the worlds are getting weirder
Busy, busy week.
This is possibly the most bizarre planet I have ever heard of.
Called HD 149026b (these planet finders have really got to try harder with these names, I prefer "Planet X" to a digital bar code), the planet's temperature was measured by the Spitzer space telescope.
From NS:
The planet is reflecting basically none of the star's light - making it blacker than charcoal, and the darkest planet ever observed. But it is hot - surface temperatures up around 2040º Celsius - which is nearly as hot as some stars. Its kind of expected at 1/25th AU distance, but all the same...
The planet also has the most massive core ever observed - with a mass of 70-90 Earths.
The race is now on to use Spitzer later on in the year to check out this weirdo's atmosphere and see what's going on (TiO2 rain, maybe?).
Suggested names that are better than HD 149026b:
In other planetary news: Mercury's core may be molten, which would explain its magnetic field. I find this odd, though, as a planet the size of Mercury should have a frozen core by now, so someone needs to revisit the thermal history calculations a bit.
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The early Earth may have been purple. Instead of being green like today, which is essentially the effect of chlorophyll, some types of archaea, purported to be the most ancient life-forms around, used a molecule called retinal, which absorbs green light really well, but reflects back red and blue light, which combine to make purple. Voila. Purple world. Chlorophyll, on the other hand, absorbs red and violet ends of the spectrum well, but doesn't absorb green as well, so light reflected back off chlorophyll looks green. This is why trees look green.
The authors suggest chlorophyll photosynthesis arose later and used light that retinal photosynthesis wasn't using.
Chlorophyll photosythesis is far more efficient than retinal. Additionally, maybe chlorophyll just doesn't use the part of the spectrum with the most energy as its damaging at high intensities. Still, its a neat idea. Purple world. Sounds like a Hendrix song.
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The early Earth may not have been such a bad place to visit. At least there was water. I've heard these results before though, I'm not sure what's so new.
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We may have crashed into alien universes in the past, and the clues might be in the cosmic microwave background radiation.
This isn't really reassuring. From NS:
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And lastly, bits of Halley's comet are crashing to Earth early Sunday morning at 2am, and the HPV virus strikes again... this time in the throat. Ahem.
This is possibly the most bizarre planet I have ever heard of.
Called HD 149026b (these planet finders have really got to try harder with these names, I prefer "Planet X" to a digital bar code), the planet's temperature was measured by the Spitzer space telescope.
From NS:
To make the observations, the researchers took advantage of the fact that the planet is one of only 17 known to "transit" – or pass directly in front of – its star as seen from Earth. So by observing how much the star's infrared light dropped when the planet passed behind it, they calculated the planet's own infrared emissions.
The planet is reflecting basically none of the star's light - making it blacker than charcoal, and the darkest planet ever observed. But it is hot - surface temperatures up around 2040º Celsius - which is nearly as hot as some stars. Its kind of expected at 1/25th AU distance, but all the same...
The planet also has the most massive core ever observed - with a mass of 70-90 Earths.
The race is now on to use Spitzer later on in the year to check out this weirdo's atmosphere and see what's going on (TiO2 rain, maybe?).
Suggested names that are better than HD 149026b:
- Dante
- Hades
- Bizarro World
- Nyx
- Tartarus
In other planetary news: Mercury's core may be molten, which would explain its magnetic field. I find this odd, though, as a planet the size of Mercury should have a frozen core by now, so someone needs to revisit the thermal history calculations a bit.
---
The early Earth may have been purple. Instead of being green like today, which is essentially the effect of chlorophyll, some types of archaea, purported to be the most ancient life-forms around, used a molecule called retinal, which absorbs green light really well, but reflects back red and blue light, which combine to make purple. Voila. Purple world. Chlorophyll, on the other hand, absorbs red and violet ends of the spectrum well, but doesn't absorb green as well, so light reflected back off chlorophyll looks green. This is why trees look green.
The authors suggest chlorophyll photosynthesis arose later and used light that retinal photosynthesis wasn't using.
Chlorophyll photosythesis is far more efficient than retinal. Additionally, maybe chlorophyll just doesn't use the part of the spectrum with the most energy as its damaging at high intensities. Still, its a neat idea. Purple world. Sounds like a Hendrix song.
---
The early Earth may not have been such a bad place to visit. At least there was water. I've heard these results before though, I'm not sure what's so new.
---
We may have crashed into alien universes in the past, and the clues might be in the cosmic microwave background radiation.
This isn't really reassuring. From NS:
If universes really are crashing into us willy-nilly, should we be worrying about a fatal collision? "It's true, there is always a chance we will be hit by a lethal bubble, which would come without warning," says Vilenkin. "But since we'll just evaporate in an instant and there's nothing we can do to stop it, there's really no use in worrying."Crap! Another way to blow up!
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And lastly, bits of Halley's comet are crashing to Earth early Sunday morning at 2am, and the HPV virus strikes again... this time in the throat. Ahem.
posted by code_monkey_craig at 11:08 AM
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