Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Rapid Automated Search For Habitable Planets Needed
SETI researchers at the Breakthrough Discuss conference, an event hosted by the Breakthrough Initiatives founded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, discussed ways to find habitable planets.
[Lopez-Morales, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory] proposes looking for oxygen in these atmospheres using a technique called high-resolution spectroscopy, which is essentially collecting high-resolution data of the light passing through a planet's atmosphere. When an exoplanet passes in front of it's parent star, the starlight baths the planet, curving around and through the atmosphere.
The problem is that there are no instruments available to perform this type of alien-hunting spectroscopy, especially not for the more distant Earth-sized bodies.
"We know that one out of every four small stars should have a planet. Based on those numbers, there's around 250 [stars nearby], so by that count there will be around 60 Earth-like planets within 32 light-years from Earth, " says Lopez-Morales. And while these are close on the cosmic map, detecting oxygen in atmospheres that sit dozens of light-years away is still just too difficult.
"There is no telescope that we have today that can do this in a reasonable amount of time," explains Lopez-Morales. "It could take 60 years."
Science fiction legend EE 'Doc" Smith elaborately described a manual search for habitable planets in his 1934 novel Skylark of Valeron, but it's just too slow!
Remarkably, Golden Age science fiction great Edmond Hamilton Nailed down the automated solution eighty years ago in his exciting 1936 short story Cosmic Quest:
These instruments were the wonderful ones our astronomers had perfected. With super-telescopic eyes each one scanned a part of the star field before them. And each mechanical eye, when it found planetary systems in its field, automatically shifted upon them a higher powered telespectroscope which recorded on permanent film the size, mean temperature and atmospheric conditions of these worlds.
For exoplanet hunters, distance is the biggest hurdle. The search for life beyond our solar system has turned to analyzing the compositions of alien atmospheres with telescopes at home, which is an incredibly difficult task. It's hard to resolve Pluto from Earth, let alone a small body billions of miles farther away.
I was near enough it now to set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching it for a habitable planet.
(Read more about Hamilton's search for habitable planets)
(The telespectroscope recorded the conditions of these other worlds)
Via Popular Mechanics.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/18/2017)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.' -
Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?' - Frank K. Kelly, 1935.
Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...' - Murray Leinster, 1953.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'
Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'
Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'
Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'
Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.
Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'
Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'
Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'
Tesla Seeks 'Tesla Robotaxi' And 'Robobus' Trademarks Ignoring Prior Art
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'
Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'
Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'
