NASA to Make BIG Announcement Live on Thursday - Another Earth?!

a reply to: JadeStar

well thanks i guess

It can`t be too big of a deal, the head of NASA won`t even be there.The biggest cheese that is going to be there is only an associate administrator.

The briefing participants are:

-- John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington

-- Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California

-- Jeff Coughlin, Kepler research scientist at SETI Institute in Mountain View, California

-- Didier Queloz, professor of astrophysics at Cambridge University, United Kingdom

a reply to: ghostrager

Can't wait to know what it is. I wish NASA would be more proactive and the GOV would unlock some M.I.C tech and black budget projects to the public so we can make greater bream throughs.. ugh a boy can dream. S&F

originally posted by: Tardacus
It can`t be too big of a deal, the head of NASA won`t even be there.The biggest cheese that is going to be there is only an associate administrator.

The briefing participants are:

-- John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington

-- Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California

-- Jeff Coughlin, Kepler research scientist at SETI Institute in Mountain View, California

-- Didier Queloz, professor of astrophysics at Cambridge University, United Kingdom

It's a Kepler data release, which means more confirmed planets and likely the first Earth Twin. These data releases happen about every 6-7 months. The last one was in back in January, at the 225th AAS meeting here in Seattle which I attended.

So the big news is probably a big deal to me and exoplanet science but probably a ho-hum for most people since we're unlikely to know much more about it other than it's size, distance from it's star, distance of it and it's star from Earth, stellar flux it receives, average temperature if it were given an Earthlike atmosphere (an assumption but without evidence), mass (if we're lucky) very basic density/composition (if we're lucky), if it has any sort atmosphere or just bare like Mercury (again, if we're incredibly lucky and even then we would not know many details about it).

So yes, it could be a very important discovery for me, but at the same time bore you to tears. It will be like when I tell my boyfriend I bought a new shade of lipstick which never existed before.

a reply to: JadeStar

Thanks for all the good information once again. I'll look forward to your observations and comments after whatever news to be announced is announced. On threads like this I'll usually go to your "posts in thread" link and read all of your posts and data at once, and then go back to catch up with everyone else. Again, nice work, and fingers crossed that you'll really enjoy tomorrow's announcement.

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: JadeStar

Thanks for all the good information once again. I'll look forward to your observations and comments after whatever news to be announced is announced. On threads like this I'll usually go to your "posts in thread" link and read all of your posts and data at once, and then go back to catch up with everyone else. Again, nice work, and fingers crossed that you'll really enjoy tomorrow's announcement.

Thank you. I'll be here and post any relevant slides as they go live.

They found another way to make everybody wait for an artist's depiction of a planet.

Then somebody has to name it. Nibiru? Aaaawwwww!

You all in this discussion act like we don't KNOW that there are other intelligent life out there? Have none of you read about Project SERPO? We (that is actually the US military) sent an expedition to their planed (Serpo in the Zeta Reticuli system) way back in 1964, 12 people left and 10 returned 10 years later (one died and one choose to stay). And yes, if you have seen Close Contact of 3rd kind the movie was inspired from the actual event. Nope, I'm not kidding, and no, it is NOT SciFi, it is the truth. Google SERPO and read for yourself.

NASA makes a lot of "important announcements" these days because the largest budget cuts seem to happen to government agencies with the fewest important announcements. (i.e. the IRS)

NASA was having orgasms over Pluto last week, LOL.

a reply to: KarsteinE

This website rationalwiki.org... describes the origin and background of project SERPO.

I'll take a bet that it has nothing to do with kepler
a reply to: JadeStar

Woww... Finding another earth.. Plsss secured another earth ... China will grab this another planet.. Maybe created another island disputed island..Dont tell china maybe he will come like a cocroach to go there..In this planet..

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: KarsteinE

This website rationalwiki.org... describes the origin and background of project SERPO.

Ever heard about disinformation and debunking?

originally posted by: KarsteinE

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: KarsteinE

This website rationalwiki.org... describes the origin and background of project SERPO.

Ever heard about disinformation and debunking?

Yep! That's where both sides point fingers at each other and yell, "Liar!".

a reply to: carewemustMaybe so, but first of all, the author(s) of RationalWiki have clearly NOT read all the SERPO files, they are denying things that are not in the documents, they are claiming that the Serpo site says things it does not. And secondly, this information comes from multiple sources other than Serpo's sources. William Cooper presented some of it on a conference (I don't remember exactly when) and not long after he was killed by an anonymous swat team, with the rediculous excuse that he had opposed a house search!

a reply to: JadeStar

Thank you so much!

No problem. Some people have a difficulty with picturing themselves in other people's situations. I do not seem to have much of a problem with that. I think I might have a strong sense of empathy. Which leads to sympathy. I don't want anybody to be miserable their whole life as long as they dont have to cause harm to others in order to be happy.

If anybody wants to attack or criticize you because of something you have very little to no control over (I only included very little because, technically, you could "pretend" like everything's ok, have a sham marriage, etc, but thats rediculous to even consider, although I understand the immense pressure that would persuade those who do choose that path... but it hurts to know they may never experience a higher level of happiness) then that is only due to their own shortcomings, not yours.

I don't know how it all works as far as our existence before and after our biological life, so I can't say for sure if, as a spiritual soul-entity before birth, that you didn't choose to challenge yourself in such a way, due to knowing you possessed the strength to overcome it, but, if such a prebirth/pre-conception existence truly does exist, we have no memory of that, and so, for all intents and purposes, it can be said that "you" did not choose this body to be matched up with this mind. So, while it doesn't feel wholly correct to use the word "fault" as if there is something "wrong" with you, as it implies some hurtful ideas, it definitely is Not your fault...



About my suspicions... I'm really just on the fence about the whole thing. You make some good points about having so many people in on it, and the challenges that would entail. But I think there have been some whistleblowers, maybe. Could it be possible the great majority of scientists are kept in the dark?

My main reasoning, and what I mean by not buying the excuses, is that it seems to me to be a foregone conclusion that space exploration deserves at least the funding of, as you said, one of the armed branches. It seems way too obvious that something fishy must be going on. I have a hard time believing that the president, and others who have the power to influence such things, would not want answers as much as people like us do. It's just so rediculous that there almost has to be some hidden agenda.

Maybe they want to do it in small increments so as not to cause riots among the world's religious? I don't know. I just can't figure it out. But it's very irritating because, as a child, I pictured a very different future for humanity. I too, wanted to study space related courses at the UW. But I almost wonder if it would be a waste of time. I thought there would be thousands of jobs engineering space craft and space stations, studying distant worlds and lifeforms, conducting public tours of our solar system, at least up to the asteroid belt. We are living in the stone age compared to where I think we should be.

Of course, it's not too late to change my mind. I guess I'm just a little bitter, as I'm sure you can tell, about the obscene amounts of money spent on war when there are people homeless and starving, and potentially infinite amounts of space to discover. As well as our own oceans, and their potential for archeology. We should have the technology and the funds to be living in a damn near utopia.

There should, as you expressed a desire for, be a much higher education level among the average person, and this would nkt be difficult to acheive either. It's not very hard to make science fun and interesting. Nor would it cost much, when you consider the amount spent on bombs, jets, helicopters, etc.

Well, you give me hope, for what its worth. I hope they make good use of your ambition and intelligence, and don't waste it on some menial tasks.

originally posted by: Nochzwei
I'll take a bet that it has nothing to do with kepler
a reply to: JadeStar

I'll take that bet. What do you offer?

originally posted by: KarsteinE
a reply to: carewemustMaybe so, but first of all, the author(s) of RationalWiki have clearly NOT read all the SERPO files, they are denying things that are not in the documents, they are claiming that the Serpo site says things it does not. And secondly, this information comes from multiple sources other than Serpo's sources. William Cooper presented some of it on a conference (I don't remember exactly when) and not long after he was killed by an anonymous swat team, with the rediculous excuse that he had opposed a house search!

Since you seem very into this story I have a couple of science questions for you.

If your planet Serpo exists presumably someone would have to given something which could help confirm it like:

a) How long is it's year in Earth days? Or to put it another way, how long in Earth days does this Serpo planet take to orbit it's star.

b) Which of the stars of Zeta Reticuli does it orbit? There are two: Zeta 1 Reticuli and Zeta 2 Reticuli. Which does it orbit.

c) How long is a day on Serpo in Earth hours.

d) how big is Serpo. Is it larger than the Earth? Is it smaller than the Earth? By how much?

These are all things which could be independently confirmed or ruled out through careful observations of the star this supposed planet orbits.

If your story lists this information and it turns out to be correct your story would gain more weight. Lacking this however it would fall under its own weight.

FWIW: The stars of Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli are often high priority stars for exoplanet searches since both are similar to our Sun.

originally posted by: JadeStar

originally posted by: CallYourBluff
I'm sure it will be yet more boring "news" to give the impression of progress in the distraction that is NASA. 66 years from not believing we could fly to landing on the moon and people still believe this planet is unknown and never been visited,amazing.The human ego is a profoundly stubborn and delusional thing.

As a scientist I don't think our planet is unknown if intelligent life is common in our Milky Way galaxy.

Here's why:

Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years and for the last 2 billion of those years, our Earth has been broadcasting that life existed here in terms of our plant life generating biosignatures. These biosignatures would be detectable with technology no greater than we are capable of today out to a spherical area of 300 light years.

That is an area encompassing an estimated 391,725 stars and an estimated 86,180 potentially habitable worlds.

So for the last 2 billion years, an alien astronomer within that 300 light year sphere with technology no greater than our own, looking at our planet with a sufficiently large space telescope would notice that something was filling our atmosphere with free oxygen.

That would stand out to any alien astronomers because oxygen is highly reactive and likes to combine with other elements to form things like carbon monoxide aka smog (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O) and formaldehyde (CH2O).

So anyone with a sufficiently large space telescope looking at the Earth and seeing a huge spike of O2 (free oxygen) would know something is replenishing it and the only something which does that efficiently for planets like ours, as far as we know, is life. Specifically photosynthetic life (plants, trees, etc).

They'd see something like these:

So yeah, if they're out there they probably at least know our forests are here. Few scientists would argue that. Could they have sent a probe or come here in the past? Maybe. Few scientists would argue that either. Even Carl Sagan suggested we look for evidence of such ancient visitation in images and data returned from our exploration of our solar system.

The only thing most scientists would have an issue with are claims that they are coming here now or are actually here now. There's just nothing which can be examined by science today which would firmly establish that.

BTW: This workshop took place last year in Arizona co-sponsored by The Vatican Observatory:

Another took place this past April in Puerto Rico, one of many of this type these days. It's focus was also on detecting the telltale signs of life on Earthlike worlds in our neighborhood (that 300 light year area I mentioned above):

Personally, I were a smart alien on a planet 100 light years away looking at the Earth with a hyper-telescope capable of seeing something the size of a Honda Accord car I'd probably have seen enough from our year 1915 to stay as far away as possible and observe from the comfort of my own solar system. And in 30 years I and the rest of my alien world could watch World War II unfold.

To tell you the truth, I couldn't care less what the mainstream scientific community has to say about UFOs or alien visitation.There is to much social conditioning involved for them to form their own opinions on the the subject, let alone admit there's something to it.
There is abundant evidence that we have been visited for centuries and still are to this day.The ongoing smear campaign against UFOs has hardwired the idea into everyone that it is a joke subject and only taken seriously by the mentally unstable.They have manufactured the perfect way to stop people talking about it.You would think reporting such sightings and encounters would be encouraged but it's quite the opposite.It's completely backwards.Alien visitation is always something that may happen in the future and when it does,what ever US president is in charge at the time will hold a press conference to let the world know.You know, just like in the movies.Yeah right,give me a break.

originally posted by: 3n19m470
a reply to: JadeStar

Thank you so much!

No problem. Some people have a difficulty with picturing themselves in other people's situations. I do not seem to have much of a problem with that. I think I might have a strong sense of empathy. Which leads to sympathy. I don't want anybody to be miserable their whole life as long as they dont have to cause harm to others in order to be happy.

Nor do I. I feel everyone has a right to a happy childhood. Life as an adult seems like it will be hard enough, why shouldn't all children start their lives happy?

If anybody wants to attack or criticize you because of something you have very little to no control over (I only included very little because, technically, you could "pretend" like everything's ok, have a sham marriage, etc, but thats rediculous to even consider, although I understand the immense pressure that would persuade those who do choose that path... but it hurts to know they may never experience a higher level of happiness) then that is only due to their own shortcomings, not yours.

I honestly do not feel I could have ever done that. If had to go through male puberty, no offense to males reading this thread but I am pretty sure that I'd probably have killed myself. Some see that as weakness but I feel the opposite, the weaker thing would have me to change who I was by pretending to be a man and live a miserable existence lying to everyone around me. It makes me wonder how just many miserable people actually did what you said above?

Around 10 or 11 I had nightmares that I was going to grow facial hair (similar to Jazz's nightmares of being chased around by mustaches) or that I opened my mouth and a man's voice came out!

I'd have been devastated. Thankfully I was put on blockers so that never happened. I was lucky to have an understanding parents and family so today I am happy. Others are not as fortunate. Hopefully early intervention and treatment as was done in my case, becomes the rule not the exception.

I don't know how it all works as far as our existence before and after our biological life, so I can't say for sure if, as a spiritual soul-entity before birth, that you didn't choose to challenge yourself in such a way, due to knowing you possessed the strength to overcome it, but, if such a prebirth/pre-conception existence truly does exist, we have no memory of that, and so, for all intents and purposes, it can be said that "you" did not choose this body to be matched up with this mind. So, while it doesn't feel wholly correct to use the word "fault" as if there is something "wrong" with you, as it implies some hurtful ideas, it definitely is Not your fault...

That all sounds interesting but I am not a believer in a thing called a soul. I do however know that there exists very sound biological evidence (brain scans, androgen insensitivity, etc) for my, and other people like me who contend that are brains are mismatched with the body they inhabit. As a woman of science I'll go with the biology rather than the spirituality but I do find those ideas you mention fascinating.

Either way it's not my fault and if I could somehow run the clock backwards to before I was born and change it so that I didn't have to go through those early unhappy years I would in an instance. It would have saved my parents and me a lot of stress and heartache and saved them a lot of money (health insurance did not cover most of my treatment).

About my suspicions... I'm really just on the fence about the whole thing. You make some good points about having so many people in on it, and the challenges that would entail. But I think there have been some whistleblowers, maybe. Could it be possible the great majority of scientists are kept in the dark?

Any program like that would need scientists. And not just any scientists but some of the best in their field. The problem is that most of these people are well known within the community and any sort of interface with your super secret black budget program would require them to be

My main reasoning, and what I mean by not buying the excuses, is that it seems to me to be a foregone conclusion that space exploration deserves at least the funding of, as you said, one of the armed branches. It seems way too obvious that something fishy must be going on. I have a hard time believing that the president, and others who have the power to influence such things, would not want answers as much as people like us do.

Some do. The last three presidents (Clinton, Bush, Obama) have all had a lot of interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. How that manifested itself varied. Under Clinton there was the (in)famous "Mars Meteorite" (ALH84001) announcement. Under Bush, while mostly busy with two wars he stated he wanted NASA missions to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life before the end of his presidency but before the end of his presidency a major NASA program to do just that, called the Terrestrial Planet Finder was cancelled. Another mission called SIM which was a precursor to the TPF was also cancelled. Kepler itself almost fell under the budget axe too. Obama has often joked about the subject of extraterrestrial life and his first couple of years seemed to neglect NASA but by the third year of his first term Kepler (which was launched in 2009) had re-wrote the textbooks on planets and NASA's astrophysics budget began to rise again.

So just because a president has an interest in this question, that doesn't make them all powerful in bringing resources to address the question. They are at the whim of the people.

It's just so rediculous that there almost has to be some hidden agenda.

It's probably a mistake inefficient government and inept leadership for conspiracy.

But it's very irritating because, as a child, I pictured a very different future for humanity. I too, wanted to study space related courses at the UW. But I almost wonder if it would be a waste of time.

I do not think it would have been. UW is a great university and its space and astrophysics programs are among the best.

I thought there would be thousands of jobs engineering space craft and space stations, studying distant worlds and lifeforms

There probably could have been had money been there for it.

We are living in the stone age compared to where I think we should be.

I tend to agree.

There should, as you expressed a desire for, be a much higher education level among the average person, and this would nkt be difficult to acheive either.

It amazes me that people I know personally gone to Germany to go to universities there for free because of the rising tuition. I heard California used to have free universities too at one time? Is that true? To me if Germany can do it there is no reason why the US can't do it other than the usual suspect: greed.

It's not very hard to make science fun and interesting. Nor would it cost much, when you consider the amount spent on bombs, jets, helicopters, etc.

Well, you give me hope, for what its worth.

I hope they make good use of your ambition and intelligence, and don't waste it on some menial tasks.

Thank you!