astronomy | M Thomas Apple Author Page

Yet another “super-Earth” – maybe with a sibling?

February 28, 2024
MThomas

So, astronomers need to know both mass and diameter to determine whether a planet is truly similar enough to ours to host some form of Earth-like life. If the planet has a low mass and a large radius, it is likely like a so-called mini-Neptune with a gassy atmosphere and little rock. If it has a higher mass but a smaller radius, it’s probably a rocky planet like ours.

The possibility that TOI-715 b is rocky “would be exciting because that supports it being more of a habitable planet versus some sort of other world,” says Moran.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/recently-discovered-super-earth-might-be-habitable/

TOI-715 orbits a red dwarf star around 137 light years away, so we won’t be getting there any time soon. But after finding this planet last year, astronomers also are trying to confirm the existence of another smaller, closer to Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone (i.e., in an orbit that permits liquid water necessary for life to evolve).

And the name of the possibly new “sibling” planet?

“TIC 271971130.02”

Uh. We gotta come up with cooler names, folks.

For starters, they orbit a dwarf star.

Eat a sun a day…

February 26, 2024
MThomas

Astronomers have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe, a quasar with a black hole at its heart growing so fast that it swallows the equivalent of a sun a day.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/black-hole-devouring-sun-day-may-universes-brightest-object-rcna139507

Have a nice day!

That’s no m…no, wait, sorry, it is!

February 25, 2024
MThomas

Astronomers have found three previously unknown moons in our solar system — two additional moons circling Neptune and one around Uranus.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/astronomers-spot-new-tiny-moons-neptune-uranus-rcna140285

One takes nearly 27 years to circle Neptune.

The “new” moon of Uranus is only 8 kilometers (5 miles) in diameter.

And there are likely many more yet to be discovered.

Bringer of Light: Background Notes (1)

February 21, 2024
MThomas

It’s been well-known for some time now that the building blocks of life called amino acids can be found on asteroids strewn throughout the solar system.

It’s also thought that water on Earth is largely (or entirely) the result of comets and asteroids bombarding it (it remains debatable to what degree Earth already had water, but since when it formed the Earth was first molten lava and then dry as a bone, I think it far more likely that water came here from elsewhere, and science tends to agree).

I’ve already blogged about the origins of Bringer of Light, when I (finally) finished the first draft back in early September. In a sense, I’ve been constantly blogging the science behind the story.

But I haven’t discussed the characters at all. And despite what some old-fashioned writers may think (just finished a particularly badly-written snarky “why your books don’t sell” piece of trash that claimed science fiction shouldn’t have any emotions in it…say what? sorry not sorry), if the characters of a story aren’t interesting, there isn’t much point in reading a story.

So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll write a bit about the characters — the crew of the Artemis, the crew of the Sagittarius, the UN flunkies (sorry, career politicos) on Mars and Luna and so forth. There are lots of characters, and their interaction is complicated. Or is it?

I would get into my scifi influences at this point, but long blogs are slogs. So I’ll come back to that tomorrow!

Coffee time. Also to finish up at least one unrelated project and also the hardcover manuscript (which needs to be a different paper size than the paperback for some reason).

White Dwarf the oldest star in the galaxy?

February 14, 2024
MThomas

A study published this weekend in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societyproposes that the oldest star in the Milky Way is a faint white dwarf that is about 10.7 billion years old and shining roughly 90 light years away from Earth.
https://www.popsci.com/science/the-milky-ways-oldest-star-is-a-white-hot-pyre-of-dead-planets/?fbclid=IwAR3smMe_OryfOHbM03X9HZIz9CcFu85LCsmGiNe5vaBh-7678xtPO4VOuxY

The Milky Way is old. Like, really, really old. One of the oldest galaxies.

This is probably what will eventually happen to our solar system. That’s right, everything will turn to rubble and get sucked into the dying Sun.

So, given all that, there’s only one thing for it…

That’s no (stealth ocean) moon…oh, wait…

February 12, 2024
MThomas

Mimas, the smallest and innermost of Saturn‘s major moons, is believed to generate the right amount of heat to support a subsurface ocean of liquid water
https://www.space.com/saturn-moon-mimas-stealth-ocean-world

Unfortunately the “stealth ocean” is only a few million years old, not nearly enough to harbor life.

But it demonstrates the fact that water may in fact be common in space, opening the possibility of finding life on celestial bodies with older (much older) water sources.

(FYI: Mimas orbits Saturn once every 22 hours, and is affected by tidal forces from Saturn that appear to have melted part of its icy surface.)

Well, that was interesting!

February 1, 2024
MThomas

OK, so my post about a big ole spider got the most likes of any post in ten years of blogging about science.

I have so not got the zeitgeist of the 2024 blogosphere lol – anyway, thanks, all, for the “likes”! Although one person used AI to write a very meaningless comment about arachnophobia. What’s the point, man?

By the way, back to science and space stuff. I forgot to post about the Europa Clipper project back in October.

So here you go. (It’s too late to add a message, but the project obviously is going to take some time arriving there, and you can supposedly hear US Poet Laureate Ada Limón read her poem online, although I’ve had trouble with the audio lately:

“Arching under the night sky inky
with black expansiveness, we point
to the planets we know, we

pin quick wishes on stars. From earth,
we read the sky as if it is an unerring book
of the universe, expert and evident.

Still, there are mysteries below our sky:
the whale song, the songbird singing
its call in the bough of a wind-shaken tree.

We are creatures of constant awe,
curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom,
at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.

And it is not darkness that unites us,
not the cold distance of space, but
the offering of water, each drop of rain,

each rivulet, each pulse, each vein.
O second moon, we, too, are made
of water, of vast and beckoning seas.

We, too, are made of wonders, of great
and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds,
of a need to call out through the dark.”

Newly discovered cosmic megastructure challenges theories of the universe

January 23, 2024
MThomas

The so-called Big Ring has a diameter of about 1.3bn light years, making it among the largest structures ever observed. At more than 9bn light years from Earth, it is too faint to see directly, but its diameter on the night sky would be equivalent to 15 full moons.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/11/newly-discovered-cosmic-megastructure-challenges-theories-of-the-universe

This is important because it contradicts the so-called “cosmological principle” that everything in the universe is basically evenly distributed.

Just thinking about it, though, it makes little sense to assume that galaxies are all evenly spaced. Assuming the Big Bang was a single point should not imply even spacing of anything.

FWIW the “Big Ring” is evidently more a corkscrew shape, directly aimed at us. Evidence of “cosmic strings”? Maybe.

This is not as interesting as technology that will allow us to build hotels and colonies at LaGrange points or communities on Mars, but it’s still interesting. Sorta. Maybe?

Ah, timely, as usual, Duke Togo

November 22, 2023
MThomas

From the beginning of the Golgo 13 story, 「剥がれた鍍金」(*hagareta tokin*, “The peeled away metal plating”).

Despite the fact that the manga Golgo 13 is about as conservative as you can get (openly misogynistic and racist at times, as well), I’ve been a fan since before coming to Japan in 1999. I hadn’t realized that the original anime movie that I saw back in Boston was based on what became the manga with the most printed volumes in the world in July 2021. This year marks its 50th anniversary, and the stories are being reproduced in larger format, grouped according to physical region.

The group of stories based in Japan came out a short while ago (I already got copies of stories based in France and the Middle East, and a book based in Italy is due soon). Interestingly, one of the stories is reproduced from December 2001 — four months after JAXA successfully launched the H-IIA rocket following a previous failure (hence, the “peeled metal plating” title).

Horned comet approaching Earth soon

October 30, 2023
MThomas

The comet has a core of dust, gas and ice surrounded by a bright cloud of gas known as a coma. Sunlight and solar radiation can heat the comet’s core, sometimes causing violent outbursts like the ones observed in July and Oct.

Herman said the comet’s temporary horns are thought to originate from these icy eruptions. The comet’s structure may be shaping how the spewed clouds of gas and ice appear from Earth, creating the appearance of horns to ground-based telescopes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/devil-comet-will-bring-horns-swooping-earth-summer-rcna121989

Apparently some astronomers likened the shape to the Millenial Falcon.

I guess they have sharper eyes, bc I don’t see that.

Anyway, Comet 12/P Pons-Brooks only comes once every 71 years, so keep your eyes open next June. It may be visible even without a telescope.

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