December 1, 2008
Mars has water! It is not a big surprise to me. I mentioned this in my talk on Nov. 15. The
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered water reservoirs farther away from the north and south poles. The results were
published in the Nov. 21 issue of the journal Science. This is one of the most important discoveries about Mars
and I sometimes wonder why it wasn't discovered earlier.
[See February 15, 2009 for more.]
December 8, 2008
Pluto
A note about Pluto... it is technically a 'dwarf planet' as well as a 'plutoid' (since last summer). If you are confused,
don't worry...you are not alone.
The confusion about Pluto's role in the solar system really started in August, 1992 when the first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO)
was discovered by David Jewitt and Jane Luu. By 2008, there were well over a 1,000 KBOs in the outer solar system.
There is even an object (Eris) out near Pluto's orbit that is larger. Everything is pointing to Pluto not being as special
as we have thought in the past.
When the International Astronomical Union (IAU) met in August, 2006; there was a long discussion by hundreds of IAU members
about what to do with Pluto. After most of the discussion was done, many of the group left to do other things.
It looked as if nothing would be decided.
But surprise. surprise.. after the group had gotten smaller, the people who stayed decided to determine Pluto's status
and a definition to clarify what they meant. They decided to classify Pluto as a 'dwarf planet' because it didn't
clear out the area around it of sizeable objects (like the Kuiper Belt Objects).
After the conference, the IAU members went back home and have received a lot of comments (to put it mildly) about this
'decision'. Since it was agreed to by a minority of the IAU, the politics of Pluto's status is not done. J. Kelly
Beatty, editor of Sky and Telescope, said so in the December, 2008 issue. Where will it go from here? Stay tuned...
PS.. in 2006, the 'word of the year' was Plutoed (meaning to be demoted).
January 19, 2009
Life on Mars?
Recently, there has been interesting news about life possibly existing on Mars now. To put this into English,
spacecraft have detected unusual amounts of methane gas coming from Mars' surface. On Earth, methane is a gas that comes
from rotting vegetables. Are there rotting vegetables on Mars? Probably not.
But where the methane gas came from is up in the Martian air. Nothing can live on the surface (since radiation reaches
the Martian surface with little difficulty). Radiation destroys living things by adding too much energy to them.
It is like the radiation you use in a microwave. [I wouldn't want to be nuked by radiation, especially after spending
months getting to Mars.]
Stay tuned to find out why the methane gas appeared... the true fun of science is when it opens doors to questions that
it doesn't have the answer for...now. :)
February 11, 2009
Pluto
Another Pluto update about a new book out by Neil deGrasse Tyson called "The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's
Favorite Planet" (Norton published it in January). I had the chance to take a very brief look at it and found out that
the author agrees with the view that there needs to be a definitive description as to what Pluto is.
On June 11, 2008; the International Astronomical Union made the subject even more confusing with the additional description
of Pluto as not only a 'dwarf planet' but also a 'plutoid'. A 'plutoid' is a dwarf planet in the outer solar system.
There are currently 4 plutoids (when I checked Harvard's IAU web site today). So Ceres is not a plutoid (since
it is between Mars and Jupiter), but Eris (a dwarf planet actually larger than Pluto) is because Eris is in the Kuiper Belt.
2 other plutoids are Haumea and Makemake (around 1/3 to 1/2 Pluto's size and mass/weight) and 4 others are being considered
now.
Sigh... poor Pluto has been Plutoed again...
For more information, go to Harvard's web site www.cfa.harvard.edu/pao/skyreport//oct08.html
More on "The Pluto Files" book in a future comment.
February 15, 2009
I had the chance to review the March 2009 issues of Astronomy and Sky & Telescope:
Pluto
In Astronomy on pg. 10, someone wanted to name the new 'plutoids' as 'kuipers' instead because Gerald Kuiper (known
by many as the father of modern planetary astronomy) came up with the concept in 1951. [How about 'edgeworths' instead
(since Edgeworth had the idea a year before)? ]
In Sky & Telescope (pg. 10), 3 commentaries are in the regular feedback area. On page 20, David Grinspoon (expert
on Venus and more!) has a 1- page article on the Pluto confusion. He said simply let's define a planet as (quote):
" A planet is a round object orbiting a star".
Mars has water (part 2)
[In the March 2009 issues of Sky & Telescope (pg. 17) and Astronomy (pg. 16 and beyond) magazines, they both cover
this story.] Some of the highlights:
The Mars Odyssey mission discovered subsurface evidence of an ancient ocean that may have covered around 1/3 of the
planet. A thin layer of rock and dust prevents the ice underneath from evaporating into the Martian atmosphere.
One ice 'feature' was 3 times the size of the city of Los Angeles and more than 1/2 mile thick.
March 17, 2009
"The Pluto Files" book
I did get a chance to look at the book a little more and the book has a nice background on Pluto and brings you up to date
on what has happened with Pluto. This is a great book to read if you haven't read the great book "Planets Beyond" by
Mark Littmann or Clyde Tombaugh's book "Out of the Darkness: The Planet Pluto" (written with Patrick Moore).
More on Pluto
Some interesting recent news was research that discovered that Pluto's atmosphere is warmer above the surface than originally
thought. The temperature of the atmosphere is a major concern for when the Pluto Kuiper Express reaches Pluto.
Some worried that the atmosphere would have already 'snowed' (condensed) to the ground as the temperature drops (as Pluto
moves farther away from the Sun).
No news yet from the Pluto mission on this news. I'll write an Email and see if I get an answer :) More later..I
hope.
June, 2009
I never received an answer to the above question but Pluto's atmosphere should be there when the Pluto mission (PKE or
Pluto-Kuiper Express) arrives in 2015.
[sorry for the missing times in here. I started a new job and was also away from the website for personal reasons.]
November, 2009
I had a chance to read the November issue of Sky and Telescope. Here is what they covered in it:
Pluto
(pg. 10) The young English girl who named Pluto, Venetia Burney, died at age 90 on April 30. She had the chance
to name the planet due to her interest in the subject of mythology and her grandfather had friendships with important
astronomers in England.
Titan
(pg. 14)
Saturn's moon, Titan, which has interested anyone (looking for life outside the Earth), has a hydrologic cycle. The
large moon has rain, lakes, rivers, and seas. But the hydrologic cycle is not generated by water (like on Earth).
It is generated by liquid methane and ethane at a VERY cool temperature of - 180 degrees C (or -290 degrees F.)
A permanent smog of hydrocarbons exists and the rain occurs only over the polar areas.
(pg. 16)
Venus Mission by Japan
Planet-C is a Japanese mission to study Venus's climate using an orbiter. It is to be launched in May, 2010.
But don't be surprised if there are delays to the mission.
The mission is to complement (work with) the European Space Agency mission called Venus Express. It will monitor
layers of the atmosphere from the cloudtops to the ground.
(pg. 36)
Jupiter's 1917 Shoemaker-Levy 9???
'Black Spot on Jupiter'
A similar 'crash' of a meteor into Jupiter may have occurred in 1917. A Russian astronomer noticed a 'very dark spot'
on 8/18/17. He wanted to call it the 'black spot' to differentiate from the GRS (Great Red Spot).
December 24, 2009
'The Pluto Files' Review
My wife gave me an early Xmas gift (a gift certificate to Books a Million) and I bought the Pluto Files. I must say
that I enjoyed Neil deGrasse Tyson's book. Having read a lot about Pluto, I did find his approach to be different
and gave me some new information. Thank goodness that he has a sense of humor and allows it to shine through
in his book.
I did get a bit bored learning about all the 'controversy' when he was the new head of the Rose Center. It needed
to be said but I would have liked more juicy tidbits about Pluto than he gave us.
Still as I look at my copy of the book, there are more than 20 post-it notes about interesting things. Overall, I
gave it an A- to a B+ . Read Clyde Tombaugh's book first (see earlier reference) then read Professor Tyson's book.
