Showing posts with label Planets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planets. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Sulfur Dioxide Could Point to Active Volcanoes on Venus
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| Image Credit: Artist’s impression of an active volcano on Venus. Credit: ESA/AOES |
Earlier this month, the ESA's Venus Express, which has been orbiting Venus since 2006, detected fluctuations in the sulfur dioxide content of the planet's upper atmosphere, which could potentially indicate the presence of volcanic activity on it's surface. As usual, taken on their own, the probe's findings are inconclusive, and a variety of other phenomena could also be responsible for the fluctuation; including regular but, as of yet undefined anomalies, within the circulatory patterns of Venus' atmosphere. But taken along with various other scientific observations made of the planet over the years, they do seem to reinforce the widely held view that Venus' surface could still very well be rich with volcanic activity.
So this story, originally from Dec 3rd, goes on the list of science news items that I inevitably wind up missing in the noise of the web. And while I don't really have anything of value to add to it, since I don't have any scientific expertise of my own to offer, it seems like people only really care about space science if it involves potential alien life- if they care at all in the first place. And while keeping Venus extremely low, if not outright absent altogether where any list of potential home worlds for alien life forms is concerned is likely a pretty safe bet, that doesn't make understanding the science of how that world works, any less interesting or important. Because Aliens, are not the only reason to care about space.
That's why I was going to torment us both with a lot of text about all the interesting things I have now taken the time to learn about the planet, as a result of reading about the ESA's findings. Since, much to my own shame, I realized I actually didn't know much about the planet myself, outside of a few standard trivia-grade fun facts. But, thankfully for both of us, YouTube is a thing, and has yet to be fully cleansed of worthwhile content.
So instead, I offer Cosmic Journeys- Venus, the death of a planet, from Jason media, which you'll find below, and which includes loads of worthwhile information on the historical, as well as, the current scientific understanding of Venus itself, along a variety of other related astronomical phenomena. All in all, it's a pretty descent, and well produced series in general, and I really like it thus far. Although, in this particular episode, I cold have done without the sci-fi tangent that picks up around the 4:30 mark. But in the producers' defense, I did go looking for First Spaceship on Venus, immediately after watching it.
So instead, I offer Cosmic Journeys- Venus, the death of a planet, from Jason media, which you'll find below, and which includes loads of worthwhile information on the historical, as well as, the current scientific understanding of Venus itself, along a variety of other related astronomical phenomena. All in all, it's a pretty descent, and well produced series in general, and I really like it thus far. Although, in this particular episode, I cold have done without the sci-fi tangent that picks up around the 4:30 mark. But in the producers' defense, I did go looking for First Spaceship on Venus, immediately after watching it.
Image Credit: ESA/AOES
Posted by YouTube user: SpaceRip
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Astronomers Believed to Have Found First Rogue planet
In case you're completely unfamiliar:
Rouge (nomadic/orphan/ETC) planets are, well, exactly what they sound like- planetary bodies which are not gravitationally bound to a parent star or system; instead revolving around galaxies themselves. These objects are believed to occur as a result of their having either been ejected from a parent system, or developing as a type of sub brown dwarf (objects that never quite attained enough mass to achieve fusion and become a star) that was never actually bound to any other object in the first place. Last week, a team of astrophysicists from the University of Montreal, reported the discovery of what they believe to be the first direct observation of such a planet.
The object in question; Planet "CFBDSIR2149" - which isn't even the entire designation for the object BTW- was found amongst a group of relatively young stars (around 50-120 million years old) which make up a formation called the AB Doradus Moving group. The apparent planet's "close" proximity to our own, around 75 light years from Earth, and the fact that there isn't a nearby parent star obstructing our view with it's own intense glow, means researchers have actually been able to do a detailed analysis of the object's atmosphere.
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| Actual image of newly found rogue planet CFBDSIR2149. Image Credit: CFHT/P. Delorme |
This isn't actually the first potential rogue planet ever to have been discovered. And there is always a chance that further observation could contradict these initial findings, given that this is the closest and least obstructed candidate yet known. But it seems likely at this stage that CFBDSIR2149, will end up as our first confirmed observation of an unbound planetary mass.
Oh, and in case you were wondering. Yes, people have already started asking the "Nibiru" question. Is Ancient Astronauts still a thing? And are they currently filming? If so, $20 says they're the first to work this angle into their...um, "theories".
-CAINE-
SOURCE: UdeMNouvelles, SLATE/BadAstronomy
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Newly Identified Lake on Europa Could Increase The Odds it Harbors Life
Though I have concluded that I am not a huge fan of the whole theme-week thing, as I suspected I would not be. There were at least two other planets I had intended to get to during last week's little experiment. Both are places that I think are particularly exciting worlds to ponder because of the unique set of conditions on each. And since it is my blog...At first glance, Jupiter's sixth closest moon would seem to be a near featureless, dead ball of ice, hardly the kind of place most would think of as being hospitable to life. But there's an ever growing body of evidence which clearly suggests that beneath it's icy surface, there is a deep sea of liquid water with an estimated volume of two to three times that of all the oceans on Earth, covering Europa's rocky interior. Most recently, researches analyzing data collected by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in 1995-2003, identified what they believe to be signs of a body of water about the size of the great lakes sitting just a few miles beneath the planet's surface.
Then there are the dark lines which form the moon's most prominent features, which are actually deep cracks in the ice shell which covers it. Those cracks are believed to be formed by the gravitational pull of Jupiter essentially stretching and squeezing the planet like a rubber ball, causing the ice to crack and in turn, allowing warm salty water to flow up from beneath and fill them. Some theorize that process alone could generate enough heat to sustain a liquid ocean beneath Europa's ice sheets. But even if not, other processes like thermal venting from within the planet's core could also be contributing heat, as well as various minerals into the watery subsurface, minerals which could potentially aid in the development of life. There isn't yet any way of knowing for sure weather or not any of this is true of course. The idea that life might exist on Europa if it is, is a particularly speculative one. But it does make for an undeniably interesting thought experiment; trying to visualize how life might have developed on a world where ice becomes the atmosphere that shields you from the radiation of the sun, the vacuum of space, and serves to hold in the heat needed to sustain your existence. A world devoid of light, where there is no such thing as open air, and no way to leave the water into which you were born.
If there is life on Europa, it's a safe bet that it isn't advanced enough to ponder it's existence. But it's also within the realm of possibility to think that if there is life on the frozen moon, it might have managed to develop into something more complex than the types of microbial life we're most likely to find Mars. The odds are admittedly against such a thing on either account. But it's still cool to think about.
-CAINE-
Source: Wired Science
Image Credit: NASA/JPL
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