And the Award Goes To…

March 3, 2014 by nvantreeck

Last night was the biggest night for movies and actors. So today I am giving the award for best planet hunter to…..Kepler!

Kepler is like the gift that keeps on giving. The Kepler team analyzing the data captured by the now disabled spacecraft have found another 715 exo-planets.

715!

That is almost as many planets that have been identified in the past decade! Kepler had previously identified 246 planets. Over the past 20 years, Kepler is responsible for more than 1/2 of all exo-planets found.

I know that Kepler cannot be fixed, but for the $600M price-tag, and the continued discoveries, I think we should consider putting another Kepler up. This time point it at a different part of the sky, with a wider field and a better camera.

Considering the $8Billion dollar price tag of the James Webb space telescope, Kepler was a bargain. Don’t get me wrong, I do want to see the results from the Webb telescope, but that is years away (if ever).

Although last night was the Academy Awards, I think the trophy for the MTV music awards is more appropriate for Kepler’s big win.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine. As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

National Space Club Honors Kepler’s Planet Hunters.

February 11, 2014 by nvantreeck

NASA’s Kepler space telescope mission will be honored with the National Space Club’s preeminent award, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, in March.

The National Space Club is recognizing Kepler for revolutionizing astrophysics and exoplanet science by expanding the census of planets beyond our solar system and fundamentally altering our understanding of our place in the Milky Way galaxy. The award citation acknowledges the Kepler team’s significant contribution to U.S. leadership in the field of rocketry and astronautics.

“This is an outstanding achievement for the entire Kepler team,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science in Washington. “Kepler continues to surprise and inspire us on a regular basis and I’m delighted to see the team’s pioneering work acknowledged with the Goddard Trophy.”

The trophy will be presented at a 57th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner March 7 in Washington. Previous winners of the Goddard Trophy include NASA’s Curiosity and Mars Science Laboratory team, James A. Van Allen and the Apollo 11 astronaut crew.

Developed jointly by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., Kepler was launched in 2009. It is the first NASA mission to find Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone, the region in a planetary system where liquid water can exist on the surface of an orbiting planet.

“Kepler’s determination that most stars have planets and that Earth-size planets are common provides impetus to future missions that will determine whether many planets have atmospheres compatible with the possibility of life,” said William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at Ames. “The future science enabled by the Kepler results will be one of the mission’s greatest legacies.”

Borucki and the team continue to analyze four years of collected data. Discoveries include more than 3,600 exoplanet candidates, of which 246 have been confirmed as exoplanets. They expect hundreds, if not thousands, of new discoveries contained within the data. This could include discovering long-awaited Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars.

Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden praised Kepler as “a hallmark of Ames ingenuity and humankind’s collective spirit to advance the frontier.” Worden said, “We may come up with ideas no one thinks are possible, but the collaboration of hundreds of scientists, engineers and managers from around the world has taken us closer to answering one of the ultimate questions: Are we alone?”

Jim Fanson, Kepler development phase project manager at JPL, commented on the historical implications of the mission. “Kepler has revolutionized our understanding of solar systems around other stars in the galaxy, and in so doing has transformed our view of our own island home,” Fanson said.

The National Space Club is a non-profit organization devoted to fostering excellence in space activity through interaction between industry and government and through a continuing program of educational support. A full list of 2014 award winners is online at:

http://www.spaceclub.org/awards.html

Ames is responsible for the Kepler mission concept, ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. JPL managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA’s 10th Discovery mission and was funded by the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

Source: NASA

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

I’m Not Dead Yet!

July 30, 2013 by nvantreeck

Do you remember that scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail? It goes like this:

The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.

Large Man with Dead Body: Here’s one.

The Dead Collector: That’ll be ninepence.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not dead.

The Dead Collector: What?

Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There’s your ninepence.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not dead.

The Dead Collector: ‘Ere, he says he’s not dead.

Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not.

The Dead Collector: He isn’t.

Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he’s very ill.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m getting better.

Large Man with Dead Body: No you’re not, you’ll be stone dead in a moment.

The Dead Collector: Well, I can’t take him like that. It’s against regulations.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I don’t want to go on the cart.

Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don’t be such a baby.

The Dead Collector: I can’t take him.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I feel fine.

Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor.

The Dead Collector: I can’t.

Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won’t be long.

The Dead Collector: I promised I’d be at the Robinsons’. They’ve lost nine today.

Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when’s your next round?

The Dead Collector: Thursday.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I think I’ll go for a walk.

Large Man with Dead Body: You’re not fooling anyone, you know. Isn’t there anything you could do?

A very funny scene from a very funny movie. However, it seems kind of ironic that it almost parallels what is going on with the Kepler mission right at the moment.

As I reported earlier, in May of this year, the Kepler space telescope lost two of its four reaction wheels need to point the craft accurately to find exoplanets.

Well, it seems that Kepler isn’t quite dead in the water yet. Kepler mission manager Roger Hunter says that the team has made progress unsticking one of the reaction wheels and has success in testing not one, but both of the two failed reaction wheels. (P.S. I am glad to see that someone at NASA has a sense of humor).

“Over the next two weeks, engineers will review the data from these tests and consider what steps to take next,” Hunter said. “Although both wheels have shown motion, the friction levels will be critical in future considerations. The details of the wheel friction are under analysis.”

Kepler has found over 2,700 planetary candidates, with 130 confirmed planets, from the size of Earth’s moon to larger than Jupiter. There are two years of data that has yet to be combed through to detect other exoplanets. Not bad considering Kepler is only looking at a small patch (about 12 degrees in diameter) of the Milky Way.

Hopefully, Kepler won’t suffer the same fate in the remaining part of our scene where:

[the Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club]

Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much.

The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.

Large Man with Dead Body: Right.

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Smaller IS Better.

June 18, 2013 by nvantreeck

At least when you are talking about habitable planets.

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics that the nearest planet in a habitable zone probably lies within fifteen light-years of Earth. This announcement was made after analyzing recent data from the recently crippled Kepler Mission.

Kepler has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets and what they are made of. As seems to be typical with the human race, scientists are really trying to find Earth-sized planets residing in habitable zones around their stars. The hope being that we can find ourselves somewhere else in the Universe.

Scientists also believe that these planets are the only types of planets that can harbor life. I am skeptical of this reasoning as we have found life unlike ours on our own planet, let alone have any idea of what is capable elsewhere in the Universe.

But, following current convention, Kepler has identified a host of exoplanets with orbits that are capable of producing surface temperatures that allow water to remain liquid, which scientists have deemed a prerequisite for the development of life.

It turns out that there are about 12 times as many small stars (M-dwarfs about 1/2 the size of our sun) with surface temperatures less than about 4000K.

Hunting for Earth-sized planets around M-dwarfs, therefore, is now particularly interesting to researchers. Not too long ago, it was believed that the possibilities of habitable planets around M-Dwarfs was small due to the cooler star temperature and the potential that any planet would be tidally lock to the star (like the way the Moon is tidally locked and always facing Earth). Additionally, small stars tend to flare more which could have deleterious effects on any closely orbiting planet.

New research, however, suggests that suitable habitable regions might develop on a planet anyway. Since there are a lot more small stars, and it is easier to find and study their planets scientists have begun to concentrate their efforts there.

So far using Kepler data, scientist have identify 64 dwarf stars and 95 candidate planets. Just from this data, the statistical probability is that there should be one Earth-sized planet on every 6th star.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California. As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Down, but not out?

May 16, 2013 by nvantreeck

By now you have heard the Kepler space telescope is in trouble. It may have to cease operations soon.

There won’t be any repair mission because a) we no longer have any operational shuttles and b) and even if we did, Kepler is about 40 million miles (64 million kilometers) from Earth in a Heliocentric orbit (i.e. it orbits the Sun, not the Earth).

So, what went wrong. Kepler needs to be pointed with extreme accuracy to point its 1.5 meter mirror. To do that, there are four reaction wheels that make up a sort of gyroscope keeping Kepler pointed to the exact same spot in space.

One of the four reaction wheels was overheating, so in January of this year NASA shut the whole thing down for ten days to try and cool the reaction wheels off. It didn’t work. Kepler could continue with three reaction wheels (redundancy, redundancy, redundancy). However, it now appears that a second reaction wheel is now failing.

All is not lost however. Kepler is currently on an extended mission. The original end date for the project was over a year ago. NASA agreed to fund the project until 2016, if the equipment lasted that long. Kepler was launched in 2009 in search of Earth-like planets. So far, it has confirmed 132 planets and spotted more than 2,700 potential ones. It will take scientists years to figure out all the data.

Considering the very small area of the Milky Way that Kepler was looking at, and the advances made in exoplanet discovery. I think Kepler was a rousing success. Too bad it can’t go on.

“I wouldn’t call Kepler down and out yet,” said John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut and Hubble repairman who is NASA’s associate administrator for space science, at a news conference.

Well, hopefully he is right and more planets are discovered. Kepler II anyone? NASA? NASA?

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

I found one using BEER!

May 14, 2013 by nvantreeck

For about the last decade, exoplanets have been found using one of two methods: radial velocity (looking for wobbling stars) and transits (looking for dimming stars).

Now, Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have discovered a new exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein’s special theory of relativity and data from the Kepler Space Telescope. The planet was identified using the BEER algorithm (relativistic BEaming, Ellipsoidal, and Reflection/emission modulations).

Contrary to popular belief, BEER was developed by Professor Tsevi Mazeh and his student, Simchon Faigler, at Tel Aviv University, Israel (not in Egypt in the 5th century B.C.).

The BEER method looks for three small effects that occur simultaneously as a planet orbits the star. Einstein’s “beaming” effect causes the star to brighten as it moves toward us, tugged by the planet, and dim as it moves away. The brightening results from photons “piling up” in energy, as well as light getting focused in the direction of the star’s motion due to relativistic effects.

“This is the first time that this aspect of Einstein’s theory of relativity has been used to discover a planet,” said co-author Tsevi Mazeh of Tel Aviv University.

“Einstein’s planet,” formally known as Kepler-76b, is a “hot Jupiter” that orbits its star every 1.5 days. Its diameter is about 25 percent larger than Jupiter and it weighs twice as much. It orbits a type F star located about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

The planet is tidally locked to its star, always showing the same face to it, like Mecury. As a result, Kepler-76b broils at a temperature of about 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

– Ex astris, scientia –

Norman

Astronomy and Law

Astronomy and Law Blog

Tag Archives: Kepler

And the Award Goes To…

National Space Club Honors Kepler’s Planet Hunters.

I’m Not Dead Yet!

Smaller IS Better.

Down, but not out?

I found one using BEER!