This weird picture is set to resemble a massive planet scientists have just discovered. This planet is about nine times the size of Jupiter, and its in its very early stage of formation. This star was discovered through the use of a Hawaiian telescope, and it was discovered floating “unusually far” from its parent star. Evidence from this planet suggests this is the earliest in formation we have ever observed a planet at. This planet is also only 508 light years away from us. Although that seems like a huge amount, in astronomical terms, that is actually very close.
This planet is approaching its maximum size to be considered a planet. If it continues to grow, it will soon be called a brown dwarf. This is the classification for something of intermediate size between a planet and a star. Planets like this, in the process of formation, have only been observed around one other star prior to this. This planets formation is also challenging the previous conceptions of scientists on the birth of planets, this new data is causing scientists to reconsider their theory’s.
The Drake equation, as we know, has served to estimate the amount of possible intelligent life in the universe. Up to this point, we only know of one, us. We were previously searching for life by looking for radio signals. But obviously, we have not had success with this. Despite this, a new method of searching for life has arose, and scientists and astronomers are optimistic this could better lead us in the search for other life. We now are beginning to search for “biosignatures“, which are signs of life, despite the fact that the planet may have not developed any intelligent life yet. This may come in the form of Methane in the atmosphere, or other signs of life.
This allows us to split the Drake Equation, having one equation for biosignatures and one for technosignatures(technological signs of life). This is helpful because we know from our own planet that the formation of intelligent life takes an insane amount of time, and we’re much much more likely to just find life than intelligent life, and any discovery is very useful.
When I enrolled in this class at first, I knew that quite obviously the class would be focused on learning more about the Solar System (as the title of the class was quite literally “The Solar System’). However, I think that what we covered in this class did help me learn much more about the solar system and universe than I had at first anticipated, with interesting and elaborate connections to other scientific fields as well.
Particularly, I found learning about the environment and geography of each planet very interesting. For example, learning that Pluto may have an ocean core was shocking and at first hard to visualize in my mind. Then discovering how the planet actually had all these really unique and unexplainable features, like ice mountains and active tectonics of some sort, made me appreciate the work of NASA and other space agencies more. I see that the drone missions weren’t there just to take cool pictures and leave, rather they served a distinctive purpose and where able to give us on Earth much greater insight into the solar system, knowledge that could be quite useful to our understanding of the world. I also walked away with respect for those on the mission and the hard work, vision and discipline they had in order to achieve this.
I also enjoyed learning more about how other branches of science play into astronomy and how, like mathematics, physics, engineering, and biology. I think this class did a good job of not only explaining exactly how these connections work (like in the physics / asteroid worksheet) but also why they are important to facilitate and the benefits of doing so. I personally think thats a good message and agree that in order to discover some of the truths of the Universe you have to be a bit creative and use all of the knowledge and tools you can get.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this class and learning not only more about the solar system but also other scientific fields as well. I thought that the engagement between the two was interesting and affirming, and I look forward to carrying this new perspective with me and applying it in the future.
Nobel prize winning physicist Enrico Fermi, over casual lunch 70 years ago in 1950, asked confronted this very same question (Space). Given the current scientific literature of his time, Fermi realized that the requirements for life are not as elusive or as complex as one might expect them to be. So, since life is not as improbable or unique as we had first imagined, why haven’t we yet had any (proven) interactions with other intelligent species? Is there something we are missing, is there some event that we have not yet come across, as an intelligent species, that makes this question hard to answer?
In many ways, the Fermi Paradox raises more questions than it answers. Fermi himself believed that the lack of extraterrestrial visits was likely evidence that other intelligent life did not exist, but he had also imagined some other potentialities, which I think are logically valid and worth considering. Fermi posed that perhaps aliens traveling to Earth was impossible, due to physical restraints, or aliens never chose to visit us, or that advanced civilizations have arose in the Universe but at such a distance that we are not yet aware of each other (due to the speed of light being the fundamental vehicle and limitation of this knowledge). He also thought that perhaps aliens actually have visited Earth in the past, and that we have failed to properly observe them, or publish this knowledge in a public fashion.
In April 2020, the Pentagon officially released video footage of a navy pilot’s encounter with an incredibly fast and agile aircraft that operated in a manner that was completely foreign to the trained pilot. Furthermore, the Pentagon commented that the aircraft in the video remains “unidentified”, and that the footage was released to “clear up public misconception” that there may have been more to the video, or that the video was falsely created. Nonetheless, these recent developments suggest that perhaps the Fermi paradox may soon be close to finding an answer.
While looking into climate change related developments on the surface of Greenland, associate professor of geophysics at Stanford University’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences Dustin Schroeder noticed small double-ridge formations developing, similar to those observed on the surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The double ridges form when pressurized water from below pushes up through a fracture in an icy surface, breaking the “ice plug” at the top before then refreezing. If the surface features of Europa were caused by a similar phenomenon, this could speak to a dynamic sub-surface aquatic atmosphere on Europa. This is significant because it represents that there is a significant level of circulation happening below Europa’s icy shell, which could lead to the exchange of the ingredients needed for life. The scientists on this study, published in Naturein April, propose that these surface findings may provide evidence that there is habitable for extremophile life to exist, likely near underwater volcanoes or near deep sea vents.
Continuing on the geological structures train, super volcanoes can be very interesting to learn about. First, let’s define what a super volcano is: A supervolcano is a volcano that has had an eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8. This means that if this volcano were to erupt, it would span for over 1,000 cubic kilometers or 240 cubic miles.
The Yellowstone Caldera, AKA the Yellowstone Supervolcano, is located in Yellowstone National Park. The caldera measures 43 by 28 miles. Fun fact: you could fit Tokyo, which is the world’s largest city, in the yellowstone caldera crater.
The caldera formed during the last of three supereruptions over the past 2.1 million years: the Huckleberry Ridge eruption 2.1 million years ago, the Mesa Falls eruption 1.3 million years ago and the Lava Creek eruption approximately 640,000 years ago. (see picture above)
Aerial view, Grand Prismatic Spring, Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA.
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What is Stromatolite? It is a layered deposit made mainly of limestone. They are known to be thin and alternate from light to dark layers. They were common in Precambrian time which is more than 542 million years ago.
Where can you find them? They grow in areas such as Shark Bay in western Australia, Brazil, the Bahamas and Mexico.
Shark Bay, Australia
Why are Stromatolites interesting? Although they are rare today, fossilized stromatolites provide records of ancient life on Earth. They are an important source of information on the early development of life on Earth and possibly other planets.
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Sokka, from Avatar, the Last Airbender. Curtesy from The Nerdist.King Tutankhamen’s golden sarcophagus, curtesy ThoughtsCo.
Avatar the Last Airbender has received a surge of popularity in the past few years, as it is considered one of the most popular cartoon shows to ever air. One of the characters, Sokka, is a teenage boy from the Southern Water tribe and has multiple tools and skills, like his boomerang, to save the day.
King Tutankhamen was a boy king of Egypt during the New Kingdom, around 1300 BC, according to Wikipedia. He died when he was still a teenager, around 19, and was buried in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb would remain unraided and perfectly preserved until Howard Carter discovered it in 1922. Although King Tut was not that important in terms of history of Egypt, he is still one of the best preserved and most documented pharaohs we have from history.
So what do these two people have in common and why the hell am I talking about them in an astronomy blog? Well they both happen to have a side arm, Sokka has a sword and King Tut had a dagger. There is strong evidence that suggests that both were made out of meteorites.
Sokka receives his sword in an episode focused around him learning from a sword master. At the beginning, there was an meteor impact that happened near a town, and the gang had to stop the fireball. However, due to our previous homework regarding impacts, a meteor of that size would have done much more damage to the surrounding area, and almost all members of the crew would have been killed or severely injured. However it’s a kids cartoon, so I will say that this is acceptable.
King Tutankhamen was found with many gold artifacts, sarcophagus, and weapons to prepare him for the afterlife. Near his body, he had a gold dagger and an iron dagger. This would not have raised any suspicion, except this was the bronze age and true iron forging techniques developed much later. Egypt also referred to iron as “iron from the sky,” and the material in pure form was more valuable than gold at the time. Researchers further analyzed the dagger recently, and in 2018, a paper was published about the true composition. The dagger had trace amounts of iron, nickel, and cobalt, according to History. These three elements are commonly found in meteorites, giving more validity to the theory that this weapon was from a meteorite.
Though this does not contribute to learning more about stars and our solar system, it does show that we as humans have always been fascinated by what lies beyond our sky. Ancient Egyptians had revered such fascinating objects, and even in pop culture today meteorites and space still just as amazing. In fact, multiple people recently have been inspired to take meteorites and turn them into art, such as jewelry, paperweights, or even more swords.
Yoshindo Yoshiwara’s sword forged from the Gibeon Meteorite, credit for image to TheNerdist.
Other than life on Earth, is there any other planet in the Milky Way which might harbor life intelligent enough for inter-stellar communication? Many approaches to this question, with different philosophies have come to fruition throughout the years. One such approach is the Drake Equation:
There are 7 different parameters to the Drake Equation, considering things like how long a civilization might be broadcasting communications, the fraction of civilizations formed that can communicate via detectable signs, the fraction of planets that could support life, etc. Various solutions to the equation have been determined, with one of the largest variables being L or how long a civilization is broadcasting communications. The longer a civilization broadcasts, the higher the resultant product. Drake himself theorized N = 10,000 or so, other estimates put N at 15+ million, and the lowest estimates have N << 1.
However, other ideas of life on other planets may prevail. A heated debate about GFAJ-1, a bacterial cell that was said to be able to use arsenic in place of phosphorus in its backbone, may provide a clue. While the actual bacteria is dependent on phosphorus, life on other planets might be able to use other elements to preserve information.
I think one of the most interesting things about the moons of our Solar System is their names. We have named planets after the Greek Roman gods, and most of their moons after characters from myths that relate to those gods. For this post, I will be focusing on the planet Jupiter and the names of the moons that orbit it. To begin, the name Jupiter means “the supreme god” and is representative of the Greek Roman god Zeus, the king of Olympus. The moons were named after his lovers, which he had relationships with despite being married to his wife, Hera/Juno.
The largest of Jupiter’s moons is Ganymede. According to Roman mythology, Ganymede was a handsome mortal that Zeus abducted and brought to Olympus to serve as a cupbearer to the gods. The second largest is Callisto, who was a beautiful nymph that was also known to be the daughter of the King of Arcadia. Zeus loved her but, due to her Vow of Chastity to the Goddess Artemis, he decided to turn her into a bear. The third largest is Io, who was known as the first priestess of Hera. However, when she became Zeus’ lover, he turned her into a white heifer to save her from Hera’s wrath. The last moon that I want to talk about is the fourth largest, Europa. Unfortunately, her story is not a happy one just like many of these myths. Zeus tricked, raped, and impregnated her and she ultimately gave birth to Minos who would become the King of Crete.
The myths surrounding the moons of Jupiter are all extremely interesting, and I encourage everyone to look into them if they have any interest in Greek or Roman mythology!
