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The Blistering Hot Exoplanet Where It Snows
cylonlover writes "Today's weather on HD 189733b: It will be hazy with high wispy clouds. The wind will be steady from the east at speeds approaching 6,000 miles per hour (9,656 km/h). Daytime temperatures will average a balmy 800C (1,472F), while the equatorial hot spot at 30 degrees longitude is expected to top 900C (1,652F). But, there is a high chance of silicate snow showers, with accumulations expected except in the vicinity of the hot spot. Just how much can astronomical observations tell us about exoplanets — those worlds orbiting other stars in our galaxy? With patience and cunning, more than you might think."
I don't know. I travelled all the way to HD 189733b, I was promised snow showers, wispy clouds, high winds. But, just my luck, it rained. It must be because I'm Welsh.
Take Mars for instance. There was a lot of good scientific guesswork based on indirect observation, but when they finally sent a probe there, all the talk about canals and whatnot faded away...
This is not just for knowledge sake. Weather conditions on other planets may help us understand weather behaviour in general, and in turn understand better the weather conditions on our own planet.
By just observing the weather we've probably already changed it!
Well sure, if we could actually observe the weather on this planet and confirm or refine our speculations, that would be great. Unfortunately, the technology to do so is well beyond our means at this point. By the time we actually are able to directly observe this planet, our weather models will probably be much more refined as well.
I'm reminded of the planet discovered over a year ago that was tidally locked to its star, which created a habitable zone circling the planet where the light from the star would hit it at an oblong angle, creating a zone of essentially perpetual twilight where life could form. We had quite a few ideas already for what the environment on this planet must be like, until further measurements of the star system revealed that the "planet" was really just minor errors in the calculations of the star's wobble, and there wasn't even a planet there to begin with.
This article isn't "just knowledge for knowledge's sake." Indeed, it seems to be purely speculation for speculation's sake. I'm actually very concerned by the line in the summary, "With patience and cunning, more than you might think," because that really implies we know a lot more about what we're talking about than we actually do. I'll just be happy when the weather forecaster on TV can accurately tell me the weather for the next week.
This is a prime example of over-applying significant digits in your math.
Don't let this happen to you. Millions of nitpicks are made each year when significance arithmetic is misused and overused. They need your help.
Please use significant digits responsibly. Thank you.
Planet. It's a planet. Flash Gordon didn't rock the spandex on "exoplanets". Captain Kirk didn't put the beat-down on that Gorn on an "exoearth".
They're just planets. The context makes it all clear, and "exo" is just meaningless marketeer blurb. Please stop it.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Of course knowledge for knowledge sake is enough. Who knows when "useless" knowledge becomes useful. When computers first appeared lot of theory on discrete compuations and methods had been developped, decades, and in some cases centuries, before it became practical. This then was only "knowledge for knowledge's sake". Then the electronic computers made it so much more useful. But without that background work, it might not even have been practical to develop computers without anything to use them with. While it's good to look for practical applications for knowledge, the lack of immediate application does not render said knowledge irrelevant. One day it may turn out that that bacground info becomes the seed of something revolutionnary.
I like my dinosaurs feathery, and my pterosaurs hairy (or is it pycnofibery?)