Neil Armstrong

Discovery Of Earth-Like Planets On The Horizon Posted on: Friday, 8 January 2010, 14:35 CST Astronomers believe they are on the brink of finding new planets in the universe that are much like Earth orbiting other stars. According to the Associated Press, this will be a important factor in determining if humans are the only highly intelligent beings in the universe. An official at NASA and other leading scientists say that they should be able to discover the first Earth-like planet within 5 years. Furthermore, they think they can find a planet close to Earth’s size within the year. They are basing their assertion on a new space telescope that is offering promising results. The American Astronomical Society held its annual conference this week where they pointed out that ―exoplanets‖ - planets outside our solar system - like Earth where life could develop seem to be plentiful. The convention was abuzz with all the latest research revolving around the exoplanet field and the release of NASA’s new Kepler telescope that may be the key to finding these Earth-like entities. Scientists are thrilled to be part of this endeavor, and many seem to feel we are on the verge of answering the one question that humanity has not been able to answer since the beginning of time. For the first time in scientific history, the age-old query ―Are we alone?‖ has greeted scientists with optimism. Simon ―Pete‖ Worden, an astronomer with NASA’s Ames Research Center, told AP ―If I were a betting man, which I am, I would bet we're not alone — there is a lot of life.‖ The Kepler Telescope, which is run by the Ames Research Center, is much different than the Hubble Space Telescope. Kepler is a specialized telescope built with the single purpose to hunt for planets. The key instrument is a light meter that measures the brightness of more than 100,000 stars at a time. It searches to find if anything causes a star to dim. Any stars that do dim are often due to a planet passing in front of the star. In order to support life, a planet would most likely need to be rocky and not gaseous. The planet would also need to be at the right distance from the star. Too close and it would be too hot, too far and it would be too cold. Planets are being found at an alarming rate. In the 90s, planets were being found a few times per year. This last decade researchers were finding them on a monthly basis. Thanks to the Kepler telescope, planets are now being found on a daily basis. There have been more than 400 planetary discoveries, however, none to date have carried the right components to support life. Experts believe that this is about to change. Geoff Marcy of the University of California at Berkeley told AP, ―From Kepler, we have strong indications of smaller planets in large numbers, but they aren't verified yet.‖ Most of the candidates found by Kepler to date are actually turning out to be something other than planets, such as another star crossing the telescope’s point of view, according to Kepler scientist Bill Borucki. The Kepler telescope is studying less than 1% of the night sky. The stars being studied range in distance from a few hundred to a few thousand light years away. One light year is nearly 5.9 trillion miles, so any planets that are possibly found will be too far to travel to, and they are too far away to be viewed like we can our own planets. Any planets that are found by Kepler can take up to three years to verify and confirm it’s orbital path. It was announced this week that Kepler had found five new exoplanets within the first six weeks of operation, but all were too large and in the wrong place to be thought to sustain life or even be Earth-like. About two-thirds of the 43,000 stars Kepler looked at that are near the same size as our sun, have appeared to have a non-violent history and be life-friendly much like our own sun. Marcy, who announced the finding of a planet only four times larger than Earth, does not like to guess how many Earth-like planets are out there, but does offer that ―70 percent of all stars have rocky planets.‖ Although scientists are excited about the possibility of finding Earth-like planets in the universe, there is still a chance that all the searching could turn up nothing, according to some. Once an Earth-like planet is found and it is in the right area, determining if there is the possibility for it to be a life inhabiting planet will be an even greater problem. More costly telescopes will need to be built. They will need to be able to scan for oxygen, water, carbon dioxide, and other elements. The estimated cost for such a telescope would be in the billions. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the former President of India. For the freedom fighter, see Abul Kalam Azad. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (Tamil: அퟁ쯍 பகீ쏍 ஜைꟁலாப்தீன் அப்鏁쯍 கலாம்), born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred to as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam^, was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007,[2] he was elected during the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party, led ruling coalition, under prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.[3] During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People's President.[4][5] Before his term as India's president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO and ISRO. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.[6] In India he is highly respected as a scientist and as an engineer. Kalam played a pivotal organisational, technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.[7] He is a professor at Anna University (Chennai) and adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India. With the death of R. Venkataraman on January 27, 2009, Kalam became the only surviving former President of India.[2] Political views APJ Abdul Kalam strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020 in his book India 2020. Kalam is credited with the view that India ought to take a more assertive stance in international relations; he regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower. Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as well. He has proposed a research programme for developing bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the benefits of information technology [8]. Kalam's belief in the power of science to resolve society's problems and his views of these problems as a result of inefficient distribution of resources is modernistic. He also sees science and technology as ideology-free areas and emphasises the cultivation of scientific temper and entrepreneurial drive. In this, he finds a lot of support among India's new business leaders like the founders of Infosys and Wipro, (leading Indian IT corporations) who began their careers as technology professionals much in the same way Kalam did. Personal life Abdul Kalam's father was a devout Muslim, who owned boats which he rented out to local fishermen and was a good friend of Hindu religious leaders and the school teachers at Rameshwaram. APJ Abdul Kalam mentions in his biography that to support his studies, he started his career as a newspaper vendor. This was also told in the book, A Boy and His Dream: Three Stories from the Childhood of Abdul Kalam by Vinita Krishna. The house Kalam was born in can still be found on the Mosque street in Rameshwaram, and his brother's curio shop abuts it. This has become a point-of-call for tourists who seek out the place. Kalam grew up in an intimate relationship with nature, and he says in Wings of Fire that he never could imagine that water could be so powerful a destroying force as that he witnessed when he was thirty three. That was in 1964 when a cyclonic storm swept away the Pamban bridge and a trainload of passengers with it and also Kalam's native village, Dhanushkodi. He is a scholar of Thirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, as well as Ignited Minds,aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. He has written poems in Tamil as well. It has been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him. [9]. Kalam has also patronised grassroots innovations. He is closely associated with the Honey Bee Network and The National innovation Foundation. The NIF is a body of Government of India and operates from Ahmadabad, Gujrat.

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