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Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
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7:39 am - Community Update
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fiat_knox
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Just posting here to remind everyone that this group still exists.
current mood:  contemplative
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| Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
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6:57 pm
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| Wednesday, July 18th, 2007
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7:48 pm - Pluto's Moon is an Ice Machine
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| Monday, June 11th, 2007
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3:05 pm - So Many Exoplanets Now ...
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| Thursday, May 31st, 2007
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9:21 am - Just an update post
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fiat_knox
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... making sure they didn't suspend my community journal.
current mood: contemplative
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| Friday, March 16th, 2007
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10:07 am - Was This How Pluto Was Formed?
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fiat_knox
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Giant Remnants of Cosmic Collision Found Beyond Neptune
Ker Than
Staff Writer
SPACE.com
Wed Mar 14, 1:45 PM ET
Shiny, gray space boulders floating in the outskirts of the solar system are the remnants of an ancient fiery collision involving two massive objects, the larger of which was nearly the size of Pluto, scientists say.
This rocky goliath could one day cross the orbit of Neptune and become one of the biggest comets ever known.
The findings, detailed in the March 15 issue of the journal Nature, mark the first "collisional family" detected in the Kuiper Belt and provide new insights about the solar system's murky history.
The Kuiper Belt is a vast expanse of space located beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is littered with rocky and icy bodies believed to be vestiges of the primordial disk from which the planets formed.
The parent body of the new collisional family is thought to be 2003 EL61, one of the largest objects in the Kuiper Belt. It currently is football-shaped [image], with a diameter of about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers), but was probably spherical and 20 percent larger before the collision, the researchers say. Pluto is about 1,400 miles (2,300 km) wide.
2003 EL61 is thought to have collided with an object in its distant past that was roughly half its size and traveling at nearly 7,000 mph. The amount of energy generated by the blast would have equaled about 10 billion nuclear bombs, said study team member Darin Ragozzine of Caltech.
'In terms of collisions in the solar system, that's actually kind of mild,' Ragozzine told SPACE.com.
The impact blasted large icy chunks from 2003 EL61 into space and sent the parent body reeling, causing it to spin end-over-end every four hours.
'It spins so fast that it has pulled itself into the shape of an American football, but one that's a bit deflated and stepped on,' said Michael Brown, a Caltech planetary scientist who led the study.
The impact spawned at least seven other rocky objects-and likely more-with diameters ranging from 6 to 250 miles (10 to 400 km). The researchers lumped the scattered objects into a family based on their matching gray color and evidence of surface water ice derived from spectral analyses.
'None of the rest of the Kuiper Belt is as shiny and pristine' as these objects are, Ragozzine said.
About 35 other collisional families are known, but they are all located in the asteroid belt, the rocky region of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Alessandro Morbidelli, an astronomer at the Laboratoire Cassiopee in France, who was not involved in the study, called the discovery a 'milestone in Kuiper Belt science.'
Writing in an accompanying Nature news article, Morbidelli said the discovery provides a physical model for astronomers to test their theories about the kinds of large-scale collisions thought to be behind the birth of our Moon and the Pluto-Charon system.
Because such large collisions are relatively rare, scientists think the one involving 2003 EL61 occurred in the distant past, perhaps as far back as 4.5 billion years ago, when the Kuiper Belt was much more crowded than it is now and objects were more likely to bump into one another.
If scientists can pin down when the collision occurred, they will have a unique glimpse into a specific time in the solar system's history and the evolution of the Kuiper Belt, Morbidelli said.
Some of the shards from the impact have made their way to the inner Solar system, the researchers say.
'Probably, there are comets that we have seen that came from this collision,' Brown said in a telephone interview. 'In fact, there are probably chunks of that collision here on the ground.'
One day, EL2003 EL61 will cross the orbit of Neptune and become a comet itself. 'That's going to be in about a billion years,' Brown said. 'It's a ways to wait.'
The Solar system Gets Crazier The Solar system that Neptune Built Pluto and its Moon May Have 'Family' Astronomers Believe More Planets Lie Beyond Kuiper Belt Original Story: Giant Remnants of Cosmic Collision Found Beyond Neptune
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current mood: contemplative
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| Thursday, March 15th, 2007
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3:08 pm - Pluto Occultation - Sunday 18 March 2007
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fiat_knox
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All Eyes on Pluto Sunday
Jeanna Bryner
Staff Writer
SPACE.com
Thu Mar 15, 6:15 AM ET
Telescopes all over the southwestern United States will turn toward Pluto as it meanders Sunday across the face of a star in the constellation Sagittarius. The observations could help researchers better understand the dwarf planet's atmosphere.
Called an occultation, the phenomenon is akin to a lunar eclipse. Just as our Moon casts its shadow onto Earth when it passes directly in front of the Sun, other planets also cast their shadows onto Earth when they pass in front of a star.
"Occultations are the only way we can monitor the atmosphere of Pluto from the Earth," said William Hubbard of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
Occultations occur about once every 5 to 10 years for Pluto, but the phenomenon will become more frequent now that Pluto has moved between Earth and the central region of the Milky Way where most of our galaxy's stars reside. With so many chance star encounters, Pluto is expected to experience one or two occultations each year.
"But even though there are now more than one of these events per year, we can't count on seeing them all because of cloudy weather or because Pluto's shadow falls on Earth where there are no observatories," said Bruno Sicardy of the Paris Observatory.
Pluto will pass in front of the star at 6 a.m. Eastern, and take about six minutes to complete its journey. This is about three times longer than typical Pluto occultations. In addition to the relatively long show, the shadow will be cast on the southwestern United States, a region heavily populated with giant telescopes.
The average skywatcher will miss out on a view of the event, unless they are equipped with a 20-inch or larger diameter telescope.
Astronomers glued to their high-powered scopes will observe the star's light as it filters through Pluto's atmosphere, just before the dwarf body blocks the starlight completely. Then, with further analyses they can glean information about the composition and pressure of Pluto's frigid atmosphere. Depending on where along its orbit Pluto is in relation to the Sun, its atmosphere ranges from -391 to -274 degrees Fahrenheit (-235 to -170 degrees Celsius).
Astronomers also hope to determine the thickness of Pluto's atmosphere, which is produced by vapor as it evaporates from the icy surface.
'What we get at the Earth is just a shadow of Pluto-a guest in the starlight,' Hubbard told SPACE.com. 'The radius of the shadow is related to the radius of the atmosphere, how far the atmosphere goes above the surface.'
The observations could also inform future work done by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, en route to Pluto now.
current mood: contemplative
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| Friday, March 9th, 2007
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11:51 pm - Tombaugh Family Joins Protest
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fiat_knox
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Clyde Tombaugh's Family Joins Protest of Pluto's Downgrade
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 05 September 2006
01:39 pm ET
Defenders of Pluto as a planet rallied at New Mexico State University last week, joined by the wife and son of Pluto's discoverer, Clyde Tombaugh.
The Sept. 1 gathering in Las Cruces was spurred by last month's decision by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to reclassify Pluto as a "dwarf planet" and, by the new definition, not really a planet at all.
The message from the protestors: Don't rewrite the textbooks yet as the debate's not over. Full story ...
current mood: Yet further vindicated
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11:44 pm - And The Fight Continues ...
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fiat_knox
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New Mexico Lawmaker Petitions to Restore Pluto's Planet Status
Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
SPACE.com
The state of New Mexico could effectively secede from the astronomical community if a resolution to call Pluto a planet is passed.
Joint House Memorial 54 was introduced by representative Joni Marie Gutierrez, who represents Dona Ana County. It states that Pluto, the recently demoted object, "be declared a planet and that March 13, 2007 be declared 'Pluto Planet Day' at the legislature." Full Story ...
That's next Tuesday, folks. :)
current mood: Further vindicated
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| Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
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12:07 pm - Here We Go ...
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fiat_knox
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Jupiter Flyby for 28 Feb 2007
NASA's New Horizons Pluto probe will make its closest pass by the gas giant at about 12:45 a.m. EST (0545 GMT) tomorrow (Wednesday 28 February 2007).
NASA is billing this probe to the edge of the solar system as being "its fastest mission".
"We have a very narrow window in space that we have to hit," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, has said of the rendezvous. "It's about 500 miles (804 kilometers) across and we have to hit it from 500 million miles (804 million kilometers) away, from the Earth."
At its closest approach, the New Horizons is expected to fly within 1.7 million miles (2.3 million kilometers) of Jupiter. The first data from that pass is expected to arrive at Earth via the Deep Space Network at around 12:00 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) Wednesday, officials at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), which is overseeing the mission for NASA, told SPACE.com [VIDEO: Passport to Pluto].
New Horizons is the first probe to visit Jupiter since NASA's Galileo orbiter plunged into the gas giant's atmosphere to end its 14-year mission in 2003. The Cassini orbiter, currently circling the planet Saturn, swung past Jupiter in December 2000.
I hope that this flyby works out well. Godspeed, New Horizons. :)
current mood:  Expectant
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| Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
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1:01 pm - Earth's Moon Destined To Disintegrate
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| Friday, January 19th, 2007
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10:13 pm - New Member
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fiat_knox
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I'd like to welcome ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) thewingsofisis to this community. Hi, Jenn.
As it is, I'm only just posting the news on Pluto and stuff, whatever comes my way. So far, it's not very lively, conversation - wise, but I do try. :)
And with that, some more interesting news ...
Rogue Dwarf Planet Becoming A Comet
Hope it doesn't come our way ...
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| Friday, January 12th, 2007
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5:11 pm - New Horizons Probe in Jupiter Flyby
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fiat_knox
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NASA's New Horizons probe bound for Pluto is headed for a Jupiter flyby, its camera eyes wide open, in preparation for its swing out towards the fringe of the solar system.
New Horizons began taking black-and-white images of Jupiter and scanning the planet's icy moon Callisto in the infrared this week as it prepares for a close encounter with the gas giant next month.
"They're certainly all we could have hoped for," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said Thursday of the new Jupiter images. "We're still 100 million kilometers out. We're going to get 50 times closer, but they are very nice." More ...
current mood:  curious
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, January 8th, 2007
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7:47 pm - Smile ...
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fiat_knox
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You've Been Plutoed!
"Plutoed" has been chosen as word of the year for 2006 by the American Dialect Society, beating "climate canary" in a run-off vote.
If you have been "plutoed" you have been demoted or devalued, just as happened to the former planet Pluto when its status was downgraded. More ...
current mood:  amused
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| Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
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11:00 pm - Red Streak On Pluto
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| Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
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7:01 am - New Horizons - Target Acquired
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| Saturday, November 25th, 2006
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10:55 am - We Are Not Alone - The Protest Continues
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10:23 am - How About That?
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| Saturday, October 14th, 2006
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10:01 am - A USA Today Op - Ed
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fiat_knox
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Pluto's planet status goes long way
Posted 8/30/2006
I disagree with the decision by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to remove Pluto from the list of planets ...
It is a historical fact that Pluto was discovered 76 years ago.
It was declared to be a planet, not a dwarf planet, not a subplanet. You should not come back decades after it has been taught to school children and published in textbooks and reclassify Pluto as something less.
Where does this group of modern astronomers get the authority to rewrite history? Don't they understand what tradition means?
Our traditional values in this country are taking a big enough beating, and now the IAU wants to mess around with the traditional organization of the solar system. When is this going to stop?
This Pluto decision must be reversed. Tradition must prevail.
Gene Kolnowski, Ellicott City, Md.
Wait for mission to Pluto
The International Astronomical Union's decision to demote Pluto from the family of planets was premature. At this moment, an unmanned mission called New Horizons is bound for Pluto and its moons Charon, Nix and Hydra, due to arrive in 2015.
Wouldn't it make far more sense to wait until we study Pluto up close before deciding to revoke the distant orb's long-honored status as a planet?
Stephen A. Silver, Walnut Creek, Calif.
current mood: Hear hear
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| Thursday, October 5th, 2006
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7:21 am - Since We're Out Here ...
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fiat_knox
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We may as well look outwards, to solar systems where perhaps we can find lifeforms who make more sense than our species is apparently capable of.
This article looks interesting ...
current mood: How about that?
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pluto_heresy