Kepler: Milky Way is full of planet Earths

Wisdom Quarterly; TheEconomist.com, Nov. 9, 2013

Astronaut Sandra Bullock does complicated stuff above the planet in Gravity (AP).

 

Latest batch of results from Kepler is illuminating and baffling

When it comes to public appreciation of astronomy, NASA’s exoplanet-hunting space telescope Kepler is the most successful instrument the agency has launched since Hubble. 

 

Astronomers have been spotting exoplanets -- those that orbit stars other than the sun -- since the 1990s. But Kepler has transformed the field from a cottage industry into a production line.

 

On Nov. 4th astronomers gathered at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California to hear the latest news. The headline was the release of the most recent batch of data from the spacecraft. The 833 new planets thus identified bring the total found by Kepler to 3,538.

The akasha deva loka, space, from Hubble telescope's ultra deep slice (onbeing.org)

  

Technically these are only “candidate” planets, whose presence is inferred by the tiny dimming they cause when they pass in front of their host stars. Such candidates must await confirmation by other telescopes before being promoted to full discoveries. But astronomers expect a low rate of false positives.

(1967Sander) ET technology exists on the Moon, "Project Golden Dragon." Author Roc Hatfield (Ancient Man on the Moon and Moon Base Cover Up?) describes UFO machine: "Our brains are not used to seeing alien technology, so it might take a few minutes to see it. It is clearly a vast machine.... It is made of thousands of inter-locking plates, like scales on an alligator. I believe this allows it to undulate like a snake or caterpillar.... By being flexible it can wrap its huge length around the curvature of the Moon's surface.... I believe the machine can fly and has been to Earth in the past. Could be the dragons seen by ancient Chinese people."

This exoplanetary smorgasbord allows researchers to conduct statistical analyses and extrapolate Kepler’s results to the rest of the galaxy. A group led by Erik Petigura of the University of California, Berkeley, having crunched the numbers, told the meeting that around a fifth of sun-like stars in the Milky Way [Galaxy] are likely to host planets roughly the size and temperature of Earth.

By the researchers’ definition, sun-like stars are a fifth of the total, so that means only about one star in 25 would have such a planet. But the galaxy is a big place, so if they are right there are billions of Earthlike planets in it. The closest is expected to be less than 12 light-years from Earth. More

Space is full of life. Cosmonaut reveals what NASA will not. Starts at 2:33

"Heaven" or sky means space (video)

Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; Tony Darnell (facebook); National Geographic; Asking Science

(Mike Gallis) An animation was rendered using the measured redshift of all 10,000 galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. A short script leads viewers through a quick history of both deep field images and this video. It ends with a fly-through of the Ultra Deep Field, where every galaxy in the image is in its proper distance as viewed from the telescope's line of sight. Hubble cosmological redshift animation courtesy of hubblesite.org.

National Geographic presents the first accurate non-stop voyage from Earth to the edge of the universe using a single, unbroken shot through the use of spectacular CGI (computer-generated imagery) technology. Building on images taken from the Hubble telescope, "Journey to the Edge of the Universe" explores the science and history behind the distant celestial bodies or "heavens" in the solar system.

This spectacular and epic voyage across the cosmos takes us from the Earth past the Moon, neighboring planets, out of our solar system, to the nearest stars, nebulae, galaxies, and beyond -- right to the edge of the universe itself.

With the unbroken shot we are able to explore what we would find if we were able to travel the entire length of the universe. Venturing past Neil Armstrong's footsteps still sealed on the Moon, the special soars over brightly illuminated Venus onto Mercury, a small planet said to be made almost entirely of iron, which may perhaps be the remnants of a much larger planet.

 

Mars is a planet of extremes with tornadoes, volcanoes, and canyons unlike anything seen on Earth. Jupiter's ever-present red storm is three times the size of Earth and has lasted for centuries. Reaching Saturn's moon Titan, we find a landscape closely resembling Earth. But Titan's rivers, lakes, and oceans are not made of water; they are liquid methane. Could life exist here?

Travelling more than 90 trillion kilometers from Earth, viewers step inside the Epsilon Eridani star system, where spectacular rings of dust and ice resemble the formation of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago.

 

Even further out is star Gliese 581, about the same age as our sun with a planet that is just the right distance to possibly support familiar life. Passing the Pillars of Creation, viewers see deep inside these clouds where huge stars are being birthed, bringing light and life to the universe.