Kepler-186f

On Thursday (April 17), NASA announced the historic discovery of Kepler-186f, an alien planet 490 light-years from our own world that is nearly the size of Earth and located inside the habitable zone of its parent star.

The planet Kepler-186f was discovered by scientists using NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope. The planet has a radius that is 1.1 times the radius of Earth, making it only slightly larger than our planet.

Main Story: Found! First Earth-Size Planet That Could Support LifeScientists have discovered Kepler-186f, the first Earth-size alien planet in the habitable zone of its host star. See how so-called 'Earth cousin' might have water, and possibly life. Scroll down for Space.com's complete coverage of the historic find of Kepler-186f.

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Upcoming 2013 ISON comet might be the brightest ever – set to shine as a full moon

Published on Mon, Jan 14, 2013 by 

Post filled By: Mangesh_More

Photograph of Comet West, one of the greatest comets of all-time, taken by an amateur astronomer. (c) John Laborde

Discovered last year by Russian astronomers Vitaly Nevsky and Artyom Novichonok, the gigantic ISON comet is set to make its appearance later this year as it approaches the sun when it will become visible to the naked eye during the day, and as bright as a full moon during the night.

Astronomers estimate the comet will reach its ‘perihelion passage’ – the closest point to the sun on the comet’s passage – in late November and will appear in the Northern hemisphere sky. Scientists fave found similarities between the ISON coment and that of the Great comet in 1680, also known as ‘Kirch’s Comet’ or ‘Newton’s Comet’, when it was reported to be bright enough to be seen in the daytime. Astronomers are expecting something similar from ISON.

Estimates are very difficult to make, since there are a lot of factors at play. The ISON comet might, for instance, break up in multiple smaller pieces that would significantly dim its brightness during its approach to the sun. Still, scientists hope ice particles will vaporize in the comet’s body, resulting in the massive, bright tail.

Popular astronomy author Guy Ottewell said in his 2013 Astronomical Calendar that the comet resembles “…a lighted match at the sun’s edge,” during the day. “Using what formulas we can for magnitude, we have it reaching -12.6, the brightness of the full moon!”

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) photographed at the RAS Observatory. (c) Remanzacco Observatory/Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero & Nick Howes

Scientists have been able to track the origin of ISON to the Oort cloud, which is a bunch of frozen rock and ice which circles the sun at a distance which is 50,000 times larger than that of the Earth’s orbit or 1 light-year away. For those living in the Southern hemisphere, do not be too dishearten since you will still be able to enjoy Comet Pan-STARRS – a great astronomical event, thought maybe not as spectacular as ISON – which will be visible from January and reach its brightest in March.

UPDATE: video footage of the ISON comet passing through the solar system as captured by NASA’s Deep Impact spacracraft has been released.

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The end of Earth, the end of us, and the end of the universe

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Humanity is obsessed with history. I don’t know why, but for the most part we would much rather lose ourselves in reverie than contemplate the future. Even when we do think of the future, it’s nearly always constrained to our future, usually just a handful of years hence. It is a rare person indeed who thinks of 50 or 100 years in the future — but what about 1,000 years? Or a million years? Or a billion years?
Will humanity still exist? Will the Pyramids of Giza still exist? Will Earth or the Solar System exist?
The humbling, absolute truth is that human history makes up the tiniest of fraction of the universe’s history — and when you consider that the universe itself, at 14 billion years old, is still in its infancy, well… we don’t really have words to describe the utter flash-in-the-pan unimportance of humanity. The universe is 14 billion years old, the Earth is four billion years old, and Homo sapiens, humans, have existed for around 200,000 years. There are a few conflicting theories on what will happen to the universe in the long term, but the most likely theory — continued expansion until heat death occurs — is calculated to happen in 10¹⁰¹²⁰ years. This is a vast, vast number that you or I can’t even begin to comprehend; it’s 1, followed by 10¹²⁰ zeroes.
Long before the ultimate fate of the universe, though, all forms of life will cease to exist. In “just” 10⁴⁰ years (10 followed by 40 zeroes), the universe will enter the Black Hole Era, with almost all the matter in the universe forming black holes. After 10¹⁰⁰ years these black holes will evaporate and we will enter the Dark Era, where the universe will contain almost no matter at all. It is theorized that a handful of subatomic particles will bounce around for a few more gazillion years (until 10¹⁰¹²⁰), lose what energy they have left, and the universe will eventually decay into its final energy state — death.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves! The timeline of the near far future is much more interesting, because our progeny might actually live to see it. For example, in 8,000 years, thanks to the Earth’s slowly shifting axial precession, Deneb will replace Polaris as the North Star. In 10,000 years, the Gregorian calendar will be 10 days out of sync with the sun’s position in the sky (and thus the seasons) — this is delightfully ironic, as the Gregorian calendar was originally implemented to fix a 10-day slippage caused by the Julian calendar. In 13,000 years, our axial precession will mean that Vega (a very bright star indeed!) becomes the North Star.
Looking a bit further out, in 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will retain the title of “farthest man-made object from Earth” and pass within 1.6 light years of AC+79 3888 (a star) — unless, of course, humanity develops a faster propulsion system before then. Moving at a velocity of 61,400 kilometers per hour (38,200mph), it takes Voyager 1 about 14,000 years to travel a single light year. Voyager 1 is perhaps most famous for taking the photo on the right, the Pale Blue Dot, at Carl Sagan’s behest. Here, Earth can be seen from six billion miles away as Voyager 1 leaves the Solar System.
After 50,000 years, assuming we can curb anthropogenic (human-based) global warming, the current interglacial is scheduled to end, throwing the Earth back into an ice age. Around this time, assuming nothing else changes, Niagara Falls should have eroded the remaining 20 miles to Lake Erie, and will cease to exist. (Presumably Lake Erie will freeze during the ice age, anyway.)
In 100,000 years, due to the continued (and very rapid movement) of stars in the sky, constellations will no longer be recognizable. Sometime after that, but before 1 million years have passed, Betelgeuse will go supernova. As one of the largest known stars, and at a distance of just 640 light years away from us, the supernova is expected to be visible during the day (that is, if any humans are around to see it).
In 1.4 million years, Gliese 710 is expected to pass by our Solar System, getting as close as 1.1 light years. Even at this distance, it won’t be a particularly bright star — but if we’re still stuck here on Earth (God help us), and assuming Gliese 710 has its own set of planets, this will be one of our best chances to populate another solar system.
Let’s take a quick breather. To put this all into perspective, remember that almost everything we’ve achieved here on Earth has taken place in the last 10,000 years, since the advent of modern civilization — and due to the acceleration of technology, a vast number of our achievements have occurred in just the last 200 years or so. In 1.4 million years, by the time Gliese 710 does a fly-by, human civilization will be indescribably advanced. 1.4 million years is more than long enough for a new species to emerge, too, so who knows, maybe Homo sapiens will have been ousted by Homo technicus, or something along those lines.

Continuing on, in 50 million years, the Californian coastline will begin to be subducted into the Aleutian Trench. In other tectonic news, after 50 million years, Africa will have collided with Eurasia, squashing the Mediterranean out of existence and creating a new mountain range, much like the Himalayas. After 250 million years, it’s possible that the continents will have (re-fused) back into a single supercontinent.
Between 250 million and 800 million years from now, Earth will slowly become uninhabitable, due to the Sun’s increasing luminosity (the old girl hasn’t reached her peak yet!) As temperatures rise, weathering increases, and the amount of carbon dioxide drops to a point where plants can no longer photosynthesize. 1 billion years from now, the Sun’s luminosity will have increased by 10%, resulting in an average Earth surface temperature of 47 degrees Celsius (117F). At this point, the oceans will evaporate into space, and shortly after, almost all remaining lifeforms will die.

From this point on, I guess it doesn’t really matter what happens to Earth, but just in case you’re wondering: In about 7.9 billion years, the Sun will reach its maximum radius — 256 times larger than it is today. At this point, it will absorb Mercury and Venus, and probably the Earth too. This is the end of the line for Earth. Shortly thereafter, the Sun will shrink down into a white dwarf, and then 6 billion years later it will (theoretically) become a black

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Structure and Evolution of Normal & Active Galaxies

Galactic structure and evolution is the study of whole galaxies as coherent, self-contained systems of dark matter, stars, and gas and how those systems change over billions of years of time. Like a living organism, the history of a galaxy is shaped by its internal metabolic processes (star formation and death, gravitational interactions among all its components, and sometimes by an active black hole engine at its core) as well as by interactions with other galaxies, its environment, and the universe itself. Understanding how galaxies, especially the Milky Way, formed and evolved is key to understanding an ancient part of mankind's own origins.

Typically a hundred thousand light years across and weighing a few hundred billion suns, each galaxy is home to most of the universe's many basic building blocks. These are the abundant but mysterious dark matter that dominates a galaxy's mass, interstellar gas and dust, stars and planets, neutron stars and black holes, and, often at the galaxy's center, an active supermassive black hole engine that may outshine the combined light from all its stars.

On the "small' scale, galaxy evolution is influenced by the death of old stars, which expel newly-created elements forged in their central furnaces, as well as the formation of new stars from the enriched interstellar gas. This keeps the stellar population replenished over eons of time. A galaxy's shape is determined by how the stars and gas move within the gravitational field of the galaxy's (mostly dark) matter, and the rate at which it forms stars is determined by how much interstellar gas it has.

Occasionally, two galaxies collide and merge, leading initially to a rapid increase in the rate of star formation and a rapid funneling of gas fuel to the supermassive black hole engine in the center. This active galactic nucleus (or AGN) sometimes shines so brightly that all we can see on earth is a quasar at its center. In fact, the radiation pressure and powerful jets generated by the AGN can drive out all the gas accreted in the merger, thereby shutting off the supply of gas that fueled star formation and nuclear activity in the first place.

On the very large scale, galaxies appear to have formed out of the expanding universe shortly after the Big Bang. So the study of galaxy evolution requires understanding not only star formation and supermassive black holes, but also Cosmology --- the birth and evolution of the universe itself.

Selected Current Projects

Spitzer Telescope

The high redshift (z = 1.070) galaxy cluster ISCS J1433.1+3334 at a distance of about 7.9 billion light years. The boxed and circled objects are galaxies in this cluster.

In addition to studying the Origin of Stars and Planets, the Spitzerinfrared observatory also is used to study galaxies at distances so great that we are seeing them as they were billions of years ago. All light from these galaxies is redshifted by the expansion of the universe to about twice its normal wavelength. (For example, the emission line of doubly-ionized oxygen and the Hα line of neutral hydrogen [0.501 and 0.656 micron wavelengths, respectively] are redshifted to over 1.0 and 1.3 microns.) So, whereas local galaxies can be studied at optical wavelengths, it is better to study "high redshift" galaxies in the infrared.

Recently the Spitzer telescope's InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC) was used to search for clusters of galaxies nearly 8 billion light years away. In addition to discovering 335 new young galaxy candidates, the study also determined that the total mass of some of the clusters in which they lie weight more than 100 trillion suns each! Detailed studies of the stars in these galaxies indicate that they formed shortly after the Big Bang, over 11 billion years ago.

The Spitzer IRAC instrument also was used to look at over 3000 galaxies with very strong X-ray emission. It was found that in at least 90% of these galaxies the X-ray and infrared emission is coming from an active nucleus, i.e., a brightly emitting supermassive black hole engine at the center of the galaxy.

The Deep Space Network Ground Radio Telescopes

While the main job of NASA’s Deep Space Network is to track distant spacecraft like Voyager, Cassini, and Spitzer, these communication antennas also can be used as ground radio telescopes - either as single dishes or as some of the most powerful elements in world-wide Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) arrays, which also may include a space radio telescope as well (Space VLBI).

Artist’s conception of the central few light years of the active galaxy NGC 4258. The black hole lies at the center and produces a jet. A warped disk of molecular gas encircles the hole and produces masers in the direction of the earth (bright white spots on the disk). The radio spectrum at the bottom, indicating the velocities of the masers away from the earth, shows that the gas indeed orbits the black hole just like the planets orbit our sun (i.e., in a Keplerian-type orbit).

Astronomical masers (microwave lasers) are regions of interstellar (or circumstellar) gas where radio emission of a particular molecular transition piles up in one direction, producing an extremely bright source toward that one direction. Occasionally some of these focused emissions point toward the earth. Masers of OH, SiO, methanol, and other molecules are common in giant molecular cloud regions where stars form. In addition, enormously bright water megamasers often occur in the centers of mildly active galaxies (AGN), in the warm dense molecular gas that circles within a couple of light years of the central supermassive black hole. By measuring the detailed motions of water megamaser spots we can measure very accurately not only the mass of the central black hole, but also the distance of the galaxy from earth.

Recently NASA’s Deep Space Network antennas were used to find eight new water megamasers in the centers of nearby and moderately distant galaxies. This has significantly increases the number, and distance, of known megamasers. Further studies of these systems with VLBI and Space VLBI will help determine an accurate distance scale to the universe - the so-called Hubble constant.

NASA-Funded Theoretical Investigations

The behavior of normal and active galaxies also can be studied with supercomputers and other forms of theoretical calculation. Indeed, it is with such studies, and detailed comparison with observations, that the greatest understanding of these objects is achieved. Similar to weather prediction or airplane aerodynamic studies on the earth, these astrophysical simulations build galaxy or black hole systems inside a supercomputer’s memory and use the laws of physics to determine how the system evolves. Sometimes the simulation follows the flow of cosmic fluid or the interaction of hundreds of thousands of star and dark matter "particles."

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Soyuz Spacecraft Returning to Earth with US-Russian Crew

A Soyuz spacecraft has undocked from the International Space Station and is preparing to descend into Earth's atmosphere to return an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts back home after nearly five months living in orbit.
The undocking tonight (March 15) occurred smoothly, but one day later than planned, due to freezing rain and fog at the Soyuz's landing site on the steppes of Kazakhstan in Central Asia, which delayed the departure. Returning home on the Soyuz are NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts

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New update on comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)

Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), discovered by Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, on the night of 2011, June 5-6, will reach perihelion in March 2013 when it will be located only 0.30 AU from the Sun and might become a bright naked eye object ( with a peak magnitude of anywhere from +1 to -1). At its brightest C/2011 L4 will appear only 15° from the Sun.

The comet is now at 3.2 AU from the Sun (m2 ~ 14.0). While visually C/2011 L4 is at m1 ~ 11.

We performed some follow-up measurements of comet C/2011 L4 remotely from the Siding Spring-Faulkes Telescope South on 2012, September 10.4 through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD. Below you can see our follow-up image (click on it for a bigger version):

Below you can see the lightcurve of comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) collected by Seiichi Yoshida on his comet webpage: 

                                  (Credit: Seiichi Yoshida)

As a comparison, below you can see our image of the comet taken on June 7.4, 2011 just one day after his discovery by Pan-STARRS Survey. The comet was then at 8.2 AU from the Sun (m2 ~ 19.5).

While below there is our image taken on May 18.6, 2012 with the comet at 4.6 AU from the Sun (m2 ~ 15.6).

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Mars Science Laboratory

Different Tools for Different Purposes on Mars

This set of images from Mars shows the handiwork of different tools on three missions to the surface of Mars. The action of each of the tools has sometimes been referred to as drilling, but the functions of the tools have been different for each mission.

On the left is a rock on which NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used the rock abrasion tool on the rover's robotic arm. Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, were each equipped with one of these tools to grind away the surface layer of rocks and expose interior rock material to examination, in place, by instruments on the rover. The diameter of the abraded circle is 1.8 inches (4.5 centimeters) in diameter. The image was cropped from PIA06355, taken in June 2004 by Opportunity's Panoramic Camera at a target called "London" inside Endurance Crater.

The middle image shows a grid of shallow holes cut into icy soil by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander using the motorized rasp on the back of the scoop on the lander's robotic arm. Phoenix used the rasp to penetrate frozen soil too hard for just scraping with the front-edge blade of the scoop. Soil shavings generated by the rasp were picked up by the scoop for delivery into the lander's analytical instruments. The grid of rasped holes visible in this image, four holes across, is about 2 inches (5 centimeters) wide. The image was cropped from PIA10981, taken in July 2008 by Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager of a trench called "Snow White."

On the right is the hole produced by the drill on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity during the first drilling into a rock on Mars to collect a sample from inside the rock. Flutes on the bit of the drill on Curiosity's robotic arm transport powdered material generated by drilling up into the drill, for later processing and delivery into analytical instruments inside the rover. The diameter of the hole is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters). The image was cropped from PIA16726, taken Feb. 8, 2013, by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on Curiosity's arm after that day's drilling at a target rock called "John Klein."

Views of Curiosity's Drill

These schematic drawings show a top view and a cutaway view of a section of the drill on NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. The section view on the right also indicates the flow of material within the drill bit.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Preparation on Earth for Drilling on Mars

The development of the Mars rover Curiosity's capabilities for drilling into a rock on Mars required years of development work. This is a group photo of some of the rocks used in bit development testing and lifespan testing in 2007, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Most of the holes are the same diameter as holes Curiosity drills: 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters).

Development and testing models of drills for Curiosity have been used on many types of terrestrial rocks over a span of more than five years.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Tracks from Eastbound Drive on Curiosity's Sol 22

On Aug. 28, 2012, during the 22nd Martian day, or sol, after landing on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover drove about 52 feet (16 meters) eastward, the longest drive of the mission so far. The drive imprinted the wheel tracks visible in this image. The rover's rear Hazard Avoidance Camera (Hazcam) took the image after the drive. Curiosity's front and rear Hazcams have fisheye lenses for enabling the rover to see a wide swath of terrain. This image has been processed to straighten the horizon.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Most Earth-like planet

 

Classed as a “super-Earth,” candidate planet KOI (Kepler Object of Interest) 172.02 orbits within the habitable zone of a sun-like star. This means the planet, which has yet to be confirmed by follow-up observations, could have liquid water on its surface, thought to be essential for life.
KOI 172.02 is about 1.5 times the diameter of Earth. The planet orbits its star at a distance of 0.75 astronomical units, or about three-fourths of the distance from the Earth to the sun. The exoplanet takes about 242 Earth days to orbit its star.
Launched in 2009, the Kepler space telescope orbits the sun every 371 days. As it travels, Kepler keeps itself pointed at a single patch of sky. Sensors monitor the brightness of 150,000 stars simultaneously, looking for telltale drops in intensity that could indicate orbiting planets.
At the heart of the telescope is an array of 42 camera sensors specifically designed to detect planets passing in front of their stars
Kepler’s planet search is conducted in a narrow wedge-shaped volume of space that stretches out ahead of us as we orbit the galaxy. Stars in the search volume are therefore at about the same distance from the center of the galaxy as the Earth.

• Go further for more info and NEWS at - www.facebook.com/Koi17202. 
• Discovered in January 7 2013 

  How Jupiter Moon Europa's Underground Ocean Was Discovered

  

   This is Part 4 of a six-part series telling the story of humankind’s efforts to understand the origins of life, by looking for it in extreme environments where life thrives without relying on the sun as an energy source.

  It follows an oceanographic expedition to the Mid-Cayman Rise led by Chris German of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and NASA’s efforts to plan a future mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. By understanding how life can live without the sun, we may discover how life began on our planet, and whether or not Earth is the only place in the universe capable of supporting a biosphere.  
  
  

  

  
  

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ImpaCt Risk

Recently Observed Objects
(within past 60 days)

 

Object Designation	Year Range	Potential Impacts	Impact Prob. (cum.)	Vinfinity (km/s)	H (mag)	Est. Diam. (km)	Palermo Scale (cum.)	Palermo Scale (max.)	Torino Scale (max.)
2013 BP73	2078-2107	9	1.7e-05	20.69	20.2	0.310	-2.42	-2.70	0
2013 BL18	2070-2092	5	9.4e-06	14.19	26.0	0.022	-5.58	-5.80	0
2012 UE34	2095-2105	7	4.5e-07	5.50	23.1	0.081	-5.88	-6.37	0
2013 BR27	2073-2110	51	3.7e-05	10.93	27.7	0.010	-5.93	-6.27	0
2011 TO	2064-2076	3	5.3e-06	8.55	26.3	0.019	-6.00	-6.00	0
2013 CL22	2064-2064	3	6.6e-07	9.55	24.7	0.039	-6.12	-6.18	0
2013 AB65	2087-2113	12	4.8e-06	24.42	27.6	0.010	-6.50	-6.66	0
2012 XE133	2083-2091	3	1.9e-08	9.89	23.4	0.072	-7.18	-7.48	0
2013 CY	2069-2098	7	4.1e-06	2.43	28.2	0.008	-7.31	-7.98	0
2012 YR1	2077-2077	1	3.7e-07	7.84	26.7	0.016	-7.48	-7.48	0
2013 BR15	2095-2110	5	4.6e-08	14.09	25.1	0.032	-7.57	-7.77	0

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SpaceGallary

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The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA)

Credit: SDO(NASA)/AIA consortium

The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is designed to provide an unprecedented view of the solar corona, taking images that span at least 1.3 solar diameters in multiple wavelengths nearly simultaneously.

he AIA 193 channel takes images of the Sun at 193 angstroms (extreme ultraviolet) which highlights the outer atmosphere of the Sun – called the corona – as well as hot flare plasma. Hot active regions, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections will appear bright here. The dark areas ‒ called coronal holes ‒ are large regions in the corona that are less dense and cooler than surrounding areas. Coronal holes are where the Sun's magnetic field does not loop back down to the surface; it is open into interplanetary space. They are places where very little radiation is emitted, yet are the main source of solar wind particles. The open structure of their magnetic field allows a constant flow of high-density plasma to stream out of the holes.

This is an image of the Sun observed by Solar Dynamics Observatory in the extreme ultraviolet region (193 Å) on 2013-03-04 at 23:45:07 UT. At this time, some of the coronal holes are directed towards the Earth. Since coronal holes are often the source of strong solar wind gusts that carry solar particles into interplanetary space, an increase in solar wind activity over the next days is expected. Solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on March 07-08.

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Earth Impact in 2036 for Asteroid Apophis

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA scientists at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., effectively have ruled out the possibility the asteroid Apophis will impact Earth during a close flyby in 2036. The scientists used updated information obtained by NASA-supported telescopes in 2011 and 2012, as well as new data from the time leading up to Apophis' distant Earth flyby yesterday (Jan. 9).

Discovered in 2004, the asteroid, which is the size of three-and-a-half football fields, gathered the immediate attention of space scientists and the media when initial calculations of its orbit indicated a 2.7 percent possibility of an Earth impact during a close flyby in 2029. Data discovered during a search of old astronomical images provided the additional information required to rule out the 2029 impact scenario, but a remote possibility of one in 2036 remained - until yesterday.

"With the new data provided by the Magdalena Ridge [New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology] and the Pan-STARRS [Univ. of Hawaii] optical observatories, along with very recent data provided by the Goldstone Solar System Radar, we have effectively ruled out the possibility of an Earth impact by Apophis in 2036," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "The impact odds as they stand now are less than one in a million, which makes us comfortable saying we can effectively rule out an Earth impact in 2036. Our interest in asteroid Apophis will essentially be for its scientific interest for the foreseeable future."

The April 13, 2029, flyby of asteroid Apophis will be one for the record books. On that date, Apophis will become the closest flyby of an asteroid of its size when it comes no closer than 19, 400 miles (31,300 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

"But much sooner, a closer approach by a lesser-known asteroid is going to occur in the middle of next month when a 40-meter-sized asteroid, 2012 DA14, flies safely past Earth's surface at about 17,200 miles," said Yeomans. "With new telescopes coming online, the upgrade of existing telescopes and the continued refinement of our orbital determination process, there's never a dull moment working on near-Earth objects."

NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

The Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL manages the technical and scientific activities for NASA's Near-Earth Object Program of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch Updates about near-Earth objects are also available by following AsteroidWatch on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/asteroidwatch .

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TerraForming On Mars !

Based on experiences with Earth, the environment of a planet can be altered deliberately; however, the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary biosphere that mimics Earth on another planet has yet to be verified. Mars is usually considered to be the most likely candidate for terraforming.

 Carl Sagan, an astronomer, proposed the planetary engineering of Venus in an article published in the journal Science in 1961.Sagan imagined seeding the atmosphere of Venus with algae, which would convert water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide into organic compounds. As this process removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect would be reduced until surface temperatures dropped to "comfortable" levels. The resulting carbon, Sagan supposed, would be incinerated by the high surface temperatures of Venus, and thus be sequestered in the form of "graphite or some involatile form of carbon" on the planet's surface. However, later discoveries about the conditions on Venus made this particular approach impossible. One problem is that the clouds of Venus are composed of a highly concentrated sulfuric acid solution. Even if atmospheric algae could thrive in the hostile environment of Venus' upper atmosphere, an even more insurmountable problem is that its atmosphere is simply far too thick—the high atmospheric pressure would result in an "atmosphere of nearly pure molecular oxygen" and cause the planet's surface to be thickly covered in fine graphite powder. This volatile combination could not be sustained through time. Any carbon that was fixed in organic form would be liberated as carbon dioxide again through combustion, "short-circuiting" the terraforming process

SHAPING THE UNIVERSE

From the clerks at our 14 Prospective Colony Permit offices to the metal workers building brand new terraform technology

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MARS-The planet's proximity and similarity to Earth.

Early speculation

Historical map of Mars from Giovanni Schiaparelli.		Mars canals illustrated by astronomer Percival Lowell, 1898.

Mars' polar ice caps were observed as early as the mid-17th century, and they were first proven to grow and shrink alternately, in the summer and winter of each hemisphere, by William Herschel in the latter part of the 18th century. By the mid-19th century, astronomers knew that Mars had certain other similarities to Earth, for example that the length of a day on Mars was almost the same as a day on Earth. They also knew that its axial tilt was similar to Earth's, which meant it experienced seasons just as Earth does — but of nearly double the length owing to its much longer year. These observations led to the increase in speculation that the darker albedo features were water, and brighter ones were land. It was therefore natural to suppose that Mars may be inhabited by some form of life.
In 1854, William Whewell, a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who popularized the word scientist, theorized that Mars had seas, land and possibly life forms. Speculation about life on Mars exploded in the late 19th century, following telescopic observation by some observers of apparent Martian canals — which were however soon found to be optical illusions. Despite this, in 1895, American astronomer Percival Lowell published his book Mars, followed by Mars and its Canals in 1906, proposing that the canals were the work of a long-gone civilization. This idea led British writer H. G. Wells to write The War of the Worlds in 1897, telling of an invasion by aliens from Mars who were fleeing the planet’s desiccation.
Spectroscopic analysis of Mars' atmosphere began in earnest in 1894, when U.S. astronomer William Wallace Campbell showed that neither water nor oxygen were present in the Martian atmosphere.By 1909 better telescopes and the best perihelic opposition of Mars since 1877 conclusively put an end to the canal theory.

Mariner Crater, as seen by Mariner 4 in 1965. Pictures like this suggested that Mars is too dry for any kind of life.		Streamlined Islands seen by Viking orbiter showed that large floods occurred on Mars. Image is located in Lunae Palus quadrangle.

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Is There Life ElseWhere in Our Solar System ?

Allan Hills 84001 (commonly abbreviated ALH 84001 is a meteorite that was found in Allan Hills, Antarctica on December 27, 1984 by a team of U.S. meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. Like other members of the group of SNCs  ALH 84001 is thought to be from Mars. However, it does not fit into any of the previously discovered SNC groups. On discovery, its mass was 1.93 kilograms (4.3 lb). It made its way into headlines worldwide in 1996 when scientists announced that it might contain evidence for microscopic fossils of Martian bacteria based on carbonate globules observed.

Meteorite fragment ALH 84001
Type	Achondrite
Clan	Martian meteorite
Grouplet	Orthopyroxenite
Composition	Low-Ca Orthopyroxene, Chromite, Maskelynite, Fe-rich carbonate
Shock stage	B
Weathering grade	A/B
Country	Antarctica
Region	Allan Hills, Far Western Icefield
Coordinates	76°55′13″S 156°46′25″ECoordinates: 76°55′13″S 156°46′25″E
Observed fall	No
Found date	1984
TKW	1930.9 g

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Evolution of life on Earth

The Cosmic Calendar is a scale in which the 13.7 billion year lifetime of the universe is mapped onto a single year. At this scale the Big Bang took place on January 1 at midnight, and the current time is mapped to December 31 at midnight. At this scale, there are 434 years per second, 1.57 million years per hour, and 37.7 million years per day. The concept was popularized by Carl Sagan in his book The Dragons of Eden and on his television series Cosmos as a way to conceptualize the vast amounts of time in the history of the universe.

Big Bang

Date	bya	Event
1 Jan	13.7	Big Bang, as seen through cosmic background radiation
11 May	8.8	Milky Way Galaxy formed
1 Sep	4.57	Sun formed (planets and Earth's moon soon thereafter)
16 Sep	4.0	Oldest rocks known on Earth

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