Orion Nebula Research: Habitable Planets Could Be Rarer than Thought

StarClusterGuy (5:31 PM): Hopefully not! Thing is, Jupiter is thought to have played an important role in establishing the habitability of the Earth.
One, it protected us from excessive bombardment by asteroids, comets. Two, it stirred up icy material enough to send it Earth's way.
So the frequency of Jupiters around other stars might have implications for the existence of potentially habitable planets...

Dave on Earth (5:34 PM): I see -- now I wanted to ask you how you studied Orion.
What did you use to peek at it?

StarClusterGuy (5:36 PM): We used two telescopes: CARMA (Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy), which is an array of 15 telescopes on Cedar Flat (near Bishop, California); and the SMA (Submillimeter Array), which is an array of eight telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
I did some observations while at the observatory, but usually astronomers observe a "queue" of projects at these facilities.
So I didn't always observe Orion while at the telescopes.

Dave on Earth (5:37 PM): Why the "submillimeter" wavelength (which is longer than visible light)?

StarClusterGuy (5:40 PM): Unlike visible light, millimeter emissions can work through dense clouds of gas and dust. Which means we can observe it here on Earth.
They also help us tell the mass of circumstellar disks (because the amount of radiation is correlated directly with the amount of material).
Sort of like Superman's X-ray vision, but maybe not quite as powerful as Superman.

Dave on Earth (5:42 PM): Now a less scientific question for you: What's it like to observe from these powerful telescope arrays? Is it a really serious sort of affair?
For some reason, the word "astronomer" makes me think of a sleepless person surrounded by empty Doritos bags, coffee cups and takeout boxes.

StarClusterGuy (5:45 PM): Another great thing about the millimeter wavelength: You can observe for 24 hours a day.
So we work hard some of the time, but relax once the telescope is happily working.
But yes -- there are also usually coffee cups and Doritos bags...

Dave on Earth (5:46 PM): What's your favorite observing snack?

StarClusterGuy (5:47 PM): I tend to eat more chocolate than I should.

Dave on Earth (5:47 PM): Nothing wrong with chocolate :)
Here's some gear-changing for you: In a sentence or two, why should people care about what's going on inside Orion?

StarClusterGuy (5:50 PM): Understanding planet formation in Orion tells us a lot about how solar systems form, and that's an important part of understanding our origins.
And planet formation is a piece of the larger puzzle in figuring out whether we might have company in the Galaxy.

Dave on Earth (5:50 PM): Do you think we'll ever make contact with intelligent alien life in your lifetime?

StarClusterGuy (5:52 PM): I tend to think we won't.
Human life spans are pretty short compared to how long it takes even light -- the fastest thing in the universe -- to travel between our sun and other planetary systems.

Dave on Earth (5:53 PM): True. Ok, one more question for you.

StarClusterGuy (5:53 PM): Shoot.

Dave on Earth (5:54 PM): Back to your Superman reference: If you were the Man of Steel, where in the universe would you go, and what would you see?

StarClusterGuy (5:55 PM): Orion would certainly be one of my top choices.
Observing planet formation in action would be a pretty amazing sight.

Dave on Earth (5:56 PM): Thanks for chatting Josh.

StarClusterGuy (5:56 PM): Thanks. You too!

Article posted August 25, 2008.

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