Ian O'Neill

Astroengine Live Show #16: Planet X Returns!

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No, no, no, don’t panic! The ‘evil’ Planet X is still a figment of some doomsayer’s crazed imagination. I’m talking about the search for other large planets we have yet to discover in our Solar System. Although the hunt for Planet X probably ended in 1930 with the discovery of Pluto, it’s still fun to see what else is out there in the inky blackness of space. As a recent Astroengine article went crazy on Digg.com yesterday, I thought I’d showcase that little story on today’s Astroengine Live!

Expect a wholesome mix of space science too. Although I haven’t prepared a thing (and it’s fast approaching 5am!), I’m sure the live event will go without a hitch and it will be awesome listening fun. So be sure to tune in! 4pm (PST), 7pm (EST), midnight (GMT) and all the timezones elsewhere…

Get Involved!

Have any articles or stories you want to contribute? Have an opinion on anything in the world of space? Email me on astro@wprtradio.com and I’ll be sure to give it a mention. Eventually, I hope to have telephone call-ins, but for now, email will do.

Listen to Astroengine Live using the Paranormal Radio player. Or, pick up the podcast feed to activate your favourite audio software.

Not “Serenity”, Not “Colbert”… Node 3 Will Be Named “Tranquility”

Node 3 will be called Tranquility (NASA)

Deciding against the popular vote, NASA has made up its mind and gone in a completely different direction (who would have guessed?). The new addition to the International Space Station, will be named “Tranquility” (in honour of the 40th anniversary of the first manned base on the Moon this July), ignoring the clear winner in the “please help us name Node 3” competition. Obviously concerned about the role Stephen Colbert’s celebrity status had securing so many votes, the space agency looked as if they might go for one of the official suggestions, the second place “Serenity”.

This didn’t happen either.

They decided to go with a more suitable public suggestion, about half-way down the top ten chart. Tranquility will join similar nodes called Unity and Harmony, sounding more and more like the components of a Japanese Zen garden every day.

But there is a consolation prize for the award-winning presenter and comedian, the new running machine will be called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (or COLBERT), proving once again that a lot of effort goes into NASA’s acronyms…

For more, check out the news on CollectSPACE.com »

Where is Planet X? Where is Nemesis?

Before Pluto was discovered, the world’s astronomers were captivated by the possibility of finding another massive planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. In 1930, Pluto was discovered lurking in what was considered to be the edge of the Solar System. However, it quickly became apparent that Pluto was tiny; it wasn’t the Planet X we were looking for. For the last 80 years, astronomers have been looking for a large planet that might go to some way of explaining interplanetary features such as the “Kuiper Cliff”, but Planet X has not been found. Unfortunately, the word “Planet X” has now become synonymous with conspiracy theories and doomsday, almost as notorious as the word “Nemesis”.

Nemesis is another unanswered question hanging over Solar System evolution: does the Sun have a binary twin? Is there a second, dim, hidden “sun” stalking it’s brighter counterpart from over a light year away? Some scientists have come forward to suggest that the existence of a hypothetical second sun — embodied as a brown dwarf or red dwarf — could explain some cyclical effects here on Earth (i.e. mass extinctions occurring with a strange regularity). Naturally, the discussion about Nemesis (like the discussion about the possibility of a massive Planet X) is purely academic, and only based on indirect observations and anecdotal evidence. Just because they might exist, doesn’t mean they do.

In a publication recently published to the arXiv database, one Italian researcher has dusted off this topic and asked a very basic question: Can we constrain the possible locations of Nemesis and/or Planet X if they did exist? His results are fascinating…
Continue reading “Where is Planet X? Where is Nemesis?”

Astroengine Live Archives Updated (3 Shows)

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There’s six hours of new space news and opinion waiting for you in the Astroengine Live archives! You can listen in to shows 13, 14 and 15 via the Black Vault Radio Network widget on the Astroengine Live page on Astroengine.com, or you can download them via iTunes for some iPod goodness. Any problems listening in, please let me know.

Synopsis of each show and the dates they aired:

11th March, 2009 – Astroengine Live #13: I discuss some of the most interesting space news topics from the last two weeks. Included in the March 11th show:

Searching for exoplanets with the recently launched Kepler space telescope.
Religious dogma vs. 2012 doomsday theories.
When does virtual reality become physical reality? Does it even matter?
General news from Astroengine.com
The Carnival of Space and 365 Days of Astronomy (featuring the March 3rd podcast by Dave Mosher)
And a whole new playlist of music for your listening pleasure.

There’s a lot more besides, as the previous week’s Astroengine Live didn’t happen, so the “lucky” 13th show went ahead with double the dose of space news.

25th March, 2009 – Astroengine Live Show #14 (Bats ‘n’ Books): A run-down of the week in space, plus a special announcement of the upcoming book: “Astroeconomics: Making Money From The Vacuum Of Space” (a joint venture between BusinessWeek.com and WorldofWeirdThings.com blogger Greg Fish and Astroengine Live host Ian O’Neill). Also, I examine all the fuss about the free-tailed bat that died during the March 15th shuttle launch and plans to honour the endeavours of animals in space.

1st April, 2009 – Astroengine Live Show #15 (Carnival of Space Live!): In a very special edition of Astroengine Live and the Carnival of Space, I host the Carnival on Astroengine.com and gave it the run-down on Astroengine Live! A live Carnival has never been done, so if you want a show with over 30 space science topics squeezed into 120 minutes, this is the show for you!

Listen to Brian Cox on BBC Radio 4: A Tribute to Carl Sagan (Update)

Listen to Brian Cox’s Tribute to Carl Sagan – it is fantastic »

Dr. Carl Sagan with a model of the Viking lander (NASA)

News just in from Gia Milinovich via Twitter:

Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox presents a tribute to his science hero, the American astronomer Carl Sagan, the man who many people describe as the greatest populariser of science of all time. His landmark television series Cosmos was seen by more than 600 million people worldwide and inspired a generation of young scientists to regard the universe with wonder and awe. — Synopsis about Brian’s show on BBC Radio 4

I’m a huge fan of Brian’s work, he’s a fantastic and entertaining communicator of all things scientific, so this is the perfect tribute to legendary astronomer and presenter, Carl Sagan. I’ll be sure to tune in… with my late-morning coffee. According to Gia, Brian thinks this is the best show he’s done, so if that’s anything to go by, this is one event you cannot miss!

Catch the BBC Radio 4 stream at 8pm GMT (in the US, that’s midday PST or 3pm EST).

“We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.” –Carl Sagan

“Moon” Movie Trailer Now Online

Why didn’t I know about this movie?

I have no clue how I didn’t notice this film was in the works, but it would appear I’m not quite as well plugged into the sci-fi pulse as I used to be. Announced last year, “Moon” is set on the lunar surface where a lone contractor is manning the Helium-3 mining operation. Acted by Sam Rockwell, the setting looks like a visual treat, bound to get any science fiction enthusiast’s taste buds excited. However, yesterday the trailer was released ahead of its June 12th release… and it looks good…
Continue reading ““Moon” Movie Trailer Now Online”

Astroengine Data Gathering

Astroengine needs a new look

Every few months, I think it’s healthy to reassess the design of Astroengine and develop it where necessary. In response to recent user feedback, I’m finding that the biggest weak spots of the site are firstly its speed and secondly its cross-browser compatibility.

Unfortunately visitors to the site that run Internet Explorer 6 see a mashed-up, messed-up Astroengine. It turns out that many of IE6 users are not using this out-of-date browser out of choice, it appears to be the staple of office computers the world over (system administrators really should think about updating their software once and a while).

In fact, I even had the chance to see Astroengine through IE6’s eyes a week ago, and I felt a little light-headed – It. Was. Nasty! Although I will always test sites that I build with a variety of browsers, I can’t test my site on old browsers (and therein lies the problem). The number of IE6 users are quite small, the numbers are significant according to my stats, so I’ve decided to act…

Continue reading “Astroengine Data Gathering”

40% More Solar Energy For Opportunity

Good news for Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, a windy day on the Martian surface has cleared a layer of dust off its solar panels.

Opportunity is currently trundling across the undulating dunes of Meridiani Planum on its way to Endeavour crater, a destination it wont reach for another two years. It needs all the energy it can muster. So, like the fortuitous gust of wind that gave Spirit a 3% boost in energy in February, Opportunity has received what may appear to be a small hurricane in comparison. This gust of wind shifted so much dust caked on the rover’s solar panels, the robot has had an energy increase of 40%.

As of Sol 1850 (April 7, 2009), Opportunity’s solar array energy production has increased to 515 watt-hours. Atmospheric opacity (tau) remains elevated at around 0.95. The dust factor has improved to 0.642, meaning that 64.2 percent of sunlight hitting the solar array penetrates the layer of accumulated dust on the array. The rover is in good health with a rested actuator and extra energy. — NASA Opportunity updates

Since Opportunity arrived on Mars five years ago until April 7th, the tenacious rover has travelled 15,114 meters (9.39 miles). For a mission that was only slated to last three months, that’s not a bad distance its clocked up.

Source: NASA

Getting to the Moon More Expensive than Bailing Out AIG?

I’m sure it’s more expensive than bailing me out of my student loan too…

The top stage of the Ares V carries the Altair Lunar Lander on its way to the Moon (NASA)

In an article written by a columnist in the Orlando Sentinel, NASA’s Constellation Program is compared with the government bail out of AIG. Where’s the correlation? No, I don’t see it either. NASA has its problems (some of the problems are very big problems), but when you begin comparing the woes of a space agency with an ailing financial corporation, you’re not only off target, you’re not quite understanding the true value of space exploration…
Continue reading “Getting to the Moon More Expensive than Bailing Out AIG?”

Naming Pluto: The Trailer

I can’t emphasise enough how much I love this short film. It may only be 13 minutes long, but it is as small as it is mighty, much like the dwarf planet itself.

“Naming Pluto” documents the adventure of how Pluto got its name. Inevitably with most astronomical studies, there can be some controversy surrounding the naming of celestial objects, often depending on traditional naming protocol and who made the discovery first. The naming of Pluto on the other hand appears to take on a more natural tact, starting with a conversation in 1930 involving a little girl named Venetia Phair and her grandfather, over breakfast in Oxfordshire.

Father Films have just released a trailer for their magnificent film, giving you a taster as to what to expect. I had the pleasure of watching and reviewing a copy late last year, and I was blown away by the accuracy, wonder and history that can be packed into 13 minutes (note that the DVD has extras included, extending the content to 40 minutes). I fell in love with Pluto all over again – suddenly the fact that the IAU had demoted the planet to a dwarf planet (and then to a plutoid) didn’t matter any more. Written, directed and produced by Ginita Jimenez, Naming Pluto is in the true spirit of the International Year of Astronomy, capturing the excitement surrounding a tiny member of the Solar System with excellence. I wholeheartedly recommend this short film, it needs to be in your DVD collection! Patrick Moore is also at his best, giving the proceeds his unique style. And don’t just take it from me, Astronomy Now has also given the film a highly enthusiastic review.

Check out the Naming Pluto Facebook events page for more information »

You can purchase a copy of the DVD and poster from the Father Films website.

For more, check out my reviews of Naming Pluto on the Universe Today and Astroengine.com.