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Posted on 01/11/2010 7:05:29 PM PST by KevinDavis
In two new videos from NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft, bright flashes of light known as sun glints act as beacons signaling large bodies of water on Earth. These observations give scientists a way to pick out planets beyond our solar system (extrasolar planets) that are likely to have expanses of liquid, and so stand a better chance of having life.
These sun glints are like sunshine glancing off the hood of a car. We can see them reflecting off a smooth surface when we are positioned in just the right way with respect to the sun and the smooth surface. On a planetary scale, only liquids and ice can form a surface smooth enough to produce the effect—land masses are too rough—and the surface must be very large. To stand out against a background of other radiation from a planet, the reflected light must be very bright. We won’t necessarily see glints from every distant planet that has liquids or ice.
(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...
interesting and very possibly useless information.
/mark
The green flash goes big!
All information has a use.
The question is the value of the use.
God, energy and information, thus the universe.
Generally speaking, the star would have to be in front of whatever planet we’re looking at.
“Generally speaking, the star would have to be in front of whatever planet we’re looking at.”
Good point. Also the system in question would have to be in a fairly dark region - like no nearby stars, and a dust cloud nearby... sort of like our system seen from afar. They’re coming. Else it may explain why people have been seeing things in the sky for thousands of years.
bttt
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