Photo of Earthly lightning seen from orbit by ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers
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Here’s an amazing shot of a flash of lightning within storm clouds over west Africa, captured from orbit by ESA astronaut André Kuipers aboard the ISS.
Lightning is a common sight from Space Station, creating a constant light show for the astronaut and cosmonaut crew members. On average, lightning strikes the ground somewhere on Earth 100 times each second, and there are 5 to 10 times as many cloud-to-cloud flashes as there are ground strikes. That adds up to about 40 to 80 million flashes of lightning every day around the world! Considering that the ISS orbits Earth 16 times a day — and from quite a high viewpoint — it stands to reason that lightning is spotted quite often.
So although it may not be rare, lightning still makes for dramatic photos — especially to those of us here on the ground!
For more information on André and his ongoing long-duration PromISSe mission, visit the ESA site here.
Artist's concept of a free-floating Jupiter-like planet. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)
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The concept of nomad planets has been featured before here on Universe Today, and for good reason. Not only is the idea of mysterious lone planets drifting sunless through interstellar space an intriguing one, but also the sheer potential quantity of such worlds is simply staggering. If some very well-respected scientists’ calculations are correct there are more nomad planets in our Milky Way galaxy than there are stars — a lot more. With estimates up to 100,000 nomad planets for every star in the galaxy, there could be literally quadrillions of wandering worlds out there, ranging in size from Pluto-sized to even larger than Jupiter.
That’s a lot of nomads. But where did they all come from?
Recently, The Kavli Foundation had a discussion with several scientists involved in nomad planet research. Roger D. Blandford, Director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford University, Dimitar D. Sasselov, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University and Louis E. Strigari, Research Associate at KIPAC and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory talked about their findings and what sort of worlds these nomad planets might be, as well as how they may have formed.
One potential source for nomad planets is forceful ejection from solar systems.
“Most stars form in clusters, and around many stars there are protoplanetary disks of gas and dust in which planets form and then potentially get ejected in various ways,” said Strigari. “If these early-forming solar systems have a large number of planets down to the mass of Pluto, you can imagine that exchanges could be frequent.”
And the possibility of planetary formation outside of stellar disks is not entirely ruled out by the researchers — although they do impose a lower limit to the size of such worlds.
“Theoretical calculations say that probably the lowest-mass nomad planet that can form by that process is something around the mass of Jupiter,” said Strigari. “So we don’t expect that planets smaller than that are going to form independent of a developing solar system.”
“This is the big mystery that surrounds this new paper. How do these smaller nomad planets form?” Sasselov added.
Of course, without a sun of their own to supply heat and energy one might assume such worlds would be cold and inhospitable to life. But, as the researchers point out, that may not always be the case. A nomad planet’s internal heat could supply the necessary energy to fuel the emergence of life… or at least keep it going.
“If you imagine the Earth as it is today becoming a nomad planet… life on Earth is not going to cease,” said Sasselov. “That we know. It’s not even speculation at this point. …scientists already have identified a large number of microbes and even two types of nematodes that survive entirely on the heat that comes from inside the Earth.”
Researcher Roger Blandford also suggested that “small nomad planets could retain very dense, high-pressure ‘blankets’ around them. These could conceivably include molecular hydrogen atmospheres or possibly surface ice that would trap a lot of heat. They might be able to keep water liquid, which would be conducive to creating or sustaining life.”
And so with all these potentially life-sustaining planets knocking about the galaxy, is it possible that they could have helped transport organisms from one solar system to another? It’s a concept called panspermia, and it’s been around since at least the 5th century BCE when the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras first wrote about it. (We’ve written about it too, as recently as three weeks ago, and it’s still a much-debated topic.)
“In the 20th century, many eminent scientists have entertained the speculation that life propagated either in a directed, random or malicious way throughout the galaxy,” said Blandford. “One thing that I think modern astronomy might add to that is clear evidence that many galaxies collide and spray material out into intergalactic space. So life can propagate between galaxies too, in principle.
There could be quadrillions of nomad planets in our galaxy alone -- and they could even be ejected into intergalactic space. (Image: ESO/S.Brunier)
“And so it’s a very old speculation, but it’s a perfectly reasonable idea and one that is becoming more accessible to scientific investigation.”
Nomad planets may not even be limited to the confines of the Milky Way. Given enough of a push, they could be sent out of the galaxy entirely.
“Just a stellar or black hole encounter within the galaxy can, in principle, give a planet the escape velocity it needs to be ejected from the galaxy. If you look at galaxies at large, collisions between them leads a lot of material being cast out into intergalactic space,” Blandford said.
The discussion is a fascinating one and can be found in its entirety on The Kavli Foundation’s site here, and watch a recorded interview between Louis Strigari and journalist Bruce Lieberman here.
The Kavli Foundation, based in Oxnard, California, is dedicated to the goals of advancing science for the benefit of humanity and promoting increased public understanding and support for scientists and their work.
The name of everyone's favorite space news blog written in starlight!
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Ever wanted to see your name in lights? How about star lights? Well there’s a fun little website that will let you assemble your name — or anything you want to say — using real galaxies as the letters… very cool!
Created by UK astronomer Steven Bamford, My Galaxies uses actual images of galaxies acquired through the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Galaxy Zoo projects to create your message, which you can then share on Facebook, Twitter or email. You can even download a high-res version of the resulting PNG image (although I did find that I had to open the file in Photoshop and add a layer filled with black behind the galaxified letters, in order to clear out some background noise. Perhaps this can be fixed in the future.)
It’s a nice bit of coding, and makes for a cool banner or message for your favorite starry-eyed individual. Check it out!
“Really? There are galaxies that look like letters? OK, S and Z I can believe, but M? H? R? Capitals or little letters? What about punctuation, or numbers? Well, there aren’t many, but when you’ve got pictures of millions of galaxies and an energetic group of Zooites there isn’t much that can stay hidden!”
– Steven Bamford
Make your own My Galaxy message and read more about how it’s done here.
(Tip of the star-studded hat to Jennifer Oullette for the heads-up!)
The Moon's shadow falling over the Pacific on May 20, 2012
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As the annular eclipse on May 20 sent skywatchers around the globe gazing upwards to see the Sun get darkened by the Moon’s silhouette, NASA’s Terra satellite caught the other side of the event: the Moon’s shadow striking the Earth!
Cast across 240,000 miles of space, the lunar shadow darkened a circular swatch 300 km (185 miles) wide over the northern Pacific Ocean in this image, acquired by the Earth-observing Terra satellite’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at 20:30 UT on Sunday, May 20.
Where the Moon passed in front of the Sun, Earth’s surface appeared black (left half of image). Around the margins of the shadow, our planet’s surface appeared yellowish brown. The shadow cast by an eclipse consists of two parts, the completely shadowed umbra and the partially shadowed penumbra.
The eclipse was first visible over eastern Asia and moved across the globe, later becoming visible on the west coast of the US. Known as an annular eclipse, even in totality there was a bright ring of Sun visible around the Moon — a result of the Moon’s elliptical orbit. The effect was dramatic, and was captured in some amazing photos from viewers around the world (as well as by a few above the world!)
Looking at Earth during the Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012, photographed by Don Pettit from the International Space Station at 23:36 GMT. (NASA)
Although there were a few images being circulated online of the “eclipse” that were not actual photos, be assured that these are the real deal.
Design of an XCOR Lynx spacecraft (XCOR Aerospace)
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The United States Rocket Academy has announced an open call for entries in its High Altitude Astrobiology Challenge, a citizen science project that will attempt to collect samples of microbes that may be lurking in Earth’s atmosphere at the edge of space.
Earth’s biosphere has been discovered to extend much higher than once thought — up to 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) above the planet’s surface. Any microorganisms present at these high altitudes could be subject to the mutating effects of increased radiation and transported around the globe in a sort of pathogenic jet-stream.
What sort of microbes may exist at the upper reaches of the atmosphere?
Citizens in Space, a project run by the U.S. Rocket Academy, is offering a $10,000 prize for the development of an open-source and replicable collection device that could successfully retrieve samples of high-altitude microorganisms, and could fly as a payload aboard an XCOR Lynx spacecraft.
XCOR Aerospace is a private California-based company that has developed the Lynx, a reusable launch vehicle that has suborbital flight capabilities. Low-speed test flights are expected to commence later this year, with incremental testing to take place over the following months.
Any proposed microbe collection devices would have to fit within the parameters of the Lynx’s 2kg Aft Cowling Port payload capabilities — preferably a 10 x 10 x 20 cm CubeSat volume — and provide solutions for either its retraction (in the case of extended components) or retrieval (in the case of ejected hardware.)
The contest is open to any US resident or non-government team or organization, and submissions are due by February 13, 2013. The chosen design will fly on 10 contracted Lynx flights in late 2013 or early 2014, and possibly even future missions.
The stars and dust of spiral galaxy NGC 891 seen by Hubble edge-on
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Like the blade of a magical weapon from a fantasy tale, the northern edge of spiral galaxy NGC 891 is captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, glowing with the light of billions of stars and interwoven with dark clouds of dust and cold gas.
In reality this cosmic blade is enormous. About the same size as our galaxy, NGC 891 is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter, making the section visible here around 40,000 light-years in length.
Unlike the Milky Way, however, NGC 891 is unbarred and also exhibits many more filaments of dark gas and dust. Astronomers suggest that these are the result of star formation and supernovae, both of which can expel vast amounts of interstellar material far out into space.
The few bright stars in the foreground are located in our own galaxy.
NGC 891 is located in the constellation Andromeda and lies about 30 million light-years away… that means the light captured by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys to create the image above began its journey 35 million years after the asteroid impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, and about 26 million years before our ancient African ancestors began walking upright. That may sound like a long trip but, as Douglas Adams so eloquently said, “that’s just peanuts to space!”
Conan says "I'm a big fan of science and technology." (Air quotes his.)
I wanted to know, so I decided to ask him. And thanks to “Team Coco” and Google Plus, I was able to — last night at 9:30 p.m. Central/7:30 p.m. Pacific, to be exact.
On Monday afternoon, Team Coco — that is, the Google Plus page for comedian and late-night TV host Conan O’Brien — posted a video contest where five lucky “Plussers” would be able to participate in Conan’s first-ever live Google Hangout. All you needed to do was record and post a video question on your Google Plus page, and tag #AskConan on the post.
I figured I’d give it a shot, and recorded a quick webcam video wherein I asked Mr. O’Brian what his feelings were on the future of space exploration. Because, honestly, that’s what we all want to know.
The next morning I had a response from Team Coco… they liked the video and wanted me on the Hangout. So I got to participate, and ask Conan himself — er, myself — um… I got to ask Conan himself, myself!
There were five of us all together on the Hangout, along with Aaron, the moderator, and of course the comedic maestro, Conan O’Brien. After some time prepping to make sure everyone’s lighting and sound were ok and the internet connections were reliable, and basically chatting among ourselves and getting to know each other, we finally went live on Google. The result is above, for better or worse… hey, it was live! Enjoy.
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As far as the answer to the question goes, you can find that around the 16-minute mark. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but let’s just say that a late-night TV host has certain…priorities…to keep in mind, and above all, Conan is ultimately a businessman.
A funny, funny businessman with an endless supply of gag props.
So check out the video, follow Team Coco on Google Plus and, if you’re a fan of Hangouts be sure to catch Universe Today’s own Space Hangout every Thursday (which I am also a participant in) on our fearless editor Fraser Cain’s feed here.
And next time you see a video contest in your Plus feed, enter it! You never know who you’ll end up hanging out with.
OMG Space attempts to portray the scale sizes and distances in the Solar System
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“You may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” – Douglas Adams
Standard classroom models and textbook illustrations of the Solar System, regardless of how pretty they are, all share one thing in common: they’re wrong. Ok, maybe not wrong, but definitely inaccurate… especially in regards to scale. And understandably so, as it’s nearly impossible to portray in a convenient manner the sheer amount of space there is between the planets and their relative sizes. Even if a model manages to show one or the other in a straightforward, linear fashion, it usually doesn’t show both.
This one does.
OMG Space is a web page made by Margot Trudell as graphic design thesis project at Toronto’s OCAD University. Displayed on the Visual.ly portfolio site, Margot’s expansive infographic shows the Sun, planets and some minor bodies to scale, both in terms of relative size and distance. By clicking on a planet’s name at the bottom of the page you’ll be whisked away toward it, giving a sense of how very far it really is between the many worlds that make up our own little Solar System.
And if that’s not enough, Margot has included a descriptive chart for each world that gives basic information on distance from the Sun, orbital period and moon count as well as details on visiting exploration missions — past, present and planned. These can be accessed by clicking on the respective worlds once you arrive.
Each planet has an infographic associated with it, showing physical characteristics and exploration timelines. (M. Trudell)
“I created the infographics first and as I worked on them decided they needed more context, and the idea of creating a to scale version of our solar system came to mind,” Margot told Universe Today. “The project was initially intended to be all print, but knowing the real scale of our solar system I eventually came up with the idea of using the infiniteness of the web to my advantage.”
If you watch the scroll bar on the right side of the page (and I do suggest resizing the page to fill your screen as much as possible) you’ll also get a sense of how much space you’re traversing as you zip between worlds. And that’s just taking into consideration the average distances between each planet at opposition. In reality, they’re never lined up in a row like that!
If you’re so inclined you can also scroll up and down manually… if only to see how long it takes you to not get anywhere.
“My favourite thing to do on OMG Space’s website is go to Earth and then click on the link to the Moon,” Margot said. “The small distance you move yet the big gap you see… it gives you a whole new perspective on how far people traveled to get to the moon and back, and it shows how far the moon really is from Earth (I feel that it’s always portrayed as being almost right beside us) and makes you consider how powerful those rockets must have been to get us that far.
“It gives you a bit of that ‘OMG’ feeling that the project is named for.”
Yes, OMG indeed.
Infographics by Margot Trudell. See more of Margot’s work here.
The first color photo of Earth taken from orbit around the Moon. (NASA)
On December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, William Anders and Jim Lovell were the first humans to witness an Earthrise as our home planet came up over the lunar horizon. The photos they captured were the first of their kind, instantly inspiring the imaginations of millions and highlighting the beauty and fragility of our world.
Now, NASA has used modern satellite data to recreate the scenes that the Apollo 8 astronauts saw 44 years ago and combined them with their historic photographs to present a new “Earthrise”… version 2.0.
Created in recognition of Earth Day 2012, the Earthrise animation was made from data acquired by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s laser altimeter, as well as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra Earth-observing satellite.
“This visualization recreates for everyone the wondrous experience of seeing Earth from that privileged viewpoint,” says LRO Project Scientist Rich Vondrak of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Animator Ernie Wright recreated the scene using Apollo mission reports and photos taken by the crew. The audio is a recording of original communication from the astronauts.
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“I think the one overwhelming emotion that we had was when we saw the earth rising in the distance over the lunar landscape… it makes us realize that we all do exist on one small globe. For from 230,000 miles away it really is a small planet.”
This video is a compilation of different time-lapses taken from the ISS over the past several months, edited by Alex Rivest and shared on Vimeo. It shows just how incredible the stars can appear from the night side of our planet… and 240 miles up!
