Comm. R.M. Wey
C.O.S.R.
SFS/SFC
Research into the existence of life on Class M planets other than earth, whose atmospheres are capable of supporting oxygen breathing life forms, has been conducted using computer models to determine the most likely candidates.
Observations made of Saturn’s moon, Titan, have shown complex organic solids which rain down onto the surface; A perfect lab for the study of prebiotic chemistry.
The Earth, with an enormous abundance of molecular oxygen, is the template to which all research must ascribe. It is the first clue of what to look for in a planet bearing life.
A prevalence of chlorophyll red band [such as what make plants on earth green] is the second sign post that a planet contains life.
Methane gas:
Although one might consider this as insignificant, the presence of trace amounts of methane is the third marker to the existence of life.
The fourth marker is that of radio waves. Not the sort produced by lightning, or a planets' magnetosphere. But those of high order which suggest the existence of a technological society.
It is these four markers with which the search for planetary life must make use of. Currently, Sol3 uses large radio telescopes, as well as probes, to do most of its searching. Powerful as they may be, they are far from reliable.
Recently, however, planetary bodies have been detected orbiting a pulsar [ID PSR B1257+12] some 1400 light years from earth. Though the first three are considered too hot to sustain life, their very existence suggests that planetary formation is a common and wide spread process.
So the search of nearby star systems [such as Alpha Centari A] goes on, and with it, the search for life bearing worlds.
The death of a star
an article by:Comm. R.M. Wey
C.O.S.R. SFS/SFC
Research into the phenomenon of supernovae [the last being supernova 1989a], and what remains of a star after such an occurrence, have led to some interesting findings.
Some 30,000 years before its fiery leap of destruction, the star [SN 1989a] ballooned into a red giant (primary fusion source: helium)
Casting a thick cloud of gas from its equator (in what is referred to as a type II explosion), SN 1989a evolved into a smaller [but hotter] blue star (or main sequence star).
Another such event, only more spectacular, occurred within the large magellenic cloud. SN 1987a, nearing the end of its main sequence [fusion source: helium surrounded by hydrogen] its temperature rises four fold to 170 million Kelvin.
A million years before its demise, its core temperature pushes passed the 170 million Kelvin mark, and a new series of fusion reactions begins [fusion source: carbon/oxygen surrounded by helium].
One thousand years before its demise, the stars' core is now comprised of neon/magnesium, with an outer layer of carbon/oxygen, and a helium surface. Its core temperature is now around 700 million Kelvin.
At seven years before its demise, the core temperature has climbed to 1.5 billion Kelvin, and its fusion core is comprised of oxygen/magnesium;
A fine secondary layer of neon/magnesium, a third layer of carbon/oxygen, and a surface layer of helium.
At one year until it demise, the core temperature has reached 2 billion Kelvin. Its fusion core now comprised silicon and sulfur, with each succeeding layer comprised of what was fuel before.
Within a few days of its demise, SN 1987a, has a core temperature over 3 billion Kelvin. Its core now comprising of Iron.
Within seconds of its demise, fusion reaction has ceased. The outer shells of the star begin to contract as 45,000 mps. At some point, a recoiling effect occurs as the point of maximum scrunch is reached. From here,
the stellar forces send a shock wave that tears the star apart. The resulting phenomenon leaves a neutron star, only a fraction of the original stars mass.
It is our hope that continued research will lend insight into a better understanding of the life and death of stellar bodies.
The effects of supernovae
on stellar bodies.
a piece by:
Comm. R.M. Wey
C.O.S.R. SFS/SFC
Pulsars, a form of red giant remnant, are considered to be among the strangest stars in the known universe. Stellar objects as massive as a G2V class star [like Sol], but measuring only kilometers across.
Such stellar phenomenon, if given sufficient momentum from the explosion of their core [such as Cassiopeia A], could eventually break free from the gravity of its parent galaxy. And research has shown this to be the rule, rather than the exception.
Such rouge stars can cause problems [theoretically] with other stellar bodies as they pass by them. Which, in part, may explain the existence of certain binary star groups.
Though the possibility of a rouge star colliding with another object is small, research will continue into such phenomenon.
The Universe
Why it is, What it is,
and how it came to be.
an article by:
Comm. R.M. Wey
C.O.S.R. SFS/SFC
Scientific estimations of the age of the universe have been recalculated several times. Current thought has the age of the universe at roughly 15 billion years.
At its very beginning, the universe was considered to resemble an object no bigger than a dime. At approximately 10 to the minus 12 seconds, the universe had cooled to 100 million times the temperature of the suns core. At 10 to the minus 5 seconds, the formation of protons, neutrons, and other hadrons had begun. As the universe expanded by a factor of 1000, protons and neutrons combined to form most of the helium and deuterium present today. At the end of the nucleosynthesis period, the universe was roughly 10 to the second power seconds old.
As it approached 300,000 years in age, and about 1000 times smaller than it is today, the neutral atoms began to coalesce, making the universe become transparent.
The formation of galaxies and quasars began about the time the universe was 1 billion years old. But stars like our own g2v class, are considered to be on the decline. It is conceivable that stars like our own sun will one day be quite rare, making the universe a far less hospitable place to live.
At present, however, there are some 100 billion, billion stars of similar composition of that of our sun. But as the universe was too hot in the distant past, and the resources dwindle, the possibility of life existing somewhere else becomes a difficult thing.
Yet the search for life goes on, for logic dictates that the existence of life other than our own, has existed, does exist, or will exist. Perhaps, after we, as a species, die out. The trick, is to find it.
The Earth:
Just how did it come to be?
Comm. R.M. Wey
C.O.S.R. SFS/SFC
In various articles I have discussed the creation of the universe, the death of a star, the effects of such on other stellar bodies, and what criteria must exist to find life on a planet. Here, I propose to demonstrate that the earth, itself, is a by-product of stellar activity as previously mentioned.
Matter itself, was born in violence. The creation of the various elements, hydrogen, helium, carbon, oxygen, etcetera, was the result of fusion reaction. Some from the creation, during the life of a star; Some from their demise. The very elements necessary for the existence of life were created in the interiors of stars long dead.
Studies done of the natural radioactivity of the earth has provided clues to the ages of the elements found. For in the heart of a stellar body, fusion of atomic nuclei provides life giving energy. And as the stars evolve, the by-products of their fusion engines are what make life possible. For the very existence of carbon and oxygen [being the most abundant elements formed within a star] are what allow us to exist.
When a star dies, and its core collapses, the subsequent explosion [type II supernovae] expels the stars outer layers as unburned gases. These gases, in turn, become the birthplace of new stars, and planetary systems, as other atomic nuclei intermix.
Thus, the very existence of the earth, and the life thereon, may be due in part to the deaths of stellar bodies from the early universe.
