DailyDirt: Solar System Factoids

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Every so often, it's good to take a look up into the sky and think about how small our troubles are -- compared to the size of the universe. Our little planet orbits a second (or maybe third) generation star, burning up heavier elements from previous stars that no longer exist. As Carl Sagan famously said, "We're made of star stuff." So as some of us take a couple days off to be thankful for the things we have, check out some of these links about our solar system.

• Jupiter's red spot has existed for centuries, but the reason why this vortex persists isn't immediately obvious. Apparently, three dimensional simulations are getting closer to explaining how the Great Red Spot (GRS) absorbs energy from both horizontal and vertical winds. (Also, it's interesting to note that Kepler predicted a red spot on Jupiter about 200 years before it was observed -- but only because he decoded a message from Galileo incorrectly.) [url]
• There are a lot of stars in the universe, but how many of them can you actually see with your own eyes at night? If the earth didn't block your view of half the sky, you might see around 5,000 stars, but since you're stuck on the ground, you only see about 2,500 stars. [url]
• You might remember that Pluto was discovered in 1930 as our solar system's ninth planet, and that it has been downgraded to the classification "dwarf planet" or a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) or a Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO). But what you might not know is that Pluto hasn't yet completed a trip around the sun since people first named it because Pluto's year lasts 248 Earth years. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: astronomy, dwarf planet, great red spot, grs, jupiter, kbo, kepler, pluto, solar system, space, stars, tno

DailyDirt: People In Space

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Hundreds of thousands of people have already applied for a one-way ticket to Mars for the Mars One program to establish a human colony on the red planet by 2023. Funding for Mars One is expected to come from a reality TV show as well as sponsorships and donations -- and even IP licensing from any technology it develops along the way. Mars One appears to have collected over $150,000 in donations so far, so there's at least some interest in the concept (though the total cost for a Mars trip could easily be billions). Here are just a few more links on some other plans to get humans into space.

• The odds of vasts amounts of ice existing on the moon are looking pretty grim. Without a significant amount of ice on the moon, potential lunar colonies would have to bring their own water -- and that would make it a lot more expensive to live on the moon. [url]
• Mark Burnett has been pitching a reality TV show for putting contestants into space since the late 1990s, even selling a show called Destination Mir to NBC in 2000. Burnett's latest space-themed reality show would put an ordinary person on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. [url]
• Sony Pictures Television is launching a reality TV show on Dutch broadcaster Nederland 1 called Milky Way Mission that will have (local Dutch) celebrities competing for a seat on an XCOR spaceplane via the Space Expedition Corporation's (SXC) space airline. The first season will have eight 1-hr episodes that will might end in a blast off to an altitude of 340,000 feet. [url]
• Objective Europa is an ambitious manned exploration project that aims to put people on an icy moon of Jupiter. The organizers plan to crowdfund a one-way trip to Europa, and these astronauts would face certain death even if they managed to reach Jupiter's moon. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: astronauts, colony, crowdfunding, destination mir, europa, jupiter, manned exploration, mark burnett, mars one, milky way mission, moon, reality tv, space
Companies: sony pictures television, sxc, xcor

DailyDirt: Water On The Earth And Beyond...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The Earth is obviously covered in a lot of water, but a lot more water could potentially exist below the Earth's surface. It's actually somewhat difficult to know exactly how much water exists on our own planet, so it's even harder to figure out how much water exists on other planets or moons. We also don't really know where all the Earth's water originally came from -- icy comets, asteroids or some chemical process that could only occur while the Earth itself was forming. But in any case, water is a fascinating substance to look for, and here are just a few articles on this unique liquid.

• Jupiter's moon, Europa, could have a vast saltwater ocean below its surface -- possibly containing more liquid water than all of the Earth's oceans. Images showing the bumpy surface of Europa suggest that there are "chaos terrains" similar to those on Earth, which could help us understand the geology of Europa better. [url]
• The "Goldilocks Zone" for extrasolar planets refers to the orbital space where the conditions are just right for liquid water to exist. But that doesn't mean water actually does exist on the other worlds we've discovered so far. [url]
• Russian scientists are drilling down through over 2 miles of ice to Antarctica’s biggest subglacial lake, Vostok. There could be exotic lifeforms in these waters which haven't seen daylight for millions of years. [url]
• Based on radar measurements, the sediment coverage on the surface of Mars suggests the red planet once had two oceans. These oceans may not have existed long enough to support life formation, and it's not known where all the water went. [url]
• To discover more links on space exploration, check out what's floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: chaos terrains, europa, extrasolar planets, goldilocks zone, jupiter, mars, oceans, vostok, water