NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
1–10 of 37 posts
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#2Please keep in mind that NASA's idea of an 'intriguing planetary system' is probably very different than the general public's.
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#3I've been trying to introduce an intriguing planetary system to my wife for years now.
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#4Planet X on collision course with Earth? :D
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#5Please keep in mind that NASA's idea of an 'intriguing planetary system' is probably very different than the general public's.
It does make me wonder to consider what NASA finds intriguing. Exciting would be a green planet of the right size orbiting the right distance from it's sun. What could fall into intriguing but not exciting to people that for most intents and purposes have seen it all?
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#6I'm quoting a person who works on that project:
"They discovered a huge number of Earth-like planets. The new count is vastly outnumbers previous estimations even over the gas giants due to imperfect technology."
The remaining conclusions are up to you, even if they are not going to be voiced at the conference....
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#7Please keep in mind that NASA's idea of an 'intriguing planetary system' is probably very different than the general public's.
It does make me wonder to consider what NASA finds intriguing. Exciting would be a green planet of the right size orbiting the right distance from it's sun. What could fall into intriguing but not exciting to people that for most intents and purposes have seen it all?
Yeah, I want to know as well. I've read a little on the tech they use. Sounds pretty cool, but could some of these planets be false positives? They said they found a planetary system so I can only assume.
Would be neat if they found a planet similar to ours.
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#8Please keep in mind that NASA's idea of an 'intriguing planetary system' is probably very different than the general public's.
It does make me wonder to consider what NASA finds intriguing. Exciting would be a green planet of the right size orbiting the right distance from it's sun. What could fall into intriguing but not exciting to people that for most intents and purposes have seen it all?
I would be excited by a blue planet; a green planet (assuming that's shorthand for large masses of chlorophyll == extraterrestrial life) would probably be the most important announcement ever made.
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#9I'm quoting a person who works on that project: "They discovered a huge number of Earth-like planets. The new count is vastly outnumbers previous estimations even over the gas giants due to imperfect technology." The remaining conclusions are up to you, even if they are not going to be voiced at the conference....
Looks quite likely. They started collecting data in June 2009 and expected that a year of observations will be necessary to confirm a big number of planets.
What are your conclusions? We are not alone? There are places for humankind to expand to?
Re: NASA to announce 'intriguing planetary system' discovery on Thursday
#10For any HN readers who are suitably qualified and looking for a new career challenge...
Kepler is NASA's Discovery mission to find the first Earth-sized, habitable exoplanets. The SETI Institute is seeking an astronomer/scientist to archive Kepler data and results. The successful candidate will be a member of the Kepler Science Office, located at the NASA-Ames Research Center, and will be an integral part of the Kepler Team that shares proprietary ownership of the data and its scientific exploitation. This Support Scientist will assist in the verifying, validating, managing, coordinating, and archiving of the data produced by the Kepler photometer and ground-based follow-up observations. The production of the mission-critical Kepler Results Catalog will be their primary goal.
The successful candidate should have experience managing large volumes of data. Familiarity with optical CCD pixel-level data, high-precision photometry and time-series analysis, light curve modeling and stellar astrophysics are highly desirable. An appreciation for the importance of interface control documents, configuration management, and system engineering is critical. [....more at link...]