THE PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
I learned the following information from an article at this website.
There are two types of planet: the terrestrial planets, which are rocky and have weak magnetic fields and have two moons or less. In order of their position from the Sun they are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The other type are the gas giants.
Mercury has practically no atmosphere and its surface has craters much like Earth’s moon.
Venus is of similar size to the Earth. It has a very dense atmosphere largely composed of carbon dioxide. Due to the greenhouse effect the temperature on Venus is many hundreds of degrees Kelvin.
Earth has an atmosphere composed of nitrogen. It is cool enough to have liquid water in the form of oceans and lakes. It has one moon.
Mars is smaller and cooler than the Earth. It has a thin atmosphere that is too thin to retain water. It has two moons.
The gas giants are composed of gas, have stronger magnetic fields, and have rings and many moons. In order of their position from the Sun they are: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Jupiter is the largest of all the planets. It is not solid, and so different bands of gas on the surface rotate at different rates. The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is a hurricane that has lasted for over 400 years. It is the size of three Earths. Jupiter has over 63 satellites. The most well-known of these are the Gallilean moons, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa and Io.
Saturn is the next largest planet. It has many distinctive rings around it. The density of Saturn is so light that the entire planet would float on a body of water. Saturn has at least 43 moons.Neptune’s distance from the Sun is thirty times the distance from Earth to the Sun. It has not completed a full orbit even since it was discovered in 1846.

THE SUN
I learned the following information from an article at this website.
The Sun’s surface temperature is 5800 degrees Kelvin. Compared with other stars it is of a medium size. Its average size allows for the optimal burning efficiency of its fuel. It has a steady and slow conversion of matter into energy through nuclear fusion. The energy is released in the form of light when it shines. The Sun will last about another 5 billion years. When it has converted all the hydrogen and helium into energy it will become a red giant, which means its surface temperature will drop and its size will increase.
The Sun emits high energy particles and gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet, visible, infrared and radio radiation. These are all forms of light, or electromagnetic energy.Almost 98% of the total mass in the solar system is the Sun. The other 2% is the planets, moons, comets and asteroids.

STARS
I learned the following information from an article at the website of Thinkquest.
Stars are often born in interstellar nebulae, which are huge clouds of matter in the form of gas and dust. The particles in these clouds compress under the gravity of the clouds and due to increased atomic collisions they heat up greatly. The star is born when it heats up enough to fuse hydrogen atoms into helium. The majority of a star’s life is spent fusing hydrogen into helium and other elements. Its core uses up the elements within over billions of years.
The larger the mass of a star is, the shorter its life is. When a star ceases to fuse elements into other elements, the fate of the star depends on its size.
A star the size of the Sun will ultimately expand up to one hundred times its size and become what is known as a “red giant.” As the helium in its core runs out it shrinks. The gravitational force within the star becomes so great that it crushes the star into a star called a “white dwarf,” which is many times smaller than the star originally was. The white dwarf will shine for many more years until it burns out and is merely a remnant of matter densely compacted.
A star smaller than the Sun burns until the fuel in its core is depleted. Then the gravitational force of the star’s center overpowers the star and it is crushed. It becomes a “brown dwarf,” with no energy left to emit light.
A star more than ten times the size of the sun begins to expand rapidly after it exhausts its fuel. It continues to expand until it is huge and on fire, known as a “supergiant.” The supergiant expands violently and loses energy for it radiates most of its energy away. This is in the form of an explosion that is known as a “supernova.” The remnant of a supernova often forms nebulae.
Four supernovae have been observed in the last millennium: The Chinese witnessed one in 1054 AD, Tycho Brae witnessed one in 1572, Kepler witnessed one in 1604, and the most recent one occurred in 1987.
The remains of the star are finally crushed by gravity and supercompressed into an extremely dense object known as a “neutron star.” A neutron star’s mass is compressed so densely that the protons and electrons are crushed together into neutrons.
A pulsar is a neutron star that spins and emits radio waves.
A star more than thirty times the size of the sun begins to expand once it exhausts its fuel. It expands into a supergiant and then into a supernova. Unlike a smaller star, though, the huge mass of this star causes such a huge gravitational force from its center that it becomes infinitely compressed. It becomes a “black hole,” from whose gravitational pull nothing can escape. A black hole is also called a singularity. Scientists believe that the universe was created by a black hole. According to a theory, the universe could compress itself back into a singularity or black hole, and explode, which would begin the process again, and this pattern would repeat for all eternity.

GALAXIES AND QUASARS
I learned the following information from an article at the website of thinkquest. A galaxy is a group of many stars that is spinning through space. Galaxies come in a variety of types based on their shape, groups they may be in, and a number of other attributes. There are five main types of galaxies, classified according to their shape: ellipticals, spirals, lenticular, barreled spirals, and irregular shapes. Elliptical galaxies are ellipses in shape.
One astronomical object that was often mistaken for a galaxy in the past is a quasar. A quasar is an object that is not a star but which radiates an enormous amount of light. The light of a quasar fluctuates over extremely short periods of time, often in a matter of seconds. This shows that quasars are not very big, because it takes light a long time, measured in years, to travel through an entire galaxy. A rule of thumb is that the faster an object shifts its light emission, the smaller it must be. A quasar can emit as much light as a whole galaxy with billions of stars in it. Scientists today generally believe that a quasar is actually an extremely huge black hole.
Star populations of an area have two classifications. The two types of star population are Type I and Type II. Type I includes blue giant stars and blue supergiant stars. Type I includes the arms of spirals and irregular galaxies. Type II are elliptical, lenticular and the nuclei of spirals. Type II includes red giants, subgiants, and subdwarfs.

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
The International Space Station is the largest international scientific or technological project ever undertaken. It is made possible by work in labs and factories all over the world. A permanent laboratory is established in a realm where gravity, temperature and pressure can be manipulated. The projects undertaken in the space station are impossible to conduct on Earth. Future technologies are tested there and advances will be made in the development of new industrial materials, technology of communication and medical innovations.
The Space Station provides scientists with electric power and time to conduct research on the growth of protein crystals, which helps scientists understand the nature of proteins. Crystals grown in space are currently superior to anything grown on Earth, and these crystals are essential for research into cancer, diabetes, emphysema, parasitic infections and immune system disorders.
The absence of gravity on the Space Station provides for new insights into human health and the combat against disease. Heart, lung and kidney function are studied on the Space Station, as well as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, hormonal imbalances and disorders, and brain function.
Crew members study materials that could not exist on Earth and processes that could not take place on Earth due to gravity. Polymers, semiconducters for high-speed supercomputers and electronics, and high-temperature superconductors are tested on the Space Station. The Space Station will lead efforts to educate and motivate the next generation of scientists, engineers, and thinkers.
I learned all the information I just described about the Space Station from an article at the website of Thinkquest.

THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
The Hubble Space Telescope is hugely crucial in our study of the cosmos, and it is important to know what it is. I learned all the information I describe here in an article at the website of Thinkquest.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a program established and run by the European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Its purpose is to operate as a long-lasting observatory of space for the benefit of the study of astronomy worldwide. It was conceived of in the 1940’s, created from the 1970s to the 1980s, and operated beginning in the 1990s. NASA planned the Hubble Space Telescope as a long-term observatory based in space. NASA has planned servicing missions to the equipment in space since the beginning, and has executed these missions. The telescope itself is a 2.4 meter reflecting telescope kept in low-Earth orbit.
All scientific operations of the telescope are coordinated by the Space Telescope Science Institute on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus in Baltimore, Maryland.The scientific instruments that are connected with the telescope include three cameras, two spectrographs, and fine guidance sensors. These instruments are able to produce images of astronomical objects of exceptional quality. The Hubble Space Telescope can produce images about ten times more accurately than any telescope located on Earth.

A SECOND LOOK AT LIFE EXISTING IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE
I learned all the information described here from the article by Robert Roy Britt that I linked to in the last post. This is a deeper look into the discovery of the building blocks of life being present in the early universe. One probably wonders what context these molecules were found in, that is, where they were and what was around them.
Biologist Ken Nealson described his opinion of the context of the molecules. “It’ll have shape and composition. It’ll have structure,” he stated. Nealson described how this structure is necessary to convert one form of energy into another, which is what stars do and is a fundamental property of life. He continues, “Life replicates, and life evolves. And because it consumes energy, it produces waste products. And it has some particular activities that seem to be universal, one of which is movement.” He claims that there is little else to distinguish life in a universal sense. It is not even certain whether life requires fuel of any sort or even water. It is important to note that while scientists search into the furthest reaches of time and space, there are some planets and moons in our solar system that could contain life. Mars is a possibility. Europa, a moon of Jupiter, and Saturn’s methane-covered moon, Titan, are still possibilities. Even Venus could harbor life. However these places are extremely unlike Earth and so astrobiologists hope to find other Earthlike planets out there that could harbor a life form similar to that of our planet.

LIFE COULD HAVE EXISTED IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE
The elements that formed life have been discovered in galaxies that are so far away that the light images we can gather of them are a glimpse into their existence when the universe was 75% younger than it is today. Scientists have discovered organic molecules called hydrocarbons present in this early universe. These molecules are the building blocks of life. Scientists do not know how life formed from organic material into living material. This finding therefore doesn’t give any idea of whether there is or was life in the universe, only that the building blocks were there.
They galaxies they viewed are almost 10 billion light-years away and are therefore seen as they were 10 billion years ago. George Helou says that “Planets and life had very early opportunities to emerge in the universe.”
The hydrocarbons discovered are found throughout the Milky Way.
The leading theory of the development of the universe implies that at first matter was mostly hydrogen. It is believed that new and heavier elements formed as the first stars were born, burned, and died. Among these are oxygen and metals. As more and more stars lived and burnt out more and more elements emerged, and some of these elements combined into hydrocarbons. These, combined with water, are the ingredients of life. However, scientists do not know how life formed.
You may be wondering how scientists can tell what elements are present by merely viewing a distant galaxy. Scientists did this by viewing the infrared light shed by the galaxies and splitting the infrared light into a spectrum of its colors. The colors of the burning stars reveal what element is present.
I learned all the information I just described in an article written by Robert Roy Britt, a writer for the website of SPACE.

THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE
A report published in 2002 puts the odds for extraterrestrial life on planets similar to Earth at 1 in 3. However, scientists cannot find any hints of what extraterrestrial life might look like. Over 100 top scientists including chemists, biologists and astronomers met around that time, and they came to the conclusion that they did not know how even the simplest life begins.
“Nobody understands the origin of life,” said Ken Nealson, a geobiologist at the University of Southern California. “If they say thay do, they are probably trying to fool you.”
Not only do scientists not know how life begins, they don’t even know how they can search for it. Britt asserts that the odds are that the extraterrestrial life we first discover will be microbial. Life on Earth took billions of years to evolve and the creatures that would survive the various harsh conditions out there would be very simple creatures. Britt claims, “Astrobiology is first and foremost a search for the scum of the universe.”
I personally find his characterization of life to be distasteful. Life is not the “scum of the universe.”
On Earth certain microscopic bacteria are discovered to endure far harsher conditions than we would have imagined two decades age. Ken Nealson claims that “Life hides under rocks. Life hides in the rocks.” He also claims that life forms have evolved to eat and breathe rocks alone. We are constantly discovering new methods of survival. This suggests that on other planets there may be countless different mechanisms of survival. I learned all the information I just described from an article by Robert Roy Britt, a writer for the website of SPACE.

UFO MYTHS AND FACTS
I learned the following information from an

UFO MYTHS AND FACTS
I learned the following information from an article written by Leonard David, a writer for the website of SPACE. Leonard David poses a question that he claims people who are interested in unidentified flying objects pose: “Scientifically speaking, are UFOs worth keeping an eye on?”
For decades people have spotted UFOs, or Unidentified Flying Objects. UFOs and aliens are a part of our culture. Yet UFOs remain fraught with mystery. A reason for this, claims David, is that there are many phonies and disproved claims out there. However there are also many seemingly unbiased witnesses. Ted Roe, the Executive Director of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena, claims that there have been advances in the field of UFO research. Among these innovations is the capture of optical spectra from “mobile, unpredictable luminosities.” Roe states that there are “stable, mobile, unusual, poorly documented phenomena with quite unusual properties manifesting within our atmosphere.”

EARTH WARPS THE FABRIC OF SPACE
According to an article by a writer for the website of SPACE named Robert Roy Britt, a recent study confirms a key principle of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The following information was gleaned from Britt’s article. Earth’s spin has been proven to warp space around the planet. Researchers have watched the movements of two Earth-orbiting satellites to determine whether they shift any in response to spinning Earth for over 11 years. They have determined that each is dragged by about 6 feet every year. This means that the spinning Earth twists the space around it. The results of this study were announced on October 20, 2004.
The twisting of space is called frame dragging. Frame dragging was predicted in 1918 and it means that an object with mass warps the space-time around it. This is comparable to the way a heavy object deforms a stretched elastic sheet. The spinning of Earth distorts space in the way that a wheel spinning on a sheet would distort the sheet.
If Earth is causing this frame-dragging, the satellites would be affected, scientists believed. They hit two satellites with millions of laser signals to ascertain the position of the satellites. These satellites look like golf balls two feet in diameter, and are designed to do absolutely nothing but orbit the planet. The scientists report that the amount the satellites have moved is 99% the amount they predicted. According to physicist Neil Ashby this study is “the first reasonably accurate measurement of frame-dragging.” These results can be applied to theories about black holes. Frame-dragging was predicted by Einstein but it was actually discovered through observing a black hole. In 1997 researchers discovered that the movements of gas spiraling into a black hole were wobbled like a spinning top wobbles. Scientists have also discovered that black holes do spin and that frame-dragging is a main cause of the way black holes cause huge jets of material to be spewed away from the area around a black hole.

A SPIDER WEB IS THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE
The information described here was gleaned from the article by Robert Roy Britt that was noted in the last post. This is a more detailed description of what was discovered from the image showing cosmic radiation emitted across the universe just after the Big Bang. This image is the first evidence ever discovered that confirms scientists’ theory that the first seconds of the existence of the universe was a time of super expansion. It also gives clues as to how exactly this expansion was able to occur.
The data was derived from observations of the cosmic microwave background. According to the article by Robert Roy Britt, the Cosmic Microwave Background was created “about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the universe had first expanded enough to cool and allow atoms to form. Around that time a dense and impenetrable primordial cloud cleared out. The radiation escaped in one form and, over time, its wavelengths were stretched to the microwave range by the perpetual expansion of the universe. The remnant radiation retains an imprint of the end of that era and hints about what occurred before, much like the patterns on a cloud’s exterior provide clues to its insides.” This microwave radiation has spread throughout the universe over time. Its temperature is nearly uniform across all of space, but extremely small variations in temperature reveal clues about the structure of the early universe. The temperature ranges from 2.7251 to 2.7249 degrees Kelvin. According to Britt these locations of variation were the earliest “lumps and bumps” or “seeds for galaxies and stars.”Scientists have not yet found any evidence indicative of what happened to those places of temperature variation, but they imagine that “nodes” of matter were connected with filaments of matter, like a spider web. Hydrogen, like droplets on a spider web, developed and eventually gathered at the nodes of matter. Here the matter gathered to form the first galaxies.

BABY PICTURE OF UNIVERSE REVEALS ORIGINS
I learned the following information from an article by Robert Roy Britt, a Senior Science Writer for the website of Space. This article was written on February 11, 2003, the day that astronomers announced hugely important discoveries revealing the age and properties of the universe as well as when the first stars were born. These discoveries were based on the development of a map of the universe that was created measuring radiation emitted before there were any stars. According to Britt, the discoveries provide “the strongest support to date for the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe and a sub-notion within that theory that asserts that “hyperinflation” ruled during the first seconds.” The discoveries also proved astronomers’ suppositions of the age of the universe and the state of the universe at the time when the first stars were born.
The image created shows the universe’s radiation properties about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. Specifically, it shows the cosmic microwave background. The data was projected to learn what the universe would have looked like at a later point in time, revealing that star formation was possible 200 million years after the Big Bang. The universe was revealed to be approximately 13.7 billion years old. The universe at the time represented by the image was composed of 4% matter in the form of atoms, 23% dark matter and 73% dark energy. Dark energy causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate at an ever-faster pace. Another interesting aspect confirmed is that the geometry of the universe is flat. This means that parallel lines never meet, even at the ends of the universe.

ASTRONOMY AND THE UNSOLVED QUESTIONS OF LIFE
Seth Shostak, a writer for the SETI Institute, writes an interesting perspective on the philosophical side of astronomy. In an article at the website of SPACE he says that astronomy is all about the biggest question mankind has: "What's it all about?" This asks what the point of our existence is, including the point of the Earth, the stars, you, me, and everything. He states that "in the interests of mental equanimity" most often this question is in the back of our minds rather than something we consider daily. He asserts that astronomy could help humans to discover the meaning and the point of it all, not by directly answering the question but rather by providing a context in which to consider ourselves.
Shostak asks what astronomy actually says. Up to the dawn of the twentieth century people believed the universe had been around for eternity and always would be. Individuals are infinitely small particles in an endlessly flowing river, or so we believed.
But in the recent past, the answers have been proven. Recently Edwin Hubble proved that the entire universe is expanding, and that recent measurements of the universe show that this expansion is speeding up. The universe is getting larger and larger so that every year there are 20 billion more miles between us and the nearest Virgo cluster of galaxies.
The point to notice with this fact, asserts Shostak, is that an expanding universe must have had a beginning. This is similar to many religious beliefs.
The most important thing to realize, asserts Shostak, is about the Sun. In five billion years it will swell up, eclipse the inner planets, and boil away our world. Our descendants must relocate to a new home in space. Humans will last awhile if they can accomplish this, but they will eventually have nowhere to go. The population boom of stars is definitely over, and the stars are going out. In 100 billion years there will be no stars left in the galaxy and only remnants, black holes, and neutron stars- a hundred billion of them.
Shostak states, "The fun will be over, but the decay will go on. Chaotic encounters will eventually strip planets from the corpses of their erstwhile suns, and galaxies will slowly evaporate- spewing their dark and lifeless contents into the ever-expanding void. Even massive black holes will someday melt away, adding their mass to the inert and keenly cold fog that the universe will become. The cosmos will be a deathly silent graveyard, cloaked in perpetual night."
Shostak goes on to describe how this scenario will occur endlessly, with no reversal. It will continue to expand forever and become forever thinner.
In conclusion, after 100 billion years of activity the universe will fall apart forever. Our brief history of a species is infinitely short in the lifespan of the universe.
Shostak muses that given our apparent insignificance and the doom of all things, it is tempting to try to live in the moment. Also he muses that considering why we're here is pointless and a "temptation to madness." There is only the hope of our discovering something that will brighten the bleak prospects. Shostak closes with the quote by Sigmeund Freud that "anatomy is destiny."

THE BIG RIP
The Big Rip theory is not accepted by a majority of scientists.
Scientist Robert Caldwell has developed a precise countdown to the utter destruction of the universe. The universe is predicted to end in 20 billion years.
In 19 billion years all galaxies will have moved so far apart so quickly that we will no longer be able to see them.
When the Milky Way begins to fly apart, there will be 60 million years left.
Planets in the solar system will fall away from the sun three months before the end of time. When Earth explodes, there are about thirty minutes of the universe's existence until atoms break apart. It seems that time itself will end.
Caldwell's theory was born when he and his colleagues were studying how a sphere of matter collapses under its own weight to form a galaxy. They worked with the concept using computer models, and they experimented by altering the factor of dark energy. If they altered it enough, the sphere would be prevented from collapsong. If they increased the power of dark energy to the extreme, the sphere exploded.
There are many unknown factors. The dark energy that is apparently driving expansion may or may not be a force currently known to physics. Dark energy may be nothing but a different manifestation of gravity over great distances. The acceleration of the universe could be a response to dark matter, which is believed to make up 23 percent of the universe. Caldwell notes that dark matter has unknown properties and may be related to dark matter.

THE SHREDDING OF THE UNIVERSE
Scientists have been theorizing about the death of the universe since they imagined the existence of the universe. A new theory put forth by Robert Caldwell of Dartmouth University predicts that a "phantom energy" will rip apart the universe down to its very atomic structure and time itself. The theory was put forth in accordance with astronomical observations made in the late 90's: That the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing acceleration, and that some force is acting as a vacuum so that everything moves outward.
Caldwell bases his theory on one mahor question: What would happen if the rate of acceleration increased? The proposed answer is that the eventual rate would overcome the force of gravity right down to the nuclear forces of the subatomic world.
Caldwell states, "The expansion becomes so fast that it literally rips apart all bound objects. It rips apart clusters of galaxies. It rips apart stars. It rips apart planets and solar systems. And it eventually rips atpart all matter." Caldwell calls this phenomenon "The Big Rip."
The known acceleration of the universe is driven by dark energy, a new concept that is thought by scientists to be "anti-gravity working over large distances." A majority of scientists believe that the acceleration is growing and will perpetually continue to grow at a constant rate. This is comparable to a car moving 5mph faster with each mile traveled. At the projected rate, all things in space will eventually recede from one another at the speed of light. Within 100 billion years, each galaxy would be alone in an empty universe.
The Big Rip theory proposes that dark energy becomes even more forcefull as a repelling agent over time. Rather than a car accelerating 10mph every mile, the car would begin to accelerate every half mile, then every yard, then every inch.
All of the information I have described was gleaned from an article by Robert Roy Britt, a writer for the website of SPACE.

BLACK HOLES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE FIFTH DIMENSION
Scientists have announced that in accordance with a new theory of the dimensions of the universe and its properties, there may be tiny black holes throughout our solar system. The scientists have also announced that there is a telescope to be launched in 2007 that will be sensitive enough to detect these tiny black holes. This telescope will be able to test the theory that the universe has five dimensions. It is called the Gamma-ray Large Space Telescope (GLAST).
The Randall-Sundrum braneworld model asserts that the visible universe is "a membrane embedded within a larger universe, like a strand of seaweed floating in the ocean." Unlike Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, which has three dimensions of space and one of time, the theory of the braneworld universe contains another dimension of space- a fifth dimension.
Also unlike general relativity is the braneworld prediction that there are many tiny black holes throughout the universe, including in our solar system, and that these are remnants of the Big Bang. The Theory of General Relativity predicts that these black holes would have evaporated long ago. These black holes are imagined to be extremely small-about the size of an atomic nucleus-but they would have masses comparable to a tiny asteroid.
Amazingly, the Braneworld theory is testable. The mini-black holes are different from other black holes, such as stellar-mass and supermassive black holes, because they would warp the fabric of space-time differently. This is due to their sharing properties with the fifth dimension. Gamma-rays of light should be distorted differently when they encounter a mini-black hole when compared with a conventional black hole. The Gamma-ray Large Space Telescope is predicted to be sensitive enough to detect the distortions.
All the information described here was gleaned from an article writtin by Kerr Than, a staff writer for the website of SPACE. I find it very exciting that such a theory is testable so soon. I can't wait to find out whether this theory is true. If it is true and scientists can prove that there is a fifth dimension, our concept of science and our own existence would be dramatically affected. Humans may have reached a shore no less discovered and unknown than the European discovery of America. We will have reached a new frontier.

LEONID METEOR SHOWER TONIGHT
The annual Leonid Meteor Shower will be a spectacle for sky-watchers tonight around 11PM until 1AM Eastern Standard Time in North America and Western Europe. During this peak in activity, those of us in North America and Europe could see up to 150 shooting stars per hour, or more than two per minute. I learned more about this exciting spectacle from an article at the Yahoo! homepage.
According to Yahoo!, ""We expect an outburst of more than 100 Leonids per hour," said Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Cooke notes that the shooting stars during this peak period are likely to be faint, however, created by very small meteoroid grains.
Elsewhere people will see the typically enjoyable Leonid display of a few meteors each hour, weather permitting and assuming dark skies away from city lights."
Ancient debris
The shooting stars are known as Leonids. They are debris left behind by a comet called Temple-Tuttle that passes periodically through the solar system. Every November the path of Earth goes through trails of debris that have been shifted over several millennia. Leonids become bright fireball as they pass through the atmosphere. This fireball effect could occur at any time.
Leonids are named after the constellation Leo because they appear to arise directly from this constellation. The Leonids are actually underway already, ramping up gradually to the peak. The meteor shower continues for several days after tonight's peak.
If you plan on watching the meteor shower you should plan to head out thirty minutes early to allow your eyes to adjust to the dark. Telescopes and binoculars are not useful. All you need is a chair or sleeping bag and warm clothes. Look towards the east, but try to scan the entire sky as you never know where a Leonid is going to be.

THE ASSUMPTIONS OF SETI
According to an article at Wikipedia on SETI, or The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, SETI is the organized efforts by humans to detect alien intelligance. Projects described as being with "SETI" include projects funded by the United States Government. These projects often involve surveying the sky to detect some sort of transmissions from a civilization on a distant planet. SETI projects make assumptions to narrow the search, and thus no exhaustive search has been conducted yet.
A majority of scientists do not view the goals of SETI to be trivial. Our galaxy alone is 100,000 light years across and contains about 100 billion stars. It is incredible to consider the pursuit of searching the entire sky for alien signals. SETI is only possible because its pursuit is based on certain assumptions.
A main assumption of SETI is that humans are not particularly exceptional in our intelligence and that as an averagely intelligent race, there should be other species in space both more and less advanced, and that furthermore the other species would have some interest in contacting us. If this assumption is correct then communication seems imminent.
Another assumption is that we are most likely to locate life near sun-like stars. Larger stars have short lifespans and small stars provide limited heat and their planets are tidally locked, meaning that one side of the planet is forever in light and heat and the other side is forever in cold and darkness.
Around one in ten stars in our galaxy are similar to our sun in size. This is somewhere to start looking, but as we do not know what conditions would be conducive to life, all of space must be searched.
A third assumption of SETI is that intelligent life is able to exist on its planet without destroying it. Also, there is no telling how long the species has been in existence; our species has only been in existence for a very, very brief period of time, comparable to a blink of an eye in a munite's time. If our species is around in a hundred thousand years and is constantly sending signals, the possibility of our communicating with an alien species becomes more likely. If our civilization destroys itself or if other civilizations have self-destructive tendancies, then the likelihood of our communicating with another civilization becomes incredibly small.
Another assumption of SETI is that life may be where there is water. However water is hard to detect at such huge distances.
I learned all the previously described information from an article at the website of Wikipedia, at the URL previously specified.

I learned this equation from the website of The Search For Extraterrestrial life, or SETI.
This equation seeks to answer the question of the likelihood of our recieving messages from extraterrestrial life.

The Drake Equation
N = R * f p n e f l f i f c L

Where,N = The number of civilizations in The Milky Way Galaxy whose radio emissions are detectable.

R* = The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life.

f p = The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.

n e = The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.

fl = The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.

f i = The fraction of life bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges.

f c = The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.

L = The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

JUPITER'S LITTLE RED SPOT
Many of us have heard of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. But what is it? And what about the Little Red Spot? Both are storms, constantly raging. I learned the following information from an article at the website of Spaceflight Now.
Jupiter's Little Red Spot is getting stronger. The wind speeds of this enormous storm have grown stronger and are now equal to the wind speeds of the Great Red Spot, the largest storm on Jupiter. NASA's Hubble telescope have observed this phenomenon. The highest wind speeds in Jupiter's Little Red Spot have increased and are now equal to those in its older and larger sibling, the Great Red Spot, according to observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. We have observed the Great Red Spot for the past 400 years. The Little Red Spot's winds speeds are approximately 400 miles per hour. The increased intensity of the storm is probably why it changed color from white to red in late 2005.
The website of Spaceflight Now describes the following accounts of scientists: '"No one has ever seen a storm on Jupiter grow stronger and turn red before," said Amy Simon-Miller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., lead author of a paper describing the new observations appearing in the journal Icarus. "We hope continued observations of the Little Red Spot will shed light on the many mysteries of the Great Red Spot, including the composition of its clouds and the chemistry that gives it its red color."'
The storms may seem small when compared to the huge size of Jupiter. But the Little Red Spot is actually about the size of Earth, and the Great Red Spot is around three Earth diameters across. Both storms are in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. They are powered by warm air rising in their centers. Scientists don't know why the Little Red Spot is getting stronger. One possibility is a change in size. The winds of this storm spin around their central core of rising air. If the storm were to become smaller, its spiraling winds would increase. It is believed that the Little Red Spot has changed color because as its winds grow stronger it reaches materials embedded deeper in the surface, and that these materials could turn red when exposed to ultraviolet light.

WHITE HOLES AND WORMHOLES
According to a list of frequently asked questions answered by Ted Bunn at a website of the University of Berkeley, white holes and wormholes can be concieved of and are mathematically possible, so it is possible that they could exist. I learned the following from the previously mentioned site. The equations of general relativity are symmetric in time. If one assumes that time moves backwards instead of forwards, on can get an equally valid solution that is exactly opposite of a black hole, called a white hole. This means that if time is reversed, a white hole will only spit things out, whereas a black hole will only take things in. Although this can be conceived of as possible, it is almost certain that these things do not exist, since it is impossible to produce. Producing a white hole is as impossible as destroying a black hole, because of time.
A wormhole exists when a black hole is connected to a corresponding white hole. It is theorized that the white hole may be in a different universe, which is defined as being a space-time that is completely disconnected from our region except by a wormhole. In theory, a wormhole could lead to anywhere- perhaps to another universe or perhaps in the past. However, it is almost certain that wormholes do not exist. Black holes that form from the collapse of ordinary matter do not form wormholes, and scientists do not think it is possible for any other type of black hole to exist. Also, if a wormhole formed, it would probably not be stable, and would collapse if anything tried to move through it. Even if it were stable, if one tried to pass through it one would be “fried” by the concentrated light waves of the stars and the cosmic microwave background.

FALLING INTO A BLACK HOLE
I found a very interesting series of frequently asked questions answered by Ted Bunn at The University of Berkeley’s website. An interesting question is “What if I fall into a black hole?” I learned the following answer from the FAQs at the previously mentioned website. If one aims a spaceship at the million-solar-mass black hole in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy, being on the spaceship as it coasts in wouldn’t feel anything at first. As one gets closer one feels tidal gravitational forces. Eventually they will tear one apart. If one looks out as they are falling into the black hole, one would see everything distorted, because the gravity of the black hole bends light. Noone on the outside would be able to see you, because the light can’t escape the horizon of the black hole. Now this part is extremely fascinating: if your friend saw you fall into a black hole, she would see you move more and more slowly. She would never actually see you hit the black hole’s horizon, even if she waited forever. This is because the light one emits takes longer and longer to escape the black hole and reach your friend as you fall in. The light you emit as you cross the horizon of the black hole will remain frozen in space forever.

WHAT IF WE CONTACT ALIENS?
I read an article by Seth Shostak at the website of SPACE, and learned the following information. On July 18, 2006 the Alien Telescope Array was put to work. It is a group of telescopes searching for a signal from alien societies. Over the next twenty years the telescopes will pan 1,000 light years away from us in all directions. If there is life out there, we are now more likely to find it. But what if we do get a signal? Will the general public ever know it? Or would the government keep it a secret? There are many assumptions of what would happen if we got a signal. Among them are that the government would keep it a secret, or that scientists would keep it a secret. But there is actually a protocol for action in case a signal is found. The protocol is that scientists must first determine with certainty that the signal is extraterrestrial. Then they must tell all other astronomers and national officials, and then tell the world.It is not quite as simple as it sounds. Scientists actually get signals all the time, and they spend much of their time sorting through these signals to be sure that they aren’t caused by aliens. And if there is a possibility of alien signals, the media will be reporting about it weeks before the scientists can be certain that it is a signal from aliens.

WHY WE MUST LEAVE EARTH
Perhaps you are familiar with Stephen Hawking, a scientist who has made astounding leaps in the study of time, space and black holes. He is considered to be an extremely reliable source for scientific speculation. Well, he recently made an argument in favor of space colonization. I recently read an article called “Why We Must Flee the Planet: The Geometry of Earth is All Wrong” at the website of SPACE. I learned the following information from that article.
Stephen Hawking is an advocate of space colonization. According to the previously mentioned article, Stephen Hawking stated that “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers.”
Seth Shostak, the author of the article, asserts that another reason that life on Earth is impractical is because the shape of Earth is inefficient. A sphere has minimal surface area, while a square has maximum surface space. He claims that the population of humans doubles every fifty years, and that in 4810 CE the mass of humans would reach the moon. A physicist named Freeman Dyson suggests that humans move to asteroids in the Kuiper Belt, a band of asteroids and space junk surrounding the solar system.
Seth Stostak argues that moving to solar system bodies is not practical, for a planet like Mars “is not a cheap fixer-upper.
Another possibility seems much more practical: that humans construct huge aluminum cylinders in space and live in them. In the 1970’s some scientists predicted that by the year 2000 millions of humans would be living in space. Of course, that may yet come to pass.