Life on Asteroids?

In one of my previous posts I talked about the large amount of interest in the possibility of extraterrestrial life out there and in this article I am going to explain one potential source for life in the universe. Asteroid's are many times thought to be dangerous to life due to the fact that if a large enough one were to collide with earth it could kill many people; however, asteroids many times will have certain compounds on them that could be necessary for life and if they impact into a planet with the right conditions it is theoretically possible that life could be made possible. The conditions in which this can occur are pretty rare, but this does give us a possible source for life to occur on other planets. For more information on this exiting new topic check out the link below.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121101131208.htm

More meteors

    For anyone that either missed the Orionid meteor shower (or didn't get enough shooting star action), there's two upcoming meteor showers this month.  They are the Taurid and Leonid meteor showers, and as always, are named after the constellations that they appear to originate from.

   The first, the Taurid meteor shower, should peak later this week on the 12th.  Also known as the Halloween Fireballs, the Taurids tend to be larger and brighter than other meteor showers.  The best viewing time will be just after midnight, when Taurus is nearly overhead.

    The second, the Leonid meteor shower, will peak shortly after that, around the 17th.  The leonids are a periodic meteor swarm, putting on a spectacular show every 33 years (the last time it did this was around the turn of the millenium).  With this being an off year, expect about 10 meteors an hour. 

Astrochemistry

Astrochemistry is the study of chemistry that happens in outer space. Spectroscopy is the main technique used to analyze this because of the large distances that are between us  and the objects undergoing chemistry. The majority of outer space consists of hydrogen and helium, so the elements dealt with are not very diverse; however, at the extreme temperatures that occur out in space some amazing chemistry can take place. What do you think these extremely high and low temperatures would cause to happen chemically? Also do you think the fact that the objects are incredibly large out in space can cause changes in the chemistry?

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&newwindow=1&sa=X&tbo=d&tbm=isch&tbnid=DxrJWZxEiBLTFM:&imgrefurl=https://chemistrycareers.wikispaces.com/Astrochemistry&docid=qXU9AO--5SOf6M&imgurl=https://chemistrycareers.wikispaces.com/file/view/Astrochemistry6.jpg/70408247/Astrochemistry6.jpg&w=515&h=386&ei=GQOaUODTJIGYyAGS-YGoBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1620&vpy=151&dur=1651&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=159&ty=120&sig=103642249281124376876&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=188&start=0&ndsp=53&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0,i:102&biw=1920&bih=979

Formation of interstellar molecules

William D. Watson wrote a research paper on how interstellar hydrogen molecules reacted to form many of the stars in the universe. He was a physicist who graduated from MIT and worked in theoretical astrophysics. He was led to do research on this topic because he wanted to know if hydrogen ions could react with other hydrogen molecules to create small interstellar molecules. He found that these reactions do indeed make up a good portion of interstellar gases and this was important in helping us understand the make up of the universe. This information could be important to many people who are interested in astronomy because it is an interesting topic that answers some of our questions about what is actually out there.

The Pleiades

  As a followup to my last post, I went out the other night to try and see some of the meteors from the Orionid meteor shower.  Sadly, I was unable to see any meteors, probably due to a combination of light pollution and bad luck.  However, while I was looking for meteors, I did notice a small "blob" in the sky with 6 faintly visible stars in it.  The blob is question is actually the Pleiades, also known as the seven sisters.  The sisters are visible in winter in the northern hemisphere, so this is a good time of year to see them.

A question for the reader:
    Some time ago I heard that while there are 7 sisters, only 6 are visible to the unaided eye.  The reason cited at the time is that one of the sisters is shy, and can only be seen by those with a keen eye.  So, when you go out to stargaze, how many of the sisters do you see?

Note:  Pictures will be added at a later date, Google is being funny and not allowing me to add images.

Edit (11/07/2012):  Added images.  I don't know why (or how), but one of my firefox plugins wasn't agreeing with Blogger, and was preventing the posting of images. 

Orionid Meteor Shower

Ever wanted to see lots of shooting stars?  Tonight's a good night for that, if the weather's clear:  This weekend marks the peak of the Orionid meteor shower.  Every year about mid-October, the Earth's orbit takes it through the trail left behind by Halley's comet.  The debris contained within the trail is much too small to be dangerous, but numerous enough to give us a good show as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.  Depending on viewing conditions in your area, you can expect to see a meteor every few minutes or so. 

Tonight's not the only night for this meteor show, but after tonight the frequency of shooting stars will once again taper off, with the Orionid meteor shower ending around the 7th.

Light Pollution: The Eater of Stars

Quick, when was the last time you saw the Milky Way?  Unless you've been to a rural area recently, odds are good you can't remember the last time you saw the Milky Way. 

Why?  Light pollution.  Street lights do more than keep your street lit, they also light up the sky.  While most people don't care if the sky gets lit up, astronomers do.  The brighter the sky, the harder it is to see the stars. 

A study done by Kurt W. Reigel back in the 70s sheds light on the problem.  According to Dr. Reigel, light pollution is a serious problem, already making several observatories unusable for "competitive research".  Denver's Chamberlin Observatory is a good example of this, as it is now little more than a historic building.

The study proposes that we could do away with much of this pollution.  Outdoor lighting has two main purpose according to Dr. Reigel: Illumination for automobiles and crime deterrent.  The first of these purposes could be removed by designing better automobile headlights.  Dr. Reigel's study suggests that increasing the output of car headlights by a factor of 20 would eliminate the need for streetlights to illluminate roads for cars. 

The second reason for outdoor lighting is crime deterrent.  Dr. Reigel claims that this use of lighting is ineffective.  Worse, he claims that this lighting may have a detrimental effect: crime rates are higher in brightly lit areas.  While lighting may not be the cause of these higher crime rates, the study notes another interesting phenomenon: most residential crime occurs during the day, when residents are away.