Kepler's STILL GOT IT! Space telescope spots SUPER-EARTH 180 light years away The Kepler space telescope might be damaged goods, but the clever hacks created by NASA's boffins have kept it running and it has spotted a new – if distant – planet that could harbor water, just like Earth. "Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Kepler has been reborn and is continuing to make discoveries. Even better, the …
Essentially, a kludge solution of using the shield of the spacecraft as a solar sail/stabilizer.
Do which I say, "Fucking cool! Great job, NASA!!!"
A kludge that works is simply an inelegant solution. A kludge that works within 5% of original, showroom floor precision is Fucking cool.
I say, give them a lot more of my tax dollars!
"This suspiciously sounds like someone is not totally in the clear about the difference between the solar wind (not being used) and light pressure (being used)."
Or perhaps, they're considering wave-particle duality in this particular case?
Nah, they probably got it bollocks on.
But, I did ponder the solar wind, the pondered the amount extra from the Carrington event, then figured that anyone observing it directly, under a solar sail, wouldn't be experiencing it for very long.
A few additional ergs of pressure would be worth fatal irradiation, yes? ;)
"This suspiciously sounds like someone is not totally in the clear about the difference between the solar wind (not being used) and light pressure (being used)."
Is solar wind being neglected? It is about a factor of 100 weaker than light pressure at Kepler's distance from the sun, but if you're trying to aim Kepler carefully for a long period of time then it might be something requiring consideration in aiming. I mean, sometimes effects even as modest as a few watts of stray infrared heat can budge satellites and probes - the Pioneer Anomaly-No-More.
"Plants would look very strange indeed at least in visible light."
Not necessarily. Most stars - even most "red" dwarfs - would look pretty white to the human eye if you're on a nearby planet because they're usually hotter than any incandescent bulb. A K0 star would have a surface temperature of 5200K, which produces a color balance similar to noontime solar illumination on Earth.
See the center picture for an example of 5200K illumination - it doesn't make much difference once the light source's temperature is above 3000K (like a tungsten bulb):
http://taylortakesataste.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/strobe.jpg
http://ezbackgrounds.com/images/blog/kelvin-color-temperature-chart.jpg
Hopefully any photographers will correct me if I'm egregiously incorrect in applying color temperatures to stellar illumination.
the planet is either very similar to our own (comprising around three-fourths water and one-fourth rock) or a gas giant with an extended atmosphere, like Jupiter.
Hopefully they'll work out which of the two it actually is before we launch the A Ark full of colonists.
"Density readings show that the planet is either very similar to our own (comprising around three-fourths water and one-fourth rock) or a gas giant with an extended atmosphere, like Jupiter."
Of course the earth is not three-fourths water by mass (or density), but by surface area. By mass/density the earth is effectively 100% rock.
very similar to our own (comprising around three-fourths water and one-fourth rock
Which planet is that because it certainly is not the Earth, while the surface is quite wet and the crust too contains a fair bit of water the vast bulk of the planet is rock,
The density of the Earth is 5.513 g/cm3 if it was 3/4 water the rest would have to be about 19 g/cm3 which is roughly the density of gold. Is there something about the Earth we're not being told?
Ho, hum, typical journalist. Is that 2.5 times the diameter, projected area, surface area, or volume?
Juxtaposed with the next sentence, "But" twelve times the mass, it doesn't really mean anything. If for instance it was diameter, and the average density was the same, you could expect its mass to be over 15 times (2.5 **3 = 15.6) that of Earth.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
