Webb on the Forefront of Earth-like Exoplanet Discoveries

After analyzing data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the research team led by Kevin Stevenson and Jacob Lustig-Yaeger from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland chose to observe the exoplanet LHS 475 b using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. With only two transit observations, Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) captured the planet and confirmed its existence.

LHS 475 b is 41 light years away with a radius nearly equal to that of Earth and an orbital period of two days around an M-type (M3.5V) star in the southern hemisphere constellation of Octans. While the observation couldn't fully identify what atmosphere is present on the planet, it isn't a thick methane-dominated atmosphere. But, there is a possible carbon dioxide atmosphere, which is contrary to expectations due to its compact nature. Further observations with more precise measurements are being planned for this summer in order to distinguish between a pure carbon dioxide atmosphere and no atmosphere at all.

Clearly we're on the cusp of some significant exoplanet discoveries!

You can read more here 

Swarming for Extraterrestrials

Interesting idea out of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) - a robotics engineer has been awarded Phase II funding for miniaturized micro-swimmers that could be deployed through an ice probe beneath the ice surfaces of Europa or Enceladus. The swarm of swimming robots only inches in dimensions could explore ice-covered ocean worlds much faster than individual robotic missions when searching for signs of life.

Mars Atmospheric Pressure affecting Ingenuity

Seasonal pressure variation on Mars

A very interesting update on the Mars 2020 mission appeared recently - specifically the Ingenuity helicopter's ability to fly in relationship to Mars' atmospheric pressure. The atmospheric density of Jezero crater is dropping. 

Seasonally, the atmospheric pressure on Mars varies approximates 25-30% peak-to-peak (Smith 2008) due to the exchange of CO2 with the polar ice cap. Ingenuity was designed for flights in atmospheric densities of 1.2-1.5% of Earth's. However, the density may drop to 1.0% requiring some extra spin-up of the blades to stop any aerodynamic stalling.

This does imply some considerations on how atmospheric variability might affect habitability when deeper exoplanet data is analyzed (Linsenmeier et al. 2015 have a good overview)

You can read more about the Ingenuity issues here.

Avi Loeb Continues to Push the Science of ET

Oumuamua - Credit ESO M. Kornmesser

It's great to see a respected Harvard scientist push the envelope on extraterrestrial life. Avi Loeb was chastised for his speculation on Oumuamua but has bounced back with backing for his Galileo Project - "the search for extraterrestrial technological signatures of Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations (ETCs) from accidental or anecdotal observations".

 

Loeb published an interesting op ed in Scientific American yesterday outlining his opinions on AI-enabled self-replicating technologies exploring the galaxy and how we might be able to detect these extraterrestrial objects. It's a short read but demonstrates the core idea of his project.

 

Loeb is no lightweight here and has published a number of scientific papers (one example Lingam & Loeb 2019) working through the problems of alien panspermia, probabilities of encounters and implications of the galactic environments on extraterrestrial life.

ExoAstronomy Next Steps

ESA/Hubble,
M. Kornmesser

I've been thinking about where to go with this blog for quite a while now. So many new things and ideas have popped up in the last year of Covid its been difficult to focus on a particular topic - to name a few: UAPs and Government releases, James Webb Telescope, Avi Loeb's Galileo Project, Mars 2020, Cambrian evolution, new ocean exoplanets, reassessment of the Drake Equation, etc.

As I noted earlier, if anything, it is more than apparent that extraterrestrial life is more than just a scientific problem, it is a sociological problem (there's a full blog post being drafted just on that point alone). But the problem is exciting because it is becoming readily apparent that we will discover some form of alien life soon. The implications are immense and hopefully, I will be able to keep you updated here!

Extraterrestrial Music - I've Seen the Saucers

A bit of fun on a Saturday. In 1974 was Elton John talking to the Pentagon? There aren't many songs about extraterrestrials but this one is a good one from his Caribou album...

Astronomers, UFOs and the Null Hypothesis

In a recent article, Ethan Siegel a Senior Contributor on Astronomy in Forbes magazine, provides a very good overview as to why scientists seems to remain mostly mute on the topic of UFOs. Clearly, part of the problem is that UFOs as a general topic doesn't specifically apply to one scientific discipline such as astronomy - it applies to many different areas of science, sociology, biology, engineering, philosophy, etc. Astronomers tend to get the brunt of the questions - especially due to SETI and astrobiology (or, just because they keep their eyes on the sky).

Many people complain that science isn't doing enough to study the UFO evidence. But, is it really a scientific problem? If aliens revealed themselves wouldn't it fall directly into a social/political problem space? Yes, scientists and engineers would be happy to start extending our knowledge based on what we might learn at that point but currently the types of science we need falls more into statistical work and observational evidence since much of the measures are not repeatable. This is more in line with investigators, sociologists and other disciplines (like the military, of course).

Significant UFO Disclosures on the Rise

Interesting to see the amount of press interest in UFOs / UAPs recently. It's really quite unusual to see the mainstream media start to report these sightings and stories without some silly, campy quips or side stories to save face (in 'My Blog List' in the right column of the home page, the reporter Billy Cox, aka Devoid, was quite serious on the topic but was shut down recently).

I will be writing much more on this in the future, but to hear a former President of the United States admit there are unknown craft in the sky and that's reported in mainstream media might just raise the extraterrestrial problem more into the scientific realm (even though the discussion was still part of a comedy program).