Achilles Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 For those of you that are interested in geeky stuff like this, the first images of a planet outside of our solar system were released today. We've been able to detect exo-planets for a while, but now that we're able to take pictures of some of them, I think things are about to get a lot cooler. Thank goodness the U.S. government decided to keep funding for Hubble News article with small color image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 http://kepler.nasa.gov/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 I love NASA. This is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted November 14, 2008 Author Share Posted November 14, 2008 http://kepler.nasa.gov/Wow. Thanks for the link. I'm a little bummed that I'm just now finding out about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Wow. Thanks for the link. I'm a little bummed that I'm just now finding out about this. Me too. I knew they were looking, but I didn't know they've come so far as to take photos and everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Wow. Thanks for the link. I'm a little bummed that I'm just now finding out about this.My job right now is actually writing some of the ground control software for that mission, so I've known about it for the last 3 years. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted November 14, 2008 Author Share Posted November 14, 2008 *jealous* Based on what I thought I had heard, I would've suspected that we'd be years away from even thinking about looking for anything smaller than Jupiter-sized planets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leXX Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 This is very exciting. I imagine soon enough we will have somewhat better images and be able to see what they look like instead of just specs. I'm really looking forward to it. I think we have discovered around 290 extra-solar planets so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pho3nix Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Makes you feel extremely humble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 My job right now is actually writing some of the ground control software for that mission, so I've known about it for the last 3 years. =) So, wait, you work at NASA? Am I getting this right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted November 14, 2008 Author Share Posted November 14, 2008 Makes you feel extremely humble.If that doesn't, will. Antares (third from last) is currently visible just before sunset in the Northern Hemisphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 So, wait, you work at NASA? Am I getting this right?Nope. http://kepler.nasa.gov/about/ almost at the bottom of the page... Mission Operations Center at Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)—University of Colorado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-64 Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 If that doesn't, will. Antares (third from last) is currently visible just before sunset in the Northern Hemisphere. Booooooooooom. I lol'd on the rigel to betelgeuse part. Nope. http://kepler.nasa.gov/about/ almost at the bottom of the page... Oh, well, it says NASA on the page so... close enough, it's still awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leXX Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 If that doesn't, will. Antares (third from last) is currently visible just before sunset in the Northern Hemisphere. It's one thing to read all the facts and figures, but when you see them like that it really puts things in perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWally Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 I'm so small and insignificant. *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted November 15, 2008 Author Share Posted November 15, 2008 Booooooooooom. I lol'd on the rigel to betelgeuse part.My son observed both of them last week for the first time. He didn't lol. ...but he was impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@RS Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 Ooooh, cool... I also thought we were quite a way from being able to do this kind of thing, but once again... NASA keeps pushing the limits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Monance Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 If that doesn't, will. Antares (third from last) is currently visible just before sunset in the Northern Hemisphere. Helps put things into perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Posted November 15, 2008 Author Share Posted November 15, 2008 This is the one I prefer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@RS Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 Helps put things into perspective. This is the one I prefer Wow... VY Canis Majoris is HUGE... I knew we had gigantic stars out there, but I didn't think they got THAT big... Is it a Red Giant? It looks like it should be, but I'm not sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiE23 Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Wow... VY Canis Majoris is HUGE... I knew we had gigantic stars out there, but I didn't think they got THAT big... Is it a Red Giant? It looks like it should be, but I'm not sure... Oh, the wonders of the internets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa) is a red hypergiant star located in the constellation Canis Major. It is the largest known star and also one of the most luminous known. It is located about 1.5 kiloparsecs (or 5,000 light-years) away from Earth. University of Minnesota professor Roberta M. Humphreys estimates the radius of VY CMa at 1800 to 2100 solar radii.[2] To illustrate, if our Sun were replaced with VY Canis Majoris, its surface would extend to the orbit of Saturn. Assuming the upper size limit of 2100 solar radii, light would take more than 8 hours to travel around the star's circumference. Dr. Humphreys recently estimated that the largest possible star is approximately 2,600 times the radius of the Sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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