Searching for Other Earths

By Golda Akhgarnia

  

 From earliest times, humans have contemplated the existence of other Earth-like worlds in the universe.

Now, NASA is turning conjecture into conclusion with its Kepler Mission, a first attempt to determine whether planets similar to earth are a rare or common occurrence in our galaxy.

"This is an important project in NASA's astrobiology path," said San Diego State astronomy professor Bill Welsh, the only Kepler Participating Scientist from Southern California. "It's asking, are there other planets like ours out there? That's the first question we need to answer."

The Kepler telescope, which launched March 6, will survey approximately 100,000 stars over three and a half years. It will use photometry to find planets by detecting the very slight change in brightness (only 0.008%) that occurs when a planet passes in front of its host star. Mission team members expect it may find as many as 50 Earth-like planets and become a stepping stone for further NASA missions to study these planets with more powerful telescopes.

A select group

When NASA announced  in February 2007 that it was looking for astronomers to assist with a new mission, Welsh jumped at the opportunity to become one of only nine astronomers nationwide to join the Kepler Mission Science Team. While the main science working group is highly focused on detecting Earth-sized planets, the Participating Scientists carry out complementary research on the detection, characterization and understanding of extrasolar planets.

Welsh's task is to complete a meticulously detailed analysis of planets similar to Jupiter using a cutting-edge analysis tool written by fellow SDSU astronomy professor Jerome Orosz.  Although Welsh's work is not directly focused on finding Earth-size planets, his research will greatly enhance understanding of the planets and possibly even detect a few Earth-like planets or moons.  He and Orosz have worked closely for the last few years on extrasolar planet research, and Orosz is a paid consultant for the Kepler Mission under Welsh's grant.

20 years of planning

Coincidentally, SDSU's ties to the Kepler Mission pre-date Orosz and Welsh. Kepler Principal Investigator Bill Borucki looked to SDSU adjunct astronomy professor Andy Young for guidance when he was getting started on this project back in the mid-1980s.

Borucki's idea of finding other planets through photometry was pushing the limits, but fortunately, Young was an expert in the field. He helped mentor Borucki through the difficult process of perfecting his technique for locating Earth-like planets.

Now Welsh is using his Kepler work as an opportunity to mentor current SDSU students. His astrobiology class watched the launch and answered NASA's request for essays explaining the importance of the Kepler Mission. The submissions were included in a DVD placed inside the Kepler spacecraft.

Blast off

Last month, Welsh attended the Kepler launch with other team members and their families. The crowd—close to 400 people—rode buses from Kennedy Space Center to their viewing spot five miles from the launch site. After much anticipation, the crowd cheered in unison as they watched the rocket successfully launch.

Although the final experience was joyous, Welsh had many anxious moments leading up to the launch. He described one night just before the event when, at 2 a.m., he suddenly had doubts about some of his computations. He spent three hours checking his results, not because anyone else questioned him, but because of his own high expectations.

"There's a lot of internal pressure—you know how important this is and you feel an obligation to do the best that can be done," he explained.

These days, Welsh is more relaxed as he watches Kepler's early successes. The telescope's dust cover was recently ejected, allowing starlight to enter Kepler's science instrument, the photometer.  Engineers will continue to calibrate the instrument using images of stars for another several weeks, after which science observations will begin.

Mission outcome

According to Welsh, there are two potential outcomes for the mission. One is the finding that there are many planets like Earth in the solar system, and therefore, life similar to ours may be common. The other is that Earth and life as we know it are indeed very rare.

Either outcome will have significant consequences, Welsh said. On one hand, scientists may hope to begin to detect other species and find that we are not alone in the universe; or, on the other hand, humans will realize just how important it is to preserve life and resources on our unique planet.

NASA will not begin to release results of the mission to Participating Scientists until extensive calibration and quality control have been completed, possibly sometime in the fall.  Welsh will work part-time on the mission this spring, then full-time starting this summer, making the most of his appointment, which will last at least three years.

"It is a privilege to be part of such an important and historic mission," Welsh said. "I am honored to have been selected to join the 45 or so Science Team members who will be working with the Kepler data to discover other worlds."

Vedic Perspective

Srimad Bhagavatam 5.23.3 Purport       The Sisumara Planetary Systems

According to the description of this verse, the hundreds and thousands of stars and the great planets such as the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are not clustered together because of the law of gravity or any similar idea of the modern scientists. These planets and stars are all servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda or Krsna, and according to His order they sit in their chariots and travel in their respective orbits. The orbits in which they move are compared to machines given by material nature to the operating deities of the stars and planets, who carry out the orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by revolving around Dhruvaloka, which is occupied by the great devotee Maharaja Dhruva. This is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita (5.52) as follows:

              yac-caksur esa savita sakala-grahanam
               raja samasta-sura-murtir asesa-tejah
             yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakro
              govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

   "I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose control even the sun, which is considered to be the eye of the Lord, rotates within the fixed orbit of eternal time. The sun is the king of all planetary systems and has unlimited potency in heat and light." This verse from Brahma-samhita confirms that even the largest and most powerful planet, the sun, rotates within a fixed orbit, or kala-cakra, in obedience to the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This has nothing to do with gravity or any other imaginary laws created by the material scientists.
   Material scientists want to avoid the ruling government of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore they imagine different conditions under which they suppose the planets move. The only condition, however, is the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All the various predominating deities of the planets are persons, and the Supreme personality of Godhead is also a person. The Supreme Personality orders the subordinate persons, the demigods of various names, to carry out His supreme will. This fact is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (9.10), wherein Krsna says:

                      mayadhyaksena prakrtih
                       suyate sa-caracaram
                       hetunanena kaunteya
                       jagad viparivartate

   "This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again."
   The orbits of the planets resemble the bodies in which all living entities are seated because they are both machines controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (18.61):

                      isvarah sarva-bhutanam
                     hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati
                     bhramayan sarva-bhutani
                       yantrarudhani mayaya

   "The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy." The machine given by material nature--whether the machine of the body or the machine of the orbit, or kala-cakra--works according to the orders given by the Supreme personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead and material nature work together to maintain this great universe, and not only this universe but also the millions of other universes beyond this one.
   The question of how the planets and stars are floating is also answered in this verse. It is not because of the laws of gravity. Rather, the planets and stars are enabled to float by manipulations of the air. It is due to such manipulations that big, heavy clouds float and big eagles fly in the sky. Modern airplanes like the 747 jet aircraft work in a similar way: by controlling the air, they float high in the sky, resisting the tendency to fall to earth. Such adjustments of the air are all made possible by the cooperation of the principles of purusa (male) and prakrti (female). By the cooperation of material nature, which is considered to be prakrti, and the Supreme personality of Godhead, who is considered the purusa, all the affairs of the universe are going on nicely in their proper order. prakrti, material nature, is also described in the Brahma-samhita (5.44) as follows:

             srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka
              chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga
               icchanurupam api yasya ca cestate sa
              govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

   "The external potency, maya, who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit [spiritual] potency, is worshiped by all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durga conducts herself." Material nature, the external energy of the Supreme Lord, is also known as Durga, or the female energy that protects the great fort of this universe. The word Durga also means fort. This universe is just like a great fort in which all the conditioned souls are kept, and they cannot leave it unless they are liberated by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord Himself declares in Bhagavad-gita (4.9):

                     janma karma ca me divyam
                     evam yo vetti tattvatah
                    tyaktva deham punar janma
                     naiti mam eti so 'rjuna

   "One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna." Thus simply by Krsna consciousness, by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can be liberated, or, in other words, one can be released from the great fort of this universe and go outside it to the spiritual world.
   It is also significant that the predominating deities of even the greatest planets have been offered their exalted posts because of the very valuable pious activities they performed in previous births. This is indicated herein by the words karma-nirmita-gatayah. For example, as we have previously discussed, the moon is called jiva, which means that he is a living entity like us, but because of his pious activities he has been appointed to his post as the moon-god. Similarly, all the demigods are living entities who have been appointed to their various posts as the masters of the moon, the earth, Venus and so on because of their great service and pious acts. Only the predominating deity of the sun, Surya Narayana, is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Maharaja Dhruva, the predominating deity of Dhruvaloka, is also a living entity. Thus there are two kinds of entities--the supreme entity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the ordinary living entity, the jiva (nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam). All the demigods are engaged in the service of the Lord, and only by such an arrangement are the affairs of the universe going on.
   Regarding the great eagles mentioned in this verse, it is understood that there are eagles so big that they can prey on big elephants. They fly so high that they can travel from one planet to another. They start flying in one planet and land in another, and while in flight they lay eggs that hatch into other birds while falling through the air. In Sanskrit such eagles are called syena. Under the present circumstances, of course, we cannot see such huge birds, but at least we know of eagles that can capture monkeys and then throw them down to kill and eat them. Similarly, it is understood that there are gigantic birds that can carry off elephants, kill them and eat them.
   The two examples of the eagle and the cloud are sufficient to prove that flying and floating can be made possible through adjustments of the air. The planets, in a similar way, are floating because material nature adjusts the air according to the orders of the Supreme Lord. It could be said that these adjustments constitute the law of gravity, but in any case, one must accept that these laws are made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists have no control over them. The scientists can falsely, improperly declare that there is no God, but this is not a fact.

Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Comments

[woubseree]

Diabetes Medication Ckd , If your doctor has prescribed Cipro be sure to let them know if you have any history of kidney or liver disease. Do not use Cipro if you are allergic to ciprofloxacin or any similar antibiotics like norfloxacin, levofloxacin, or moxifloxacin. generic cipro Cipro has also been used to treat patients that have been exposed to Anthrax which is supposed to prevent or slow down the disease. If your doctor has prescribed Cipro be sure to let them know if you have any history of kidney or liver disease. Doing so could make the drug less effective.

[Noreen]

Good words.