New Planet X is A Fake, but NASA Has Great News About Dark Matter and Saturn"s Moon Titan - http://clapway.com/2015/12/12/new-planet-x-finding-is-another-fake-123/

A group of astronomers have found two mysterious, distant objects in space that could be the much sought after Planet X that has eluded astronomers.  The space probe ALMA has spotted the most distant objects of our solar system, and it’s one of the most exciting finds of the year.

ALMA Spots New Planet X

ALMA, which stands for Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array is a telescope in the high desert of Chile. The team that looks through that lens for work came across two mysterious objects that were great in size, drifting through the edge of our solar system. A series of studies were conducted upon their discovery, all based on what little could be observed by the ALMA telescope.

But not everyone believes the discovery is as ground-breaking as it’s cut out to be. A large part of the astronomy community is viewing the news as a possible set up, and skepticism is thick in the air. The research, which has been live for two days, has been facing mixed criticism, but that is precisely the team’s intention.

Researchers Say They Want to Be Challenged

The team behind the studies have revealed that they’re looking to find the members of the astronomy community to find things they may have overlooked. This is why they’ve published their observations despite the fact that the data is vague and probably too fresh to be already revealed as ground-breaking.

What the Data Actually Revealed

The study showcases an object about the size of Ireland, drifting in space around Uranus. One side of the argument says that it could be an undiscovered planet way beyond Uranus, while others suggest that it’s a brown-dwarf planet. A brown-dwarf planet is an object that is too big to be considered a planet, but too small to be considered a star, passing through regular interstellar space.

The second object is closer to the alpha centauri system, and this find is much closer to being considered a Super-Earth planet that’s farther away from the Sun than even Pluto. A secondary theory suggests that it could be a super-cool brown-dwarf planet that’s at an unmeasurable distance away from the farthest object discovered yet. A third hypothesis suggests that this object is a cold trans Neptunian object, but this is the least likely scenario. The most popular belief is that this is the fabled Planet X the astronomy community has theorized for years.

However, The Research Just Reveals the Finding of Two Small Spots in Space, Not Planet X

Planet X is a legend, though one that is taken very seriously by the community. The mere idea of one more planet in the solar system is plausible, and many have gone after it to find it. Sadly, the wild search has resulted in a lot of false hopes and ungrounded discoveries. That’s why a large part of the community is so skeptical about the latest pair of studies.

Astronomy Community After Planet X Could Become the Boy Who Cried Wolf

The biggest concern for the astronomy community now is finding the fabled Planet X and suffering a response similar to ‘the boy who cried wolf’. The abundance of these ungrounded finds decrease the legitimacy of all future research, and it dissuades interest in the discovery from the public and within the community itself. They may otherwise be interested in other subjects in regards to space, like the recent data revelation regarding Saturn’s moon Titan, whose color modified landscape is oddly reminiscent of Earth.

Regardless, interest in one more planet in our solar system still holds a never-ending flame of interest. Patience is a virtue when it comes to scientific discoveries in space, and that should also be the key to find anything in our solar system that we haven’t yet seen.

In Other News, NASA Sheds Light on Dark Matter and Saturn’s Moon Titan

Earlier this week, the astronomy community brought to light new studies regarding dark matter and the formation/development of the great super massive black hole in the center of our galaxy. In addition, the agency released some amazing pictures of Saturn’s moon Titan, painted to look almost like Earth. Turns out, the satellite shares a lot of things with Earth, though it’s still not habitable.

New Planet X is A Fake, but NASA Has Great News About Dark Matter and Saturn"s Moon Titan

Saturn Moon Titan Looks Like Earth - http://clapway.com/2015/12/11/saturn-moon-titan-looks-like-earth123

NASA has released a new image of Saturn moon Titan, and it looks an awful lot like the Earth, except coated in a teal hazy atmosphere. There’s something that resembles water, land and clouds in the picture, and it’s giving the astronomical community a lot of excitement.

Unfortunately, The Colors in the Image Are Fake

The colors in the picture are not meant to mean anything, it’s only a measurement of the wavelengths of light collected by the Cassini capsule, who had a great flyby of Saturn moon Titan on November 13. The capsule’s infrared mapping spectrometer instrument measures blue at 1.3 microns, 2.0 microns in green, and 5.0 microns in red. Visible light is at around 0.5 microns.

Image: NASA

Saturn Moon Titan Still Has Some Earthly Qualities

Titan has tall dunes, lakes and rivers. It’s also the only moon with a thick atmosphere, much like Earth. There are a few meteorite craters on its surface, so it’s likely that the new landscape is young.

On the other hand, the average temperature on Titan is -179 degrees Celsius. The sand on the atmosphere is dark hydrocarbon grains. All solid surfaces is rock-solid water ice. The liquid on the surface is methane, which is a gas on Earth, as is most of the air.

In Other Words, Titan is Like Earth Before it Housed Life

Although the image is quite striking, there’s very little chance of Saturn moon Titan to be able to sustain life, at least for now. Perhaps in a few million years it will be capable of developing life, but for now, it is uninhabitable. Travel to Titan could be an exciting topic someday, though it may happen a few generations down the line. Meanwhile, all of NASA’s efforts lie in getting a manned crew to Mars, and the ESA is all for exploring the dark side of the moon.

 

Saturn Moon Titan Looks Like Earth

"Astrobiologists also place Titan high on the list of bodies in the solar system where extraterrestrial life might exist today." - http://clapway.com/2015/06/21/lakes-on-titan-fill-earth-like-sinkholes-124/

Researchers suggest that some of the lakes and oceans covering Saturn’s moon Titan reside in sinkholes.

THE LIQUID BODIES OF TITAN

Titan is likely too cold for liquid water to exist on the moon’s surface. But liquid methane rains down from the sky and fills the bodies of liquid. Rivers and streams fill many of these large, deep liquid bodies. But other smaller, shallow lakes appear to exist on their own, independent of any stream or river.

Based on new data collected by the joint NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) Cassini mission, researchers believe that geological features found on Earth can explain these stand-alone lakes.

A team led by ESA planetary scientist Thomas Cornet surmises that geologic features known as karst landforms provides a possible explanation. This type of landscape forms on Earth when water drains into the ground, resulting in erosion of rocks and other materials over time, which can lead to sinkholes. The thought is that sinkholes form on Titan like they do on Earth, and are filled with liquid by rainfall and underground sources.

“By comparing Titan’s surface features with examples on Earth and applying a few simple calculations, we have found similar land-shaping processes that could be operating under very different climate and chemical regimes,” explains ESA’s Cassini project scientist Nicolas Altobelli. She continues, “This is a great comparative study between our home planet and a dynamic world more than a billion kilometers away in the outer solar system.” The team’s research was recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Planets.

A COMPLEX ALIEN WORLD

Planetary scientists and astrobiologists routinely look to Earth to explain features and behaviors on other worlds, and to better understand the conditions in which life can exist.

Aside from holding the title of the second largest moon in the solar system (Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the largest), Titan is one of the most exciting bodies in the solar system because of its atmosphere’s similarity to Earth’s atmosphere, and because, as far as scientists are aware, it is the only other body in the solar system with bodies of liquid on its surface. And, based on its tilt and movement, scientists suspect a vast ocean sits beneath Titan’s surface.

Astrobiologists also place Titan high on the list of bodies in the solar system where extraterrestrial life might exist today. Previous studies of Titan have shown the moon to have a chemically complex surface on which exotic forms of life could exist. The Cassini mission has been a tremendous success, and it continues providing valuable information about Saturn and its moons to researchers.

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Space cadets — check out this review of Space Scouts Summer Adventure: 

 

 

Lakes on Titan Fill Earth-Like Sinkholes