31 Days of Planets: Wannabes

Day 31

You know, not everyone is a planet. But some have tried very, very hard to be - it's not their fault that astronomical conditions didn't work it out so that they orbited the sun and were big and... you know, everything else that categorizes a planet.

In this month of planets, I think it is time to recognize the honorable mentions - those that almost could have been a planet, if things were different. Which they're not.

The first honorable mention goes to Vesta!

Vesta is one of the largest asteroids in the solar system (second in mass only to the dwarf planet Ceres). It is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth. It is home to the Snowman Crater!

Why is Vesta a wannabe planet? Primarily because she has large cracks which scientists call graben, or areas where the ground sinks when two faults move apart. Research suggests that this beautiful asteroid was formed in the same way as planets. Thus - she tried, but didn't quite make it. Instead, Vesta is an asteroid  and quite an impressive one at that.

The second wannabe planet is Phoebe! One of Saturn's moons.

Why is Phoebe a wannabe planet? Pheobe, one of Saturn's oddly shaped moons, orbits in the opposite direction from all of Saturn's other 60+ moons. The data shows that Phoebe formed in the first 3 million years of the universe. In addition, it appears that Pheobe actively evolved before freezing up and drifting into our solar system. Now Phoebe is a moon, and a special one at that: she was the first to be discovered using photography.

Our third wannabe planet is Titan! Everyone has heard of Titan - one of Saturn's great moons. In fact, Titan is remarkably similar to Earth, except with different chemical composition. Titan is larger than Mercury, and if it revolved around the Sun instead of Saturn, we would probably be much more interested in investigating all of its plentiful resources. It is the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and along with Earth, there is evidence that stable bodies of water exist on its surface. Titan is awesome. Let's go there. 

Look, we even have a picture of the surface:

It's amazing.

In conclusion, we humans may think in terms of planets, but there is an incredible amount of everything to be found in the universe. I suggest that we not quit looking.

Pictures from Wikipedia.

31 Days of Planet: Fomalhaut b

Day 20

To be or not to be, that is the question! Or rather, to b or not to b! Because it's anybody's guess: does Fomalhaut b really exist?

Approximately 25 light years away, this exoplanet (in the constellation Piscis Austrinus) remains ... unconfirmed. The real question is: if we found it, why is it unconfirmed?

Scientists inferred the existence based on its influence on the Fomalhaut dust belt which was not centered on a star - thus implying that it must be centered on something else, like a planet. Then they took a picture of it with the Hubble space telescope. 

But something was wrong. It's orbit. Because of the dust disk, the planet's orbit would need to be elliptical, but if this were the case, the dust belt would be disrupted because of the estimated size of the planet. Could there be another planet in the mix?

Ray Jayawardhana argued that the misstep in the planet's orbit suggests that it might not be a planet at all and is pushing to have the exoplanet un-categorized as an exoplanet. 

At very least, we know that something is there. The not-yet-confirmed exoplanet would likely be a similar size to Jupiter, and surrounded by a belt of dust. From Formalhaut b, its star would look about like what the sun looks like from Saturn.

In conclusion, I think it's a planet, so that probably pretty much solves the whole issue.

The end.

Pictures from NASA and this article.

31 Days of Planets: Saturn

Day 2: Saturn

Saturn is the 6th planet from the sun. If there were three Saturns, that would be 666 and probably the end of the universe. Saturn's radius is NINE TIMES Earth's. Saturn + Jupiter make up 92% of the total planetary mass in the solar system.

Saturn's defining characteristic is the system of rings that swoop so elegantly around the giant gaseous ball. The rings are probably hundreds of millions of years old, and are made up of ice and dust and a few moonlets. 62 moons orbit Saturn, with Titan the most well-known, but only 53 of the moons are named. They say that some of the moons act as Sheppard moons, and herd the rings to keep them in place, to keep them from expanding outwards. I like to think that those moons are alive, and so are the rocks and dust and moonlets - like a herd of sheep and some sheepdogs flying thousands of miles an hour around the beautifully gaseous and ringed planet.

And this is what Saturn would look like if you stuck it in a fire for a while (this is a real picture, though):

Hypothetically, if you were to have a Saturn-like planet, and then a giant asteroid (we're talking GIANT here) came and smashed the planet out of the rings, could the particles, etc. form to create a donut-shaped planet? Or would they all converge down to the center? Or would the energy resulting from the impact send everything flying outward towards space?

In conclusion, Saturn is awesome.


(Pictures from NASA)

When I was in Alaska

When I was in Alaska, there was a spacewalk.
Somehow I seem to find space everywhere.

Back to the beginning: I went for a walk. An 8-ish hour walk to be precise. I was very sore the next day. Also, I am writing this on an airplane. The first half of my walk was along a bike trail that followed the ocean. 

Here I stumbled across the most amazing thing (besides the ocean and mountains an trees and ducks and just everything in general):

Jupiter! 

Apparently (if you read the sign), a brilliant, beautiful, human being decided to scale down the solar system and measure it out along this bike path. Amazing!

The four inner planets were supposedly located on 5th street in downtown Anchorage. Jupiter was a 43 minute walk from the Sun.


Next I found Saturn.

Saturn was another 35 minutes beyond Jupiter. Beyond that were Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto; Pluto was a 5 hour and 30 minute walk from the Sun. I didn't make it that far. I did, however, make it to Moose land.

I found this moose sign, which I loved.

If you meet a moose with perky ears, don't invade its personal space, and try to peacefully coexist with the half-ton moose with slashing hooves. If the moose has flattened ears, think angry, half-ton, cat. Run - preferably faster than the moose. Actually, it doesn't say it on the sign, but you probably should back away slowly first, then run if necessary.

At any rate, all you really need to know is that if you ever want to stroll through a system of planets, gazing at the glittering stars and basking in the emptiness of space, go to Alaska at night (or you can go back in time and hitch a ride on one of the Voyagers - that would work too - but I'd recommend Alaska - you're less likely to die.)

How well do you know Jupiter?

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