Association Of Catholic Bloggers

A little over a week ago, scientist published a detailed analysis of Vega's surprisingly planet-free debris disc. Vega, one of the brightest stars in Earth's sky, may have planets: but the October 31 paper rules out any Saturn-size or larger worlds in wide orbits. That reminded me of a Sherlock Holmes quote: "'Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' 'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.' 'The dog did nothing in the night-time.' 'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes." ("The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes", " Silver Blaze " , Arthur Conan Doyle (1894) Via Gutenberg.org) More to the point, not finding planets in Vega's debris disc should help scientists learn more about how stars and planets form. And gives me something to write about. Vega Debris Disc: "Smooth, Ridiculously Smooth" Dust, a Gap, and — the "Poynting-Robertson Effect...

Headlines about an "eyeball planet" got my attention last month. Then I got distracted by what I thought were more time-sensitive topics — and remembered what two scientists learned when they simulated ocean currents and winds on a tidally-locked exoplanet. That last item was from 2013. It's still the best discussion I've seen of what an "eyeball planet" might actually look like. Turns out that a patch of open ocean on a tidally locked exoplanet's ocean wouldn't necessarily be circular. But I'll admit that "eyeball planet" is a cool description. And may be easier to remember than terms like "lobster-like spatial pattern". So this week I'll be talking about LHS 1140 b, which may not be an "eyeball planet" after all, ocean planet simulations; and — briefly, for me — how I see extraterrestrial life. LHS 1140 b: Water, With Nitrogen in the Atmosphere — Maybe Tidally Locked Ocean Planets: Simple, and Not-So-Si...

This month's analysis of a piping hot Super-Earth's atmosphere is a big deal. But it's not the "first" detection of a terrestrial exoplanet's atmosphere, not by about eight years. 1 I'll be talking about how scientists sift through data, 55 Cancri e's atmosphere, its planetary system, why 55 Cancri e — the exoplanet was officially named Janssen in 2015 — and why calling Janssen a "diamond planet" may be appropriate. Scientists and 55 Cancri e: How They Know What They Know Bayesian Basics and Dealing With Incomplete Data Studying Starlight: Transits, Eclipses, and a Whole Lot of Math Welcome to the Copernicus Planetary System There's No Place Like Home: But the Copernicus System Comes Close Copernicus: Giant Planets and a Super-Earth Circling a Slightly Strange Star Janssen: 'Terrestrial', But Not Like Earth Like a Diamond in the Sky? Carbon Planets: Carbides and Maybe Diamonds More at A Catholic Citizen in...

Last month ended with headlines hinting that our first glimpse of extraterrestrial life was just around the corner. " Discovery Alert: A ‘Super-Earth’ in the Habitable Zone " Pat Brennan, NASA News (January 31, 2024) " Scientists More Hopeful Than Ever That Perseverance Has Already Found Life on Mars " Carly Cassella, ScienceAlert (January 24, 2024) A week later, there's the usual politics and pandemonium in the news: but no space aliens. I'm not surprised. I'm not disappointed, either. I am, however, excited about what we've found in Jezero crater, and a new world that's not quite Earth 2.0. Perseverance on Mars: Sediment and Speculation Bacteria and Mars TOI-715 b: Habitable? Maybe — Worth Studying? Definitely! Extraterrestrial Life: Bat-People and Making Sense Anyway Evidence, Logic, and — Maybe — Extraterrestrial Life Earth 2.0, Reality, and an Op-Ed 'Because Aristotle Says So'?! Belief, Preference, and God Mor...

They were looking for supernovae. What they found may become a double planet, like the Earth-Moon system, once it cools down. Or a planet with a giant moon, again like the Earth-Moon system. Then again, an oddly-uneven dusty disk may be orbiting this young, very "Sun-like" star. Either way, ASASSN-2qj is much more interesting than it was a few years back. strong>Barycenters and Binaries: Briefly Rabbit Holes and an ‘Assassin Star’ Professional Scientists, Amateur Astronomers, Teamwork and Twitter/X "...So Slow Smart" ASASSN-21qj: Once Obscure, Now Intriguing A Very Sun-Like Star Uncertainty and Science '...A Star to Steer By...' More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Scientists looking for supernovae noticed a very sunlike star that flared in infrared and then dimmed. It may be evidence of a planetary collision.)

Every time we develop new tech for studying this universe, we find something new. New to us, that is. This week, I'll be talking about unexpected Jupiter-size objects in the Orion Nebula, and why scientists at CERN dropped a few hundred antihydrogen atoms. Baffling Binaries, Planetary Problem: JuMBOs in Orion Low Expectations, a Pleasant Surprise A Planet by Any Other Name JuMBOs and Questions Antimatter, Gravity, the Universe: and an Experiment at CERN A Quick Look at Antimatter, From Hicks to Dirac, and Weirdness (Most) Antihydrogen Atoms Fell Down Mystery of the Missing Antimatter 'Where's the Antimatter?' — Broadening the Search Ptolemy, C. S. Lewis, the Universe, and Assumptions "...Its Inhabitants Like Grasshoppers...." More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Unexpected Jupiter-size binaries in the Trapezium Cluster, antimatter and gravity experiment at CERN. New data, new puzzles.)

When I started writing this, I'd planned on talking about WASP-18 b, a hot Jupiter: how we've found water in its atmosphere, and something odd about the planet's temperature on the edge of its sunlit side. Down the Rabbit Hole: Exoplanet Designations and Cosmic Scale Astronomical Designations: A Discursive Digression First Known Exoplanets A Circumbinary Planet’s (allegedly) Impractical and Unworkable Designation Exoplanet Designations: A Work in Progress Designations and Alphanumeric Alternatives: a Hypothetical Hodgepodge “People Also Ask”: Strange Worlds and Cosmic Scale WASP-18 b: Discovering Something Odd This WASP World’s Winds: Weirdly Warped? Over-the-Top Winds on WASP-18 b? Living in Vastness More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Odd worlds and cosmic scale. WASP-12 b, WASP-17 b, WASP-18 b. Not-quite-standardized exoplanet designations. Something strange about WASP-18 b.)

TThis week, I'll talk about Professor Ethan Siegel's view that "the myth of the super-habitable super-Earth planet" is "a scientific catastrophe", other non-catastrophes; and a problem with "super-Earths" as a label. Along the way I'll look at science, news, headlines and silliness. And finally, skip lightly over a 13th century academic debate that got out of hand. "...A Scientific Catastrophe"? Earth ISN'T the Best of All Possible Worlds??? Bigger Isn't (Always) Better: But Neither is Smaller Science News, Silliness, Headlines and "Catastrophe" Proxima Chorizo, the Great Moon Hoax and Headlines Exoplanets: New Categories for Strange New Worlds Sorting Exoplanets by — Radius? Mass, Period and Discovery Method of Known Exoplanets (March 2022) New Worlds Discovered by Kepler, TESS, and Everything Else Still Seeking the Legendary Earth 2.0 The Problem with "Super-Earths" HD 219134 b: Da...

There may have been times when one generation's world was much like another's. This is not one of those times. Science textbooks of my youth included speculation that Earth's mountains exist because our planet has been cooling and shrinking. One of my geology professors didn't "believe in" continental drift, and that's another topic. Back then, we knew that planets orbit our star, but weren't sure how the star we call the Sun and the Solar System formed. We still don't, for that matter. Not for sure. But the nebular hypothesis, or something very much like it, is a pretty good fit with observations. I'll get back to that, and some of what we've been learning about planetary systems: including TRAPPIST-1 and its seven worlds. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (New planetary system pattern discovered. TRAPPIST-1 worlds. Solar System formation and evolution ideas, from Descartes to pulsar planets. Psalms 115:3.)

The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is news again, this time because we've taken the innermost planet's temperature. That, by itself, isn’t newsworthy. We've been using infrared observations to learn how hot exoplanets are at least since 2006. 1 What makes the latest observations special is that they’re the first time scientists have measured a comparatively small, cool exoplanet's temperature.That's what I'll be talking about this week, along with whatever else comes to mind. Top Three Multiplanetary Systems Solar System Kepler-90 Planetary System, Upsilon Andromedae d and back to TRAPPIST-1 Taking TRAPPIST-1 b's Temperature With Webb’s MIRI Blackbody Radiation, Red Stars and Astronomical Art Thermal Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe! Star Light, Star Not-So-Bright Coming Next Week: Possible Interiors of TRAPPIST-1's Planets More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (JWST takes temperature of TRAPPIST-1 b: the first detection of ...

...The Webb data had already been used in 21 research papers, back in February. I'd prefer looking up a few of them, picking out one that sounded interesting, and talking about it. But I've had a distracted week. So today I'll focus on some really cool pictures from the JWST/Webb telescope. Mostly. NGC 1433: Hubble Space Telescope's View Abell 2744, 'Pandora's Cluster': Closer Look, New Details of Distant Galaxies Galaxies, Gravity and More Galaxies Lensed Galaxies: Showing How Gravity Lenses Work Earth-Size, But Not Earth 2.0 LHS 475 b: Methane, No; Carbon Dioxide, Maybe; Or Maybe No Atmosphere At All Terrestrial, Telluric, Solid, or Rocky: There's No Place Like Home More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A closer look at NGC 1433, Abell 2744: and distant galaxies. LHS 475 b, Earth-size but not Earth-like. Defining terrestrial planets.)

It's been a little over 10 years since scientists spotted Kepler-22 b. It was the first time we'd spotted a transiting exoplanet that's in its sun's habitable zone. That may or may not mean that Kepler-22 b is habitable. The odds are good that the exoplanet is a water world: covered with an ocean far deeper than Earth's Since then we've discovered quite a few water worlds. And, possibly because there's a 1995 action film called "Waterworld", they're often called ocean worlds. 1 This week I'll talk about two (probably) ocean worlds, Kepler-138 c and d; discovered in 2014, they're far to hot for life as we know it. But scientists recently published a new analysis of those two worlds. And that gave me something to talk about. So did a proposed change in when taxpayer-funded research projects release data. It's good news or bad news, depending on who's talking. That's this week's first item. I'll also look at...

We've found two new worlds, GJ 1002 b and c, that could be habitable. They're the right size and most likely around the right temperature. Actually, make that three new worlds. Another one, Wolf 1069 b, showed up in my news feed as I was writing this. 1 But Wolf 1069 b will wait for another time. What with one thing and another — including an unexpected visit from a daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter — I didn't ramble on as much as usual this week. So I'll take a brief, for me, look at GJ 1002 b and c. And I'll talk about literally cool data from the JWST: a look at ingredients for "the building blocks of life" in the Chamaeleon I dark molecular cloud. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (GJ 1002 b and c may be habitable worlds orbiting a nearby red dwarf. JWST gives us new data about CHONS: key elements in the building blocks of life.)

Kepler-1658 b, KOI-4.01, is a "hot Jupiter". In another 2,500,000 years, give or take a bit, it won't be there any more. That makes it a hot subject for scientists: literally and figuratively. Kepler-1658 b is also the the Kepler space telescope's first confirmed exoplanet. ... ... today I'll be talking about Kepler-1658 b and why studying it matters. To scientists, at any rate.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Looking at studies of Kepler-1658 b, first confirmed Kepler exoplanet; a hot Jupiter spiraling into its sun. Plus my take on pursuing truth.)

Science stories and topics have been piling up in my 'to do' list for more than a year. This week, I'm catching up on what we're learning about life here on Earth; and developments in the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life..... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Monday afternoon was sunny and warm. For central Minnesota in January. The high was around 32° Fahrenheit, 0° Celsius. Our sidewalk and driveway were free(ish) of snow, with a bit over a half-foot covering the yard. The weather station at Sauk Centre Municipal Airport was back online Thursday afternoon, and then the National Weather Service posted a Winter Weather Advisory for this area. Sauk Centre Municipal Airport isn't in the Chicago O'Hare class. But with two runways, hangar space for 11 private aircraft, a fuel pump and a private airplane maintenance facility, it meets our needs. Granted, one of the runways is a grass surface marked with yellow cones. I don't know if it's usable in winter. And that's another topic.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Scientists in Sweden, taking part in 2019's BEAST program that used SPHERE on the VLT discovered an 'it might be an exoplanet.' In 2021, they got confirmation. They'd spotted an exoplanet. And SPHERE on the VLT 1 has an picture of the newly-discovered world. I'd planned on talking about BEAST, SPHERE, VLT; comparing ground-based and space observatories; and whatever else came to mind. Then, on Tuesday, I started running a fever. It was of the 'nothing serious' variety, but quite enough to slow me down. After that, the household got a brief visit from number-two daughter, son-in law and granddaughter: a happy occasion. Which also didn't help me do what I'd planned. So I trimmed my plans back to what was possible, and this is the result. b Centauri(AB)b, AKA HD 129116 b: Big Bright Stars and a Big Mystery Planet (From ESO, used w/o permission.) (Binary star HD 129116 and HD 129116 b, its huge exoplanet.)... More at A Catholic Citizen in...

Designations like HD 63935 b and c don't exactly roll of the tongue. Although with a little work I might pronounce them "trippingly on the tongue," as Hamlet put it. Maybe saying "sixty five ninety three five bee and cee" would do the trick. Then again, maybe not. I thought, briefly, of calling HD 63935, HD 63935 b and HD 63935 c "Sam, Fred and Chuck;" but thought better of it. At any rate, I'd been catching up on 'exoplanet' notes from the last year or so when I read about the HD 63935 planetary system. HD 63935's known planets there, sub-Neptunes, should help scientists learn more about how planets form. Or, rather, observing them and analyzing those observations should.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a robotic observatory, began 200,000 nearby stars on August 7, 2018. So far, scientists have found more than 2,200 TESS Objects of Interest (TOI). Of these, again so far, 154 have turned out to be exoplanets. They include a few probably-rocky planets around Earth's size, but none are 'Earth 2.0.' And some are like nothing in our Solar System. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I only wrote 18 words for my current "Dr Faustus" post yesterday. Partly because the screen went black around mid-afternoon. On the bright side, my computer did reboot. Eventually. My plan for today is to get this journal entry finished, do more writing and maybe pick up prescriptions at the local Walmart. Not necessarily in that order.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .