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NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

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Re: NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

#41

Post by dmix »

cgriswald wrote: post #40

Brief summary: Seven earth-sized planets found around M-star (red dwarf) TRAPPIST-1 40 ly away, three in the habitable zone, all with some potential for liquid water. HN discussion w/ Nature article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13707547 Paper on Nature (paywall?): http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7642/full/nature2... SIMBAD entry for TRAPPIST-1: http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=tra…

@NASA: "New record! We’ve found 7 Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone around a single star outside our solar system: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-la... "

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/834464283337560068

Re: NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

#43

Post by russellbeattie »

There needs to be a new unit that describes "a speed equal to the fastest humans have been able to travel in space" instead of "light years". Let's call it an "Apollo", since that record is held by the Apollo missions to the moon at 11,080 m/s. Speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s. So humans can travel at ~0.0000367 x light speed, or 349,418,880,000 m/year.

So instead of saying 40 light years, we'd say 27,076 Apollo years.

Re: NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

#44

Post by random3 »

russellbeattie wrote: post #43

There needs to be a new unit that describes "a speed equal to the fastest humans have been able to travel in space" instead of "light years". Let's call it an "Apollo", since that record is held by the Apollo missions to the moon at 11,080 m/s. Speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s. So humans can travel at ~0.0000367 x light speed, or 349,418,880,000 m/year. So instead of saying 40 light years, we'd say 27,076 Apollo yea…

Can that speed be adjusted to a theoretical value based on latest propulsion systems? What would that be now and how would it likely evolve over then next decades?

Re: NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

#45

Post by nhf »

random3 wrote: post #44
russellbeattie wrote: post #43

There needs to be a new unit that describes "a speed equal to the fastest humans have been able to travel in space" instead of "light years". Let's call it an "Apollo", since that record is held by the Apollo missions to the moon at 11,080 m/s. Speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s. So humans can travel at ~0.0000367 x light speed, or 349,418,880,000 m/year. So instead of saying 40 light years, we'd say 27,076 Apollo yea…

Can that speed be adjusted to a theoretical value based on latest propulsion systems? What would that be now and how would it likely evolve over then next decades?

You could use it like economists use the consumer price index - all relative to year. So you could have the Apollo, or human space year, or something and reference HSY_{1969}, or HSY_{ion thruster}, etc.

Re: NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

#46

Post by anigbrowl »

ckozlowski wrote: post #31
anigbrowl wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This better be something better than 'we got slightly bette at identifying planets like our own.' It's great that we're doing so but when they are teasing discoveries rather than simply announcing them it should be for some signficant qualitative difference from anything we've known before.

I think some of the teasing is that which we inflict on ourselves. NASA wants to keep people interested and excited about their mission of course. But press conferences like these are also to stir up interest in the greater scientific community. Announcements like these might be disappointing to us lay persons who are waiting for the "we found life!" headline, but they can generate huge excitement in astronomy circle…

But that's the problem, it's too much marketing and not enough product.

So I see it turns out that we've now identified 7 earth-like planets orbiting a star, where previously we thought we had 3 planets. That's a significant technical advance, which is certainly a Good Thing.

But the average non-scientist/ non-technician looks at this and sees a big build-up followed by by a nothingburger, which is a very Bad Thing because it lowers public respect for science. It would have been much better to say 'exoplanet detection continues to improve, full details wednesday'.

We're not inflicting the teasing on ourselves because we're not the ones holding back information to create excitement and anticipation. This was a minor update that was presented as something major.

Re: NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

#47

Post by russellbeattie »

random3 wrote: post #44
russellbeattie wrote: post #43

There needs to be a new unit that describes "a speed equal to the fastest humans have been able to travel in space" instead of "light years". Let's call it an "Apollo", since that record is held by the Apollo missions to the moon at 11,080 m/s. Speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s. So humans can travel at ~0.0000367 x light speed, or 349,418,880,000 m/year. So instead of saying 40 light years, we'd say 27,076 Apollo yea…

Can that speed be adjusted to a theoretical value based on latest propulsion systems? What would that be now and how would it likely evolve over then next decades?

Various probes have gone faster - with the cruising speeds depending whether they headed towards the sun or away. After New Horizons got a gravity boost from Jupiter, it sailed out to pluto at 23k/s and arrived going 15k/s. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/the-fast...

I'll have to look and see what they have planned for the Mars missions. I'm sure we've jumped ahead a bit in practical engineering terms, but just haven't had a mission to show it yet.

Re: NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System

#49

Post by ckozlowski »

anigbrowl wrote: post #46
ckozlowski wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think some of the teasing is that which we inflict on ourselves. NASA wants to keep people interested and excited about their mission of course. But press conferences like these are also to stir up interest in the greater scientific community. Announcements like these might be disappointing to us lay persons who are waiting for the "we found life!" headline, but they can generate huge excitement in astronomy circle…

But that's the problem, it's too much marketing and not enough product. So I see it turns out that we've now identified 7 earth-like planets orbiting a star, where previously we thought we had 3 planets. That's a significant technical advance, which is certainly a Good Thing. But the average non-scientist/ non-technician looks at this and sees a big build-up followed by by a nothingburger, which is a very Bad Thing b…

I see your point. But is it NASA that's responsible for all of the build-up?

Earlier today, Washington Post posted the big red "Breaking news" banner once the press conference started and announced 7 planets. The story is now front and center on their page.

Is it a "nothingburger" if the press presents it as major as well?

While I often think the general public isn't the primary audience for these kinds of announcements, seeing the mainstream excitement for this astronomy result has me wondering if we underestimate the public. Perhaps most people do have a greater respect than we realize.

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