NASA Takes Giant Step Toward Finding Earth-Like Planets

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Jane Platt (818) 354-0880
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

News Release: 2005-157 Sept. 29, 2005

NASA Takes Giant Step Toward Finding Earth-Like Planets

Are we alone in the universe? Are there planets like Earth
around other "suns" that might harbor life? Thanks to a recent
technology breakthrough on a key NASA planet-finding project,
the dream of answering those questions is no longer light-years
away.

On a crystal clear, star-filled night at Hawaii's Keck
Observatory in Mauna Kea, NASA engineers successfully suppressed
the blinding light of three stars, including the well-known Vega,
by 100 times. This breakthrough will enable scientists to detect
the dim dust disks around stars, where planets might be forming.
Normally the disks are obscured by the glare of the starlight.

Engineers accomplished this challenging feat with the Keck
Interferometer, which links the observatory's two 10-meter
(33-feet) telescopes. By combining light from the telescopes,
the Keck Interferometer has a resolving power equivalent to a
football-field sized telescope. The "technological touchdown"
of blocking starlight was achieved by adding an instrument
called a "nuller."

This setup may eventually help scientists select targets for
NASA's envisioned Terrestrial Planet Finder missions. The
success of those potential future missions, one observing in
visible light and one in infrared, depends on being able to find
Earth-like planets in the dust rings around stars.

"We have proven that the Keck Interferometer can block light
from nearby stars, which will allow us to survey the amount of
dust around them," said Dr. James Fanson, project manager for
the Keck Interferometer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
That survey will begin in late 2006 after the team refines the
nuller's sensitivity level.

Combined information from all of NASA's planet-hunting missions
will provide a complete picture of possible Earth-like planets:
how big they are, whether they are warm enough for life, and if
their atmospheres and surfaces show chemical signatures of
current life.

"People have been talking about whether there are other earths
out there for 2,500 years. Only now are we developing the
technology to go find out," said Michael Devirian, manager of
NASA's Navigator Program at JPL, which is investigating
potential planet-exploring missions.

So far, scientists around the world have found 150 planets
orbiting other stars. Most are giants, like Jupiter; none is
as small as Earth. Scientists believe the best odds of finding
life outside our solar system are on Earth-sized planets,
particularly those with the right temperature, density and
chemistry.

More information on NASA's planet-finding missions, including
the Keck Interferometer and Terrestrial Planet Finder is at

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov .

JPL manages the Keck Interferometer and the Terrestrial Planet
Finder missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena. The W.M. Keck Observatory is funded
by California Institute of Technology, the University of
California and NASA, and is managed by the California
Association for Research in Astronomy, Kamuela, Hawaii.

-end-

,
There's absolutely nothing that's any more Earth like than Venus, at
least not that's within physical probe range and capability.

If the likes of a Venus planet were as such to become a newly
discovered planet as of today, such as being situated exactly as close
to an identical sun and for being just as clouded, as such all of
astronomy/astrophysics holy hell's worth of talents and resources would
be busting lose in order to probe about and/or into that sort of nifty
environment, and the sooner the better, especially if it were so easily
probe accessible and technically survivable as Venus.

As to further suggest upon a perfectly viable sub-topic to this "NASA
Takes Giant Step Toward Finding Earth-Like Planets" and/or that of
whatever's related to the Venus Express mission; I happen to be one of
the pro-ET/ETI fools that believes Venus = Nearest Exoplanet other than
Earth.

Jonathan Silverlight;
" Probes from the Pioneer Venus mission discovered that, below the
clouds, the atmosphere contains about 0.1 to 0.4 percent water vapor and
_60 parts per million_ of free oxygen. These components indicate that
Venus may have had abundant water at one point early in its history,
water that has since been lost."
http://www.pbs.org/lifebeyondearth/alone/venus.html
At 90+ bar and good temperature, 0.4% H2O is actually representing
quite good amount for what's been having to coexist below them
relatively warm by daytime and somewhat cooler nighttime clouds. I
wonder as to what the mid~upper cloud bank has to spare in H2O?

At least from the Sirius or whatever's a sufficiently nearby ET/ETI
perspective, whereas the likes of Venus offers the next best and
perhaps hottest ticket in town.

By hot I do not mean to even remotely suggest insurmountably hot, just
humanly butt naked hot and actually not all that nasty because, of
whatever the terrific pressure that's quite biologically adaptable to
and, the lack of free-H2O that's somewhat less adaptable for us Earthly
heathens that usually operate our best upon cold beer, though otherwise
being so much safer if that local H2O element is not freely associated
with the mostly CO2 atmosphere nor otherwise anywhere near the sulphur
dusted surface, that is unless it's sequestered within certain types of
geothermal related lava or mud-flows which most of us village idiots
that would most likely have by then been well into drinking a great
deal of beer, whereas these Earthly beer-gut fools would probably still
remain as sober enough as to avoid getting directly involved with such
hot and nasty geothermal stuff.
~

Life on Venus includes your basic Township, Bridge & Tarmac:
http://guthvenus.tripod.com/gv-town.htm
Russian/Chinese LSE-CM/ISS (Lunar Space Elevator)
http://guthvenus.tripod.com/lunar-space-elevator.htm
A few other sub-topics of interest by; Brad Guth / GASA-IEIS
http://guthvenus.tripod.com/gv-topics.htm

Brad Guth wrote:

,
There's absolutely nothing that's any more Earth like than Venus, at
least not that's within physical probe range and capability.

If the likes of a Venus planet were as such to become a newly
discovered planet as of today, such as being situated exactly as close
to an identical sun and for being just as clouded, as such all of
astronomy/astrophysics holy hell's worth of talents and resources would
be busting lose in order to probe about and/or into that sort of nifty
environment, and the sooner the better, especially if it were so easily
probe accessible and technically survivable as Venus.

As to further suggest upon a perfectly viable sub-topic to this "NASA
Takes Giant Step Toward Finding Earth-Like Planets" and/or that of
whatever's related to the Venus Express mission; I happen to be one of
the pro-ET/ETI fools that believes Venus = Nearest Exoplanet other than
Earth.

What you believe is irrelevant, brad.

Jonathan Silverlight;
" Probes from the Pioneer Venus mission discovered that, below the
clouds, the atmosphere contains about 0.1 to 0.4 percent water vapor and
_60 parts per million_ of free oxygen. These components indicate that
Venus may have had abundant water at one point early in its history,
water that has since been lost."
http://www.pbs.org/lifebeyondearth/alone/venus.html
At 90+ bar and good temperature, 0.4% H2O is actually representing
quite good amount for what's been having to coexist below them
relatively warm by daytime and somewhat cooler nighttime clouds. I
wonder as to what the mid~upper cloud bank has to spare in H2O?

At least from the Sirius or whatever's a sufficiently nearby ET/ETI
perspective, whereas the likes of Venus offers the next best and
perhaps hottest ticket in town.

By hot I do not mean to even remotely suggest insurmountably hot, just
humanly butt naked hot and actually not all that nasty because, of
whatever the terrific pressure that's quite biologically adaptable to
and, the lack of free-H2O that's somewhat less adaptable for us Earthly
heathens that usually operate our best upon cold beer, though otherwise
being so much safer if that local H2O element is not freely associated
with the mostly CO2 atmosphere nor otherwise anywhere near the sulphur
dusted surface, that is unless it's sequestered within certain types of
geothermal related lava or mud-flows which most of us village idiots
that would most likely have by then been well into drinking a great
deal of beer, whereas these Earthly beer-gut fools would probably still
remain as sober enough as to avoid getting directly involved with such
hot and nasty geothermal stuff.

From the looks of your incoherent rants, you are the one with the beer
problem, guth.

[guth links flushed]

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