
NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System - tuyguntn
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-news-conference-on-discovery-beyond-our-solar-system
======
autocorr
Judging by the the first individual in the press release, Michael Gillon of
the University of Liege, this may have something to do with their discovery
published last year in Nature [1] on terrestrial planets with moderate surface
temperatures ("temperate") around low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. All very
nearby at less than 12 parsecs to boot! This article was on the front page of
HN last year, and was discussed quite a bit in astronomy circles, but I'm
having a hard time remembering the details without re-reading the paper.

[1]
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v533/n7602/full/nature1...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v533/n7602/full/nature17448.html)

~~~
anigbrowl
This better be something better than 'we got slightly bette at identifying
planets like our own.' It's great that we're doing so but when they are
teasing discoveries rather than simply announcing them it should be for some
signficant qualitative difference from anything we've known before.

~~~
ckozlowski
I think some of the teasing is that which we inflict on ourselves.

NASA wants to keep people interested and excited about their mission of
course. But press conferences like these are also to stir up interest in the
greater scientific community. Announcements like these might be disappointing
to us lay persons who are waiting for the "we found life!" headline, but they
can generate huge excitement in astronomy circles.

~~~
anigbrowl
But that's the problem, it's too much marketing and not enough product.

So I see it turns out that we've now identified 7 earth-like planets orbiting
a star, where previously we thought we had 3 planets. That's a significant
technical advance, which is certainly a Good Thing.

But the average non-scientist/ non-technician looks at this and sees a big
build-up followed by by a nothingburger, which is a very Bad Thing because it
lowers public respect for science. It would have been much better to say
'exoplanet detection continues to improve, full details wednesday'.

We're not inflicting the teasing on ourselves because we're not the ones
holding back information to create excitement and anticipation. This was a
minor update that was presented as something major.

~~~
ckozlowski
I see your point. But is it NASA that's responsible for all of the build-up?

Earlier today, Washington Post posted the big red "Breaking news" banner once
the press conference started and announced 7 planets. The story is now front
and center on their page.

Is it a "nothingburger" if the press presents it as major as well?

While I often think the general public isn't the primary audience for these
kinds of announcements, seeing the mainstream excitement for this astronomy
result has me wondering if we underestimate the public. Perhaps most people do
have a greater respect than we realize.

------
pkituu
You can visualize all confirmed exoplanets using NASA's Eyes on the Exoplanets
software.

[http://eyes.nasa.gov/eyes-on-exoplanets.html](http://eyes.nasa.gov/eyes-on-
exoplanets.html)

Requires download and install.

OS X and Windows only :(

Disclaimer: I am a developer of this software for NASA.

~~~
callinyouin
First off, thanks for creating this. I definitely appreciate that this was
created as a native app instead of trying to do it as a web app (which, from
personal experience with WebGL, I imagine would have had terrible
performance).

I doubt this is the best channel for bug reports, but I thought I'd mention
the launcher does not work for me on Windows 7. I had to run explorer-
win64.exe directly.

~~~
bpodgursky
FWIW I've been working on a similar WebGL visualization for fun
([http://uncharted.bpodgursky.com/](http://uncharted.bpodgursky.com/))
obviously much more primitive than the NASA version.

I've been pretty amazed by what WebGL can handle (obviously it's hopeless on
mobile though).

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cgriswald
Brief summary: Seven earth-sized planets found around M-star (red dwarf)
TRAPPIST-1 40 ly away, three in the habitable zone, all with some potential
for liquid water.

HN discussion w/ Nature article:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13707547](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13707547)

Paper on Nature (paywall?):
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7642/full/nature2...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7642/full/nature21360.html)

SIMBAD entry for TRAPPIST-1: [http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-
basic?Ident=trappist-1](http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-
basic?Ident=trappist-1)

Edit: Added links.

~~~
dmix
@NASA: "New record! We’ve found 7 Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone
around a single star outside our solar system: [https://www.nasa.gov/press-
release/nasa-telescope-reveals-la...](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-
telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around/)
"

[https://twitter.com/NASA/status/834464283337560068](https://twitter.com/NASA/status/834464283337560068)

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russellbeattie
There needs to be a new unit that describes "a speed equal to the fastest
humans have been able to travel in space" instead of "light years". Let's call
it an "Apollo", since that record is held by the Apollo missions to the moon
at 11,080 m/s. Speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s. So humans can travel at
~0.0000367 x light speed, or 349,418,880,000 m/year.

So instead of saying 40 light years, we'd say 27,076 Apollo years.

~~~
random3
Can that speed be adjusted to a theoretical value based on latest propulsion
systems? What would that be now and how would it likely evolve over then next
decades?

~~~
russellbeattie
Various probes have gone faster - with the cruising speeds depending whether
they headed towards the sun or away. After New Horizons got a gravity boost
from Jupiter, it sailed out to pluto at 23k/s and arrived going 15k/s.
[https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/the-
fast...](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/the-fastest-
spacecraft-ever/)

I'll have to look and see what they have planned for the Mars missions. I'm
sure we've jumped ahead a bit in practical engineering terms, but just haven't
had a mission to show it yet.

------
FeatureRush
Interesting that there is already Reddit AMA planned and mentioned in this
official NASA communicate.

------
l0b0
Tabby's Star? Would be wonderful if there was some sort of conclusion of that.
Even if it's a completely reasonable natural phenomenon it looks like we'll
learn something new.

~~~
neom
If it's not a dyson sphere i'm gonna be real pissed off.

~~~
Houshalter
It's not emitting infrared like expected from a Dyson sphere. It's also not
completely blacked out its star. Maybe it's one under construction?

------
c3534l
It's not aliens.

~~~
sheraz
downvoted for ruining the fun :-)

~~~
saluki
I'm not saying it's Aliens. BUT it's Aliens.

[http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/68/68eb1932463fb0e215bc9b0e62ba1...](http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/68/68eb1932463fb0e215bc9b0e62ba1120028be58c28e14b27254280181b9bd7c1.jpg)

~~~
pc86
Please don't

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Cyphase
From a banner on
[https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/](https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/)
:

 _On Feb. 24, NASA.gov will start streaming NASA TV in HTML 5 rather than
Flash._

Shame; perhaps they don't want to risk deployment issues during their big
announcement. Good timing on the announcement otherwise; lots of people will
see that.

------
kalms
Any rumours as to what this is about? (Don't want to get ahead of myself..)

~~~
randomnumber314
[http://nasawatch.com/archives/2017/02/spitzer-
discove.html](http://nasawatch.com/archives/2017/02/spitzer-discove.html)

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noobermin
The link is there, but for the lazy:

[https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public](https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public)

~~~
ethbro
_" On Feb. 24, NASA.gov will start streaming NASA TV in HTML 5 rather than
Flash. Users with Windows computers should use the Chrome or Firefox web
browser for the best experience."_

 _checks date_ Damn it. :(

------
JoeAltmaier
Exoplanets, according to the article. Interesting but probably not world-
shaking.

~~~
andrewclunn
That depends on the seismic activity of the exoplanet.

------
skc
You would think NASA of all orgs would at least provide time-zone conversions
for their news conference, or at the very least add a countdown timer to their
site.

------
johnchristopher
Oufti !

For those who don't know it:

\- Trappistes are some special beer brewed by monks and Belgium is famous for
a lot of them

\- Speculoos are some kind of brown sugar based cookies. Caloric bomb we name
them.

------
FeatureRush
Conference already started: 7 earth-sized planets orbiting 1 star, 3 of those
planets in habitable zone.

------
Dowwie
hopefully, Neil DeGrasse Tyson translates for the public

------
geggam
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm)
:)

------
adamcharnock
Distractedly misread that as NASA holding a press conference from deep space,
regarding some sort of discovery.

~~~
kombucha2
I did the exact thing....

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Tloewald
Is this NASA trying to build up some buzz in hopes of avoiding massive
defunding by our clown car administration?

