August 2005 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Photosynthesis
by Michael Carnes 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

>It's >exciting to think that we might have all kinds of >critters living in places (is it Ganymede?) where >there may be liquid water (near such a vent) that's >otherwise cold and far from the sun (or a sun). The million-dollar question for me has to do with the origin of the extremophiles. We don't really know if our earthly critters formed in all of these hostile environments or if they formed in one environment and then radiated out to fill other niches, evolving to fit. You could see it going either way. If life can form anyplace that's remotely habitable, then we might have reasonable expectations of finding it on Mars or Europa or Ganymede. But if it has to form in some more pleasant place and then work its way into extreme environments, we'd be less likely to find something in places that never had Darwin's 'warm little pond'.

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Photosynthesis
by Chuck Hards 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

Taking a break from making tomorrow's lunches... I recall that there are 2 bio-chemical "paths" (lacking the proper term at the moment) that photo-synthesis can take here on earth. Was wondering if there are any botanists on the list who would speculate on the possibility of a form of photosynthesis that could work under the spectrum of a non-G type star? Or if the process could theoretically work effectively under a much brighter or dimmer source? Humans produce vitamin D, a substance required for good health, by skin exposure to sunlight. Can this process be considered photosynthesis in a similar sense as green plants using chlorophyl? That is, making a needed nutrient internally using sunlight as an energy source. Where I'm going is trying to speculate on possible extra-terrestrial variations on basic earthly botanic & biological processes dependent on sunlight. Parallel evolution, processes repeating themselves in isolated, independent ecosystems, etc. Aliens using familiar processes with variations...any thoughts? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Another image added
by steve.nielsen＠comcast.net 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

Tyler, Very, very nice pictues. -------------- Original message -------------- > Yup! It was only 2 exposures of 5-minutes each. The clouds just wouldn't > cooperate that night, but I still got some nice images. I need another > night to get color for the Pinwheel and Trifid. Both images could really > turn out nice with another evening of scope time. > Thanks again Rich, for inviting me and helping me get to Wolf Creek. That > is an amazing place. > Cheers, > Tyler > > ___________________________ > > -----Original Message----- > From: utah-astronomy-bounces+tylerallred=earthlink.net(a)mailman.xmission.com > [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+tylerallred=earthlink.net@mailman.xmission.co > m] On Behalf Of Richard Tenney > Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 10:12 PM > To: Utah Astronomy > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Another image added > > Can only imagine if you had more time for this object! > What is that, about 10 minutes worth of luminance > data? > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Photosynthesis
by Michael Carnes 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

>The senses of sight, >smell, hearing- how and why we are sensitive to >certain wavelengths and not others. etc, etc. We're awfully constrained when we use that old term "the five senses". Consider sharks, who sense electric fields. Or birds, many of whom sense magnetic fields. >They may look at a photo of Guy's ex-wife >and be totally overwhelmed by sheer beauty. What if they saw a picture of Guy and were overwhelmed by beauty? We might be rooting for that asteroid to get here before they do!

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Photosynthesis
by Michael Carnes 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

>It needn't be just a process to produce carbohydrates >and sugars- Granted that there may be room for all sorts of other frameworks, but carbon provides a pretty good basis for life. It's one of the most promiscuous of the lighter elements and can form all sorts of complex molecules. Even with very different life-forms, it's possible to imagine that a lot of the basic chemistry might be the same. >Seems I've seen either a Website or documentary lately >that postulated animals that used sunlight to produce >food. They looked like big mushrooms, but were mobile >and competed for sun-lit real estate. Does that ring >a bell? Yeah, it was a documentary (I think on National Geographic) that postulated some possible life forms around other types of star systems. The animation was kind of cheesy. I enjoyed it a bit, but was a bit put-off that they only seemed to have 2-3 life-forms per planet. I'm guessing that just about any biosphere capable of generating large creatures is going to be quite rich in species.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Photosynthesis
by Michael Carnes 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

>Silly me, I should have known that exobiology isn't >anywhere as interesting to amateur astronomers as >bowling balls, urine-powered batteries, and Thomas >Aquinas. Well where else can you combine the three? I was actually considering a comment on your topic. Given that it's the red light that's of interest to earthbound plants (green's reflected because it isn't utilized), one might expect that stars on the redder end of the spectrum might be of interest to any plant considering a relocation. Of course it's possible that some form of photosynthesis could make use of shorter wavelengths, but blue stars tend to put out a lot of unpleasant stuff. We need to figure out a way to make this topic controversial so others will respond. mc

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Observing aid
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Aug '05

16 Aug '05

Now this could really come in handy the next time the battery on someone's goto telescope dies: ----------- The first urine-powered paper battery has been created by physicists in Singapore. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7850 ----------- Patrick :-)

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Wired?
by Patrick Wiggins 15 Aug '05

15 Aug '05

Anyone heard of some magazine called Wired? A reporter for the publication just called me wanting to do a story on the (in)famous bowling ball drop. Patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Gravity
by Olhomorto＠aol.com 15 Aug '05

15 Aug '05

Ok, then how much mass would be required for them to attract each other? Also, if an astronaut could remain motionless, would the gravitational force from the space station pull him in? Mike

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Another image added
by Tyler Allred 15 Aug '05

15 Aug '05

Here is another image from the Wolf Creek trip. This one is M20, the Trifid Nebula. Here is the link to the thumbnail: http://www.utahastronomy.com/album16/Utah_Astronomy_M20_Trifid Click the thumbnail for a larger version. Cheers, Tyler

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