Global News Post: NASA

NASA Discovers Millions of Black Holes in Space

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Cindy Saine<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope, also known as WISE, has led to a bonanza discovery of supermassive black holes and rare galaxies called hot DOGS, or dust-obscured galaxies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">WISE scanned the sky twice in infrared light, completing its survey early last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>NASA released all of the data from the mission, allowing scientists around the world to continue to make new discoveries of their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Using WISE, astronomers have identified some 2.5 million actively feeding supermassive black holes, some of them more than 10 billion light years away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>About two-thirds of these black holes previously were unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>A black hole is an object whose gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it once inside a particular region.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NASA astronomer Daniel Stern says the latest findings are helping astronomers better understand how galaxies, and the black holes at their centers, grow and evolve together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"One of the biggest results in the past decade has been a realization that every galaxy appears to have a large black hole at its center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our own Milky Way [galaxy] has a black hole weighing about 4 million times the mass of the sun [our sun]," said Stern.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">WISE researchers also report finding the rarest and brightest galaxies known.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>WISE project scientist Peter Eisenhardt says these are called "hot DOGS" because they are very hot, dust-obscured galaxies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"And now, with the WISE survey in hand, we are finding that is actually the most obscured objects in the WISE sky that are among the brightest in the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>WISE has found about 1,000 of these brilliant "hot DOGS," said Eisenhardt.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Eisenhardt says these galaxies are the brightest because they are the most powerful, emitting the most energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, even though they might not be easily visible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Experts say these galaxies are more than twice as hot as other infrared-bright galaxies and that they might be seeing a new, rare phase in the evolution of galaxies - another clue in understanding the mysteries of the universe.---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

NASA Discovers Millions of Black Holes in Space

By Cindy Saine NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope, also known as WISE, has led to a bonanza discovery of supermassi...

NASA Set to Land Rover on Mars

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NASA is set to land an exploratory vehicle on the planet Mars early Monday morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The nuclear powered, one-ton rover, called Curiosity, will hunt for evidence of microbes on Mars and harvest a host of data and images from the planet.  But first it has to land safely, completing an 8-month journey.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NASA scientists say the landing of the Curiosity, which is traveling at a speed of 21,240 kilometers per hour, is the most challenging they have ever attempted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If the landing is successful, Curiosity will begin unlocking clues about possible life on Mars.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

NASA Set to Land Rover on Mars

By VOA News NASA is set to land an exploratory vehicle on the planet Mars early Monday morning. The nuclear powered, one-ton rover, c...

NASA: 2011 Among Top-Nine Warmest Years Since 1880

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Scientists worldwide overwhelmingly agree that billions of tons of man-made carbon dioxide emissions pumped into the Earth’s atmosphere over the last 100 years are largely to blame for increasing global warming.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state> says new data analysis indicates that surface temperatures in 2011 climbed 0.52 degrees Celsius above the average mark from the mid-20th century.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The year 2010 is ranked as the hottest since 1880.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">However, the Goddard analysts say year-to-year temperature fluctuations are not as important as a trend spanning a decade or more.  A look at NASA’s list finds that 11 of the 12 warmest years on record are occurred in the 21st century - from 2001 to 2011.  The other year is 1998.   <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The NASA scientists also note that, so far, the 21st century has been warmer than any decade in the last 100 years. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Last year, NASA researchers who conducted a separate study warned that the 21st century could see rapid and catastrophic climate changes if global warming continues rising at its current rate. Scientists predict that people likely would face more frequent and intense storms; severe flooding and drought; and major shifts in rainfall patterns.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Goddard researchers drew their conclusions from analyzing data collected from a vast global network of weather and research stations, as well as from satellite observations. The average global surface temperature the Goddard analysts used in their calculations is from 1951 to 1980.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases are produced naturally as well as through human activity, such as the burning of fossils fuels for energy.<span class="apple-style-span"> ---VOA News</span></span></div>

NASA: 2011 Among Top-Nine Warmest Years Since 1880

Scientists worldwide overwhelmingly agree that billions of tons of man-made carbon dioxide emissions pumped into the Earth’s atmosphere ov...

NASA Puts Twin Probes in Lunar Orbit

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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city></st1:place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) - Two robotic probes on a synchronized gravity-mapping mission to the Moon began orbiting the Earth’s natural satellite over the weekend, NASA said on its website.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft were launched on a 2.6-million-mile roundabout trip to the Moon on September 10 last year.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Over the next two months, the orbit of the solar-powered probes will be adjusted so that at the start of the science phase in March they will be in a near-polar, near-circular orbit with an altitude of about 55 kilometers (34 miles).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">During the 82-day science phase of the mission, the probes will fly in formation low over lunar poles and transmit data on changes in the distance between the two craft back to Earth. Scientists will translate this information into a high-resolution map of the moon's gravitational field.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The data will allow scientists to understand what goes on below the lunar surface,” NASA said on Sunday. “This information will increase knowledge of how Earth and its rocky neighbors in the inner solar system developed into the diverse worlds we see today.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">If the spacecraft remain operational after the partial lunar eclipse in June, the scientists plan to extend the $496-million mission to take an even closer look at the Moon’s gravitational field by lowering the probes’ orbit to 25 km (15.5 miles).<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

NASA Puts Twin Probes in Lunar Orbit

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Two robotic probes on a synchronized gravity-mapping mission to the Moon began orbiting the Earth’s natural satell...

Online Volunteers to Be Asked To Search for Alien Proof

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<h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">MOSCOW</span></st1:city></st1:place><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"> (RIA Novosti) - American scientists want to use online volunteers to look for signs of alein life in moon images collected by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, an article in the Acta Astronautica journal said.<o:p></o:p></span></h5><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Although there is only a tiny probability that alien technology would have left traces on the moon in the form of an artifact or surface modification of lunar features, this location has the virtue of being close, and of preserving traces for an immense duration," Paul Davies and Robert Wagner from Arizona State University wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">LRO has taken photographs of a quarter of the moon’s surface in high-resolution since 2009. The collection amounts to some 340,000 images of the moon and the number is growing all the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Davies and Wagner said that to study and scan all these images could not be done by even large scientific teams. They proposed two ways of solving this problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">One way is to write software to search for strange-looking features and the second is to send amateur enthusiasts images over the internet to have them search for artifacts that might have been left by aliens as signs to other intelligent beings.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Online Volunteers to Be Asked To Search for Alien Proof

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - American scientists want to use online volunteers to look for signs of alein life in moon images collected by NASA...

First Earth-Sized Planets Spotted in Remote Constellation

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEIr0Zkwz6C71kWdywEfoy1K7x3iWGKoeps0UlZvmYPTy0x0xUQnA1L0WGu2ZAKg-dPHWnuz7MHNWXXNnx309Nis-RX35Dmm1HX3ttCk_Y_JEnr8bLVUu8jzTH7szUdHMKC21ubT_-DE/s1600/nasakepler2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCEIr0Zkwz6C71kWdywEfoy1K7x3iWGKoeps0UlZvmYPTy0x0xUQnA1L0WGu2ZAKg-dPHWnuz7MHNWXXNnx309Nis-RX35Dmm1HX3ttCk_Y_JEnr8bLVUu8jzTH7szUdHMKC21ubT_-DE/s320/nasakepler2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 8pt;">Photo: NASA<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 8pt;">An artist's conception illustrates Kepler-20e. </span></i></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 8pt;">Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech</span></i></span></div></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Astronomers working with NASA's orbiting Kepler space telescope have discovered a pair of Earth-sized planets far outside our solar system, the latest find for scientists searching for extraterrestrial life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">A joint statement by NASA headquarters and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in ((the western U.S. state of)) California say the newly discovered planets, named Kepler 20e and Kepler 20f, have rocky surfaces, just like Earth. They also are orbiting around a parent star similar to our Sun.<u1:p></u1:p></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">But astronomers say the planets are orbiting so close to their star that the temperatures, calculated at 760 Celsius and 425 Celsius, make it impossible to nurture life as we know it.<u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">One of the planets is just 3 percent bigger than Earth, while the other is 13 percent smaller. Astronomers say the two planets have three gas-giant siblings in the planetary system. All five planets are interspersed and orbit closer to their parent star than our solar system's innermost planet, Mercury.<u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Spotting the two planets is a technical feat for scientists. They are the smallest so-called "exoplanets" ever confirmed around a star like our Sun. The parent star, called Kepler 20, is about a thousand light years from Earth.<u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Earlier this month, Kepler astronomers announced the discovery of a super-Earth-sized planet orbiting another distant star with a life-friendly surface temperature of around 22 degrees Celsius.<u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Scientists say that planet, Kepler 22b, is believed to be 2.4 times the size of the Earth and circles the appropriate distance from its parent star for liquid water to possibly exist on its surface. That planet is located about 600 light years away.<u1:p></u1:p></span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">NASA's Kepler telescope was launched in 2009 and is scanning a narrow segment of the cosmos, observing an estimated 150,000 stars. ---VOA News</span></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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First Earth-Sized Planets Spotted in Remote Constellation

Photo: NASA An artist's conception illustrates Kepler-20e. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech Astronomers working with NASA's...

NASA announces discovery of first earthlike planet in habitable zone

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">MOSCOW</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> (RIA Novosti) - NASA said its Kepler mission has confirmed its discovery of a first earthlike planet in the habitable zone, the area where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Kepler-22b, a planet 600 light-years away, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth and has a rotation period of 290 days around a Sun-like star, which a bit smaller and cooler. Scientists are yet to find out whether Kepler-22b is rocky, gaseous or liquid in composition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">"This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>. "Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Launched on March 6, 2009, the Kepler mission simultaneously observes more than 156,000 stars and detects planets by looking for tiny dips in the brightness of a star when a planet crosses in front of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The project's chief scientist William Borucki dubbed Kepler-22b the "Christmas Planet," as the decisive transit, which confirmed the discovery, was made on December 22. "It's a great gift," he said. "We could've easily missed it altogether."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The planet is right in the middle of the habitable zone, the region around a star where temperatures are neither too high nor too low for liquid water to exist. The previously discovered planets where life could exist were located at the edge of the zone, and temperatures on their surface were more extreme.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">"If this planet has a surface, it would have a very nice temperature of some 70 degrees Fahrenheit [21 degrees Celsius]," Borucki said. "There's a good chance it could be rocky."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The planet would probably contain huge amounts of compressed ice and a global ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">"We have no planets like this in our own solar system," the scientist added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Of the 54 habitable zone planet candidates reported in February 2011, Kepler-22b is the first to be confirmed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">The Kepler team announced the discovery of 1,094 new candidates, bringing the total number of planet candidates to 2,326, a 89 percent since the previous release. 207 of those planets are approximately Earth-size and 680 are super Earth-size.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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NASA announces discovery of first earthlike planet in habitable zone

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - NASA said its Kepler mission has confirmed its discovery of a first earthlike planet in the habitable zone, the are...

NASA ‘Can’ be the Midpoint of Geoengineering.

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> </span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">By </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/Stephen"><span style="text-decoration: none;">David Stephen</span></a><span style="color: black;">    </span></span></b><br />
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<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SwDPQkXeL7nsz7p47gKWvk5Hq2Y-oYbvz-8ft_xmdTIfLEwRvDIaAsmBiP5FcVDEqkMctLFzCqyDDfWt1fRx24XHYU9EM51GK3sEU_k-fHvn5rcb_XCT600rGyd3TPxeCXMvrYvm_GA/s1600/nasalogo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SwDPQkXeL7nsz7p47gKWvk5Hq2Y-oYbvz-8ft_xmdTIfLEwRvDIaAsmBiP5FcVDEqkMctLFzCqyDDfWt1fRx24XHYU9EM51GK3sEU_k-fHvn5rcb_XCT600rGyd3TPxeCXMvrYvm_GA/s400/nasalogo.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Geoengineering has been in the news in recent weeks after the announcement of Stratospheric Particle Injection Climate Engineering (<a href="" name="SPICE">SPICE</a>) experiment by UK Scientists; Geoengineering also came to further light after recommendations on <a href="" name="Climate_Remediation_Research">Climate Remediation Research</a> by the US Bipartisan Policy Center some days ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Geoengineering or climate engineering is an artificial procedure directed to correct excesses responsible for Global Warming within the Earth atmosphere. Geoengineering is common for Climate Change fix but may be applied to other procedures like <a href="" name="Ozone_Layer_Repair">Ozone Layer Repair</a> and more.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Experiments of Geoengineering are ‘very’ workable but issues with Geoengineering are huge like aftereffects and agreements between Nations. These issues however are small compared to challenges Global Warming hold for planet earth in some years from now.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">There are a number of geoengineering procedures proposed, some are in forefront of discussions while others are mere hypothesis. Some of the most talked about include mimicking a super volcano by pumping aerosols into the atmosphere for global cooling; installing giant reflectors in orbit to return incident solar energy; using plants in oceans to capture carbon dioxide and spraying sea water in the atmosphere to form clouds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">These proposals many believe are potent because of the corresponding natural processes that are effective. Questions that strengthen doubts remain excesses of these procedures and contributions to further weather anomalies that we may never know until after the experiment is carried out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Taking carbon dioxide out of the environment is great, but may be a project nations will pursue individually or by blocs which may create an imbalance in some way. Solar radiation Management that mimics volcanoes is great but the possibility of a natural volcano of that magnitude may plunge the earth to further cooling which may also disrupt Climate to an unwanted end.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Aerosols may also affect parts of the slowing closing Ozone Layer Hole. Effects of some geoengineering procedures can be linked to further climate deviation because of how delicate the earth climate system is and how manipulation can evolve in ways that is not expected likely to draw blames to those entrusted for the procedure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The United States National Aeronautic and Space Administration, NASA is known around the world as a leader in space exploration and advancements. Moon landing and distinct missions yearly have NASA as a leader in this direction globally.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NASA astronauts are familiar with space travel and possess a broad knowledge of what the upper atmosphere really is, this knowledge is necessary for an outlook to range of possibilities with every geoengineering procedure for potency and effects.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For NASA, coming into Geoengineering with outstanding reputation will boost the subject in recommendations and prospects for international collaboration. NASA for Climate engineering may look into various proposals to develop an all-encompassing report for Geoengineering within 4-8years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Global Warming holds much harm within the next 50years for average temperature rise if harmful emissions are not curbed. Geoengineering is ‘insurance' according to an Australian scientist & will provide a way of escape if Climate Change sends its arms for destruction of lives and properties.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NASA has done numerous projects beneficial to planet earth not just for the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>, so Geoengineering with NASA can come from reports and observations that most of the world will believe and accept. Nations willing to collaborate probably in a treaty or agreement will be carried along and given independent assignments within their economic and scientific capacity. This will see geoengineering come on as a project most nations are well aware of barring issues of contest or competition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NASA’s medium term plans to build a new rocket whose design was recently announced can also have Geoengineering subsumed for reports where likely and unlikely issues are highlighted from their experienced point of view. As the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continue reports on Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Trends globally, NASA’s reports will shape thoughts in new directions for Climate Engineering. ---</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/Health_and_Science/NASA-Can-be-the-Midpoint-of-Geoengineering/2941866"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Ground Report</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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NASA ‘Can’ be the Midpoint of Geoengineering.

By David Stephen Geoengineering has been in the news in recent weeks after the announcement of Stratospheric Particle Injection ...