PlanetQuest

[craigmac]

<font color="orange">stevehw33-<br />Maybe in a few hundred years when we have a good list of nearby (within a few hundred LY) stellar sytems, we might know. For now, no one knows, well scientifically. </font><br /><br />What about spectrometer data we've collected so far; surely we can make some intelligent guesses based on that data.

 

[marcel_leonard]

Will the Kepler Project actually locate planets and if so how? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "A mind is a terrible thing to waste..." </div>

 

[thalion]

^<br />Kepler's Homepage can answer that better than any of us can:<br /><br />http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/

 

[newtonian]

Steve - Did you miss this?:<br /><br />Spectometric data of a star when being ecclipsed partially by a planet.<br /><br />I know some planets have been discovered due to this effect....<br /><br />Nexium - Hi also.<br /><br />On the relative concentrations of elements and compounds in galaxies.<br /><br />Water is H2O. Oxygen is heavier but hydrogen is the lightest. For water (H2O) to be formed they have to get together - they can't be isolated in totally different sections of the galaxy.<br /><br />Also, note that water is unstable when irradiated.<br /><br />For example, UV radiation (certain wavelengths more than others) cause photolysis of water, aka photo-dissociation, into hydrogen and oxygen.<br /><br />The latter factor is often ignored in chemical evolution scenarios, for example.

 

[newtonian]

Thallion - Thank you for the link which contained this link on solar transits by planets (aka partial ecclipse in my above post)<br /><br />http://space.com/searchforlife/seti_transits_030904.html<br /><br />An excerpt:<br /><br />"To see a transit of HD209458, a Jupiter-size planet that whips around it's sun in just 3.5 days, you have to measure the light from the star to one part in 100, or "1% photometry". Several people present had attempted or actually accomplished these measurements with professional or amateur equipment."<br /><br />It seems to me that if we can see 1% of a star's spectrum as coming from an extrasolar planet, we could then examine that planet's portion of the parent star spectrum and determine something about the planet's composition.

 

[marcel_leonard]

Does the Spectometric data show where we might find strong concentrations of elements O and H in the Milky Way? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "A mind is a terrible thing to waste..." </div>

 

[anigma46]

Possibly by the time it got to Alpha Cetauri we would have discovered a new means of propulsion much faster,in one hundred years a lot will happen that we can only imagine.

 

[anigma46]

Probably at our distance from the center of the galaxy for sure,and probably farther out. There is a point neare the center too I would imagine we are in an average position here on earth.. Too close to the Galactic core there is too many violent events ,since the stars a packed closer together. The chance of a super nova in your area increase.

 

[marcel_leonard]

I have theory about the galactic core; yes it's true that the stars cluster closer together, however this at the cosmic scale. Compared to our microscopic scale I truely wonder if it isn't possible to have liquid H2O at or near the core? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "A mind is a terrible thing to waste..." </div>

 

[craigmac]

What you do think makes up the hidden mass that physicist like to call Dark Matter?

 

[newtonian]

marcel- Hi!<br /><br />Well, liquid water would seem likely at first, since temperatures vary greatly both above and below the liquid temperature range - which varies with atmospheric pressure.<br /><br />There is, of course, plenty of hydrogen. The problem is where star synthesis of oxygen ends up putting that oxygen.<br /><br />Oxygen is the most abundant element in earth's crust. It combines with many other elements besides hydrogen.<br /><br />And most planets do not have this abundance of the atom oxygen in various molecule forms.

 

[newtonian]

Craig- Both ordinary matter and exotic dark matter, I would think.<br /><br />Ordinary matter: brown dwarfs for starters, and various other bodies which are relatively dark and cannot be seen - yet.<br /><br />However, it is curious how much of this matter is in galactic halos rather than clumping more tightly as ordinary matter does in galaxies.<br /><br />That unusual property would point to some form of exotic dark matter.<br /><br />See my thread on this question which no one seems to know the answer to:<br /><br />Why is dark matter clumped less densely than ordinary matter?<br /><br />Could it be that it is more influenced by dark energy than ordinary matter is?

 

[marcel_leonard]

<font color="yellow">Why is dark matter clumped less densely than ordinary matter? <br /><br />Could it be that it is more influenced by dark energy than ordinary matter is? </font><br /><br />Since there is no way to observe dark matter how do you know it is clumped less densely than ordinary matter? <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "A mind is a terrible thing to waste..." </div>

 

[craigmac]

The De-Orbiting of Hubble

 

[craigmac]

Glow of Alien Planets Detected in Milestone Observations

 

[marcel_leonard]

Where Are The Habital Zone? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "A mind is a terrible thing to waste..." </div>

 

[marcel_leonard]

The Kepler Mission promises to show us habital planets... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "A mind is a terrible thing to waste..." </div>

 

[toymaker]

A question-is the Kepler mission still on progress and will be launched ? It isn't so well publicized and I was wondering if it was cancelled.

 

[marcel_leonard]

No question the flight is already paid for.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "A mind is a terrible thing to waste..." </div>

 

[fatjoe]

What's more important is how will future Kepler like missions funds be allocated; now that the Boeing/Lockheed AKA Space Coalition has a strangle hold money grip on the 16.5e9 dollar NASA budget?