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re: UPDATE: NASA Has Used Google's Machine Learning to Make a Major Alien Planet Discovery
Posted on 12/14/17 at 7:49 pm to Perfect Circle
Posted on 12/14/17 at 7:49 pm to Perfect Circle
quote:
To think how much further back in time JWST will be able to see than the HST Deep-field view!
It was the HST's Deep-field view that forced a reevaluation of how many galaxies are in the observable Universe. The new figure is 2 trillion, up from 100 billion. The JWST may cause even another estimate.
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It will be interesting to see how well the radial velocity and transit methods of finding exo-planets holds up when we can actually resolve exo-planets.
Well, I don't want to disillusion you but the JWST is an infrared telescope and will do spectral analysis of exoplanet atmospheres. It will be able to directly image exoplanets but not in optical light.
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Need to get that AI working on faster methods of interstellar space travel. How totally mind blowing would it be to locate and explore an Earth-type alien world.
Truly mind blowing. I think we're on the verge of finding life on other worlds. There are just far too many earthlike planets in the Milky Way; estimates range from 9-33 billion.
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Posted on 12/14/17 at 11:20 pm to Kentucker
Your stat re earthlike planets: is that figure for the Milky Way alone?
Posted on 12/14/17 at 11:36 pm to SafetySam
Will be a bummer when we finally get a visual on a life bearing planet and it's just full of giant lizards.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 6:02 am to SafetySam
quote:
....is that figure for the Milky Way alone?
There may be new data out regarding the number of Earth-type planets in the Milky Way, but I thought it was closer to a billion. Still, that's a lot of world's capable of sustaining human life.
The distances to them are mind boggling. With current technology, it would take tens of thousands of years to reach the closest ones.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 9:05 am to SafetySam
quote:
Your stat re earthlike planets: is that figure for the Milky Way alone?
Yes. While estimates now cover a broad range, a much more precise calculation should be available when the WFIRST telescope is launched in the mid 2020s. As a successor to Kepler, it will survey the entire sky. Kepler looked at only 150,000 stars.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 9:08 am to hogNsinceReagan
quote:
Will be a bummer when we finally get a visual on a life bearing planet and it's just full of giant lizards.
Well, earth was dominated by lizard-like creatures for hundreds of millions of years. So, yes, that’s a possibility.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 9:17 am to Perfect Circle
quote:
There may be new data out regarding the number of Earth-type planets in the Milky Way, but I thought it was closer to a billion. Still, that's a lot of world's capable of sustaining human life.
The filters that are applied actually determine the size of the estimate. Also, the definition of earth-like. I’ve see estimates as low as 1 billion for earth-like planets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars. The high estimate of 33 billion includes dwarf stars, which are the most numerous in the galaxy, and “super-earths” which are rocky planets several times bigger than earth and located in the habitable zones of their stars.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 9:41 am to Ancient Astronaut
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Will there be pics of the aliens?
Yes
Posted on 12/15/17 at 10:38 am to Kentucker
What type of spectral readings will indicate life on another planet? What exactly will the new telescope be looking for? Really exciting stuff happening.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 1:18 pm to buffbraz
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What type of spectral readings will indicate life on another planet?
LINK
The obvious ones are oxygen, methane and carbon dioxide. Of course, there are geophysical sources for all three but when they all appear together, especially oxygen and methane, then we can conclusively say that lifeforms are present.
JWST's spectral analysis can go farther than that in its analysis abilities, however. It will also look for signs of industralization. Gases such as carbon monoxide and other pollutants that we see in our own atmosphere would be a giveaway that a technological civilization exists on an exoplanet.
Exciting times.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 1:24 pm to BloodSweat&Beers
The aliens in the movie Battleship are my favorites. That is an excellent movie about alien arrival on earth.
Posted on 12/15/17 at 11:38 pm to Kentucker
quote:
The obvious ones are oxygen, methane and carbon dioxide. Of course, there are geophysical sources for all three but when they all appear together, especially oxygen and methane, then we can conclusively say that lifeforms are present.
JWST's spectral analysis can go farther than that in its analysis abilities, however. It will also look for signs of industralization. Gases such as carbon monoxide and other pollutants that we see in our own atmosphere would be a giveaway that a technological civilization exists on an exoplanet.
Can you imagine the excitement us science nerds will have if/when we find data from another planet indicating there is life? I will be beside myself.
Posted on 12/16/17 at 12:28 am to hogNsinceReagan
quote:
Will be a bummer when we finally get a visual on a life bearing planet and it's just full of giant lizards.
The first thing they'll find with telescopes will either be too much methane in the atmosphere (indicating life) or city lights.
Posted on 12/16/17 at 8:06 am to Kentucker
quote:
KIC 8462852,
I am pretty interested as well. I tend to believe it is just dust but I am silently hoping for an advanced civilization harnessing unthinkable amounts of energy.
James Web can't get here soon enough. That technology will garner even more interest in the cosmos by the average American citizen hopefully inducing a bigger budget.
Posted on 12/16/17 at 11:20 am to buffbraz
quote:
Can you imagine the excitement us science nerds will have if/when we find data from another planet indicating there is life? I will be beside myself.
Me, too. Especially if there are indications of an intelligent civilization. Just the discovery of ET life will cause intense interest in the space program, but finding another intelligent race will cause the research and development of new related technology to go into hyperdrive. May it happen soon!
Posted on 12/16/17 at 11:27 am to BoarEd
quote:
The first thing they'll find with telescopes will either be too much methane in the atmosphere (indicating life) or city lights
It's hard to say what too much methane is, however, because of the differences between worlds. We know what it is for our biosphere but the size, make up and atmosphere of another world might indicate a false positive for life there.
Add oxygen to the equation, however, and we could conclusively say that life is present and generating methane, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Fortunately, these three gases will be easy for JWST to see via spectroscopy.
Posted on 12/16/17 at 11:37 am to Commander Data
quote:
James Web can't get here soon enough. That technology will garner even more interest in the cosmos by the average American citizen hopefully inducing a bigger budget.
I agree. We desperately need to find ET life soon. Especially for NASA's benefit.
Other nations are ramping up their space programs while the U.S. has cut back funding drastically since the moon landings. Europe and China will overtake us by 2050 if we don't increase funding for NASA.
After the Soviet Union launched their space program in the 1950s in blitzkrieg style, the U.S. overtook them and raced to a huge lead. However, apathy set in after the moon exploration success and our program is floundering in comparison to Europe and China.
Posted on 12/16/17 at 11:38 pm to Kentucker
quote:
After the Soviet Union launched their space program in the 1950s in blitzkrieg style, the U.S. overtook them and raced to a huge lead. However, apathy set in after the moon exploration success and our program is floundering in comparison to Europe and China.
quote:
As of October 2016, one of Trump's policy advisors declared that, under Trump, NASA would recreate National Space Council, pursue a goal of “human exploration of the solar system by the end of the century,” to drive technology developments to a stronger degree than a manned mission to Mars. Other goals would include shifting budget to deep space exploration from Earth science and climate research, pursuit of small satellites and hypersonic technology.[316] A possibility of China joining the International Space Station program was also considered.[316] A stronger role of manned Lunar exploration is possible in NASA's quest for a manned mission to Mars.[316]
In the end, we need to make space profitable (for the mortals who believe invisible wealth actually matters) in order to advance our space program. Right now, there's little reason to actually explore because people either think:
It's too costly and returns nothing (they don't know how NASA is one of the main reasons our technology is lightyears ahead of our enemies).
It's futile because what we need to survive in space and travel for long distances is too cumbersome to actually achieve.
Of course, if we managed to lower the population significantly (through education, of course) and focus more on our technology we could easily find ways to augment our capacity to explore.
At the very least, if we start to mine asteroids it might combine the capitalistic necessity to gain a profit with the (classical) socialistic ideal of furthering the human condition.
For all the shite Trump gets, if he could convince our representatives that we should start mining in our solar system first, we could easily dominate the world fiscally, physically and most importantly: completely.
Hopefully we have more intellectuals in office by that time.
Posted on 12/17/17 at 12:08 pm to StrawsDrawnAtRandom
quote:
In the end, we need to make space profitable (for the mortals who believe invisible wealth actually matters) in order to advance our space program.
I agree and I think our leadership has thought would happen after the glory days of the moon missions. It hasn't. Only a couple of companies are interested in exploring space and SpaceX, the leader, is only interested in performing work for the government, a guaranteed payer.
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It's too costly and returns nothing (they don't know how NASA is one of the main reasons our technology is lightyears ahead of our enemies).
Space exploration replaced war as the biggest contributor to technological advancement in the 1960s. It continued with the development of satellites for communication and spying. It continues its contributions with the search for ET life.
If not for space exploration over the past 60 years, we would not have much of the technology we now enjoy in our everyday lives. All this for only 1/30th of the military budget.
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It's futile because what we need to survive in space and travel for long distances is too cumbersome to actually achieve.
While I agree with the doubters about the practicality of manned missions, we can't overlook the fantastic successes of the robotic exploration of Mars, Titan, Pluto and many other places in the solar system. Robots are the future of space exploration. I think any reasonable person would deduce that upon an examination of the results.
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Of course, if we managed to lower the population significantly (through education, of course) and focus more on our technology we could easily find ways to augment our capacity to explore.
I think religion is the biggest barrier to reducing the world population to an environment-sustaining number. Christianity and Islam are the biggest influences in over half the earth's population of 7.5 billion people.
Both mandate reproduction without limits. I don't think education about birth control will ever be a factor in the societies in which they're dominant.
Only a natural castrophe offers any promise of slowing humanity's blind growth and subsequent plunder of earth's resources. An exotic virus or bacterium, the eruption of a super volcano, or maybe a gamma ray burst are about the only calamities that could effectively reduce the population now. Of course, ultimately starvation will do the job, but by then the earth will be a resource desert.
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At the very least, if we start to mine asteroids it might combine the capitalistic necessity to gain a profit with the (classical) socialistic ideal of furthering the human condition.
I think history has taught us that socialism will only work with a small, homogeneous and intelligent population. The Nordic countries of Europe are a good example of my point.
Capitalism works best in a society that allows a de facto pyramid caste system with high achievers in smaller numbers at the top and a very large number of consumers at the lower levels.
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For all the shite Trump gets, if he could convince our representatives that we should start mining in our solar system first, we could easily dominate the world fiscally, physically and most importantly: completely.
First he would have to understand that government is not a reality TV show where he alone calls the shots. Compromise seems to be anathema to the man. He lacks a basic understanding of how our government works. I think the Republican Senate is showing him that he wasn't elected to be their King.
quote:
Hopefully we have more intellectuals in office by that time.
ox·y·mo·ron
noun
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g.,
faith unfaithful kept him falsely true).
This post was edited on 12/17/17 at 12:09 pm
Posted on 12/17/17 at 12:37 pm to Arksulli
quote:
they monotheistic in the Judaism/Christian/Muslim sense? Polytheistic? Spiritual? Completely and rigidly secular?
If, in fact, the God we know did create everything then an alien culture would also believe in their version of the same God. We just wouldn’t necessarily realize the Gods were one. Then we would quickly slip into hostilities over this. Then we would war with one another. And since they maintain the technology to visit us they would be vastly more advanced and we would end up like Talabans being bombed back to the stone-age.
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