Oct 29, 2015 05:41 AM
(This post was last modified: Oct 29, 2015 05:42 AM by C C.)
‘We Were So Surprised’: Researchers Detect Oxygen on Rosetta’s Comet
EXCERPT: . . . In a phone call, lead author André Bieler explained the team found a strong signal of oxygen early on in the Rosetta mission. “But we were so surprised that we initially didn’t know exactly what to do, or why it would be there, and what to do with it, so we decided to just keep monitoring for a while and see what happens.” So why is it such an exciting find? Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the Universe, but while it’s been detected on some icy bodies in the Solar System, such as planets’ moons, it’d only ever been found in two interstellar clouds, and never in a comet. “No one was expecting it to be there,” said Bieler of the team's finding. [...] The presence of this oxygen in the comet’s nucleus suggests it was there when the comet was formed--and was therefore present in the molecular cloud that birthed the planets (as comets are basically leftover material)....
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Why Earth is so much bigger than Mars: Rocky planets formed from 'pebbles': New process explains massive differences between Earth and Mars
EXCERPT: Using a new process in planetary formation modeling, where planets grow from tiny bodies called "pebbles," Southwest Research Institute scientists can explain why Mars is so much smaller than Earth. This same process also explains the rapid formation of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, as reported earlier this year....
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Was Earth Born With Life On It?
EXCERPT: . . . The carbon-12 to carbon-13 ratio is a surefire signature of life, and tells us that life on Earth goes back at least 4.1 billion years: 90% of the age of our planet. Could this be the hint we’ve needed to conclude that life on Earth actually predates the Earth itself?
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How Astronomers Will Determine If That 'Megastructure' Really Is Alien
EXCERPT: Astronomers are well on their way to finding out whether the bizarre star KIC 8462852 is the home sun of a technologically-advanced alien civilization. [...] While the authors provide a wide range of natural explanations for the odd dips in the star’s luminosity, astronomers involved in the study, as well as outside observers, are not ruling out that the star might be periodically eclipsed by an alien megastructure. [...] “The chances are pretty high that what this is something completely natural,” said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer and director of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, in a phone interview with Motherboard. “But on the other hand, you don’t just blow it off,” he continued. “If you don’t check it out, you can’t be sure. In fact, even if you do check it out, you can’t be sure....”
EXCERPT: . . . In a phone call, lead author André Bieler explained the team found a strong signal of oxygen early on in the Rosetta mission. “But we were so surprised that we initially didn’t know exactly what to do, or why it would be there, and what to do with it, so we decided to just keep monitoring for a while and see what happens.” So why is it such an exciting find? Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the Universe, but while it’s been detected on some icy bodies in the Solar System, such as planets’ moons, it’d only ever been found in two interstellar clouds, and never in a comet. “No one was expecting it to be there,” said Bieler of the team's finding. [...] The presence of this oxygen in the comet’s nucleus suggests it was there when the comet was formed--and was therefore present in the molecular cloud that birthed the planets (as comets are basically leftover material)....
- - - - - - -
Why Earth is so much bigger than Mars: Rocky planets formed from 'pebbles': New process explains massive differences between Earth and Mars
EXCERPT: Using a new process in planetary formation modeling, where planets grow from tiny bodies called "pebbles," Southwest Research Institute scientists can explain why Mars is so much smaller than Earth. This same process also explains the rapid formation of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, as reported earlier this year....
- - - - - - -
Was Earth Born With Life On It?
EXCERPT: . . . The carbon-12 to carbon-13 ratio is a surefire signature of life, and tells us that life on Earth goes back at least 4.1 billion years: 90% of the age of our planet. Could this be the hint we’ve needed to conclude that life on Earth actually predates the Earth itself?
- - - - - - -
How Astronomers Will Determine If That 'Megastructure' Really Is Alien
EXCERPT: Astronomers are well on their way to finding out whether the bizarre star KIC 8462852 is the home sun of a technologically-advanced alien civilization. [...] While the authors provide a wide range of natural explanations for the odd dips in the star’s luminosity, astronomers involved in the study, as well as outside observers, are not ruling out that the star might be periodically eclipsed by an alien megastructure. [...] “The chances are pretty high that what this is something completely natural,” said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer and director of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, in a phone interview with Motherboard. “But on the other hand, you don’t just blow it off,” he continued. “If you don’t check it out, you can’t be sure. In fact, even if you do check it out, you can’t be sure....”
