NOT ALONE? - Our galaxy contains 100 billion planets: Study - INDIA

 

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	Contrary to previous belief, the latest research by astronomers suggests star systems with planets are actually the norm across the cosmos. WASHINGTON: Our galaxy contains at least 100 billion planets - approximately one for every star - and many of them could harbour life, a new study claims. Contrary to previous belief, the latest research by astronomers suggests star systems with planets are actually the norm across the cosmos. Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology made their estimate while analysing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 - planets that are representative of the vast majority of planets in our galaxy, NASA said. "There are at least 100 billion planets in the galaxy, just our galaxy," said John Johnson, assistant professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech and co-author of the study. "That's mind-boggling," said Johnson in a statement. "It's a staggering number, if you think about it. Basically, there's one of these planets per star," added Jonathan Swift, lead author of the study. One of the fundamental questions regarding the origin of planets is how many of them there are. Like the Caltech group, other teams of astronomers have estimated that there is roughly one planet per star, but this is the first time researchers have made such an estimate by studying M-dwarf systems, the most numerous population of planets known. The planetary system in question, which was detected by NASA's Kepler space telescope, contains five planets. Two of the planets orbiting Kepler-32 had previously been discovered by other astronomers. The Caltech team confirmed the remaining three, then analysed the five-planet system and compared it to other systems found by Kepler. M-dwarf systems like Kepler-32's are quite different from our own solar system. For one, M dwarfs are cooler and much smaller than the Sun. Kepler-32, for example, has half the mass of the sun and half its radius. The radii of its five planets range from 0.8 to 2.7 times that of Earth, and those planets orbit extremely close to their star. The whole Kepler-32 system fits within just over a tenth of an astronomical unit (the average distance between Earth and the Sun) - a distance that is about a third of the radius of Mercury's orbit around the Sun. The fact that M-dwarf systems vastly outnumber other kinds of systems carries a profound implication, according to Johnson, which is that our solar system is extremely rare.

 

 

 

 

SICENCE - Harvard scientists suggest moon made from earth - INDIA

A new theory put forward by Harvard scientists suggests the moon was once part of the earth that spun off after a giant collision with another body.

In a paper published on Wednesday in the journal Science, Sarah Stewart and Matija uk said their theory would explain why the earth and moon have similar composition and chemistry.

The earth was spinning much faster at the time the Moon was formed, and a day lasted only two to three hours, they said.

With the Earth spinning so quickly, a giant impact could have launched enough of the Earth's material to form a moon, the scientists said in an explanation published on a Harvard website. www.fas.harvard.edu/~planets/sstewart/Moon.html

According to the new theory, the Earth later reached its current rate of spinning through gravitational interaction between its orbit around the Sun and the Moon's orbit around Earth.

The scientists noted that their proposition differed from the current leading theory, which holds that the Moon was created from material from a giant body that struck the Earth.

Stewart is a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard, and uk, an astronomer and an investigator at the SETI Institute, which supports research into the search for extraterrestrial life. The latter was conducting post-doctoral research at Harvard.

SCIENCE - Saturn's rings shine in new NASA photo - WORLD

 

Stunning ... NASA's Cassini spacecraft's photo of Saturn. Photo: NASA

 

A stunning new image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows off the southern side of Saturn and the planet's iconic ring system.

The near-infrared photo was taken from 14 degrees under the ringplane, researchers said, and looks toward the unlit side of the planet's rings. Cassini was about 2.9 million kilometres from Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, at the time.

The 504 km-wide Enceladus, one of more than 60 moons that orbit the planet, can also be seen in the image. Despite being covered in ice, many researchers say Enceladus has one of the best chances in the solar system of hosting life beyond Earth, due to a large ocean of water that is thought to sit below the ice. It also generates a large amount of internal heat, thought to power geysers that erupt at the southern polar regions. The geysers were discovered by Cassini in 2005.

The $US3.2 billion Cassini mission launched in 1997 and has been studying Saturn since it arrived at there in 2004. The craft will study the ringed planet until at least 2017, and possibly beyond that.

In 2005, the Huygens lander touched down on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and relayed the first photos ever from its surface.

Titan is often described as being more like a planet than a moon. It is the only other body in the solar system with a dense, nitrogen-dominated atmosphere aside from Earth. For this reason, some scientists believe that it, too, may be able to support life.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/saturns-rings-shine-in-new-nasa-photo-20121002-26w5i.html#ixzz288xD2o4K

SCIENCE - WORLD

Saturn’s largest moon likely has an underground ocean

This undated true color image by the Cassini spacecraft released by Nasa shows Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, passing in front of the planet and its rings. – AP

CAPE CANAVERAL: Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft has found strong evidence for an ocean of water beneath the frozen crust of Saturn’s largest moon Titan, scientists said Thursday.

The finding propels Titan into a short list of places including Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s smaller moon Enceladus suspected of harboring underground seas.

“The evidence is strong that Titan is squishy,” said planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine, with Cornell University.

The evidence was put together during six passes over Titan by Cassini, which is orbitting Saturn, between 2004 and 2011.

During the flybys, scientists measured minute changes in the pitch of radio signals passing between the spacecraft and Earth to figure how much Saturn’s gravity deformed the moon.

They then turned to computer models to match a 10-meter (33-foot) distortion with possible scenarios to explain what was going on. The more solid the moon’s interior, the less it would be impacted by Saturn’s gravity.

“The measurement is pretty conclusive about the existence of an internal ocean,” said lead researcher Luciano Iess, with Sapienza University in Rome, Italy.

“The presence of water does not imply life,” he added.

“But Titan has many interesting ingredients – hydrocarbons, a hydrological cycle and a thick atmosphere.”

Scientists have no idea if the ocean is in contact with rock, a possible source of minerals and other components believed to be needed for life.

Based on the Cassini findings, Titan’s suspected ocean lies about 100 kilometers (62 miles) beneath the surface.

Although the moon sports lakes of liquid hydrocarbons, such as methane and ethane, Titan’s ocean is probably mostly water.

“The subsurface ocean has to be made of water, or water mixed with a relatively small percentage of salts,” Iess said.

If the ocean were liquid hydrocarbons, the heavier surface ice would sink and Cassini would see a global hydrocarbon ocean on the surface, he added.

Scientists hope to refine gravity maps of Titan after additional Cassini flybys planned through 2017.

Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004.

BUENA VIDA / ESPIRITUALIDAD - ARGENTINA

La Luna y nosotros

En el simbolismo astrológico, ella corresponde a los deseos inconscientes y el niño interior. Su connotación nocturna nos permite tomar contacto con nuestra parte más instintiva, nuestros talentos y nuestra capacidad para ser felices.

Aún hoy, el carácter nocturno de la Luna es leído, a veces y erróneamente, desde lo negativo

Aún hoy, el carácter nocturno de la Luna es leído, a veces y erróneamente, desde lo negativo

La Luna, fuente perenne de inspiración de los poetas, lumbrera de los míticos lobizones y aquelarres medievales, reguladora de las mareas… ¿qué relación guarda con la astrología?

Mucha. Los primeros testimonios arqueológicos existentes de la humanidad son el registro de sus fases, y los orígenes de la Astrología son lunares, inclusive en la definición del Zodíaco.

Durante siglos fue el indicador primordial del temperamento de una persona, tal como sigue siéndolo hoy en la astrología de la India.

¿Un caso de misoginia?
Sin embargo, fue desterrada no sólo por el auge de la Astrología Solar del siglo XX en los medios masivos, sino por la tendencia de las escuelas esotéricas que albergaron su renacimiento en el siglo anterior a sobrevalorar al Sol como símbolo soberano del espíritu, la voluntad y la consciencia (y del varón, en una veta inconfundiblemente machista).

Actitud proveniente de Platón y los poderosos mitos solares egipcios, persas y griegos, que luego asumirían los emperadores romanos y su sucesora, la iglesia cristiana. El modelo heliocéntrico de Copérnico y “las luces” del racionalismo renacentista continuaron con esa misma línea, que veía en las oscuridades comandadas por la Reina de la Noche valores puramente negativos que tendrían su culminación en el inconsciente freudiano.

La mala de la película
Por ello, si bien casi toda corriente astrológica considera a la Luna como un indicador importante del carácter a la par del Sol y el Ascendente, a veces se la percibe como una parte primitiva de nuestra personalidad. Se la considera marcada por condicionamientos infantiles que se repiten luego reactivamente en forma descontextualizada, estados de humor irracionales o necesidades inmaduras inconscientes que nos llevan a manipular subliminalmente a los demás o a nuestra propia voluntad para satisfacerlas. Definitivamente, algo que debiéramos “superar”.

La fuente de la felicidad
En esta sobrevaloración maniqueísta del Sol en desmedro de la Luna, se pierde de vista que su connotación “nocturna” nos permite tomar contacto con nuestra parte instintiva y nuestra emocionalidad profunda, haciéndonos seres más completos. Y que ese automatismo que se le asocia puede también ser leído como espontaneidad y facilidad con lo vinculado al signo en que se halla, claramente reflejado en capacidades o talentos no siempre explotados.

No podemos “superar” nada de nuestro cielo natal, ya que seguirá estando ahí, sino que podemos reconocerlo y, aceptándolo, potenciar sus costados más constructivos y creativos.

Se suele asociar a la Luna con lo infantil y, por ello, también simboliza al Niño Interior, que porta consigo la sabiduría de la inteligencia emocional.

Sólo cuando cuidamos de nosotros mismos satisfaciendo las necesidades de ese Niño juguetón y creativo, aunque caprichoso, podemos acceder a ese espacio legítimo que todos merecemos y que se llama Felicidad.

Luna, Sol, Ascendente
Supongamos el signo de Escorpio, al que entre otras cosas asociamos con el conflicto casi insoluble que surge de intentar fusionarse dos entidades diferentes, sea una persona con otra (física o emocionalmente), con un grupo o con otra instancia.

Esta conflictividad da un sello característico de intensidad y de gran plenitud en el caso de lograr esa compleja fusión.

Sol en Escorpio puede buscar deliberada y conscientemente esa fusión, asumiendo plenamente la noción de conflicto. Un Ascendente quizás también, pero de un modo menos consciente o reflexivo, de modo que muchas veces tendrá actitudes conflictivas que no reconocerá en sí mismo y se verá envuelto en conflictos de gravedad, conflictos que a veces la vida le impondrá de un modo particularmente dramático, sorpresivo y no buscado.

La Luna en Escorpio ya siente desde siempre esa intensidad y quizá tienda de un modo tan inconsciente como el Ascendente a involucrarse en situaciones de compleja amalgama con los otros.

La diferencia es que aquí surge de una necesidad emocional: en la medida en que la Luna se asocia con la nutrición, esta Luna se nutre del conflicto y de la intensidad emocional. Puede reaccionar de un modo sumamente defensivo y desconfiado, ya que percibe potencialmente peligro, pero esas reacciones a veces ser completamente inadecuadas a la situación.

Más allá de estos rasgos incómodos, hay un talento potencial para amalgamar a otras personas y a sí misma con ellas en proyectos poderosamente movilizadores, con facilidad para poder sobrellevar los conflictos que naturalmente esto suele conllevar y gran espontaneidad para responder a ellos creativamente.

Si la necesidad profunda de este Niño Interior es lograr fusiones potentes, incluyendo y superando los obstáculos, en ese tipo de vínculos y actividades encontrará su felicidad y su paz interior.

Aprendiendo sobre nuestro cielo natal
Si sabemos nuestra hora natal, es muy útil enterarnos a través de algún servicio de la web, tal como http://www.astro.com/horoscopo, en qué signo se halla nuestra Luna, así como por supuesto el Ascendente: abrirá nuevas perspectivas en nuestro autoconocimiento y desarrollo personal.

Palabras clave de la Luna: necesidades, emoción, humor, demandas afectivas, reacciones, deseos inconscientes, autocuidado, inteligencia emocional, facilidad, comodidad, espontaneidad, talento, niño interior, satisfacción, felicidad.

Jerónimo Brignone es presidente y director del Caba, Fundación Centro Astrológico de Buenos Aires, entidad con más de 50 años de actividad y reconocimiento internacional. También dicta clases en la UBA