I’m not entirely sure because the website is in Japanese, but it appears that a chocolatier called L’éclat offers chocolate versions of the planets of our solar system. Sadly, they’re not to scale, or else I’d call dibs on Jupiter!

Link (Google Translate) -via Nerdcore

The action begins shortly before sunset. Around 4:30 pm to 5:00 pm local time, just as the sky is assuming its evening hue, Venus will pop into view, glistening bright in the deepening twilight. No more than 6 degrees to the right lies the crescent Moon, exquisitely slender, grinning like the Cheshire cat with his head cocked at humorous attention. This is a wonderful time to look; there are very few sights in the heavens as splendid as Venus and the Moon gathered close and surrounded by twilight blue.

But don’t go inside yet, because the view is about to improve. As the sky fades to black, a ghostly image of the full Moon materializes within the horns of the lunar crescent. This is caused by Earthshine, a delicate veil of sunlight reflected from our own blue planet onto the dusty-dark lunar terrain. Also known as “the Da Vinci glow,” after Leonardo da Vinci who first understood it 500 years ago, Earthshine pushes the beauty of the conjunction over the top.

Meanwhile, Jupiter will be looking down on it all from a perch overhead in the constellation Pisces. In ascending order, Jupiter, Venus and the Moon are the three brightest objects in the night sky, able to pierce city lights and even thin clouds. Almost everyone, everywhere will be able to see them.

Link

(Image credit: Flickr user ozgurmulazimoglu)

It seems like astronomers are finding more and more exoplanets every day -some which might possibly support life, although they are extremely far away. What if we could travel to those distant planets we know a little about? Vincent Vermeij (Chungkong) turned this idea into a series of travel posters, featuring some exoplanets that already have names. See the rest of the series at his site. Link

This photo essay puts in perspective the size and scope of the universe and what we can see from our tiny planet from distant stars to two light year wide galaxies. Click on the link for the full image gallery.

What might be visible with a hypothetical telescope capable of magnifying 14 million times (clockwise from upper left): Buzz Aldrin’s footprint on the moon and the stars Sirius, Proxima Centauri, HD 209458, and Alpha Centauri.

Link

While our space probes and the Hubble Space Telescope have made great advances in recent years bringing us photos of the cosmos, there are still many places in our own solar system that close photography is just out of reach. These artist renderings bring us close to eight amazing places that hopefully we will get a closer look at some day including the rings of Saturn and the geysers of Triton.

Artist Ron Miller takes us on a journey to eight of the most breathtaking views that await explorers of our solar system. The scale of these natural wonders dwarfs anything Earth has to offer. What might we see and feel if we could travel to these distant domains?

Link

The following is an article from the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research.

by Steve Trimberger

With the loss of Pluto, the number of major planets in our solar system has dropped to eight. If the current trend continues, then come April 13, 3703 the solar system will no longer have any major planets. My analysis, below, suggests several possible causes, for the loss of major planets.

The Solar System’s Major Planets
Major planets have been the objects of study for thousands of years. Their positions and numbers have been accurately reported and have been subject of numerous observations by literally billions of observers. In this study, we analyzed published reports of the number of major planets and used statistical analysis software to identify trends in the data. These trends show a disturbing result, specifically, that the number of planets in the solar system has been decreasing since the middle of the nineteenth century. Extrapolation leads to the conclusion that the solar system will have no planets by the end of the next millennium.

Table 1. Reported Numbers of Planets in the Solar System

Historical Observed Planet Count
Table 1 shows the number of reported planets by various researchers. The reports in table 1 are selected from the literature and are representative. The planet counts have been confirmed extensively in numerous publications  as well as by huge numbers of anecdotal accounts. The data are irrefutable, although, as noted in table 1, the dates of some of the early data points are estimates. Sensitivity analysis shows that the conclusions in this paper are not particularly sensitive to variations in these dates.

Figure 1. Planet Count Versus Year

As can be seen, the number of observed planets in the solar system has varied somewhat over time. A plot of the data in table 1 is shown in figure 1. Points are the noted observations. The bold line is a fourth-order polynomial best-fit curve through the data. This curve shows an alarming downward trend beginning in the mid-second millennium resulting in an estimated zero planets remaining in the solar system by the end of the third millennium. Solving the equation of the curve produces a date of Friday, April 13, 3703 as the expected date at which there will be no more planets observed in the solar system. This will likely cause a significant decline in funding for planetary science and the loss of many promising young researchers to other fields. Action is needed now to address this problem.

The Need for Urgency

We are currently losing planetary exploration opportunities. The ill-fated New Horizons mission was launched in 2006 to the planet Pluto, but sadly, there will be no planet there in 2015 when it arrives. It was simply delayed too long and we forever lost the opportunity to explore the ninth planet of our solar system. Although the end of the solar system is predicted to occur nearly 1700 years from now, we cannot assume that Earth will be the last planet to disappear. The current analysis does not indicate the order of planetary disappearance, though the data suggest that small planets and planets further from the sun (and hence more weakly held by gravity) are more susceptible to loss. As a result, we expect that Mercury, Venus, and Mars are the most vulnerable, followed by Earth. Of course, we have no data at present to predict the order of planetary loss, and hence risk to Earth. Investigations must start immediately to determine the process of planetary loss, in order to determine the risk and to develop counter-measures.

Further Research

Migration Theory
One explanation for planetary loss is related to the increase in the number of extra-solar planets reported in the literature (see figure 2).  The migration theory states that solar-system planets are being lost to neighboring solar systems. This theory is supported by the most recent and most-documented loss, Pluto [Green 2006]. Pluto was the furthest from the sun and the most weakly held by the sun’s gravity, hence the most likely to be captured by another star.

Figure 2. Extrasolar Planet Count. Data from Schneider 2009

Interstellar planetary migration is very difficult to observe. The Kepler mission is searching nearby stars for planetary transits. There is a possibility that it could detect the transit of a migrating planet in the foreground, but this probability is very low.

High-speed planetary migration may be detectable by a sky survey for red-shifted cold bodies. These are admittedly difficult to observe, but since they are relatively nearby, they should be detectable with a large telescope. Unfortunately, present-day IR-wavelength telescopes were built for cosmology, so they have very narrow field of view. This limits their ability to survey for these fast-moving bodies. Further, existing infrared telescopes do not have the collecting area required for observations of fast-moving cold bodies leaving the solar system. New instruments are needed.

“Any attempt to place humans on Mars should be postponed until it can be determined that such a landing is indeed safe and that the explorers will not encounter an empty spot in space, or, worse yet, disappear with the planet.”

Breakup Theory
The planetary migration theory cannot entirely explain the order of planetary loss. While most known extrasolar planets are larger than Jupiter, the lost planets of the solar system seem to be rather small in size. An alternate explanation for their disappearance stems from the rise in the number of minor planets observed in the past two centuries. The breakup theory states that major planets are disintegrating, forming minor planets. This explanation may help explain the planetary losses in the 19th century [Encke 1852], as well as the recent loss of Pluto [Green 2006], both of which correlate well with a huge increase in the observed number of minor planets. It is possible that the recent decade’s tremendous increase in the number of observed minor planets is a result of the crumbling of Pluto. It may be a precursor to another major planetary loss.

Mars

Continuous observation of the remaining major planets, particularly Mercury, Venus, and Mars, is recommended to determine if they are indeed breaking up. Observations should be conducted from a distance for safety reasons. These observations will require a dedicated telescope in Earth orbit for each remaining planet in the solar system. It is recommended that each planet also be under continuous observation by an orbiter, capable of measuring planetary mass to detect imminent breakup.

Any attempt to place humans on Mars should be postponed until it can be determined that such a landing is indeed safe and that the explorers will not encounter an empty spot in space, or, worse yet, disappear with the planet. Mars is one of the smaller remaining planets, and though it is larger than Mercury, it is farther from the sun, so we suspect it is more vulnerable. In addition, it is near a region of space where several planets disappeared in the middle of the nineteenth century, the so-called “Bermuda Triangle semi-major axis.”

Conclusion
The last major planet in the solar system is predicted to disappear in the year 3703. Lost planets may be pulled to other stars or may be disintegrating. Further research and rapid expansion of planetary science education is needed immediately to address this issue. The expense may be large, but it is dwarfed by the risk of losing not only Earth, but the entire solar system.

References
Hilton, James L. “When Did the Asteroids Become Minor Planets?” November 16, 2007, viewed April 8, 2009.

Alfraganus, Elements of Astronomy, 833.

Al-Khwarizimi, Zij al-Sindh (Persian), 830.

Copernicus, Nicolaus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, 1543.

Encke, Berliner, Astronomisches Jahrbuch, 1854.

Gray, Vincent R., “Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide,” Greenhouse Bulletin No. 120, February 1999.

Green, Daniel W. E., “(134340) PLUTO, (136199) ERIS, AND (136199) ERIS I (DYSNOMIA),” Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, IAU Circular No. 8747, September 13, 2006.

Hatchard. First Steps to Astronomy and Geography, Hatchard & Son: Piccadilly, London, 1828.

Herschel, W. 1802, Phil. Trans. Royal Society.

Marsden, B., “The Asteroid Discovery Rate: Historical Perspective and Future Outlook,”
Asteroids 2001, http://www.astropa.unipa.it/Asteroids2001/Abstracts/Talks/, 2001.

Schneider, Jean, The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia, viewed April 4, 2009.

Steele, L. P., P. B. Krummel and R. L. Langenfelds, “Atmospheric CO2 concentrations from sites in the CSIRO Atmospheric Research GASLAB air sampling network (August 2007 version)”, Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, TN, U.S.A., December 2007.

Tholen, D.J., Ed., “Asteroid Names and Discovery V12.0. EAR-A-5-DDR-ASTNAMES- DISCOVERY-V12.0,” NASA Planetary Data System, 2008.

Toomer, G.J.(ed. and trans.), Ptolemy’s Amalgest, Springer, 1984.

Wright, M.R., Cosmology in Antiquity, 1994. Data from http://www.psi.edu/pds/resource/discover.html

Title image by Chris Murphy, available on a t-shirt from the NeatoShop.

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This article is republished with permission from the September-October 2009 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!

Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

If I lived on Neptune I would be less than a Neptune year old, how old would you be?  This nifty calculator allows you to figure out your “age” on different planets (including dwarf planet Pluto). Every grade school student knows we measure years by how long it takes the Earth to travel around the Sun. However it’s interesting to think how time measurement would be different if we lived on a world like Mercury that takes only 88 Earth days to travel around the sun. Link

In a new study, researchers have assessed the potential for photosynthetic life in multi-star systems with different combinations of sunlike stars and red dwarfs to figure out what plants might be like. The team has speculated that on an Earth-like planet with two or three suns, the vegetation may appear black or grey.

“If a planet were found in a system with two or more stars, there would potentially be multiple sources of energy available to drive photosynthesis,” said PhD student Jack O’Malley-James from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

“The temperature of a star determines its colour and, hence, the colour of light used for photosynthesis. Depending on the colours of their star-light, plants would evolve very differently.”

If a life form evolved to use two different colors of light for energy, the vegetation would appear black to our eyes. They might even develop the ability to use infrared or ultraviolet light that we can’t see at all to power photosynthesis. Link -via reddit

Brad Goodspeed watched the recent lunar eclipse and wondered how an exact copy of the earth would look if it were as close to us as the moon. Then he thought about the other planets. In this animation, he has several planets revolving around the earth at the same distance as our moon. Beware: Jupiter can be scary, especially if you watch this in full-screen mode. Link -via Metafilter

My, how things change! This Twaggie by David Barneda was inspired by a Tweet by Rosa Golijan. Ten years from now, how many more of our perceptions about the cosmos will have changed? Link

We know of nearly 500 other planets orbiting other stars. However, the methods of finding these exoplanets  are indirect. We measure their affect on their parent stars, but we didn’t directly see the planets themselves… until 2005, when the first image of an actual world orbiting another star was announced.

As of October 2010, only 7 such planets have been imaged, but we’ll soon have more. This gallery shows the best of these images, including the first alien solar system to have its picture taken.

The picture shown here is the star HR 8799 with three planets revolving around it! See a much larger image in the gallery. Link -Thanks, Phil!

(Image credit: Gemini Observatory)

Binary solar systems — systems consisting of two stars orbiting each other — are quite common. Astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope have observed that many of them have a lot of dust and debris, leading to the hypothesis that the dust clouds were originally planets that collided with each other.

Geophysically, what would it be like if two planets hit each other? Phil Plait of Discover writes:

The energy in such a collision would dwarf the sweatiest nightmares of any Hollywood writer — or religiously-motivated apocalyptic preacher, for that matter. The two planets, each massing sextillions of tons, would ram each other at speeds of 20 or more kilometers per second. The energy released would be trillions of times that of all our nuclear weapons combined.

Link via Sci Fi Wire | Image: NASA

Although Neptune is oblivious of this special time in its orbit, next year will be a special year for astronomy. It will be the first time for nearly 150 years that a planet has completed its first full orbit after its discovery.

Uranus, a planet discovered by Herschel in 1781 — approximately 10 AU closer to the sun than Neptune — completed its first orbit after discovery in the year 1865 (it completes one orbit of the sun every 84 years). And Pluto, the newly designated dwarf planet discovered by U.S. astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 — approximately 10 AU further away from the sun than Neptune — won’t complete its first orbit for another 168 years. We’ll have to wait until 2178 to see Pluto complete its first 248 year orbit around the sun.

Link | Photo: NASA

This application will give you a lesson in how difficult it is to control the universe. Select how many planets you want and adjust their orbits and other parameters. Then set it in motion and watch your planets crash into each other or fly off into deep space. At least that’s what happened to mine! With some practice, you might get a real system going. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Photo: NASA

Michael Mautner of Virginia Commonwealth University says that part of the human condition we enjoy is a responsibility to ensure life continues after our home, Earth, dies.  It will happen, someday.  And panspermia missions now will fulfill our moral obligation to see that life on other planets gets a fair chance, even if we won’t ever see the results.

As Mautner explains in his study published in an upcoming issue of theJournal of Cosmology, the strategy is to deposit an array of primitive organisms on potentially fertile planets and protoplanets throughout the universe… (he) has identified potential breeding grounds, which include extrasolar planets, accretion disks surrounding young stars that hold the gas and dust of future planets, and – at an even earlier stage – interstellar clouds that hold the materials to create stars.

To transport the microorganisms, Mautner proposes using sail-ships. These ships offer a low-cost transportation method with solar sails, which can achieve high velocities using the radiation pressure from light. The microorganisms could be bundled in tiny capsules, each containing about 100,000 microorganisms and weighing 0.1 micrograms.

The article addresses criticisms such as the possibility of interfering with any pre-existing extraterrestrial life.

First of all, Mautner explains that we can minimize these chances by targeting very primitive locations where life could not have evolved yet. In addition, he argues that, since extraterrestrial life is not currently known to exist, our first concern should be with preserving our family of organic gene/protein life that we know exists.

So what’s the consensus?  Are we morally obligated to “keep the ball rolling” as far as life in the Universe goes?

Link

Justin Van Genderen designed a series of five posters of places in the Star Wars universe. They remind me of vintage travel agency posters. See posters featuring Tatooine, Hoth, the Degobah System, and Bespin as well as Endor at Gigantor. Link -via Buzzfeed

NASA’s Kepler space telescope mission is sending back data on exoplanets we’ve never seen before. Five new planets that the probe recently discovered are large planets that revolve close to their stars, making it easier for us to see them.

The smallest of the new planets is about the same size as Neptune, though much more massive. All of the planets are hotter than molten lava and could turn gold to goo, according to NASA temperature estimates.

Dubbed Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b, and 8b, the five new planets range in temperature from 2,000 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,090 to 1,650 degrees Celsius), William Borucki, Kepler’s principal investigator, said today during a press briefing at the American Astronomical Society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

One of the worlds, Kepler 7b, is among the lowest-density planets yet found, with about the same density as Styrofoam, he said.

The data from Kepler contains the possibility of many new exoplanets, but only these five have been confirmed so far. Link

(image credit: William Borucki/NASA)

Weather is explained in Star Wars terms on this site. Enter a city and get the current conditions, whether it’s like Hoth, Endor, Tatooine, Naboo, or some other planet in the Star Wars universe. Enter a city it doesn’t have listed, and the result will be Alderaan, meaning not there. Link -via b3ta

“Newly formed solar systems can be violent places. Our own Moon is thought to have been created when a Mars-sized planet collided with the recently formed Earth and threw up a cloud of debris. A near collision during the early, violent stage of this planetary system could well have caused a gravitational slingshot, flinging WASP-17 into its backwards orbit.”

But why is WASP-17 so big? The discovery team suggests that have been subjected to intense tides as it travelled in its strange and highly-elliptical orbit, causing it to become stretched and bloated.

Link

I’m sure most of you know at least something about the mysterious Antikythera Mechanism that was found at the bottom of the sea in 1901 near the island of Antikythera (from where the device took its name) and is estimated to have been built between 150-100 BC by an unknown builder. Famed for its mysterious and significantly advanced gear mechanism and complex build the Antikythera Mechanism was eventually found to be a computing calender and clock of sorts for the planets. Which may have been useful to sailors as would be evidenced by why the device was found among the carcass of a sunken ship.

Fast forward to the modern age and we find curator Michael Wright with the first fully functional working model of the Antikythera Mechanism in the World. To imagine that such advanced and complex machines were being built so long ago has fascinated and helped reshape ancient history and knowledge. The mystery concerning this device has increased as archaeologists and scientists wonder why they have only found this sole machine in the past century and why there is no recorded information regarding its creator.