☻White House Entrance ◄2177► by MagikUnicorn

Bryce • Science Fiction • posted on Apr 17, 2009

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Description

The only way to get to the White House in the year 2177 ☺ ☺ ☺ ◘ Friday Space News ◘ NASA's Kepler Captures First Views of Planet-Hunting Territory NASA's Kepler mission has taken its first images of the star-rich sky where it will soon begin hunting for planets like Earth. The new "first light" images show the mission's target patch of sky, a vast starry field in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. One image shows millions of stars in Kepler's full field of view, while two others zoom in on portions of the larger region. The images can be seen online at: Cluster of Stars in Kepler's Sight "Kepler's first glimpse of the sky is awe-inspiring," said Lia LaPiana, Kepler's program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "To be able to see millions of stars in a single snapshot is simply breathtaking." One new image from Kepler shows its entire field of view -- a 100-square-degree portion of the sky, equivalent to two side-by-side dips of the Big Dipper. The regions contain an estimated 14 millions stars, more than 100,000 of which were selected as ideal candidates for planet hunting. Two other views focus on just one-thousandth of the full field of view. In one image, a cluster of stars located about 13,000 light-years from Earth, called NGC 6791, can be seen in the lower left corner. The other image zooms in on a region containing a star, called Tres-2, with a known Jupiter-like planet orbiting every 2.5 days. "It's thrilling to see this treasure trove of stars," said William Borucki, science principal investigator for Kepler at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. "We expect to find hundreds of planets circling those stars, and for the first time, we can look for Earth-size planets in the habitable zones around other stars like the sun." Kepler will spend the next three-and-a-half years searching more than 100,000 pre-selected stars for signs of planets. It is expected to find a variety of worlds, from large, gaseous ones, to rocky ones as small as Earth. The mission is the first with the ability to find planets like ours -- small, rocky planets orbiting sun-like stars in the habitable zone, where temperatures are right for possible lakes and oceans of water. To find the planets, Kepler will stare at one large expanse of sky for the duration of its lifetime, looking for periodic dips in starlight that occur as planets circle in front of their stars and partially block the light. Its 95-megapixel camera, the largest ever launched into space, can detect tiny changes in a star's brightness of only 20 parts per million. Images from the camera are intentionally blurred to minimize the number of bright stars that saturate the detectors. While some of the slightly saturated stars are candidates for planet searches, heavily saturated stars are not. "Everything about Kepler has been optimized to find Earth-size planets," said James Fanson, Kepler's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Our images are road maps that will allow us, in a few years, to point to a star and say a world like ours is there." Scientists and engineers will spend the next few weeks calibrating Kepler's science instrument, the photometer, and adjusting the telescope's alignment to achieve the best focus. Once these steps are complete, the planet hunt will begin. "We've spent years designing this mission, so actually being able to see through its eyes is tremendously exciting," said Eric Bachtell, the lead Kepler systems engineer at Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Bachtell has been working on the design, development and testing of Kepler for nine years. Have a Wonderful Weekend T h a n k s M a g i k

Comments (74)

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3x3

4:08PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

cool and creative scfi buddy x 5+

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doarte

4:12PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Love the NASA story, and your entrance to the 'White House' definitely a future treasure! +5 from 'doarte's MADHOUSE'

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ToniDunlap

4:15PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

A closer view is even greater. Great work MU!

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beatoangelico

4:15PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

interessante story e awesome immagine...fantastico e meraviglioso work..!!!!!

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BenBischop

4:17PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Great news, Cool Image...;)

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lyron

4:17PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Great scene!!

lucindawind

4:21PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

wow .. excellent work and writing .. its a stargate !

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schonee

4:27PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Excellent work! and writing too

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Valery3D

4:35PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Cool and creative work, excellent writing!

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tryky5carla

4:35PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Gerat science-fiction scene, wonderful work !!! Very interesting explications !

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shadownet

4:43PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Very cool scene!

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flaviok

4:44PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Excelente texto, obra fantástica meu amigo, aplausos (5)

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flavia49

5:06PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

excellent scene!! very very interesting text!

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ladyinblack

5:17PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Great futuristic scene! You always have such interesting information to share :)

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Faemike55

5:27PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Great scene and probably very true

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miashadows

5:39PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

I don't think they will ever reach those planets even if they find them if they are so many light years away...not that i know anything about space.Wonderful image Magic.

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jocko500

5:45PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

going to the sttrs

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annie5

6:00PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

Intéressante composition..une bonne imagination! On va espérer pour les Canadiens demain. Bon weekend :)

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eekdog

6:05PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

great story and image my friend. have a great weekend. steve

M2A

6:11PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

En 2177 la Maison Blanche aura bien changé apparemment :D Cool !

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1358

6:26PM | Fri, 17 April 2009

this and the NASA infokind of remind me of a scifi book from a number of years ago.... "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester. we have to get out there soon before the out there is gone. As to the Entrance.... you have to get the coordinates exactly right, there's nothing more distrurbing than coming out of the wormhole in the President's Bathroom, when occupied... havde a great weekend! get some sun.....

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