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[tab]In the Orion Nebula, dense clumps of material are detected by Planck (left) that go completely unnoticed by telescopes operating at visible wavelengths (right)[/tab][IMG]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47721000/jpg/_47721061_orion_esa_466.jpg[/IMG]
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[*]Planck is surveying the famous Cosmic Microwave Background
[*]This ancient light's origins date to 380,000 years after the Big Bang
[*]It informs scientists about the age, contents and shape of the cosmos
[*]Planck's measurements will be finer than any previous satellite
[*]The observatory makes its map by rotating and scanning the sky
[*]Planck's mission goal is to scan the sky at least four times
[*][URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8260711.stm"]Planck telescope's first glimpse[/URL] [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8133806.stm"]Planck achieves ultra-cold state[/URL]
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[quote=BBC][B]The gaseous and dusty fabric of our galaxy is illuminated in new images captured by Europe's Planck telescope.[/B]
The pictures reveal features of the Milky Way that are unseen by most other space observatories, say scientists.
Remarkably, these images are just byproducts for Planck, which must filter out much of the light it detects to get at its primary target.
That target is a relic radiation emitted in the first few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang.
This so-called Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) fills the entire sky and retains fundamental information about the age, contents and structure of the cosmos.
On one level, therefore, Monday's release represents "rejected" data - although Planck scientists stress there will be many researchers for whom this information will still hold high value.
"For the primary CMB, we want to remove all the galactic emission - but it's an important part of the science case for Planck that you can also learn a lot about the galaxy from that data," Planck team-member Professor George Efstathiou told BBC News.
[B]Cold clumps[/B]
The pictures illustrate "the stuff" that sits between the stars - the great clouds of dust and gas that billow about in space, aggregating in some places to form stars and dispersing in others as they are pushed about by the pressure of starlight.
In one picture of the Orion Nebula, Planck's instruments see concentrated fronts of material where stars are actively forming. In a second image of a far more sedate region of space in the Perseus Constellation, the structure and distribution of this material looks much more diffuse.
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Planck's super-sensitive instruments work at a range of very long wavelengths, in the radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Scientists probe these different wavelengths to highlight particular features.
At the lowest frequencies, the telescope sees the emission given off by electrons accelerating through the magnetic fields of our galaxy.
At intermediate wavelengths, the light detected by Planck is dominated by gas that has been excited by newly formed stars.
And at the highest frequencies in its range, the observatory maps the emission coming from the coldest clumps of dust that trace the matter falling in on itself to form new stars.
All of this information provides useful insight on the complex processes that go into sculpting our galaxy.
"The two highest frequency channels on Planck are really there to study dust; they were put on to allow galactic science. Those are the primary channels for detecting cold star-forming core regions," said Professor Efstathiou.
"We don't know that much about dust emission from the galaxy because, at these wavelengths, the atmosphere is opaque. They are absorbed by water vapour. That's why you go into space with a mission like Planck."
[B]Big prize[/B]
Planck's chief objective, however, is to map the Cosmic Microwave Background.
This only becomes apparent when all the "contaminating" light that beautifully illuminates the latest pictures is stripped out.
Planck should complete its first all-sky survey of the CMB within weeks. Recently agreed funding should see the telescope eventually acquire at least four-times coverage.
The project team will then need time to analyse all the data and assess its significance. A formal release of CMB maps and scientific papers is expected at the end of 2012.
Past pioneers in the study of the Cosmic Microwave Background have earned a clutch of Nobel Prizes, and there is great hope that the super-sensitivity of Planck will advance the field considerably.
Planck is a mission of the European Space Agency. It was launched on 14 May last year. Its observing station is sited 1.5 million km from Earth on its "night side".[/quote]
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8645156.stm[/url]
[IMG]http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47721000/jpg/_47721062_pers_esa_466.jpg[/IMG] [tab]The Perseus region appears less active to Planck (left) but still busy compared with telescopes insensitive to emission from interstellar material (right)[/tab]
I find it funny how some people still seem to believe we are the only lifeforms in the universe.
People who do not care for the universe and all the amazing wonders it holds are truly missing out.
[QUOTE=Dr Magnusson;21575056]People who do not care for the universe and all the amazing wonders it holds are truly missing out.[/QUOTE]
Why care about the universe when you can have pie?
The problem with aliens is that we're aliens to them, plus we could communicate in a completely different way.
But knowing you Terrans, you'll do what the British did and fuck all the women and force them our own language.
[QUOTE=Wayword;21575139]Why care about the universe when you can have pie?[/QUOTE]
Why even have pie if you can go to SPACE?
[editline]03:16PM[/editline]
Get some fuckin space alien pie if you really want pie.
[QUOTE=gnome;21575164]Why even have pie if you can go to SPACE?
[editline]03:16PM[/editline]
Get some fuckin space alien pie if you really want pie.[/QUOTE]
As cool as space is, it seems like the kind of place you would risk your life for, only to be glad you are back on earth if you return.
Although I agree there's other living things out there, there's nothing saying we're not the first living beings in the Universe.
When aliens Invade I call shotgun
Like i always say. They're has to be life outside earth, i mean hell if we developed the way we did it is possible others have done the same. Sure i believe in "aliens" but not the kind science fiction created. Who knows, they might find us, we might find them. It is something we can keep thinking about, but it doesn't really matter in till it happens.
And here I am, stuck on this dull rock :sigh:
I'd love to travel around the universe.
*SMACK*
Oh, hi reality.
The chances of finding other life as we know it are near to impossible.
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On the right, I see a salmon.
[QUOTE=The_Lizard_Xing;21576085]The chances of finding other life as we know it are near to impossible.[/QUOTE]
It's nearly impossible to win at the lottery too, but it is still possible.
Not in our lifetime though :saddowns:
[QUOTE=starpluck;21574824]I find it funny how some people still seem to believe we are the only lifeforms in the universe.[/QUOTE]
I find it funny people continue to repeat this utterly banal statement every single time there's a topic about space.
[QUOTE=Pj The Dj;21576171]I find it funny people continue to repeat this utterly banal statement every single time there's a topic about space.[/QUOTE]
It's sad that statements like that still have to be made, considering it should be common knowledge by now.
[QUOTE=animephreak135;21576460]It's sad that statements like that still have to be made, considering it should be common knowledge by now.[/QUOTE]
Not really.
Extremophiles could live in Venus and cometary cores.
A meteorite was found with a bacteria in its core, because the core was kept warm and wet thanks to its ice and the Sun's radiation.
Europa and Enceladus have underground oceans of liquid water, warmed by volcanism. A warm and wet place. Life can easily form there. Not to mention to meteorite from Mars had fossilized bacteria. Mars was an Eden when our ancestors crawled out of the oceans.
Titan has compounds that can only be formed by living things, so it either has life or had some in the past.
We are not alone, that is for sure.
There are wonders out there, and some of them are closer than we think.
Need a source for the meteorite one and the one on Titan, Eudoxia.
[QUOTE=Raxas;21576812]Need a source for the meteorite one and the one on Titan, Eudoxia.[/QUOTE]
Meteorite: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia#Still_under_investigation.2Fundetermined[/url]
(Third item.)
Titan: Astronomy teacher, who is also a p. cool guy.
I didn't mention the nanobacteria found in the Martian meteorite because their origin might have been abiotic.
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