Hubble sees 'planet' around star

Just thought you ppl would find this interesting.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Exciting times regarding space, we seem to be discovering quite a lot just recently.

Nice news find!

(sigh) I wish our space travel were at a better stage or the stars were closer. I have always wanted to explore other planets.

that's awesome! hopefully it is a planet, and not just a background image.

with all the exoplanets that have been discvered being several times the mass of jupiter i would have thought it would put an end to the thought of jupiter being a failed star.

but what could be interesting is, that such a large body still has to put out a ton of radiation. far more than jupiter at least. if we had a better telescope, it would be amazing to find earth, or even jupiter sized, moons orbiting it.

Hi Byrd, cmdrkeenkid.


I agree, it would be great if Hubble were able too 'zoom' in on distant planets, so we could get a better view of them, instead of the fuzzy images were currently getting, cant moan though, Hubble does an amazing job.

I think i read somewhere there were plans for a more powerful telescope to be put in orbit, if true imagine what that may reveal

I really hope this turns out to be true, maybe it will help publicise Hubble and make a servicing mission more likely

Originally posted by Popeye


I really hope this turns out to be true, maybe it will help publicise Hubble and make a servicing mission more likely

More importantly if this does turn out to be the first planet directly obeservable by hubble then it bodes well for the next generation of space telescopes the first of which goes up in 2007. The true universe is gonna be unveiled soon and its gonna be shocking i think.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhh *bounces* Kooly! I'd LOVE to see some pictures of exoplanets! Do you think they'll get any? ^____________^

Luckily they found this just AFTER the announcement that our government in their infinite wisdom has decided to let the Hubble crash & burn.

This could be really cool if it turns out to be a planet. I know it's probably hard focusing on a planet so far away, but maybe once they determine its exact location, they might be able to focus in on it better (if it turns out to be a planet). It sure would be sweet to see a clearer picture of a world that's not in our solar system.

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Smug scientists/astronomers thought all planets in the galaxy had already been created.

Hubble saw some in the formation stage, but these scientists/astronomers dismissed Hubble's findings as "not possible".

However, the new, more powerful, James Webb space telescope has now confirmed that what the Hubble telescope saw, was 100% real and accurate.

Planets are still being formed: www.salon.com...

The above is a great article for those of us who like reading about new "finds" beyond our planet Earth!

Keep in mind that to detect exoplanets is exceedingly difficult. Since stars are so distant and planets do not emit any light of themselves, detecting even a giant planet, such as Jupiter, is like trying to spot a speck of dust floating around a powerful light bulb miles away.

Because of that, the data from even the most powerful telescopes is quite prone to misinterpretation and open to biased speculation (also because the discovery of a planet is both more newsworthy and therefore attracts or justifies more research funding or telescope time than not finding one*, or refuting an earlier interpretation of the data as the detection of an exoplanet.) *: it's a matter of succes vs failure in such research projects, success is always gonna increase the chance for more funding for the future, and for those in charge of federal research funding or assigning telescope time more incentive to see more merit in your research project. (remember the movie Contact? Where Jodie Foster and her team lose their funding and access to the telescope because of repeated failure in her SETI research. American physicist Freeman J. Dyson has concluded that if advanced civilizations exist in our galaxy, finding evidence of them should be as easy as finding signs of technological civilization on Manhattan Island in New York City. The galaxy should be buzzing with alien signals and their immense engineering projects. But none have been found. In fact, one article on the subject noted that “searched, found nothing” has become like a religious chant for SETI astronomers. So Fermi’s paradox still haunts them. More about Fermi's paradox: Extraterrestrials—Where Are They?)

Also, images from telescopes (that are published for the public and used in the news media, including scientific news journals) are often enhanced or embellished based on those interpretations of the data, which may give some people the wrong impression when looking at such images without realizing it has been enhanced or altered like that.

a reply to: whereislogic

MAYBE WE HAVEN'T FOUND INTELLIGENT LIFE BECAUSE...
At any given time, there may only be a relatively small number of "advanced" civilizations in this galaxy. Slowly, they come and go, but at any single point, it could be that fewer than 100 civilizations at our level or greater, are in existence in the Milky Way galaxy. 100 Civilizations amongst 200 billion stars.

a reply to: Byrd

If we had a nucleur powered motor that could grip spacetime directly (like a wheel gripping the ground)). At 1 g acceleration for a bit over a year it would attain 90% speed of light. That allow us to have probes returning orbital pictures of the closest exoplanets within 10 years.

a reply to: whereislogic

American physicist Freeman J. Dyson

British-American actually.

originally posted by: SkyWatcher
Just thought you ppl would find this interesting.

Exciting times regarding space, we seem to be discovering quite a lot just recently.

And the planet is square!!!

originally posted by: glend

If we had a nucleur powered motor that could grip spacetime directly (like a wheel gripping the ground)). At 1 g acceleration for a bit over a year it would attain 90% speed of light. That allow us to have probes returning orbital pictures of the closest exoplanets within 10 years.

It's not that easy, even at 10% the speed of light it would be crazy difficult without maybe something like solar sails. The massive amount of fuel needed would make it unattainable.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

And the planet is square!!!

All my findings show it's shaped like a Donut.

We should compare notes.

a reply to: WeMustCare

Since the topic of SETI is very much linked to the research into exoplanets, and since I brought it up, I guess I can talk a bit more about it now.

Did you know that modern-day science-fiction writers did not invent the notion of extraterrestrials. Some 23 centuries ago, a Greek philosopher named Metrodorus taught that a universe containing merely one inhabited world would be as unlikely as a large field growing only one ear of corn. Similar to Carl Sagan's favorite argument repeated numerous times in the movie Contact in a very positive light: 'Well if there wasn't [other civilizations], it would be an awful waste of space.' Of course this argument does not consider future purposes for exoplanets other than that, such as terraforming and human colonization that would not make it a waste of space (perhaps even the creation of life by humans on these planets in an even more distant future. We do have a beautiful 'canvas' out there to express our creativity, ingenuity and imagination for a long, long time, metaphorically speaking). Lucretius, a Roman poet of the first century B.C.E., wrote that “in other parts of space there are other earths and various races of men.”

This teaching, called the plurality of worlds, was in disfavor in Christendom for many centuries. But from about 1700 to the early part of our own century, most educated people, including some of the greatest scientists in history, believed firmly in life on other worlds. In fact, one educator of the mid-1800’s was widely attacked when he dared to write a paper denying the doctrine.

People seemed eager to believe in extraterrestrials, even on the flimsiest of evidence. In 1835 a newspaper reporter wrote that astronomers had discovered life on the moon. He wrote that strange animals, exotic plants, and even little people with wings, hovering about and gesturing visibly, were all seen through a telescope! The circulation of his newspaper soared. Many continued to believe the tale even after it was exposed as a fraud.

Scientists were optimistic as well. In the late 1800’s, astronomer Percival Lowell was convinced that he could see a complex system of canals on the surface of the planet Mars. He mapped them out in detail and wrote books on the civilization that had constructed them. In France, the Academy of Sciences was so sure that there was life on Mars that it offered a reward to the first person who communicated with any extraterrestrials other than Martians.

Some proposed outlandish schemes to communicate with beings on nearby worlds, ranging from lighting huge fires in the Sahara Desert to planting geometrically shaped forests across Siberia. In 1899 an American inventor erected a mast topped with a copper ball and sent powerful electric pulses through it to signal the Martians. People’s hair stood on end, and lights glowed for 30 miles [50 km] around, but there was no answer from Mars.

While the technology behind today’s search for life on other worlds may be new, one thing remains unchanged: Scientists are still confident that mankind is not alone in the cosmos. As astronomer Otto Wöhrbach wrote in the German newspaper Nürnberger Nachrichten: “There is hardly a natural scientist who would not say yes if asked if there was extraterrestrial life.” Gene Bylinsky, author of Life in Darwin’s Universe, put it this way: “Any day now, if radio astronomers are to be believed, a signal from the stars will flash across the unimaginable gulf of space to end our cosmic loneliness.” (also an aspect of the subjects that come up in the movie Contact; and now we get to the main subject I was thinking of when reading your suggestion concerning the number of civilizations who could potentially have sent out radio signals...)

Why are scientists so sure that life exists on other worlds? Their optimism starts with the stars. There are so many of them​—thousands of millions in our galaxy. Then the assumptions begin. Surely, many of those stars must also have planets circling them, and life must have developed on some of those worlds. Following that line of reasoning, astronomers have speculated that there are anywhere from thousands to millions of civilizations right here in our own galaxy!

Does it matter?

What difference does it make whether there is life beyond Earth or not? Well, scientists feel that either answer would have a tremendous impact on the human family. They say that learning that we are alone in the universe would teach mankind to value life here in view of its uniqueness. On the other hand, one respected scientist reasons that alien civilizations would likely be many millions of years more advanced than our own and might share their vast wisdom with us. They might teach us to cure our diseases, to end pollution, wars, and starvation. They might even show us how to overcome death itself!*

No more disease, war, death​—that kind of hope means a lot to people in our troubled times. No doubt it does to you as well. You will probably agree, though, that it is better to have no hope at all than to lean on a false one. It is important for us to find out, then, if scientists are on solid ground when they assert that the universe is teeming with populated worlds.

The article I linked in my previous comment digs deeper into that.

*: I think the movie Contact does an interesting take on those philosophical angles, but it only really promotes one perspective in a very positive light, the perspective of those quoted so far who would argue that if there weren't other civilizations out there 'it would be an awful waste of space'. The opposing perspective, that there are no other civilizations living on planets, hence the silence in terms of radio transmissions, is cast in a very negative light, mostly by the character Drumlin early on. And there are also other perspectives addressed once it becomes more clear that the radio transmission really did come from extraterrestrial intelligent beings, almost all cast in a negative light, such as the more militaristic or religious fundamentalist perspectives.

There is one perspective that is not presented or even touched upon though (perhaps even avoided when the perfect opportunity to bring it up presents itself in various scenes*, which may be an indication that it is on purpose). That SETI is very much a worthwhile endeavor but perhaps we've been looking in the wrong place for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence and their technology and engineering products and it's been under our noses this whole time (*: in the scenes where Jodie Foster expresses the usual and popular slogans that there is no evidence of God's existence or no evidence either way, i.e. the existence of a Creator, a master engineer if you will, and nobody counters that by pointing out the obvious evidence presented below, including not the positively depicted romantic interest, the openminded character who says he believes in God because of an intensely spiritual experience, thus presented in such a way that his view is only based on faith and some almost magical mysterious personal unverifiable experience rather than hard evidence, the preferred caricature of what all religious persons are supposedly like according to the most prominent atheistic and agnostic philosophical naturalist debaters, including the Carl Sagan types and others quoted earlier in my commentary):

Context (playlist):

Real science, knowledge of realities compared to unverified philosophies and stories

originally posted by: whereislogic

American physicist Freeman J. Dyson has concluded that if advanced civilizations exist in our galaxy, finding evidence of them should be as easy as finding signs of technological civilization on Manhattan Island in New York City.

When you said DYSON, it reminded me of a Star Trek episode and a DYSON sphere being located.

www.space.com...