, or ring of fire, appears around the Moon.

An annular solar eclipse, photograph courtesy of ABC News

Hybrid solar eclipses are created when the Moon’s orbital distance is near the umbra’s distance limit. During a hybrid eclipse, the Moon at first is too far away from the Earth to create a total eclipse, causing an annular eclipse. Further along the eclipse path, the Moon draws closer to the Earth, leading to a total eclipse. Hybrid eclipses are the rarest form of eclipse.

As always, please reply with any questions and I will respond ASAP in order to earn the conversation bonus.

 

So, is a light-year some kind of diet plan or whatever? The speed of light and space

To answer the titular question in a word: no.

So then, what exactly is a light-year and what does it have to do with the speed of light?

A light-year is the amount of distance that a given light wave (light, radio waves, X-rays) travels in a year. Because the speed of light is approximately 300,000 meters per second, a light wave travels around 9,500,000,000,000 (9.5 trillion) kilometers over the course of a year. Light-years are useful for measuring distances outside of our solar system; a light year is 63,000 times greater than the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Source

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 100,000 light-years in diameter. Image

What bearing does the speed of light have on astronomy?

Because light takes a long time to cover the massive distances between the Earth and the stars (the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 4.4 light-years away), the light that reaches us here on Earth was produced long before it found its way to Earth. For example, when we see light from a star that is a million light-years away, we are actually viewing that star as it appeared one million years ago – it took the light produced a million years ago that much time to cover the massive distance between the star and our telescopes. Because of this, we are able to observe how the universe appeared in its early stages. When we view objects that are 14 billion light years away, the delay in the light’s arrival provides astronomers with a window into the past.

Have any questions? Sound off in the comment section below – I’ll make sure to reply in order to earn the conversation bonus.

Aut viam

“Aut viam inveniam aut faciam”

“I will either find a way or I will make one”

– Hannibal Barca, before crossing the Alps with his army

Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps as depicted by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)  Image Source