Golden State Star Party 2014!
Cygnus Rift Preperation for Observing The Two Bears
unique set of challenges. For starters, any planet found within close proximity of their parent star might wind up being tidally locked (like the moon is to Earth), meaning the planet only shows one face to its sun. As a consequence, half of the planet might be blistering hot, while the other half might be extremely cold. An appreciable atmosphere might direct some of the warmth to the cold side, but there s always the possibility that the atmosphere might be stripped away by solar winds. All are things that could put a damper on the evolution of life, but none are unmanageable. There s More: Kapteyn_b-300x168.jpgImage Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo, Aladin Sky Atlas Astronomers Find Oldest (Known) Planet Capable of Supporting Life This is Kapteyn b (well, an artistic representation, but that s not the point). This planet is extremely interesting for several reasons. First, it s old. Very old, actually. In fact, it s about 11.5-billion years old. That makes the planet nearly three times older than Earth, or to envision it another way, the universe itself is only about 2-billion years older than this planet either works. Consider for a moment just how far life has come on our planet in just 4.5-billion years. Then, see if your imagination will allow you to contemplate how much further along the evolutionary ladder any form of life might be compared to us if it flickered into existence on a planet as old as Kapteyn b. Needless to say, any creatures dwelling in this planetary system has the potential to be some of the oldest, most evolved life found anywhere in the universe. convectional, they, generally speaking, live far longer than stars of other spectral types; sometimes lasting for trillions of years. Understandably, the extended lifespan of a red dwarf extinguishes one of the largest threats all species must eventually face; being gobbled up by the star that it relies on for sustenance. Moreover, it doesn t hurt that red dwarfs are the most numerous kind of star by a long shot. They also aren t as volatile as larger stars, though they face their own One of the most exciting things about this planet is its distance from Earth. It s only 13 light-years away. In cosmic terms, 13 light-years is so close that it s practically in the other room in your house (it s only a 26-year round trip at the speed of light). The Kapteyn star system is located in the southern constellation Pictor and can be easily seen with amateur telescopes (the star can be seen with ease. The planet, on the other hand, takes much more effort). For those interested, Kapteyn b has an orbital period of 48 days. Finally, the last point of interest is where Kapteyn came from. It s from a dwarf galaxy that collided with the Milky way quite The Habitable Zone: Kapteyn b a super-earth, weighing in at about 5 times the mass of our blue marble - is thought to orbit in the habitable zone of its red dwarf star. Because red dwarfs are much cooler, smaller and fully kapteyn-b-0mega-centauri.jpgimage Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo, Aladin Sky Atlas
some time ago. The remnants of this dwarf galaxy can be seen today as the Omega Centauri globular cluster, which is located about 16,000 light-years away and is the same age as the Kapteyn system. Having a planet this old so close to Earth gives astronomers an important insight into the way planets formed in the early universe as well as data regarding the long term viability of planetary systems. Plus, lets not forget that intelligent life could live right next door; and we could totally visit. Stellarium.jpg Kayteyn s Location using Stellarium
Mystery Solved? Why There are No Lunar Seas On The Far Side Of The Moon by Elizabeth Howell on June 10, 2014 In these days of daily image releases from Saturn, Mars, the Moon and other spots in the universe, it s hard to remember just how exciting it was back in the 1950s and 1960s when a few images trickled out to the world at the time. Perhaps one of the biggest early surprises was how jagged and cragged the back side of the moon looked. Where were the lunar seas that we are familiar with on the Earth-facing side of the moon? About 55 years after the first Soviet images of the farside were sent to Earth, a team of researchers led by graduate astrophysics student Arpita Roy (at Penn State University) may have an explanation. They say it s due to the violent way that the Moon formed likely after a Mars-sized object collided with our Earth, creating a sea of debris that gradually coalseced into the Moon we see today. The huge crash and gathering together heated up both our planet and the Moon, but the Moon got cooler first because it was smaller. Since the Earth was still hot radiating at more than 2,500 degrees Celsius (4,500 degrees Fahrenheit) and the Moon very close to the planet, the heat of the Earth had quite the effect. The far side of the Moon cooled down while the near side remained very hot. This gradient was important for crustal formation on the moon. The moon s crust has high concentrations of aluminum and calcium, elements that are very hard to vaporize, Penn State stated. Calcium and aluminum are the first elements that snow out as rock vapor cools, and they would have remained in the atmosphere on the Moon s far side. (The near side was too hot.) Thousands to millions of years later, these elements combined with silicates in the Moon s mantle to form plagioclase feldspars, which eventually moved to the surface and formed the Moon s crust, Penn State added. The farside crust had more of these minerals and is thicker. The seas themselves were formed after huge meteors crashed into the Moon s Earth-facing side, rupturing the crust and letting the basaltic lava beneath burst forth. The crust on the far side was too thick for the meteors to penetrate, in most cases, leaving the rugged surface we are familiar with today. The research was published yesterday (June 9) in Astrophysical Journal Letters. And by the way, there s been a flurry of news in recent days about the Earth and the Moon s formation: the signal in Earth s crust and the oxygen signature on the Moon. Source: Penn State University
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