The Astronomy Thread
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Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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It shouldn't be surprising when you think about it.
I'm pulling this out of my ass but I'd imagine water is the most abundant compound in the universe. Look at our own solar system. Anything not hot enough to drive it away is absolutely full of it. The father you go out the more there is.
I'm pulling this out of my ass but I'd imagine water is the most abundant compound in the universe. Look at our own solar system. Anything not hot enough to drive it away is absolutely full of it. The father you go out the more there is.
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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Hydrogen is formed first, and oxygen is a relatively "light" atom made easily by 1st gen stars and is actually more common than carbon. So yea, it's the most common molecule out there.
I was just re-readingFive Billion Years of Solitudewhich begins with the common speculation for solar system formation; the inner system was torched of volatiles, and then we got our water by Late Bombardment phase (basically the last gasp of the cometary cloud slamming all over the inner planets before being extinct/corralled out)
Aaron
Goonsquad Officer
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Would be interesting to know how the ice changes depending on Pluto's orbit. I remember back in the 90s when they were debating a Pluto mission. One of the reasons for hurrying back then was that Pluto is in an outward orbit (getting further from the sun) and the scientists were afraid that if we waited too long any possible atmosphere might freeze during the outer period.
Wonder how much rich people would pay for a bottle of pure water made from Pluto ice?
You'd have to drill down to get to it, and filter out the hydrocarbons and such I guess
You'd have to drill down to get to it, and filter out the hydrocarbons and such I guess
meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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...the dominant mineral of this bright area is sodium carbonate, a kind of salt found on Earth in hydrothermal environments. This material appears to have come from inside Ceres, because an impacting asteroid could not have delivered it. The upwelling of this material suggests that temperatures inside Ceres are warmer than previously believed. Impact of an asteroid on Ceres may have helped bring this material up from below, but researchers think an internal process played a role as well.
More intriguingly, the results suggest that liquid water may have existed beneath the surface of Ceres in recent geological time. The salts could be remnants of an ocean, or localized bodies of water, that reached the surface and then froze millions of years ago.
"The minerals we have found at the Occator central bright area require alteration by water," De Sanctis said. "Carbonates support the idea that Ceres had interior hydrothermal activity, which pushed these materials to the surface within Occator."
Recent Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Ceres Brightest Area | NASA
Burnem Wizfyre
Log Wizard
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Shit like this in my mind makes it virtually impossible that life isn't rampant in the universe.
...the dominant mineral of this bright area is sodium carbonate, a kind of salt found on Earth in hydrothermal environments. This material appears to have come from inside Ceres, because an impacting asteroid could not have delivered it. The upwelling of this material suggests that temperatures inside Ceres are warmer than previously believed. Impact of an asteroid on Ceres may have helped bring this material up from below, but researchers think an internal process played a role as well.
More intriguingly, the results suggest that liquid water may have existed beneath the surface of Ceres in recent geological time. The salts could be remnants of an ocean, or localized bodies of water, that reached the surface and then froze millions of years ago.
"The minerals we have found at the Occator central bright area require alteration by water," De Sanctis said. "Carbonates support the idea that Ceres had interior hydrothermal activity, which pushed these materials to the surface within Occator."
Recent Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Ceres Brightest Area | NASA
Urlithani
Vyemm Raider
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I agree. I think there's plenty of life out there. The question is if intelligent life is out there...and if they have developed bullet proof clothing. (I'm sorry I just had to throw that in there, but I'm 100% serious about the life part!)
Burnem Wizfyre
Log Wizard
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Don't worry I'm laughing...at the people who thought bullet proof clothing was nonsensical 20-30 years in the future when it's available today.
Araxen
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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There is intelligent life out there but they could be so far away that we'll never meet.
Burnem Wizfyre
Log Wizard
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I'll settle for samples from ANY life that we can get our hands on. Imagine a fishing expediton to Ceres and catching some of the life in the oceans under the ice. No matter what we caught it would be exciting, even if the first thing we pulled up was a dolphin identical to those on Earth... So long and thanks for all the fish.
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Burnem Wizfyre
Log Wizard
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DNA or something different? Carbon based? That's what I hope for in my lifetime to see, I don't have any hope of even spotting intelligence on par and or above ourselves in my lifetime.
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Yeah, that too. I'll take whatever 'thing' we can find that appears to replicate with variation. I am with you all the way.
Cells would be amazing. DNA would be almost revolutionary though. It would mean so much if it was actual deoxyribonucleic acid that we found.
To discoveranythingwhatsoever that could help with us all trying to more accurately define the word 'life' would be amazing and would, without a doubt, be the event of my lifetime if it happened within it (which I highly doubt).
I get giddy just thinking about it.
Cells would be amazing. DNA would be almost revolutionary though. It would mean so much if it was actual deoxyribonucleic acid that we found.
To discoveranythingwhatsoever that could help with us all trying to more accurately define the word 'life' would be amazing and would, without a doubt, be the event of my lifetime if it happened within it (which I highly doubt).
I get giddy just thinking about it.
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Imagine the power you could wield if you couldreallyunderstood an alien biology. You'd have to know its whole biomass and planetary geological history. Its climate patterns and rock formations. Its position relative to its sun. It makes my head hurt.
I love it.
I love it.
Cad
scientia potentia est
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You will die without ever knowing these things. Not trying to be a dick, but you will.
