Author: Jón Frímann

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Do we get alien signals ?

I have found that in all the debate about possible life and possibility of an civilization out there. The main problems is that we do not know if the civilization out there is using any radio technology. Even if they do. The question also remains if we get any of there signals to Earth. As the laws of physics say, radio signals can only go so far given certain amount of signal strength in any given radius. This is the complex way of saying that we might not be getting any signals because we are outside the coverage area of the civilization that we are looking at. Some civilization out there might not even be on the radio level technology at current moment. Even if we are there at present time.

I do not know if SETI or related areas have looked at the stars (solstation.com) in less then 20 light years distance from Earth. There have been some speculations on the distance on how far away the signals need to be so they can be detected. But one thing is for sure in my mind. It is almost impossible to detect an radio signal from other civilization if they are using anything remote close to our own technology.

The question on passing ships is an big one. But then an one-off signal should be expected and it might not repeat at all. It is also impossible to know how and often alien ship would travel trough our own solar system.

This is all just questions that are going to be answered one day. But it might take few more decades until it this questions are answered.

Blog post updated at 01:53 UTC on 11.01.2012.

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The search for civilization out there

For many decades now there has been a group of human been searching for signs of civilizations out there. So far there has not been any luck with it. Why I do not know. But I do think that how this search is done might be wrong. That is searching just one band of 1420Mhz, or the Hydrogen line (wiki). While this frequency might be optimal for space travel, I do not believe that is being used on a planet. The reasons being the same as here on Earth. It is impractical for communications.

I base my suggestion on the space travel and 1420Mhz on the Wow signal that was detected in the year 1977.

To search for civilization it is my opinion that the search must be done on frequencies that we human already use. But the problem here is the local noise, that is transmitters on Earth. But I do not think that problem cannot be crossed with good mapping of the local area frequencies in use. Along with frequencies that might bonce off Earth atmosphere.

The estimated range for radio signal from Earth is about 20 light year according to this study here. So mapping of yellow stars and similar types of suns in that range should not be too difficult. As the nearby stellar neighborhood is well known and has been for a long time now. But the question that remains unknown is if there is a civilization out there, does it have the technology to broadcast strong radio signals out into space. It might well be that a civilization is out there, but it might be on a stage that is equal Earth in 19th Century, or something earlier. Or they might well have passed us on the technological level and have stopped broadcasting radio signals into space.

This are all questions we might not get answer to. But if a radio signal is found from a alien civilization is found. It might give us a great idea what is out there. But I am sure that getting that type of signal is not going to be easy. In fact, I am sure that it is going to be real hard to do so. But it is not impossible, just hard. I am up for that challenge from my point of view. I hope that others are too.

I find that there are enough space blogs that cover the natural phenomena that can be found in Space. But nobody covers this aspect of space, since it has been made ridiculous for many decades now. We might not be able to communicate with a alien civilization out there. But we sure can listen to them if we find there signal.

This is what I am going to do with this blog. It took me long term to figure out what to do with this blog. The course has now been set. I welcome all my new readers to this blog. You know now what this blog means and what it stands for. I hope that you enjoy to read this blog, as I have writing it.

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New direction for this space blog

When I started this space blog I had a small idea what I was doing. However, I have found that the problem with running this space blog is that what I want to write about has already been written about. Then on other space blogs that are on the internet.

For that reason I am going to push this space blog in different direction. What direction I am not sure yet. But one idea is more theory or idea space blog. Along with something else (I don’t know yet what).

So stay tuned. This blog is not dead yet.

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Study suggests life on planets around 1/3 of solar like stars

A recent study that was done by Wesley Traub. But he estimates that there are about 34% with the error margin of +-14% of sun like stars with Earth like planets in there habitable zone. But this study has the potential for higher error rates, as it is only based on data from 136 days. But he also had to base his study on data from short period planets that are already known. But from what other media is reporting, it seems however that this study is all good.

But the hypothesis in this study means that there might be a lot of life out in the universe. But this does not equal that all of it is like humans and have developed a civilization. But all considered, I would say that chances of that are not too bad either.

Based on.

New study: 1/3 of Sun-like stars might have terrestrial planets in their habitable zones (Bad Astronomy)

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A X1.4 solar far happened yesterday (22. September 2011)

According to Spaceweather.com there was a X1.4 solar flare yesterday. The CME is going to miss Earth magnetic field. But might just glance it on the edge. The X1.4 solar flare did peak around 11:00 UTC yesterday.

This solar flare was created by a new large sunspot that is just coming over the Sun eastern limb. It should be in direct view from Earth in about two to three days time I would think.

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Sorry for lack of blog posts. Work in Progress

I am sorry for lack of blog posts on the Spacewatch blog. But currently this blog is a work in progress for me. I am still trying to figure out how to be different from every other space web site out there. So this blog is currently a work in progress for me. While that is, there might be lack of blog posts.

But I have also been busy with school and my other two blogs. But I have started to organize my writing work around my blog. As I have decided that is going to be my job from now on. Along with publishing e-books and print books (few books and maybe popular e-books later on if any of my books become popular).

So I am sorry for lack of blog posts on Spacewatch blog. But I am going to change that and write more blog posts here. But about what I am going to write is the big question that I am still wondering about for the moment.

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Possible volcanism on Venus

Venus [Wiki Link] is one of our closest planets in our own solar system. It size is almost the same as Earth. But the atmosphere is not the same. As it is 400C and mostly made out of sulphuric acid (clouds are made out of this) and carbon dioxide.

According to studies about 80% of Venus surface is covered with volcanoes and volcano lavas. But it is unknown at this time if any of them are active today. But recent observations suggests that there might be active volcanoes on Venus. Most or all volcanoes on Venus are believed to be shield volcano. Rather then any other type of volcano. I do not know if that has changed with more research into Venus during the last few years.

So far about 1600 volcanoes have been identified on Venus. But it is currently unknown at this time if any of them are active or not. But at the moment they are assumed to be extinct. But it is close to impossible to monitor any activity that might exist on Venus. But that it is a good distance from Earth, and the atmosphere does not allow for any monitoring equipment to be installed on the surface of Venus. As any such hardware would just melt in matter of minuets. So for now, what we can see is the only option. Sadly, it is not a whole lot that can be seen on Venus due to extreme cloud cover.

But few years ago a white spot in the clouds of Venus suggested (at least that was the idea) that a volcano eruption had taken place. But it was never proofed far as I know at the time or at later date.

For the moment we know that there where volcanoes on Venus that even made large lava flows. They might even be active volcanoes on Venus today. But proof of that is limited at the moment.

Information sources:

Volcanism on Venus (Wikipedia)
Volcanoes on Venus
Volcanoes on Venus May Still Be Active (Universe Today)
Volcanoes on Venus
Volcanoes on Venus May be Young and Active (Space.com)
Venus Orbiter Finds Potential Active Volcanoes (Wired Science)

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Two nearby stars to our solar system

While I am far from being a expert on this subject. I do have interest in this. But I do not know a lot about this as current time. But I plan to make improvements to my space knowledge with time. For me space is important. Because what is out there, and it is a fact that future of the human race lies on what we are going to learn about space in the coming years and decades.

I do not yet know properly what I am going to write about here. But it is going to be about space. Weather it is close or distant from Earth or our solar system. To start with I am going to write about few interesting close starts that are less then 10 light years from our solar system.

Our closest neighbour in space is Alpha Centauri.

That star system has two sun. One yellow (G2 V type) and one orange type of star. Currently it is not known if there are any planets orbiting around this stars. There is also a third star named Proxima Centauri. But that is a red dwarf star, class M5.5Ve according to measurements. It might have planets, but is unlikely to host any life on planets around it.

What ever is in Alpha Centauri is it a interesting star system in my opinion. Worth more studying and observation.

Out next star that is only 8.6 light years away from our solar system is a star called Sirius. That is a binary star system with two stars. One white dwarf and one start with luminosity A0-1 Vm.

This star is according to measurements younger and larger then our own sun. The white dwarf is a remnant from a exploded star that once was in this star system. Recent measurements there is a lot of dust in this star system. It is assumed that it is mostly from the sun that did burn out. But it might well be that there is a dust from other original gas cloud that did form this star system. But that has not yet been confirmed today, far as I know.

There is more to be learned on what is out there. But this is just a first about our closest nearby stars. But I have interest in those starts, since I want to know if there is anything else around them. But might not have been detected yet by the human race.

Here is a map of nearby stars close to our solar system.


This picture is from here. This picture is in public domain.

References.

List of nearest stars (Wiki)
Notable Nearby Stars (Solstation.com)

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New blog is up and running

This is a new blog of mine about a hobby that I have. This time it is about space, solar storms and what ever is out there in the big empty place that we call space. I am currently working on setting this blog up. So stuff is going to appear here slowly and with time. As it takes time to build up a new blog.

I currently do not have any hardware to monitor space. But my plan is to build and buy hardware to monitor what is going on space. Until that happen I am going to relay on what I can find on the internet. But that means a delay in information about space.

But it is important to know that I do not intend this blog to be as active as my Iceland Volcano and Earthquake blog, or my main Icelandic blog. What actual posting rates are going to be however is a question at current time. But I am going to do my best until I get my own hardware up and running, but that might take a good long while until that happens.

Blog post updated at 05:23 UTC 13, August 2011.