Planets that can potentially support life... - Page 37

On November 14 2013 16:39 SjPhotoGrapher wrote:
The last things humans need to do is go spread their bullshit to other planets.

Hopefully if aliens ever find us they wipe us out just like the Colonial Americans did to the Native Americans.

On November 15 2013 05:37 algue wrote:
I can't believe the US aren't trying harder to bring freedom on these planets

On November 15 2013 02:50 hypercube wrote:


It's not a mental block, it's a result of rational analysis. Building a large nuclear arsenal and sending it into space is a huge security risk (I'm guessing we're talking about Project Orion type propulsion). It's not a route we should aim for, especially in the current environment. Plus there are probably other options that are feasible, like solar sail driven by lasers from Earth.

On a general note, worrying about unquantified risk is not irrational.

On December 31 2013 03:24 oBlade wrote:

See, all I said was "nuclear" and you instantly jump to there might be a risk with one kind, nuclear pulse propulsion. What about nuclear thermal rockets, what about nuclear electric propulsion, what about fusion rockets?

Astronomers have discovered direct evidence of water on the dwarf planet Ceres in the form of vapor plumes erupting into space, possibly from volcano-like ice geysers on its surface.

Using European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, scientists detected water vapor escaping from two regions on Ceres, a dwarf planet that is also the largest asteroid in the solar system. The water is likely erupting from icy volcanoes or sublimation of ice into clouds of vapor.

"This is the first clear-cut detection of water on Ceres and in the asteroid belt in general," said Michael Küppers of the European Space Agency, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain, leader of the study detailed today (Jan. 22) in the journal Nature.

The research has implications for how Ceres formed, and supports models that suggest the planets moved around a lot within the solar system during its formation, Küppers told SPACE.com. [See more photos of the dwarf planet Ceres]

Ceres, a dwarf planet or giant asteroid (depending on the definition used), is the largest object in the asteroid belt, orbiting at 2.8 astronomical units (the distance from Earth to the sun).

The "snowline" is thought to partition the solar system into dry objects inside the asteroid belt, and icy objects such as comets further out. But the finding of water on Ceres suggests more mixing has occurred.

Scientists believe they have detected the first liquid waves on the surface of another world.

The signature of isolated ripples was observed in a sea called Punga Mare on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

However, these seas are filled not with water, but with hydrocarbons like methane and ethane.

These exist in their liquid state on Titan, where the surface temperature averages about -180C.

Planetary scientist Jason Barnes discussed details of his findings at the 45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Texas this week.

Titan is a strange, looking-glass version of Earth with a substantial atmosphere and a seasonal cycle. Wind and rain shape the surface to form river channels, seas, dunes and shorelines.

But much of what's familiar is also turned sideways: the moon's mountains and dune fields are made of ice, rather than rock or sand, and liquid hydrocarbons take up many of the roles played by water on Earth.

The vast majority of Titan's lakes and seas are concentrated around the north polar region. Just one of these bodies of liquid - Ligeia Mare - is estimated to contain about 9,000 cubic km of mostly liquid methane, equating to about 40 times the proven reserves of oil and gas on Earth.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have uncovered a vast ocean beneath the icy surface of Saturn's little moon Enceladus.

Italian and American researchers made the discovery using Cassini, a NASA-European spacecraft still exploring Saturn and its rings 17 years after its launch from Cape Canaveral. Their findings were announced Thursday.

This new ocean of liquid water — as big as or even bigger than North America's Lake Superior — is centered at the south pole of Enceladus and could encompass much if not most of the moon. Enceladus (ehn-SEHL'-uh-duhs) is about 310 miles across.

The data do not show if the ocean extends to the north pole, said the lead researcher, Luciano Iess of Sapienza University of Rome. At the very least, it's a regional sea some 25 miles deep under miles-thick ice. On Earth, it would stretch from our South Pole up to New Zealand — at the very least.

Cassini's rudimentary instruments also cannot determine whether the moon's ocean harbors any form of life. Another mission using more sophisticated instruments is needed to make that search.

NASA's Kepler Discovers First Earth-Size Planet In The 'Habitable Zone' of Another Star

Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun.

While planets have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth and understanding their makeup is challenging. Kepler-186f is more reminiscent of Earth.

"The discovery of Kepler-186f is a significant step toward finding worlds like our planet Earth," said Paul Hertz, NASA's Astrophysics Division director at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Future NASA missions, like the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the James Webb Space Telescope, will discover the nearest rocky exoplanets and determine their composition and atmospheric conditions, continuing humankind's quest to find truly Earth-like worlds."

All these worlds and so out of reach.

On April 19 2014 12:15 Nacl(Draq) wrote:
I remember watching an interesting documentary on sea life, like deep deep sea life, like the kind that uses sulfur to breathe, and it then jumped into suggesting that (name of astronomer) was convinced that this means our best bet for finding life was in planets that had ice exteriors (even those without atmospheres). The core would heat up the interior ice and overtime this is where life would form.

Of course all speculation and I can't find the documentary anymore... but you know cool stuff.