While SETI, as a search for aliens, certainly inspires its fair share of dinner table conversation, it also leads to much astronomical and biological research. For example, in order to spend our telescope time wisely, we need to know everything we can about the way different stars behave, and how that relates to the requirements for life.
...
Astrobiologists aren?t the types to give up easily, and we know there are ways to get around all these difficulties. First, though the habitable zone is narrow, there are just so darn many M stars out there that there could still be many times more habitable planets orbiting M stars than orbit G stars. Second, some scientists believe that those big flares would actually cause the planet to form a thicker ozone layer, which would in turn protect life forms from the effects of flares. Third, if those planets had thicker atmospheres, say twice the density of ours, with a little more carbon dioxide greenhouse gas, then even with tidal locking one could circulate enough heat over the planet?s dark side to prevent atmospheric freeze-out.
Ah, science! In one paragraph I?ve rescued 300 billion stars from certain lifelessness! Seriously though, it may be that some of these issues can only be resolved through the discovery of inhabited M star planets. So for now, M dwarf constitute only a small fraction of the SETI target list, and until the discovery comes, SETI scientists are going to take their best crack at answering these questions with pen and paper. As the answers unfold, we may find ourselves observing M stars more in proportion to their numbers.
Picture1t
Margaret Turnbull's career has included construction, setup, testing and repair of detectors and readout system for an Antarctic Muon and Neutrino detector array.
At the University of Wisconsin in space physics, payload construction, she was involved in detector preparation for the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter sub-orbital launch experiment.
At Lowell Observatory in Arizona, she participated in the examination of main-belt and Earth-crossing asteroid orbital parameters and trends of ephemeris uncertainty with orbital parameters.
She has done Monte Carlo modeling of high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images of protostars in the Taurus-Auriga dark cloud at the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. And in the radio domain, she has analyzed large-scale HI 21 cm emission from Seyfert galaxies imaged by the Very Large Array, and conducted a search for obvious distortions caused by unseen companion galaxies.
....
Ah, science! In one paragraph I?ve rescued 300 billion stars from certain lifelessness! Seriously though, it may be that some of these issues can only be resolved through the discovery of inhabited M star planets. So for now, M dwarf constitute only a small fraction of the SETI target list, and until the discovery comes, SETI scientists are going to take their best crack at answering these questions with pen and paper. As the answers unfold, we may find ourselves observing M stars more in proportion to their numbers
Full Story
Full Story as ever at the BOINC Forums
Sir Ulli
...
Astrobiologists aren?t the types to give up easily, and we know there are ways to get around all these difficulties. First, though the habitable zone is narrow, there are just so darn many M stars out there that there could still be many times more habitable planets orbiting M stars than orbit G stars. Second, some scientists believe that those big flares would actually cause the planet to form a thicker ozone layer, which would in turn protect life forms from the effects of flares. Third, if those planets had thicker atmospheres, say twice the density of ours, with a little more carbon dioxide greenhouse gas, then even with tidal locking one could circulate enough heat over the planet?s dark side to prevent atmospheric freeze-out.
Ah, science! In one paragraph I?ve rescued 300 billion stars from certain lifelessness! Seriously though, it may be that some of these issues can only be resolved through the discovery of inhabited M star planets. So for now, M dwarf constitute only a small fraction of the SETI target list, and until the discovery comes, SETI scientists are going to take their best crack at answering these questions with pen and paper. As the answers unfold, we may find ourselves observing M stars more in proportion to their numbers.
Picture1t
Margaret Turnbull's career has included construction, setup, testing and repair of detectors and readout system for an Antarctic Muon and Neutrino detector array.
At the University of Wisconsin in space physics, payload construction, she was involved in detector preparation for the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter sub-orbital launch experiment.
At Lowell Observatory in Arizona, she participated in the examination of main-belt and Earth-crossing asteroid orbital parameters and trends of ephemeris uncertainty with orbital parameters.
She has done Monte Carlo modeling of high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images of protostars in the Taurus-Auriga dark cloud at the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. And in the radio domain, she has analyzed large-scale HI 21 cm emission from Seyfert galaxies imaged by the Very Large Array, and conducted a search for obvious distortions caused by unseen companion galaxies.
....
Ah, science! In one paragraph I?ve rescued 300 billion stars from certain lifelessness! Seriously though, it may be that some of these issues can only be resolved through the discovery of inhabited M star planets. So for now, M dwarf constitute only a small fraction of the SETI target list, and until the discovery comes, SETI scientists are going to take their best crack at answering these questions with pen and paper. As the answers unfold, we may find ourselves observing M stars more in proportion to their numbers
Full Story
Full Story as ever at the BOINC Forums
Sir Ulli
