Re: Finally, NASA launches an ASTRONOMY satellite

Millions more to discover that we ARE alone, at least in our physical
universe. So odd that we have other dimensions sitting right next to us,
but no one makes an effort to try and observe them, even if such a thing
could be done. The problem is that it can't currently be observed with any
regularity, not with the detection systems we currently have.

"Ghosts" are the closest key to this other dimension, but those people often
studying this type of phenomena are often dismissed as kooks, etc so such
investigators aren't backed up. However, studying these and other types of
rare phenomena is the ONLY way we MAY discover that we are not alone.

The universe is supposedly incredibly old- if you believe scientists/
astronomers- so someone should have made an appearance here by now, or even
in the past, but there is no evidence to indicate that. Never been done
because there is no one else.

Others of course will argue to the contrary, but I don't see any point in
continuing to spend millions on projects that will turn up nothing.

Rich


"Rich" <rander3127@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:843a9579-1214-415d-90ba-269b2a8dc88b@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Did they run out of satellites for studying the global warming fraud?

By A. Pawlowski
CNN

(CNN) -- Calling it a mission that may fundamentally change humanity's
view of itself, NASA on Friday prepared to launch a telescope that
will search our corner of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-like planets.

The Kepler spacecraft is scheduled to blast into space on top of a
Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida just
before 11 p.m. ET.

"This is a historical mission. It's not just a science mission," NASA
Associate Administrator Ed Weiler said during a pre-launch news
conference.

"It really attacks some very basic human questions that have been part
of our genetic code since that first man or woman looked up in the sky
and asked the question: Are we alone?"

Kepler contains a special telescope that will stare at 100,000 stars
in the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way for more than three years
as it trails Earth's orbit around the Sun.

The spacecraft will look for tiny dips in a star's brightness, which
can mean an orbiting planet is passing in front of it -- an event
called a transit.

The instrument is so precise that it can register changes in
brightness of 20 parts per million in stars that are thousands of
light years away.

"Being able to make that kind of a sensitive measurement over a very
large number of stars was extremely challenging," Kepler project
manager James Fanson said.

"So we're very proud of the vehicle we have built. This is a crowning
achievement for NASA and a monumental step in our search for other
worlds around other stars." See what the telescope looks like and
which part of the galaxy it will monitor »

Are we alone?

The $600 million mission is named after Johannes Kepler, a 17th-
century German astronomer who was the first to correctly explain
planetary motion. His discoveries combined with modern technology may
soon help to answer whether we are alone in the universe or whether
Earth-like worlds inhabited by some type of life are common.
Don't Miss

* Galaxy may be full of 'Earths,' alien life
* NASA.gov: Explore the Kepler mission

"We won't find E.T., but we might find E.T.'s home," said William
Borucki, science principal investigator for the Kepler mission.

About 330 "exoplanets" -- those circling sun-like stars outside the
solar system -- have been discovered since the first was confirmed in
1995.

Most are gas giants like Jupiter, but some have been classified as
"super earths," or worlds several times the mass of our planet, said
Alan Boss, an astronomer with the Carnegie Institution who serves on
the Kepler Science Council. They are too hot to support life, he
added, calling them "steam worlds."

Europe's COROT space telescope caused a stir last month when it
spotted the smallest terrestrial exoplanet ever found. With a diameter
less than twice that of Earth, the planet orbits very close to its
star and has temperatures up to 1,500° Celsius (more than 2,700°
Fahrenheit), according to the European Space Agency. It may be rocky
and covered in lava.

Scientists have marveled how strange some of the alien worlds are.

"The density of these planets has been astounding," Borucki said.
"We're finding planets that float like a piece of foam on water,
[with] very, very low densities. We're finding some planets where the
densities are heavier than that of lead."

The Kepler telescope, however, is seeking something much more
familiar: Earth-like planets with rocky surfaces, orbiting in their
stars' habitable, or "Goldilocks," zones -- not too hot or too cold,
but just right for liquid water to exist. Video Watch a NASA scientist
explain where life could exist »

Quest for a 'pale blue dot'

Once Kepler spots a planet, scientists will be able to calculate its
size, mass, orbital period, distance from star and surface
temperature, Boss said. He called the mission a "step one" that will
tell astronomers how hard it is to find nearby habitable worlds.

"Once we know how many there really are ... then NASA will be able to
build space telescopes that can actually go out and take a picture of
that nearby 'Earth' and measure the elements and compounds in its
atmosphere of the planet and give us some hint as to whether or not
it's got life," Boss said.

Boss believes that there may be 100 billion Earth-like planets in the
Milky Way, or one for every sun-type star in the galaxy. He said
scientists should know by 2013 -- the end of Kepler's mission --
whether life in the universe could be widespread.

The 20-year goal is to someday take a picture of a pale blue dot
orbiting a nearby star, said Debra Fischer, an astronomy professor at
San Francisco State University, during a NASA news conference.
advertisement

Boss called it a potentially unprecedented time of discovery for
scientists.

"Sometimes, people call this the golden age of astronomy. I think it's
more like the platinum age of astronomy. It's beyond gold," Boss said.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Finally, NASA launches an ASTRONOMY satellite
    ... The universe is supposedly incredibly old- if you believe scientists/ ... Kepler contains a special telescope that will stare at 100,000 stars ... "The density of these planets has been astounding," Borucki said. ...
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  • Re: Ludicrous Christian comments. :-)
    ... I agree with you, we are not alone... ... of new life in the universe becomes routine, ... that will most likely make finding Earth-sized planets routine. ... Jupiter-sized planets is ALREADY routine - almost 200 outside our solar ...
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  • In a Lonely Cosmos, a Hunt for Worlds Like Ours - My favorite type of articles.
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  • NASA Discovers First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System
    ... Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. ... The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate ... "The primary goal of the Kepler mission is to find Earth-sized planets ...
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  • NASA backtracks on Kepler claim about "100 million Earthlike planets"
    ... One of the scientists who works on the Kepler planet-hunting mission, Dimitar Sasselov, inadvertently set off a bit of a controversy when he appeared to announce that its first big data release implied that our galaxy is rich in Earth-like planets, with approximately 100 million habitable ones. ... Because of our methods of detection, our collection of exoplanets was biased towards massive gas giants; the distribution of planetary candidates found by Kepler implies that smaller, rockier planets are far more common when you perform an unbiased search. ...
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