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Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 12, Number 23, 1 July 2005
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter
Volume 12, Number 23, 1 July 2005
Editor/Publisher: David J. Thomas, Ph.D., Science Division, LyonCollege, Batesville, Arkansas72503-2317, USA.
Marsbugs is published on a weekly to monthly basis as warranted by the number of articles and announcements. Copyright of this compilation exists with the editor, but individual authors retain the copyright of specific articles. Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors, and are not necessarily endorsed by the editor or by LyonCollege. E-mail subscriptions are free, and may be obtained by contacting the editor. Information concerning the scope of this newsletter, subscription formats and availability of back-issues is available at The editor does not condone "spamming" of subscribers. Readers would appreciate it if others would not send unsolicited e-mail using the Marsbugs mailing lists. Persons who have information that may be of interest to subscribers of Marsbugs should send that information to the editor.
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Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 12, Number 23, 1 July 2005
Articles and News
Page 1SCIENTIST REFINES COSMIC CLOCK TO DETERMINE AGE OF MILKY WAY
University of Chicago release
Page 2PLANETS CAN SURVIVE A RED GIANT
By Chad Boutin
Page 2NASA RESEARCHERS DISCOVER PLANET WITH LARGEST SOLID CORE
NASA release 05-169
Page 3MARS IN POP CULTURE: RADIO
By David Catling
Page 3THE BERRIES SUGGEST LIFE ON MARS
By Alexander Zeltsman
Announcements
Page 415TH WESTERN PHOTOSYNTHESIS CONFERENCE—1ST ANNOUNCEMENT
By David J. Thomas
Page 5NASA'S CASSINI—ONE YEAR IN PICTURES
NASA/JPL release
Mission Reports
Page 5MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR IMAGES
NASA/JPL/MSSS release
Page 5NASA'S DEEP IMPACT SPACECRAFT PREPS FOR JULY 4 FIREWORKS
NASA release 05-172
Page 6MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER UPDATE
NASA expendable launch vehicle status report e05-005
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Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 12, Number 23, 1 July 2005
1
Marsbugs: The Electronic Astrobiology Newsletter, Volume 12, Number 23, 1 July 2005
SCIENTIST REFINES COSMIC CLOCK TO DETERMINE AGE OF MILKY WAY
University of Chicago release
22 June 2005
The University of Chicago’s Nicolas Dauphas has developed a new way to calculate the age of the Milky Way that is free of the unvalidated assumptions that have plagued previous methods. Dauphas’ method, which he reports in the June 29 issue of the journal, Nature, now can be used to tackle other mysteries of the cosmos that have remained unsolved for decades.
"Age determinations are crucial to a fundamental understanding of the universe," said Thomas Rauscher, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Basel in Switzerland. "The wide range of implications is what makes Nicolas’ work so exciting and important."
Dauphas, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences, operates the Origins Laboratory at the University of Chicago. His wide-ranging interests include the origins of Earth’s atmosphere, the oldest rocks that may contain evidence for life on Earth and what meteorites reveal about the formation of the solar system.
In his latest work, Dauphas has honed the accuracy of the cosmic clock by comparing the decay of two long-lived radioactive elements, uranium-238 and thorium-232. According to Dauphas’ new method, the age of the Milky Way is approximately 14.5 billion years, plus or minus more than 2 billion years. That age generally agrees with the estimate of 12.2 billion years—nearly as old as the universe itself—as determined by previously existing methods.
Dauphas’ finding verifies what was already suspected, despite the drawbacks of existing methods: "After the big bang, it did not take much time for large structures to form, including our Milky Way galaxy," he said.
The University of Chicago's Nicolas Dauphas has estimated the age of the Milky Way at approximately 14.5 billion years by combining telescopic observations with laboratory analysis of meteorites, such as the Murchison meteorite from Australia, pictured here. Image credit: Nicolas Dauphas, University of Chicago.
The age of 12 billion years for the galaxy relied on the characteristics of two different sets of stars: globular clusters and white dwarfs. But this estimate depends on assumptions about stellar evolution and nuclear physics that scientists have yet to substantiate to their complete satisfaction. Globular clusters are clusters of stars that exist on the outskirts of a galaxy. The processes of stellar evolution suggested that most of the stars in globular clusters are nearly as old as the galaxy itself.
When the big bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago, the only elements in the universe were hydrogen, helium and a small quantity of lithium. The Milky Way’s globular clusters have to be nearly that old because they contain mostly hydrogen and helium. Younger stars contain heavier elements that were recycled from the remains of older stars, which initially forged these heavier elements in their cores via nuclear fusion. White dwarf stars, meanwhile, are stars that have used up their fuel and have advanced to the last stage of their lives.
"The white dwarf has no source of energy, so it just cools down. If you look at its temperature and you know how fast it cools, then you can approximate the age of the galaxy, because some of these white dwarfs are about as old as the galaxy," Dauphas said.
A more direct way to calculate the age of stars and the Milky Way depends on the accuracy of the uranium/thorium clock. Scientists can telescopically detect the optical "fingerprints" of the chemical elements. Using this capability, they have measured the uranium/thorium ratio in a single old star that resides in the halo of the Milky Way.
Journal reference:
Nicolas Dauphas, 2005. The U/Th production ratio and the age of the Milky Way from meteorites and galactic halo stars. Nature, 435(7046):1203-1205,
Read the original news release at
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
PLANETS CAN SURVIVE A RED GIANT
By Chad Boutin
From Universe Today
29 June 2005
The white dwarf star Gliese 86B is the tiny dot to the left of the bright star. Image credit: ESO.
Our Sun is in the middle age of life, and that's a good thing for us here on Earth. But in a few billion years, when the Sun runs out of hydrogen to fuel its massive fusion furnace, it will balloon into a massive red giant, engulfing the inner planets, including the Earth, before it shrinks again into a white dwarf. Is that the end of our solar system? Maybe not. Although they might get a little (okay... a lot) scorched, the outer planets might actually survive the experience in one piece. German researchers have found the first planet orbiting a white dwarf star, so there appears there's a future for planets when their star becomes a red giant.
Read the full article at
NASA RESEARCHERS DISCOVER PLANET WITH LARGEST SOLID CORE
NASA release 05-169
30 June 2005
NASA researchers recently discovered the largest solid core ever found in an extrasolar planet, and their discovery confirms a planet formation theory.
"For theorists, the discovery of a planet with such a large core is as important as the discovery of the first extrasolar planet around the star 51 Pegasi in 1995," said Shigeru Ida, theorist from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan.
When a consortium of American, Japanese and Chilean astronomers first looked at this planet, they expected one similar to Jupiter. "None of our models predicted that nature could make a planet like the one we are studying," said Bun'ei Sato, consortium member and postdoctoral fellow at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, Japan.
Scientists have rarely had opportunities like this to collect such solid evidence about planet formation. More than 150 extrasolar planets have been discovered by observing changes in the speed of a star, as it moves toward and away from Earth. The changes in speed are caused by the gravitational pull of planets.
Comparison of planet HD149026b with Jupiter. Image credit: Greg Laughlin, UCSC.
This planet also passes in front of its star and dims the starlight. "When that happens, we are able to calculate the physical size of the planet, whether it has a solid core, and even what its atmosphere is like," said Debra Fischer. She is consortium team leader and professor of astronomy at San Francisco State University, CA.
The planet, orbiting the sun-like star HD 149026, is roughly equal in mass to Saturn, but it is significantly smaller in diameter. It takes just 2.87 days to circle its star, and the upper atmosphere temperature is approximately 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Modeling of the planet's structure shows it has a solid core approximately 70 times Earth's mass. This is the first observational evidence that proves the "core accretion" theory about how planets are formed. Scientists have two competing but viable theories about planet formation.
In the "gravitational instability" theory, planets form during a rapid collapse of a dense cloud. With the "core accretion" theory, planets start as small rock-ice cores that grow as they gravitationally acquire additional mass. Scientists believe the large, rocky core of this planet could not have formed by cloud collapse. They think it must have grown a core first, and then acquired gas.
"This is a confirmation of the core accretion theory for planet formation and evidence that planets of this kind should exist in abundance," said Greg Henry, an astronomer at TennesseeStateUniversity, Nashville. He detected the dimming of the star by the planet with his robotic telescopes at Fairborn Observatory in Mount Hopkins, Arizona.
Artist's conception of a "hot Saturn" planet transiting its star. Image credit: Lynette Cook.
Support for this research came from NASA, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the National Science Foundation. A paper about this discovery was accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. The paper, supporting materials and illustrations are available on the Internet at For information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit
Contact:
Erica Hupp
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC
Phone: 202-358-1237
Additional articles on this subject are available at:
MARS IN POP CULTURE: RADIO
By David Catling
From Astrobiology Magazine
1 July 2005
In the opening scene of the movie “Contact,” radio waves take us on a journey beyond our solar system. The farther away we travel, the older the broadcasts are, until beyond a certain distance the rock music dims, the radio dramas fade out, and the deep silence of space prevails. It makes you wonder: while SETI is looking for alien radio signals from far-off civilizations, how many aliens could be listening to our old radio broadcasts right now, and wondering what sort of civilization could produce such flights of fancy?
Radio may not be Earth’s most popular entertainment medium anymore, but compared to the questionable special effects used in science fiction movies—especially the earlier ones—perhaps the movie house of the mind is still the best place to enjoy imaginative tales about aliens. This overview looks at martians that have been riding the airwaves since radio’s Golden Age.
Radio versions of The War of the Worlds
- *On October 30th, 1938, Orson Welles became internationally famous, causing widespread panic in the U.S.by his broadcast of an adaptation by Howard Koch of H.G. Wells's The War of The Worlds. In the play, performed by The Mercury Theater, Martians landed at Grovers Mill, New Jersey, and a growing sense of impending doom was gradually built up through news bulletins and on-the-spot reporting. Terror across the United States due to this radio show hinted at the growing power of electronic media to invade the public consciousness and create an artificial reality that could disrupt the real world of comparative calm. Orson Welles, of course, later went on to direct highly acclaimed films including Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. Howard Koch was later on the writer team for the movie Casablanca.
Left: Orson Welles's radio broadcast of War of the Worlds led to public panic. Middle: War of the Worlds describes a martian invasion of the New Jersey countryside. Right: What Martians might look like is best left to the radio imagination.
- The Lux Radio Theater did a radio version of the 1953 movie, with Dana Andrews playing the part of Gene Barry, and set in Los Angeles. It's pretty silly, apparently.
- Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (1978) is a musical version of the story, with Richard Burton (Justin Hayward) as the journalist narrator (singer). "Forever Autumn" by Justin Hayward (of the Moody Blues) was a big hit. The story harks back to the original and takes place in England. Also stars David Essex.
- David Ossman and Judith Walcutt did a remake of the 1938 Howard Koch script for a 50th Anniversary production. Made to sound like modern U.S. National Public Radio, with well-known American radio voices including Terry Gross, Scott Simon, and Douglas Edwards, essentially playing themselves. Recorded on locations and mixed at Skywalker Ranch (Lucasfilm) studios.
- L.A. Theaterworks did a live production of the Howard Koch script in November of 1994 with some members of the Star Trek Next Generation cast in it, and starring Leonard Nimoy in the lead as Professor Pearson.
- A three-hour BBC production (broadcast in the U.S.on NPR Playhouse) of the original Wells story is also available. As befits the BBC, it's a polished adaptation.
Other Martian Radio
- NBC radio's Dimension X and X Minus 1 were two radio series in the 1950s that featured stories by science fiction writers published in Astounding Fiction Magazine and Galaxy Magazine. These were adapted for radio by scriptwriters George Lefferts and Ernest Kinoy, both of whom later wrote for various TV series. Martian radio titles included "The Martian Death March," "The Martian Chronicles" (Ray Brabury), "Mars is Heaven" (Ray Bradbury), and "The Last Martian" (Fredric Brown). Another story, "Martian Sam," was about a Martian who turned out to be an excellent baseball pitcher.
Read the original article at
THE BERRIES SUGGEST LIFE ON MARS
By Alexander Zeltsman
1 July 2005
As soon as small spheres were observed on Mars, the name “berries” has occurred naturally to everyone. At least for the particular colony of martian berries, a case can be made that it is not merely a matter of superficial resemblance. The colony has been photographed on Mars by the Opportunity PANCAM on Sol 139. The colony covers about 20 square meters or so.
The berries of interest reside in general upon the surface of horizontal martian rock. They are almost perfect spheres, sufficiently similar in color and size. The colony members appear to be of similar origin and history, having been brought about by the sufficiently similar processes.
The berries are connected to the rocks, although the connection segment geometry varies substantially. Some connection segments are not visible in the image at all, some look like a tail behind the berry, some look like a double tail, some look like massive growth or a thin stalk with berry in the air at end of it.
The two figures, above, represent an overview of patches, for which PANCAM stereo data are available [3]. The distance between the red markers is about 1 meter.
The figure, above, shows some samples of the colony population. The color is an approximation, based on the color filter originals [1].
Above pictured are red-cyan anaglyph and a stereo pair of two berries [1], from 1P140530030EFF3182P2379L7M1 and 1P140530030EFF3182P2379R1M1.
I suggest that the processes that created this berry colony were biological in nature. A little detective work of elimination of the impossible is in order to prove it.
Weathering and sandblasting rather destroy a stalked berry would than create it. In the incredibly rare cases that it would be created by weathering and sandblasting, (a) the lifespan of such an object would be short, considering the level of weathering of Mars surface, and since its creation would depend on active erosion, capable of subsequently destroying it; (b) having a pair of such similar objects side by side, created by the weathering and sandblasting, defies the probability.
The geology could not have created the stalked berries either: (a) similar geological of water originated objects are not observed on Earth; (b) even if a stalked berry were created like diamonds from magma, there is no way it could reach surface, and then be exposed by erosion, without the stalk being destroyed in the process; (c) the symmetry of the berries with a bent stalk is different from the wind, gravity, air, water and the water flow symmetry; (d) the berry and its stalk could not have been created simultaneously, as the symmetry of the berry and of the stalk are totally different; (e) creation of the berries exclusively on the end of previously formed stalk, is the most unlikely scenario, and it would not explain the downward gravity bent of the stalk—without assumption of its flexibility which is unheard of in the mineral world; (f) the growing stalk with a gravity bent, under the existing berry, is by far too complex without genetic program.