Don't know how many science geeks there are here, but the Kepler space telescope is being launched tonight. Its set for a three and a half year mission and will be looking for planets similar to Earth orbiting other stars. Space.com link I'm really looking forward to what this thing finds. It could make some amazing discoveries.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A1pKRoUk-A4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A1pKRoUk-A4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> this is very exciting for mankind, the possibilities of actually discovering earth-like planets, so so exciting of course it'll be decades before we get any insignificant data, but nonetheless, still cool
As an astrophysicist who works on planet formation, I'm VERY excited about Kepler. By the way, there is another space telescope already up called CoRoT that is also looking for transiting planets and may have found the first transiting Earth-like planet already (CoRoT-Exo-7b).
WOW, did not know we had an astrophysicist on this board! In between you and all the newbs, i guess the BBS' IQ averages out, lol
Well his nick is Steve_Francis_rules. BTW, this really is cool stuff - especially watching the entire launch video.
Aw, now you've done it. Ya got me started. I've been watching the Kepler Mission and the COROT missions for a long time now. But also check out Europe's Darwin Mission whose goal is to also find Earth-like planets. Still interested in extrasolar planets? Check out this 3D map of known extrasolar planets. You'll spend about 3 hours on this site (courtesy of Nasa's Planetquest).
Yeah, I heard about that one. Its supposed to be really close to its star and very hot. On a similar note, do you know anything about the physics programs at UH or Rice? Curious, as I'm going to be going back to school and would like to pursue Astronomy. I do want to stay in the area though, at least to start out. Any tips? BTW for a minute there, I thought people could care less. Good to see some do. This telescope should have some very enlightening results. I can't wait for its first announcements.
I don't really know anything specific about those programs. But if you work hard and work through all the problems in the standard textbooks, you'll be fine no matter what school you go to.
Fascinating stuff. I hope Kepler finds Earthlike planets but even if it doesn't I would say that means that Earthlike planets are rare given how small of a sample size Kepler is looking at.
Isn't it just a matter of numbers though? I mean with so many billions and billions of stars the odds are atronomically in favor of intelligent life. DD
Yeah it is only looking at a relatively small patch of sky, but given what we've seen already and its capabilities, I think its almost a given. I don't want to get overly optimistic, but it almost seems like looking deeper into a forest to find smaller trees. You would so. I'm personally of the belief that there could be some form of life in our own solar system. It seems like with every new discovery, we loosen the conditions we feel life needs. Just a couple of decades ago there were places on our planet no one thought life could exist in. Now we know not only does it exist, it thrives. I wonder how we'll be looking at things a year or two from now. What abotut ten? Without most people paying attention, it is a pretty exciting time we live in.
exactly. WHEN we do find something one day it doesnt have to be exactly intelligent. i want to find some piggies from speaker of the dead
So some of the first results are being announced. There's still some double checking to be done, but it looks like it found over 700 potential planets in the first run. Pretty exciting. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/kepler-spacecraft-finds-hundreds-possible-planets-100618.html
Wow, how freaking disappointing. Kepler is no longer working after only 4 yrs. How Kepler’s Pointing System Might Have Failed
I have hopes they will figure something out, but it going to be tough. I'm really surprised they didn't put a few more reaction wheels on it because that's the exact problem that almost shut the Hubble ST down. I can't recall exactly, but they had to replace a number of gyros that went out on those service missions.
You have to wonder. Considering how much they're used and the way they function, along with the cost of the mission, you'd think they would have increased the redundancy. This mission isn't like the Hubble, which was just within reach of the shuttles we once had. This gadget is millions of miles away. And like you, I have hopes of a work around, but it doesn't sound good at all. The only real hope seems to rest on getting one that stopped working months ago to now operate, the thinking being that it might work now. That sounds like a very long shot to me. Seems like sitting in deep space assaulted by extreme temps and massive radiation wouldn't help something already broke to now suddenly work. Having said that, it did last for the original duration of the mission. We're used to these gizmos operating long past their expiration date if they don't fail right off the bat.
