Starship Asterisk*

Andrew Larkin wrote:
Why do you use "mini-eclipse" when there is the word "transit?"

neufer wrote:

Andrew Larkin wrote:
Why do you use "mini-eclipse" when there is the word "transit?"

More people are familiar with astronomical "eclipses" than astronomical "transits."

Gemma Caelestis wrote:A lot of 'artist's conception' images are absurdly fanciful but I like this one for its believable portrayal of a sun a little smaller and less active than our own.....but I can't judge the planet's relative size. How about cluing us in to the POV distance from Gliese, and from 1214b, in say AU. Or just tell us how big each is.

Tony

APOD description wrote:it is larger than the Earth but smaller a planet like Neptune.

geckzilla wrote:

Jim Bryant wrote:
The entire Gliese 1214 planetary system is ONE of the closest known systems to our Sun

larger than the Earth but smaller THAN a planet like Neptune

Eh? (Ok, so the word "than" got omitted. But you get the idea.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Than wrote:
<<Than is a grammatical particle analyzed as both a conjunction and a preposition in the English language. According to the view of many English-language prescriptionists and of influential 18th-century grammarian Robert Lowth, than is exclusively a conjunction and therefore takes either nominative (or subjective) or oblique (or objective) pronouns depending on context, rather than exclusively oblique pronouns as prepositions do.

William Shakespeare's 1600 play Julius Caesar has an instance of an oblique pronoun following than where the nominative is also possible:

• A man no mightier than thyself or me...

Samuel Johnson wrote the following:

• Madame Dacier, having her mind full of the merit of Aristophanes, expresses herself in this manner: “No man had EVER more discernment than him, in finding out the ridiculous, nor a more ingenious manner of showing it to others. His remarks are natural and easy, and, what very rarely can be found, with great copiousness, he has great delicacy. To say all at once, the Attick wit, of which the ancients made such boast, appears more in Aristophanes than in any other that I know of in antiquity. But what is most of all to be admired in him is, that he is always so much master of the subject before him, that, without doing any violence to himself, he finds a way to introduce, naturally, things which, at first, appeared most distant from his purpose; and even the most quick and unexpected of his desultory sallies appear the necessary consequence of the foregoing incidents. This is that Art which sets the dialogues of Plato above imitation, which we must consider as so many dramatick pieces, which are equally entertaining by the action, and by the dialogue. The style of Aristophanes is no less pleasing than his fancy; for, besides its clearness, its vigour and its sweetness, there is in it a certain harmony, so delightful to the ear, that there is no pleasure equal to that of reading it. When he applies himself to vulgar mediocrity of style, he descends without meanness; when he attempts the sublime, he is elevated without obscurity; and no man has EVER had the Art of blending all the different kinds of writing so equally together.”

geckzilla wrote:

neufer wrote:

Andrew Larkin wrote:
Why do you use "mini-eclipse" when there is the word "transit?"

More people are familiar with astronomical "eclipses" than astronomical "transits."

Not to mention the word "mini" is just so darn cute.

owlice wrote:

jmOR62 wrote:
Most? Which life forms on earth do not require water?

• Some extremophiles

jmOR62 wrote:
Send them to Mars!

• It's too cold:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroococcidiopsis wrote:

<<Chroococcidiopsis is one of the most primitive cyanobacteria, blue-green algae, known. It is a photosynthetic, coccoidal bacteria and is known for its ability to survive harsh environmental conditions, including both high and low temperatures, ionizing radiation, and high salinity. Organisms that are capable of living in such harsh conditions are referred to as extremophilic.

The ability of Chroococcidiopsis to resist desiccation in arid environments is due in part to the fact that it colonizes the underside of translucent rocks. The underside of these rocks provides enough condensed moisture for growth while the rock's translucent nature allows just enough light to reach the organism for photosynthesis to occur.

Due to its resistance to harsh environmental conditions, especially low temperature, low moisture, and radiation tolerance, Chroococcidiopsis has been thought of as an organism capable of living on Mars. Scientists have speculated about the possibly of introducing Chroococcidiopsis to the Martian environment to aid in the formation of an aerobic environment. In addition to oxygen production, Chroococcidiopsis could aid in the formation of soil on the Martian surface. On Earth, soil is formed from the decomposition of organic matter. On Mars, because there is no organic matter present, the organic material from the microbes themselves would provide the necessary organic matter. The soil and oxygen produced by these organisms could one day provide the conditions necessary for humans to grow food on Mars, possibly allowing for permanent human civilizations on the planet. This plan, however, is not feasible because the Martian surface, at approximately −55 °C, is far too cold for Chroococcidiopsis to survive. The surface temperature would have to be raised to just below freezing for the bacteria to survive.>>

neufer wrote:

• Some extremophiles

orin stepanek wrote:
Probably a pretty hot environment!

Beyond wrote:
Scrolling about 2/3 the way down,
there's a miniature Dachshund being held in a hot dog bun.

neufer wrote:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

orin stepanek wrote:
Probably a pretty hot environment!

Beyond wrote:
Scrolling about 2/3 the way down,
there's a miniature Dachshund being held in a hot dog bun.

Gemma Caelestis wrote:A lot of 'artist's conception' images are absurdly fanciful but I like this one for its believable portrayal of a sun a little smaller and less active than our own.....

Tony

Ann wrote:

Gemma Caelestis wrote:A lot of 'artist's conception' images are absurdly fanciful but I like this one for its believable portrayal of a sun a little smaller and less active than our own.....

Tony

The terribly red color of the star is completely unrealistic. Certainly Gliese 1214 is a small M-type star. The color of such as star is no redder than the light from an ordinary incandescent light bulb. But surely the light from incandescent light bulbs is white? Oh no, it is much yellower than sunlight. But it isn't red, and neither is Gliese 1214.

Ann

neufer wrote: Samuel Johnson wrote the following:

• Madame Dacier, having her mind full of the merit of Aristophanes, expresses herself in this manner: “No man had EVER more discernment than him, in finding out the ridiculous, nor a more ingenious manner of showing it to others. His remarks are natural and easy, and, what very rarely can be found, with great copiousness, he has great delicacy. To say all at once, the Attick wit, of which the ancients made such boast, appears more in Aristophanes than in any other that I know of in antiquity. But what is most of all to be admired in him is, that he is always so much master of the subject before him, that, without doing any violence to himself, he finds a way to introduce, naturally, things which, at first, appeared most distant from his purpose; and even the most quick and unexpected of his desultory sallies appear the necessary consequence of the foregoing incidents. This is that Art which sets the dialogues of Plato above imitation, which we must consider as so many dramatick pieces, which are equally entertaining by the action, and by the dialogue. The style of Aristophanes is no less pleasing than his fancy; for, besides its clearness, its vigour and its sweetness, there is in it a certain harmony, so delightful to the ear, that there is no pleasure equal to that of reading it. When he applies himself to vulgar mediocrity of style, he descends without meanness; when he attempts the sublime, he is elevated without obscurity; and no man has EVER had the Art of blending all the different kinds of writing so equally together.”

Ar(is)t Neuendorffer

jmOR62 wrote:Most? Which life forms on earth do not require water? Send them to Mars!