Monthly Archives: January 2017

astronomy, exoplanets

Spotting Planets Around Other Stars

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Clockwork Worlds: Recording Planets and their Orbits from a Distance

Wow, this is really cool. Watch this little video a few times…it’s a time-lapse sequence of planets orbiting a star about 129 light-years away from us in the direction of the constellation Pegasus. The time-lapse was made over a period of years starting in 2009. These planets — which are Jupiter-size and larger — lie quite far from their star; their orbits range from 40-year periods for the closest one to 400 years for the most distant one. You can read more about their discovery and the work astronomers have done to chart their orbits at NASA Astrobiology

Not so long ago, worlds like these were lost in the glare of their stars, and it fell to astronomers to devise ways to block out the starlight so they could even have a chance of spotting distant planets. Now, using such instruments as the Gemini Planet Imager, they can do that.

I find it remarkable that we can “see” these planets. Finding alien worlds is more than just a science-fiction adventure. It’s key to understanding many things about our own solar system and about the environment of our galaxy. Sure they look like dots of light, but they’re worlds. Maybe not just like our own, but they’re still distant worlds, and gives us yet more proof that our galaxy is a veritable treasure trove of exoplanets. It now appears that the galaxy is rich with them, as the Kepler mission showed us so dramatically when it surveyed just a tiny portion of the galaxy. I really think that more discoveries await. The next steps will be to study the planets we find in great detail to learn more about their atmospheres as well as their progression as they are born and evolve in their systems. All of this leads inexorably to looking for life.   That will be a huge challenge, but given how far we’ve come now in our planet searches, I’m sure that astronomers and astrobiologists will figure it out, perhaps within our lifetimes. Stay tuned!

obituary

The Last Man to Walk on the Moon Passes into History

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R.I.P. Gene Cernan: Moon Explorer

Moon
Captain Gene Certan at a memorial for his friend and colleague Neil Armtrong in 2012.

Today’s news that astronaut Andrew Eugene “Gene” Cernan died came just as I was finishing reading the book Fallen Astronauts. It’s the story of the astronauts and cosmonauts who died from the beginning of the Space Age up until the end of the Apollo missions. Captain Cernan was involved with the authors as they researched and wrote the book and penned a lovely introduction to the work. It is a finely detailed book that I recommend to any fans of space exploration history, particularly the early days.

Captain Cernan was a hero in his own right, taking trips into space on Gemini and Apollo missions. It was on Apollo 17 that he realized the immensity of the U.S. cancelling its moon flight programs, and he spoke movingly of his being the last man to stand on the lunar surface. He later wrote a book called “The Last Man on the Moon”, which was turned into a documentary.

I met Captain Cernan a few times at conferences, and enjoyed talking with him. He always was a kind man. Very polite and willing to talk about his experiences. we once shared a limo ride to a conference, and I  remember sitting there wondering what to ask him without sounding like a space fangrrrl.  Finally, I settled on asking him how it felt to be on the Moon that first night on Apollo 17. He laughed and said that he couldn’t get to sleep; he kept looking out the window of the lander.  He mentioned how excited they both were, and that he’d never forgotten that sense of adventure.

He and Harrison Schmitt spent 22 hours on the lunar surface, collecting rocks and exploring the valley where they landed. One of his most evocative images was one of our home planet hanging blue and white above the gray lunar landscape. It spoke volumes about his perception of our home in space and the enormous steps he and others took to explore the Moon.

It’s with great sadness we salute Captain Cernan’s passing. He is among the dwindling few men who focused our attention on the early days of lunar exploration. I sincerely hope that he will not remain the “last man on the Moon” for long.