APF Telescopes used to Discover Nearby Planetary System

Posted on April 29, 2015 by adyacob
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HD 7924 Planetary System

This week, a collective team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, UC Berkeley & the University of California Observatories, and Tennessee State University has announced the discovery of a planetary system orbiting a nearby star, believed to be “just” 54 light years away from Earth. The planetary system was found with 3 ground-based telescopes located at observatories in Arizona, California, and Hawaii. These telescopes, known as Automated Planet Finders (APF) are optic telescopes that use radial velocity measurements to search for extrasolar planets as much as 20 times the mass of Earth. Using this technology, astronomers were able to discovery the planetary system through detecting the wobble of the star (HD7924) as the planets orbited and pulled on the star gravitationally.

The three planets making up the planetary system have masses 7-8 times the mass of Earth, and are said to orbit their star at a closer distance than Mercury orbits the Sun, with each planet completing its orbits in 5, 15, and 24 days. The discovery of new planetary systems using APF telescopes illustrates the “game-changing” role of automated telescopes in discovering extrasolar planets, and researches anticipate the discovery of similar planetary systems such as this in the near future.

From Astrobiology and Wikipedia


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Has NASA Discovered the SECRET to Interstellar Travel?

Posted on April 29, 2015 by leedd1

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The following quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson captures the importance of discovering new technologies that will aid us in interstellar travel:

“Routine travel among the stars is impossible without new discoveries regarding the fabric of space and time, or capability to manipulate it for our needs. By my read, the idea of a functioning warp drive remains far-fetched, but the real take-away is that people are thinking about it- reminding us all that the urge to explore continues to run deep in our species.”

What started the hype for warp-drive technology are the thrusters that they use to steer rockets called Electromagnetic Drive or EM drive. Scientists conducted an experiment in a vacuum with this technology. The results indicated that when lasers were fired in the EM drive’s chambers, some of the beams were measured to travel faster than the speed of light. Theoretically this happens because the laser beams are creating a warp field in the space-time foam that produces thrust that could potentially power spacecrafts bound for long distances. This is exciting news as it means that we can use this technology to explore or personally visit planets within habitable zones. However, according to a researcher on this experiment, it will be hard for us to turn off and turn the warp drive. Though there is a lot of hype surrounding this discovery, more experiment and research needs to be conducted.


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Public and private solutions to space exploration

Posted on April 29, 2015 by lindenmuthadam

I firmly believe that for space exploration to grow by leaps and bounds, there has to be economic incentives for entrepreneurs to create companies that explore the universe. Governmental agencies can do incredible things, but they are often held back by politics and budgetary shortfalls. Thankfully we are at the forefront of this change from government to private-led growth. Companies like SpaceX and Planetary Resources are pouring millions of investors’ dollars into space exploration, with the explicit goal of economic profit, but the side benefit of scientific discovery. I hope NASA, the ESA, and other agencies can continue to collaborate with these companies, because the effects would benefit everyone.


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“Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.”

Posted on April 29, 2015 by christophermfitzgerald

One of my favorite quotes from my one of my favorite movies, Interstellar, perfectly sums up my feelings towards human progression into space. Ever since I was first asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I knew I wanted to be an astronaut. Though I may not be on the path now, for as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by space and space exploration. Astronomy has been one of my favorite courses at Vanderbilt and was a great break from classes in my economics major. I wish I had started classes in astronomy sooner in my career here because then I would have had a chance to pursue a minor before I graduate. I don’t think anything would have been funnier than having a major in econ with a minor in astronomy because then I could tell everyone that I know the economies of the stars.

This class has shown me things that have boggled my mind and I know for a fact that I can’t comprehend many of the things I have learned. It has developed my world sense and helped me realize that many things that happen here in our limited and small time on Earth are petty and useless. I feel as if I am one of the smallest cogs in a wheel of a greater engine that is roaring down a highway, but even though I am small I help turn the engine and keep it going. This is not to say that I feel less value in myself now, I actually feel more. I feel the need to proliferate the ideas of astronomy and the greater sense of our place in the universe that can be achieved through its knowledge to my limited friends and family so they too can understand. I wouldn’t say that I am politically active or that I feel the need to support movements but I can say for sure that whenever I have the chance I will vote for pro space exploration politicians and legislature. I would do anything and more to help the cause so that someday my ancestors may have the chance to leave this Earth that I will never have.

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

–Dylan Thomas

I will end with a picture I made on photoshop when I should have been studying for this final – featuring a kangaroo from the Nashville Zoo with its joey superimposed on the Colorado flag created from pictures taken by the Hubble space telescope:

KangarooJackClean


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Not faster than light, but still incredible

Posted on April 29, 2015 by lindenmuthadam

The use of ion thrusters (literally using ionized electrons and protons as a source of thrust!) in space has been floated around as a method for interstellar propulsion in science fiction for decades, yet was not a reality until the turn of the millennium. Scientists at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio developed ion engine technologies that were equipped to deep-space probes like Dawn and Deep Space 1. The ion thrusters aren’t terribly fast–having been compared to a car doing 0-60 in two days–but they are incredibly efficient. They use a miniscule fraction of propellant compared to what conventionally-fueled rockets require. The frontiers of this technology continue to be pushed, and although it is unlikely to be used for human spaceflight, the efficiency of these engines will continue to improve by leaps and bounds.


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The Scope of the Universe

Posted on April 29, 2015 by emilyksharp

Although we talked about the scale of the Sun, the galaxy, and the rest of the universe, it didn’t really hit me until the end of the semester just how gigantic the scale is. Sure, it helped to learn that if the Sun were the size of a basketball, the Earth would be about as big as a pea. If the universe was shrunk so that the Sun was the size of a melon and located in California, the next closest star would be located in Washington, D.C. If we think about the size of the universe itself, it’s hard to even comprehend the possible distances. It would take 14 billion years, travelling at the speed of light, to cross the observable universe. And we don’t even know what, if anything, lies beyond that.

Despite all of these scales and comparisons, I did not understand the size of the universe until we talked about Voyager 1 and the Pale Blue Dot. It has taken a spacecraft launched by humans nearly forty years to reach the outer parts of our solar system, but it would still take it a few hundred even reach the Oort Cloud. We can hope that the information sent by our small, insignificant blue dot will be found by other intelligent beings, but the universe is just too big for us to know what is out there.

It can be easy to feel small and insignificant when one considers the size of the entire universe, but the fact that all of us are composed of material created in the explosions of stars is also empowering. If the universe has the power to create a group of organisms like humans, who have the power to function so intellectually and so curiously, there must be much more out there for us to discover. We simply have to continue to innovate and to explore.

palebluedot

The Pale Blue Dot, a photograph of Earth captured by Voyager 1 at a distance of 40 AU from Earth (Voice Chronicle)


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Sending Chuck Berry to Space

Posted on April 29, 2015 by emilyksharp

In 1977, NASA launched the spacecraft Voyager 1 into space to observe Jupiter and Saturn and, eventually, to travel outside our own solar system to explore interstellar space. The probe is still traveling and, though it will take a few hundred more years for it to even reach the Oort Cloud, it is the farthest-traveling probe that humans have ever sent into space. It is currently about 11 billion miles away.

Because it has traveled so far, we really don’t know what – or who – it could encounter. Humans have not detected any sign of extraterrestrial life emitting signals or attempting to communicate with beings like us (see more on theories of life and Fermi’s paradox here). However, in the case that Voyager 1 does meet aliens in its journey out of the solar system, the spacecraft is prepared.

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The current location of Voyager 1, mapped by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The small probe is equipped with a record player and a record made of gold that could be played by other creatures that would happen to find the probe. Scientists say that if creatures were able to locate it, they would have the intellectual and technological capability to work it. The golden record is likely still in good condition, as it is sealed in an aluminum sheath and preserved in an airtight vacuum. (NASA JPL)

The record contains a wide variety of sounds from Earth – including whale sounds, other natural sounds, the crying of a baby, and the sound of a car – as well as greetings in fifty-five different languages, a peaceful salutation from the Secretary General of the U.N., and a message from American President Carter. Also included on the record was music from several areas of the globe representing many ethnic backgrounds, including American singer Chuck Berry. There is even information encoded on the record itself; it is inscribed with a model of how to play the record and a diagram of our understanding of the Solar System. (The Atlantic)

Though Voyager 1 may soon fall outside the range of interacting with NASA, it will continue to travel through space. We can only wonder if other creatures will find the record and the rest of the probe, but the possibility of communicating with other beings in the universe is nothing less than intriguing.

More about Voyager 1 here


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Is Earth a Zoo for the Universe?

Posted on April 29, 2015 by christophermfitzgerald

The Fermi Paradox has sparked a lot of minds to find solutions, one of the more interesting was proposed by John Ball back in 1973. Known as the Zoo Hypothesis, it suggests that aliens have purposefully kept at bay from our galaxy so as to observe us in our natural habitat. The theory submits that if humans were to detect the observing aliens it would ruin the zoo because humans would change how we act. Though they may not be actively hiding themselves, they may just be advanced past our levels of detection – we could essentially be goldfish in a bowl for them. Aliens could be watching us as part of a scientific purposes or just to let us grow on our own as part of a natural preservation. Whatever the reason, our only way of ever finding out will be advancement in technology.

Earth Zoo


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Thoughts

Posted on April 28, 2015 by alephnulluniverse

People said that the current generation is born too early to explore space, yet born too late to explore Earth. I do not believe that to be true.

Humans are learning and exploring space everyday through space probes, telescopes, and other instruments. While, the current generation will probably not be able to explore space physically, they can explore space through technology.

Source
Source

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Human Expansion

Posted on April 28, 2015 by dillonkoval

The future is a terrifying, exhilarating venture regardless of the scope. As the human population on Earth grows, it is quite possible that we begin to set hungry eyes on extraterrestrial real estate (assuming technological advances that make it possible/profitable). The moon, being only a short hop away, would likely be the first extraterrestrial human colony. Imagine then the move to colonize Mars, a more likely target than Venus due to Venus’s temperature and volcanism. The slow crawl of development across the iron-rich barrens of the red planet would be an incredible thing to see. The major setbacks would be having oxygen to breath and a renewable source of food on both of these rules, but perhaps there are solutions. In vitro meat production and portable greenhouse programs may offer the basis for extraterrestrial food production, and there are certain bacteria that can convert various gas molecules to oxygen molecules and other waste through metabolic processes. From there we could, theoretically, move to more distance worlds like the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. The new frontier would be our Solar System, with enterprising adventurers soaring through space to make new discoveries and move the human race forward. It is this exploration that the field of astronomy prepares for, an act of optimism and a thirst for discovery in mankind’s final frontier.

Space Travel
Space Travel

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