Space news topic and space related news

[Toliman]

Indeed it would be interesting to use New Horizons for deep Solar System missions.

Yeah, it really would be.
And it really would be sad if New Horizons would not used for next exploration (if probe will be still functional, of course)

[Toliman]

Just found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcPtQYalkcs

[Toliman]

NEW CLUES EMERGE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF PLANET 9

Planet 9 cannot hide forever, and new research has narrowed the range of possible locations further! In January of 2016, astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin published the first evidence that there might be another planet in our Solar System. Known as "Planet 9" ("Planet X" to some), this hypothetical body was believed to orbit at an extreme distance from our Sun, as evidenced by the orbits of certain extreme Kuiper Belt Objects (eKBOs).

Since that time, multiple studied have been produced that have attempted to place constraints on Planet 9's location. The latest study once again comes from Brown and Batygin, who conducted an analytical assessment of all the processes that have indicated the presence of Planet 9 so far. Taken together, these indications show that the existence of this body is not only likely, but also essential to the Solar System as we know it.

The study, titled "Dynamical Evolution Induced by Planet Nine", recently appeared online and has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. Whereas previous studies have pointed to the behavior of various populations of KBOs as proof of Planet 9, Brown and Batygin sought to provide a coherent theoretical description of the dynamical mechanisms responsible for these effects. ...

More here:
https://www.universetoday.com/137422/new-clues-emerge-existence-planet-9-1/

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

If you haven't read it already, I can recommend Mike Brown's book "Why I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming".

[Toliman]

If you haven't read it already, I can recommend Mike Brown's book "Why I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming".

I already read and I can recommend it too

[Toliman]

Little delay ...

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to be Launched Spring 2019

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope now is planning to launch between March and June 2019 from French Guiana, following a schedule assessment of the remaining integration and test activities. Previously Webb was targeted to launch in October 2018.

"The change in launch timing is not indicative of hardware or technical performance concerns," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. "Rather, the integration of the various spacecraft elements is taking longer than expected."

As part of an international agreement with the ESA (European Space Agency) to provide a desired launch window one year prior to launch, NASA recently performed a routine schedule assessment to ensure launch preparedness and determined a launch schedule change was necessary. The careful analysis took into account the remaining tasks that needed to be completed, the lessons learned from unique environmental testing of the telescope and science instruments at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the current performance rates of integrating the spacecraft element.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-james-webb-space-telescope-to-be-launched-spring-2019

[BlueHusky2154]

Looks like we won't peek at exoplanet atmospheres until then. Delayed just like Avatar 2.

[Toliman]

Yeah, I just hope that it's last delay ... James Webb Space Telescope can give us really a lot of.

[archaic]

Will Cameron be using the James Web for some of the wide shots of Pandora?

[Toliman]

Hmm ... would be interesting.
In any case I very look forward for shots from JWST

[BlueHusky2154]

The JWST will give us lots of data that will allow us to finally know for sure if extraterrestrial life exists for sure.

Spoiler

Series of events:
-JWST launched
-NASA takes a peek at Alpha Centauri with it
-Jupiter-sized gas giant discovered
-Strange moon discovered orbiting said gas giant
-General public interested, donates to Project Breakthrough Starshot
-Micro sized probes launch
-A few probes make it to Alpha Centauri
-They take pictures and measurements of said moon
-Data beamed back and analyzed, NASA confirms life on said moon
-Lander sent, long wait for it to arrive
-Lander makes it, and sends back pictures and data
-General public realizes that the moon is exactly like the moon from a movie saga from decades past known as Avatar
-First Na'vi seen
-Humans sent
-Pandora exists, NASA confirms

[archaic]

-James Cameron unmasked as time traveler (this being the only way he could have known all this).

[Toliman]

Yeah, sounds as true

It would be nice if Pandora would be discovered.

[BlueHusky2154]

It just might. In SpaceEngine, if you go to Proxima Centauri, you will find a planet with organic multicellular life.

[archaic]

Proxima Centauri b?

[BlueHusky2154]

Proxima Centauri b?

Nope, something different.

Spoiler

[Toliman]

Proxima Centauri b?

Nope, something different.

Spoiler

Hmm ... looks as interesting exoplanet.



Just found this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFqfCDEp6iw

[Toliman]

Quite interesting exoplanet:

Hubble Observes Exoplanet that Snows Sunscreen

Nighttime Titanium Oxide Snow Leaves Dayside Cloud-Free and Cooler

Travelers to the nightside of exoplanet Kepler-13Ab should pack an umbrella because they will be pelted with precipitation. But it's not the kind of watery precipitation that falls on Earth. On this alien world, the precipitation is in the form of sunscreen.

Ironically, the sunscreen (titanium oxide) is not needed on this side of the planet because it never receives any sunlight. But bottling up some sunlight protection is a good idea if travelers plan on visiting the sizzling hot, permanent dayside, which always faces its star. Visitors won't find any desperately needed sunscreen on this part of the planet.

Astronomers didn't detect the titanium oxide directly. They used Hubble to find that the atmospheric temperature grows increasingly colder with altitude on Kepler-13Ab, which was contrary to what they had expected. If titanium oxide were in the daytime atmosphere, it would absorb light and heat the upper atmosphere. Instead, high winds carry the titanium oxide around to the permanently dark side of the planet where it condenses to form clouds and precipitation. The planet's crushing gravity pulls all the titanium oxide so far down it can't be recycled back into the upper atmosphere on the daytime side.

The Hubble observations represent the first time astronomers have detected this precipitation process, called a "cold trap," on an exoplanet.

Kepler-13Ab is one of the hottest known planets, with a dayside temperature of nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Kepler-13 system resides 1,730 light-years from Earth. ...

found here:
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-36

[Vawmataw]

We should have a similar process but on the day side so we can have clear skies for observing.

[Toliman]

We should have a similar process but on the day side so we can have clear skies for observing.

Yeah, it we should have, especially when I see November forecast...
But not sure what impact it would have on Earth life