The Benefits of Space Probes.
January 26th 2011 11:22
Category: Space Probes
This images shows most of the circumstellar debris disk that orbits the star HD 32997, imaged with the Palomar 5m telescope by Dimitri Mawet
The benefits of space probes are many, they are cost effective ,don’t need a human to operate them and they can painstakingly carry out complex survey work without constant monitoring.
These spacecraft offset the need for using expensive earth based telescope to carry out routine sky mapping. However when the spacecraft do find something of interest then the bigger earth telescopes come in to play.
An example of suck a probe would be the IRAS sky survey. The Infrared Astronomical Satellite[2] (IRAS) is a probe especially designed to look in the infrared light spectrum. The IRAS probe caught the attention of an anomaly later found to be a Star named HD 172555.
HD 172555 is a white-hot A5V star located relatively close by, 95 light years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Pavo.
HD172555 was first investigated in the 1980's as being unusually bright in the mid-infrared by the IRAS sky survey. HD 172555 is around twice as massive as our Sun and about 9.5 times more luminous.
What makes the HD 172555 interesting is the abundance of amorphous silica and SiO gas in orbit around the star HD 172555 these elements are found in abundance on Earth and throughout our Solar System.
What caused these element dispersed around the orbit of Star HD 172555?
The Earth based Spitzer Space Telescope has confirmed the discovery. If a collision did occur in last few thousand years it is reasonable to speculate that there is a possible protoplanet orbiting the star that has a liquid magma surface.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
I think you are right, with the exception the Mars mission maybe around 2022?
They may be the odd Moon manned flight by countries other than the U.S.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
China or India will probably land on Mars within the next 25 years.
The US will have to take a back seat due to perhaps lack of interest other emerging nations will take up the challenge.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
I guess its party politics the US regime has lost it’s way when it comes to space exploration.
Too much emphasis is put on fighting wars in other countries while the cost of living at home has risen sharply over the past 3 years.
China is slowly working it’s way into space without attracting too much media attention soon china will have dominance in space. The balance of power will shift away from the west.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
The Chinese should have a holiday just for him, since he's done so much to make their rise to power possible.