Exoplanets theoretically possible!

The movie Avatar with it's blue faerie creatures living on a moon has inspired some Real Lab coat wearer's into thinking outside the box, which is always cool :)

They have been kicking around the idea of something called an "Exoplanet" which is basically a moon with the possibility of some critters being on it. Now what makes this really cool is that we generally think of life only being capable of existing on planets in the "Goldilocks Zone" Get it? Not too hot, not too cold; which allows us to have liquid water. Water is about 70% of your body meaning it's pretty damn important for you and me, and apparently life everywhere.

There are some exceptions though, supposedly there was some thought about there being life under the ice of one of our outer planets. I think it was Pluto but the poor thing isn't a planet anymore so it may be another, but life like you and me wouldn't exist there anyway, the best we can hope for are micro-bacteria anyway. Which are capable of existing in much harsher conditions then most life, such as the inside of a Geyser.There is also the Tardigrade which can survive in the confines of space without dying, which is truly amazing but if they can do it, there isn't any real reason there can't be foreign life forms capable of the same thing. 

These Exoplanets unlike planets we think of in the traditional sense are somehow using gravity to make them warm enough to have liquid water and be habitable. Personally i only got through the first physics class so far, the one with Evil Knievel problems, so it's a bit over my head. The main point here is, because of the heat being generated from their close proximity to Gas giants they are capable of existing outside of the Goldilocks Zone. Giving us a much larger amount of planets capable of sustaining life. Fascinating, brilliant, Genius, Somebody deserves an award.

But i do have one question about all of this, plants as we know them use the Sun for photosynthesis allowing them to create energy and ultimately survive. These plants in turn create Oxygen so you can i can survive, without plants we'd have trouble surviving, of course there's submarines so maybe our tech has hit some interesting plateu's but the idea of seeing any life form on our level without plants seems impossible.

I can't help but wonder if Plants will receive enough light from too far past the Goldilocks zone  to be able to survive and create Oxygen for our would be amigo's. Now given most people don't like hearing the "alien" talk anymore but there's really only two exciting possibilities about finding planets that can sustain life. Those are either Moving there or seeing what's already hanging out. 

White house petition for death Star!

White House Response to petition for Death Star!

" 

This Is Not the Petition Response You're Looking For

By Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:

• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.

Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo -- and soon crew -- to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.

Even though the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.

We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.

We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country's future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.

If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

Coolest email i've gotten in a long time :)

Survived the Apocalypse

Which was unexpected... well i may have over hyped the whole thing in my head but by the time the day came around i was expecting something a little more epic. Atleast everyone else to be as excited about it as i was, but reality rarely coincides with our imagination. Still it would have been nice to see Big-foot or Cthulhu or the monster from Alien, or a Kraken or other Extra-terrestrials or Zombies or werewolves... well i suppose it's better things didn't align with my imagination. I did get my degrees in the mail after we would have died so that was a bit exciting, i have them hung up on my wall in dollar store frames, which seems silly but they look good. Even if they were designed without any desire of making them functional frames, but i got them working with folded up paper needle-nose pliars and a couple of keyrings. As rediculous as it sounds that's what it took to make them usable.. but now that they're up they do look good, possibly better in person though.





Given they are only Associate degrees but i can say that i'm fairly happy about it, i have one up next to my whiteboard as constant encouragement, now if only i could move on to the bigboy college everything would be grand. Community college is cool but i'm really at the point where i should be in a 4 year, it's just a pain getting in. Luckily with prop 31 i think it was, the schools get more money and i have a much better chance of getting in. Plus i hear the degrees should help :P ... and those required 4 classes for transfer are finally taken care of..

Beyond that i'm waiting for the next semester to start in about 8 days, still need to pick up my books, i'll be sitting at like 18 units if i get into my last class which is more then they even allow at ARC anymore but all i took last semester was Ethics, Film and Physics(Mechanics and Fluids : Calculus based) which i found to be ridiculously difficult but i hear it's one of the easier physics classes. It's truly amazing stuff, i wish i was better at it but at the same time there's a whole world of stuff i need to learn so hopefully it's something i can come back to some day. Still have another required physics class to go though and i might take a third physics class to knock out a science requirement and get an AS-T for physics which would be pointless when i'm in the 4 year so maybe not.. I'd still like to take the class though. Physics is hard, but it's really really cool.


My Nanowarimo book is still sitting at where i left it in November, i haven't forgotten about it and neither have i given up on it. I was hoping to work on it in small intervals here and there. right now it's probably closer to trash then anything, but i like it. 43k words to go. Which is totally something i'd be proud of when i meet my maker. It's just one of those journey's you take for your soul you know? I may even cheat and only work on it during the Nanwarimo's so i wouldn't really be participating so much as working on a book i want to finish but screw it, you only live once and i want to finish this book.

Beyond that i've been fairly busy, my computer died over the process of four days which got to me a bit since i was frantically reinstalling operating systems until the point that the harddrive stopped allowing me too. Luckily Linux is Boss and can be run from a Live-CD. If i didn't need Windows for half the classes i take i'd just switch over :) Anyway in the end it took me far to long to get that Situated as well as many other things breaking around me.. some months just aren't your month. Sometimes i swear i've pissed off a supernatural Deity.