she was like “well i’ve come this far”

#TheImpossibleKid detail. The Mire-Kings lurk.

Apple Cooperates With the FBI

Planets galore!

As the closest star system to Earth and our solar system, the triple star system of Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri has always held a special place in the imagination of spaceflight enthusiasts like myself. For everyone who has ever imagined interstellar travel, the Centauri star system has always seemed like the possible dream. Although at 4.4 light years away it is still incredibly far from us, it is not so far that we cannot try to imagine practical technologies that might get us to this system of three stars so that we might explore it. 

When I first learned that the closest star to our sun was actually a system of three stars, and that it was thought unlikely that this system of three stars would have planets because of the gravitational complexity of their interaction, I was a little disappointed, so now I have reason to forget my youthful disappointment and to be excited about the Centauri star system again.

As turns out, there is at least one planet that has now been found in the Centauri star system, and – more exciting yet – it is a smallish, rocky planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B. While it is much too close to its star to be in the habitable zone for life as we know it, we have come to know that where there is one planet there are likely to be others. 

You can read about the discovery in Exoplanet around Alpha Centauri is nearest-ever by Jason Palmer, Science and technology reporter, BBC News, and there is also a video story on the same discovery,  New planet is nearest one to our Solar System. Now I can legitimately dream again of visiting planets at relatively “nearby” stars.

We can be fairly certain that there is no industrial-technological civilization on any of the planets of the Centauri star system, because early SETI research has served as a kind of process of elimination to exclude obvious “nearby” industrial-technological civilizations because we would have heard something from them by now. However, it is too early to say whether or not there might be an appropriate planet in the system that could host some kind of life.

Industrial-technological civilizations leave other signs of their presence besides radio waves, and in all our observations of the Centauri star system we haven’t detected the slightest sign of civilization. When our telescopes improve to the point at which we can get a spectrum of light from the atmosphere of an exoplanet, we will learn a great deal about such planets – whether they have traces of fossil fuels in them, or whether they have the telltale signs of life. 

When I was in Chile in 2003 staying in the countryside far from the lights of the city, I took a star chart with me so that i could pick out that features of the night sky that are familiar in the Southern Hemisphere, but which those of us from the Northern Hemisphere rarely see. I had a wonderfully clear sky and a stunning view of the Milky Way when I stayed at the Hacienda Los Lingues, and there saw the Southern Cross, the Teapot, and also Alpha Centauri, about which I had dreamed as a possible destination when I was a child. I remember that there was also a great view of the stars at Las Carreras in Argentina.

Just prior to the announcement of the Alpha Centauri B exoplanet, it was announced that an exoplanet had been discovered in a star system of no less than four stars (cf. Planet with four suns discovered by volunteers by Paul Rincon, Science editor, BBC News website). As I mentioned above, it was once thought unlikely that multi-star systems had planets – I believe it was thought that the gravitational forces would prevent the formation of a planet under these circumstances – but now with these recent discoveries planets seem more common in the universe than ever before – in other words, there are planets galore! (We may have to set the second term of the Drake equation, which concerns the percentage of stars with planets, to nearly 100%.)

All of this makes sense. While we don’t yet have the full picture of planet formation, and are learning more about it all the time (this is an important part of planetary science), it seems to be the case that planets congeal out of the same swirling clouds of dust, gas, and debris from which stars form. Sometimes several stars form, and sometimes only one. It has been said that our own solar system was nearly a binary star system; if Jupiter had been a bit larger, it might have been a brown dwarf instead of a planet. It could have gone either way at one point in the distant past of our solar system. It went another way at the Centauri system, but that alternative method of stellar formation did not preclude the formation of planets also. 

With this recent knowledge of planets galore, we have reason to dream again about exciting planetary exploration in our nearby stellar neighborhood. There are endless adventures still awaiting us.

Cage - Hell’s Winter (2005)

#neverforget

Who the fuck is Aes Rock?

Vinylgasm.

Who the fuck is Aes Rock?

They need to print Music for Earthworms on vinyl

Help!

I am in need of a graphic designer or anybody with a talent in drawing to design me a wee logo, any takers? You will be paid handsomely… but please remember I am a poor student so maybe not too handsomely. 

If you still need a designer, let me know. I have a sale on logos this month! :) You can e-mail me too -> WildLotus@mail.com