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Subscribe to RSSThe Jan. 19 Weekly Space Hangout touches upon boiling planets, reloaded Pillars of Creation and more.
Did you hear the one about the planet that's boiling away? Astronomers working with data from NASA's Kepler planet-hunting telescope say they're seeing evidence that a star system 1,500 light-years from Earth has a "super-Mercury" orbiting less than a million miles from its sun. At that distance, they surmise that the blasted world (known as KIC 12557548) is slowly being vaporized by temperatures in excess of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius).
The report about the boiling planet appears on ArXiv.org, and was the focus of a posting by Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait. It's also the top story on the Weekly Space Hangout, a Google+ live video show that brings together a gaggle of space writers, including yours truly. Check out the hourlong video above for more about KIC 12557548 as well as the other stories listed below:
- 'Pillars of Creation' reloaded (11:30)
- Universe Today's Nancy Atkinson on the dark-matter galaxy (16:13)
- Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla on the Phobos-Grunt endgame (and her space craft projects) (23:09)
- Astronomy Cast's Pamela Gay on the quest to take a picture of a black hole (28:41)
- Questions from the audience (36:00)
This week's Hangout panel also included Discovery News' Nicole Gugliucci (the Noisy Astronomer) and Universe Today's Jon Voisey (the Angry Astronomer), with Universe Today's Fraser Cain as host, organizer and moderator. Tune in at 1 p.m. ET Thursday for the next installment of the Weekly Space Hangout, and check out these archived vidcasts:
- Jan. 12: Planets, dark matter, "Trek" tricorders and more
- Jan. 5: NASA's moon probes, the hype over 2012 and more
- Dec. 20: All about Kepler's alien worlds
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Do you believe this s h i t???
If you were to study astronomy, you may. Watching the Fox channel, drinking beer and eating ribs messes with your "mind".
alumette: Are you sure? He sounds more like someone who watches CNN, smokes pot, and eats tofu with arugula while destroying what's left of his mind with the propaganda from the Obama administration.
Wow, only the three comments in. You must be very proud of yourself for being so clever.
More than I believe in you, oh strange one.
Jeffrey's trying to say he doesn't care about anything he can't stick his dingus into
I think Jeffery was complaining about the article being more of an advertisement than a news article. There was almost nothing about the boiling planet, and about 3/4 of the alleged article was about other articles and videos.
does anyone know about the strange noises people are hearing in Canada and other places around the globe? its comming from the sky they say....
can anyone explain the strange noises comming out of no where in Canada and other parts of the country? its like loud humming noises,,,,
Maybe it's the voice of God speaking to us, telling us that we need His Son.
Read John 3:16
Maybe it's my foot shoved up your ass irritating your temporal lobe.
its probably my unholy flatulence caused by my friends ethnic cooking reverberating thru the air and wind, they are lucky they can't smell it as well.
Light IS electromagnetic radiation. The radiation making the Aurora is electromagnetic radiation slowing through the spectrum by contact with the earths atmosphere. Getting slow enough, by the time it hits the surface, to become sonic speed, hence the humming sound in the higher latitudes.
NICE explanation, Biker! Very nice indeed!
What's a dingus?
Definition of dingus is: doodad
This is ridiculous... What should be just a theory is nothing more fabricated wanna be fact. How in the world can they tell that a planet is being boiled at 1.5 Light Year from earth? We can't even get a picture of Pluto with our biggest telescope let a long trying to determine what a planet is doing 10x father than Pluto. Heck, how do they even know it is being vaporize? They don't! What they know is that they see a light with a small dot in front of it. They measure the size of this dot and the light to determine how close it is. But still, there is no proof that it is vaporizing or even has anything on it to be vaporized.
Troy
Possibly just vain imaginations?...
...of course God never says in the Scriptures that there are not other habitable worlds, but He wants us to take care of the one He gave us.
Revelations, tells us that there will be a new Heaven and Earth, for those that love Him.
His Servant.
Learn more about astronomy and astrophysics and you just MIGHT find the answers to your questions! That is, of course, you're willing to listen...
...isn't this the phenomenon that Gore attributed to global warming...?
I realize that some people really don't like scientist saying they "know" something when they don't have direct eyes on observation...but let's get real. That would mean that scientist would have to come out and say that 99% of the entire universe and the history that occurred within is fundamentally unknowable.
At 3500 Deg F I would guess it's safe to say "There goes the neighborhood"!
Why is it that every time astrophysics finds a new example of the immensity of natures strength and tries to bring us to understanding of it, a herd of religious dog botherers start pulling the starter string on their reality-mowers and quoting mythology?
I have my own spiritual beliefs, thank you, and don't need yours.
This planet boiling away is very useful study material. Let's see the energy release figures as the study goes on.