Lonix Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 Either something cool to scientists but ultimately not going to affect our civilization This, last time they announced something .. it..... was nothing.
localzuk Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 This, last time they announced something .. it..... was nothing. Nothing to you maybe. Fascinating to some of us!
DalekSec Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 Jerry Smith is set to announce that Pluto is a planet. 3
mikeprice Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 Jerry Smith is set to announce that Pluto is a planet. Maybe Trump is signing an Executive Order declaring Pluto is a Planet - cos things were so much better in the old days before all the Obama liberalism
6Foot2 Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 Link: Star's seven Earth-sized worlds set record - BBC News Astronomers have detected a record seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star. The researchers say that all seven could potentially support liquid water on the surface, depending on the other properties of those planets. However, three of these worlds are within the traditional "habitable" zone where life is considered a possibility. The compact system of exoplanets orbits Trappist-1, a low-mass, cool star located 40 light-years away... http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/A9EB/production/_94799434_new_planets_624.png
Arthur Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 On a Trappist-1 planet the sun never rises or sets. Half of the planet is day and half is always night. A year lasts 1-20 days The sun would loom upto 6x larger in the sky and daylight would be red-orange If plants grew there they might look red or black
6Foot2 Posted February 23, 2017 Posted February 23, 2017 Link 1: The terminator : Nature : Nature Research [A science fiction short story about Trappist-1] So. Here I am. At the line between dark and light. At the very border that separates the side facing the star from the one that remains eternally shaded. It's like being at the edge of the visible world, at the end of the observable Universe, in that grey zone, permanent twilight, where the shadows stretch, revealing the whimsical landscape. Yin and yang. The noise of the engine fades. I need silence... Link 2: The story behind the story: The terminator : Nature Future Conditional
6Foot2 Posted February 23, 2017 Posted February 23, 2017 Link: TRAPPIST-1 [NASA poster] Some 40 light-years from Earth, a planet called TRAPPIST-1e offers a heart-stopping view: brilliant objects in a red sky, looming like larger and smaller versions of our own moon. But these are no moons. They are other Earth-sized planets in a spectacular planetary system outside our own. These seven rocky worlds huddle around their small, dim, red star, like a family around a campfire. Any of them could harbor liquid water, but the planet shown here, fourth from the TRAPPIST-1 star, is in the habitable zone, the area around the star where liquid water is most likely to be detected. This system was revealed by the TRansiting Planets and PlanetIsmals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The planets are also excellent targets for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Take a planet-hopping excursion through the TRAPPIST-1 system.
mikeprice Posted February 23, 2017 Posted February 23, 2017 The thing that I find amazing is that they can spot the things - I mean they are a long way away - a very bigly long way away I know the basic technique but I just find it amazing. well done to the lot that found them!!
6Foot2 Posted February 23, 2017 Posted February 23, 2017 Link: TRAPPIST-1 This website is edited by members of the discovery team of TRAPPIST-1 and contains scientific information about the system as well as artistic and educational material. Our aim is to collect our best and most up-to-date knowledge of this system, while communicating our fascination and awe for the remote worlds of TRAPPIST-1.
mikeprice Posted February 23, 2017 Posted February 23, 2017 Just had a class of Year 5s and I got them to find out stuff about the new planets While they were doing I worked out that the first broadcast from Radio 1 (Tony Blackburn) would have reached these planets around the time the class was born so - if they had a radio and a VERY good receiver they could have been listening to pop music for 10 years 1
Arthur Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 a very bigly long way away It would only take ~700,000 earth years to travel there (which is half of the pixel below)! So close, yet so far. 1
localzuk Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 It would only take ~700,000 earth years to travel there (which is half of the pixel below)! Our fastest ever space craft hit 165,000mph. So if we managed that with humans in it, that means it'd take only a fraction of that time... That fraction being about an 1/8th. So only 160,000 years.
Arthur Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 that means it'd take only a fraction of that time... That fraction being about an 1/8th. So only 160,000 years. If we send @mikeprice's class of year 5's... Oh, wait. That's not going to work is it?
6Foot2 Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 If we send @mikeprice's class of year 5's... Oh, wait. That's not going to work is it? Ooh. Is this a thing now? I have some candidates we can send.
mikeprice Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 It would only take ~700,000 earth years to travel there (which is half of the pixel below)! So close, yet so far. Hang on - I was basing that on the distance to this star with the new planets (OK old plantes but newly discovered) being 39 light years Tony Blackburn travels at the speed of light (when on Radio1 ) so the signals reach these new(ly discovered) planets 39 years after the broadcast hence they reached there in 2006 (ish)
mikeprice Posted February 24, 2017 Posted February 24, 2017 Ooh. Is this a thing now? I have some candidates we can send. not sure we are allowed to?? - are we although there is that 'one way trip to Mars' project - we have some Year 6's we would be willing to sponsor for it
6Foot2 Posted March 3, 2017 Posted March 3, 2017 Once again the Internet is asked for suggestions to name something(s) [Think: BoatyMcBoatFace] This time NASA has invited suggestions for names of the 7 new planets: Link 1: #7NamesFor7NewPlanets? TRAPPIST-1bTRAPPIST-1cTRAPPIST-1dTRAPPIST-1eTRAPPIST-1fTRAPPIST-1gTRAPPIST-1h I am sure that I saw a suggestion on Edugeek somewhere that they should be named after the Seven Dwarfs (can't find that now) Link 2: https://twitter.com/hashtag/7namesfor7newplanets New Earth, New New Earth, New New New Earth, New New New New Earth, New New New New New Earth, New New New New New New ^Doctor Who fan by any chance?
ICTDirect_Dave Posted March 3, 2017 Posted March 3, 2017 Once again the Internet is asked for suggestions to name something(s) [Think: BoatyMcBoatFace] My suggestions: Adams Asimov Banks Clarke Herbert McCaffrey Pratchett Dead Sci Fi writers seemed like a sensible choice. 3
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