Science Tidbits #6

[Lupine]

And today's secret word is blanets!
Of course when they actually discover a blanet, the IAU will declare it's not a blanet but a dwarf blanet that can't be considered a blanet.

[RJDiogenes]

^^

It's weird, but it makes sense. Wherever you've got stuff, it's going to coalesce to some degree. It seems like a real longshot for life, but it would make a very cool setting for a sci-fi story.

[Lupine]

Some speculations about life on Venus.
I've speculated here before that some microbes in Venus's atmosphere could be transplants from Earth, though the mention of sulfuric acid in the atmosphere could prove a hindrance to that idea.
On a side note the aerial biosphere mentioned here is what inspired the living atmosphere of Leandra from my books.

[RJDiogenes]

The thing is, even if that mechanism is viable, a certain percentage of them would rain out. How would the biomass be replaced? On Earth, it's easy-- the atmosphere is full of biological material, but on Venus I think that any population that survived and evolved in the clouds would eventually disappear. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't evolve to live on the surface or under the surface, where there might be a greater range of survival options.

But, really, anything less than dinosaurs on Venus is disappointing.

In other news, Arecibo is broken. Seems like just equipment failure, despite the click-bait title. The thing that really amused me about the article, though, was this little bit:

In 1974, astronomers used the radio telescope to transmit a binary code toward a dense cluster of stars 25,000 light-years away, hoping the message might get picked up by another technologically-advanced civilization. (It wasn't).

[Lupine]

^The math is weak with that one. Or they have a crystal ball.

The thing is, even if that mechanism is viable, a certain percentage of them would rain out. How would the biomass be replaced? On Earth, it's easy-- the atmosphere is full of biological material, but on Venus I think that any population that survived and evolved in the clouds would eventually disappear. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't evolve to live on the surface or under the surface, where there might be a greater range of survival options.

Yeah, some kine of Jovian-style neutral buoyancy life would be needed.

But, really, anything less than dinosaurs on Venus is disappointing.

Did you ever see Planeta Bur, AKA Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet, AKA Voyage To The Planet of Prehistoric Women?

[RJDiogenes]

I do not think so, and it's not on my Sea Creature Lounge list. I must track this down.

[Lupine]

I may end up watching ...Prehistoric Women again one of these nights as it turns out that one of my aunt's Facebook friends is in it.

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That's cool. Who is it?

It's on YouTube, but pretty low-res. Amazon has a DVD and it's available as a rental on Prime. It's also for sale on Prime, but the DVD is cheaper.

[Lupine]

^^ That's cool. Who is it?

Mamie Van Doren

[RJDiogenes]

Oh, yes, I've certainly seen her name a few times.

[Lupine]

Finally an answer to a question RJ has been pondering about planets and Lagrange Points.

[RJDiogenes]

Haha, groovy. Trouble is that they'll probably be nearly impossible to detect, since neither the wobble method nor the eclipse method are likely to work.

[Lupine]

If the orbital plane is aligned towards us a transit should be detectable either just before or just after the B Star eclipses the A Star. Actually it should transit both stars.

[RJDiogenes]

I suppose it would transit the primary, but the secondary may be so close that it drowns it out. And it would only transit the secondary when the secondary is circling around and going retrograde, which would probably be the same problem.

[Lupine]

The subject of life on Venus has reared its head again.