Yesterday's APOD offers additional hope...
And the Kepler spacecraft observatory is starting to deliver some startling numbers...
Over its first month and a half of operation, between May 2 and June 15, 2009, Kepler detected over 850 stars that showed the signature dips in luminosity that characterize a transiting planet. Of these about 150 were shown to be "false positives," that is stars that display the effect for other reasons, and almost certainly do not have a transiting planet. This leaves 706 stars that at this point appear to have transiting planets, although it is almost certain that further studies will show that a good portion of them will ultimately turn out to be false positives as well. But even in the extreme case that a full half of these "candidate planets" will prove to be no planets at all, that still leaves Kepler with a haul of over 350 new planets.
To appreciate this number, consider that since the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1995, astronomers have detected roughly 400 exoplanets using a slew of different methods. This means that in its first month and a half of operation Kepler has found almost as many planets as all other methods combined in the preceding 15 years!
I had the honor and privilege of working with a group of scientists many years ago who were beginning this type of work and pushing the limits of technology in an attempt to detect planets around other stars. So this latest technological achievement is something I can lay claim to having had a very very small part in. I am astounded at the progress being made and I'm looking forward to the discovery of the first truly Earth-like planet, which I happen to have an educated hunch will be named "Sagan" in honor of Timbuk3's long-departed friend's namesake - Carl Sagan!
Remember to look past the fireworks tonight, my friends, out into the cosmos, and wander and wonder with me...
The Young Galileo Speaks
-By Ray Bradbury
O child, they said, avert your eyes
Avert my eyes, I said, what, from wild skies
Where stars apear and wheel,
And fill my heart and make me feel
As if this night, and then another, and another
I might live forever, and not die?
Turn off my gaze, shut off my will and soul from this,
This fiery bliss and joy that tempts me to go forth
At 2 am and lie upon the lawn?
A boy alone with Universe
Where song and verse of God lie overhead
For me to read and know and sing,
Not know all this, go blind?
Why, God minds me to be so
He put the bright sparks in my blood
Which spirit, lighten, flare and frighten me to love.
Small sparks, large Sun,
All one, they are the same,
Large flame or small
I know and keep it all in eye, in heart, in mind.
The flavour of the night lies on my tongue
I speak it so,
That others, uninviting of themselves
Abed, not brave, may know,
What this boy knows, and will forever know.
The Universe is thronged with fire and light
And we but smaller suns
Which, skinned and trapped and kept
Enshrined in blood and precious bones
Hold back the night.
Keep holding back the night y'all. Keep holding back the night... |
