Solar System

[rstevenson]

There have been serious attempts to imagine terraforming Mars, both in fiction (Mars Trilogy) and more practically (if "practically" is a word we can use when we're discussing terraforming).

Rob

PS
"I think everyone knows this is just an exercise. Right?"
Yes, of course. But if we're not allowed to talk about religion, why allow magic?

[makc]

...why allow magic?

not magic, but sufficiently advanced technology. I know, I know, it is easy to confuse those two.

[Doum]

Yes it was just a magic wand. Sry if it disturb some. That wasnt intended.

As for terraforming Mars, Technolycaly speaking it might be possible to do it but i dont think its worthed since it will work only for a few tousand years and then all that atmosphere will have been lost into space.

Be happy, i have nothing more to say. May be!

[Orca]

G'day

It's probably easier to live on Io moon of Jupiter. Lots of water and Geothermal energy and fire works for Xmas.

Harry, do you mean Europa? Europa's got the ice, Io's got the sulfur volcanoes.

Either way, you'd still have that pesky radiation problem. I am not sure if Jupiter's immense magnetic field would protect you from solar and cosmic radiation on Europa. Of course, in the Jovian system you'd have Jupiter's own radiation to contend with as well.



I think Io is quite possibly the worst place to live in the solar system!



Then there's Dagobah. It's a slimy mud-hole.

Sorry, couldn't help it.

[makc]

Then there's Dagobah.

Since when Dagobah is in solar system? I thought it is undiscovered exoplanet in a galaxy far, far away.

[Chris Peterson]

As for terraforming Mars, Technolycaly speaking it might be possible to do it but i dont think its worthed since it will work only for a few tousand years and then all that atmosphere will have been lost into space.

I don't think that's true. If the oxygen and water locked up in Mars could be released into the atmosphere at some reasonable rate (say, over a few centuries at most) I think you'd end up with an atmosphere that would be sustainable for at least millions of years. No vast time, perhaps, in geological terms, but huge on the scale of human existence.

I think the only things standing in the way of terraforming Mars are engineering problems, all of which are quite solvable given the necessary resources. But I don't see those resources being provided in the foreseeable future, because there's really no good reason to terraform Mars.

[Doum]

ok

[harry]

G'day orca

Europa and Io seem to be the go. I would not worry too much about the volacnoes and the sulpur. We would be living in an enclosed capsule.

Io seems the one to give us free geothermal energy. No carbon trading.

[Orca]

G'day orca

Europa and Io seem to be the go. I would not worry too much about the volacnoes and the sulpur. We would be living in an enclosed capsule.

Io seems the one to give us free geothermal energy. No carbon trading.

I find it hard to believe we could construct a capsule that would protect us from this:

Twelve different vents on Io erupt lava at temperatures greater than 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, and one may be as hot as 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Lavas of this temperature have not been found on Earth for the last 2 billion years.

[harry]

G'day Orca

Didn't you hear that man can go where no man has gone before?

Imagine the window with a view from Io.

It would make a good weekender.

Since we can imagine and do.

Why not go to one of the outer system Dwarf planets. All ice. Put a rocket behind one and you have you own drinking bottle.

[harry]

G'day

Could our Sun create a solar flare so big that it could be Doomsday flare.

One such flare occured on another star not as big as our Sun.

eu link removed

2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-ast ... n/?id=6342

Question

Some scientists are talking about a massive solar storm in the future. Is it true that the sun has been acting unusually in the past 100 years? If a solar storm bigger than usual will take place, how is this going to affect our planet? AND My husband says there will be a huge solar storm that will cause floods and winds and destroy many cities. Where can I go to be safe? AND I've seen pictures that showed these firey things coming out of the sun and it incinerated earth AND Is our magnetic field strong enough right now to protect us from the solar storm? How do you suggest my family prepares for this? AND They say flares are emitted by the sun and cause havoc on earth, like tsunamis, earthquakes, and strong winds. AND Can a solar storm effect people somehow? AND Sir Can Our Sun Produce a Killer Flare?

Solar storms are associated with the 11-year cycle of solar activity, and the next maximum will probably take place in 2013.

[harry]

G'day

Heres another link

The Mouse That Roared: Pipsqueak Star Unleashes Monster Flare
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/new ... _star.html

On April 25, NASA’s Swift satellite picked up the brightest flare ever seen from a normal star other than our Sun. The flare, an explosive release of energy from a star, packed the power of thousands of solar flares. It would have been visible to the naked eye if the star had been easily observable in the night sky at the time.

The star, known as EV Lacertae, isn’t much to write home about. It’s a run-of-the-mill red dwarf, by far the most common type of star in the universe. It shines with only one percent of the Sun’s light, and contains only a third of the Sun’s mass. At a distance of only 16 light-years, EV Lacertae is one of our closest stellar neighbors. But with its feeble light output, its faint magnitude-10 glow is far below naked-eye visibility.

"Here’s a small, cool star that shot off a monster flare. This star has a record of producing flares, but this one takes the cake," says Rachel Osten, a Hubble Fellow at the University of Maryland, College Park and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Flares like this would deplete the atmospheres of life-bearing planets, sterilizing their surfaces."

[astrolabe]

Hello makc,

GOTTCHA!!

Then there's Dagobah.

Since when Dagobah is in solar system? I thought it is undiscovered exoplanet in a galaxy far, far away.

You must be the elusive time traveler RJN and the posse are looking for. I kinda figured the APOD would be the place to find one! I thought individuals from the future would be smarter than this. I can't believe you took the bait in Orca's little ploy. Good job Orca, you may now report back to Base.

[Chris Peterson]

Could our Sun create a solar flare so big that it could be Doomsday flare.
One such flare occured on another star not as big as our Sun.

I don't think there's any reason to think so. While the star that experienced the flare is smaller than the Sun, it is also entirely different: a young, dim red dwarf known to be unstable. It is also a very fast rotator, which means it has more extreme magnetic properties than the Sun. A star like this helps us understand how our own sun might have behaved when it was very young, but doesn't suggest that it will produce these kinds of flares now that it is mature and stable.

[harry]

G'day Chris

You maybe right at this point in time. The other Star although smaller seems to have a core with more denisty creating such electromagnetic fields.

This does not mean that our Sun can enter such a phase.

I'm not saying NOW but! in the distant future. Our Sun although goes through its 11 yr cycle is quite regular.

[harry]

G'day

I have just noticed that one of the links showing the image of a giant flare from a smaller star compared to our Sun has been deleted because it came from an EU forum.

I will try to find the image on the Hubble site or Chandra or ????

It was a great image.

[Chris Peterson]

You maybe right at this point in time. The other Star although smaller seems to have a core with more denisty creating such electromagnetic fields.

The star doesn't have a particularly dense core- probably just a little more than the Sun. The strong magnetic field is a product of its fast rotation.

This does not mean that our Sun can enter such a phase. I'm not saying NOW but! in the distant future. Our Sun although goes through its 11 yr cycle is quite regular.

The Sun won't ever become like this star. Stars gradually spin slower as they age, so they tend to become more magnetically stable. Red dwarfs are farther down the Main Sequence than the Sun, and evolve extremely slowly. The Sun is moving away from red dwarfs along the Main Sequence, and will eventually leave it by becoming a red giant.

[harry]

G'day Chris

"Never say never again" I think they made a movie about it.

You are mistaken about its rotation.

The way you say it implies that the star rotates.

This is not the case.

Its created by the internal dynamo.


Red Dwarf Dynamo Raises Puzzle over Interiors of Lowest Mass Stars

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... s/1995/03/

January 10, 1995: The Hubble telescope has uncovered surprising evidence that powerful magnetic fields may exist around the lowest mass stars in the universe, which barely have enough nuclear fuel to burn as stars.

Hubble detected a high-temperature outburst, called a flare, on the surface of the extremely small, cool red dwarf star Van Biesbroeck 10, also known as Gliese 752B. Stellar flares are caused by intense, twisted magnetic fields that accelerate and contain gases that are much hotter than a star's surface. The illustration demonstrates the complex nature of this star.

There is an image that I tried to download. but! it did not come out. ??????????

[Chris Peterson]

You are mistaken about its rotation. The way you say it implies that the star rotates. This is not the case. Its created by the internal dynamo.

That's what creates the magnetic field of all stars. The difference is that red dwarfs, because they are cool, are highly convective, so the actual motion that creates the field result from a different type of flow. The instability is caused by fast rotation, which twists up the magnetic field lines until they eventually break, releasing a lot of stored energy. The same thing happens with the Sun, but its much slower rotation makes the entire process much less violent.

[harry]

G'day Chris

Chris please research star dynamos and properties of so called core collapse and Neutron Stars and so on.

Must go

The wife is pulling me away from this box.

Merry Xmas, on the run.

[harry]

G'day

Hubble Observes Planetoid Sedna, Mystery Deepens
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... s/2004/14/

Image
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... /14/image/

Hubble Finds 'Tenth Planet' is Slightly Larger than Pluto
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 6/image/d/

Our Solar System has so much that we have not discovered yet.

[makc]

There is an image that I tried to download. but! it did not come out. ??????????

click here to download.

[harry]

G'day MakC

Thanks mate for the link, and who said that you were not helpful.