News NASA to Reveal Big News from Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Thursday

[Urwumpe]

Isn't the oxygen in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus diatomic? There isn't a lot of it, but still... I don't see how hard it would be for diatomic oxygen to form, purely out of reactions between oxygen molecules.

Neither Mars nor Venus have any molecular oxygen. (Mars has 0.13% atomic oxygen, on Venus atomic oxygen is a trace gas)

It is also no surprise: Oxygen reacts happily with other substances to form less energetic molecules. For example H2O, CO2, FeOx, NOx, etc.

 

[orb]

Another article:

NASASpaceFlight: Kepler Mission Produces Results – Ramps Up Search for Extra-solar Planets.​

 

[tblaxland]

so apart from the novelty of it (AFAIK) being the first multi-planet system detected via the transfer method, and ongoing evidence that the telescope is in fact working- as has been shown by the several previous planets detected, it isn't really that special.

What makes it special is that it is the first multi-planet system where the size and mass of the planets has been able to measured directly - data that radial velocity techniques simply cannot deliver. Such additional information allows hypotheses of how such systems form to be narrowed further than is possible with just mass and orbit data :thumbup:. Transiting multi-planet systems would also make interesting targets because of the potential spectral data that can be obtained from the planets and comparing between planets in the same system :jiggy:. I'm sure there are planetary evolutionists out there that can't wait to squeeze that data for all its worth :woohoo:.

data
(Humming) I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it, I'm about to lose control and I think I like it...

 

[T.Neo]

Fine, you're right, I'm wrong, it's an interesting discovery. :dry:

Though not as interesting as a potential super-Earth in the habitable zone, or the size and chemical data for one of those other more interesting systems... I'd very much like to see the density of the planets of Mu Arae, or Gliese 581...

 

[Urwumpe]

Though not as interesting as a potential super-Earth in the habitable zone, or the size and chemical data for one of those other more interesting systems... I'd very much like to see the density of the planets of Mu Arae, or Gliese 581...

But a planet made of gold or a floating star sized bubble of oil would be much better.

 

[T.Neo]

Oil and gold aren't valuable enough to fund an interstellar mining operation.

But if you're shipping something that's worth $20 million a kilo...