The Holy Grail in Exoplanet Science

A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed a great evening of exoplanets, music, cocktail and science at the SciCafe Event which launched with a topic about Exoplanets and the Search for Life in the Universe.

Ben Oppenheimer's lecture and presentation was stylish and unique. A 3D map of the known exoplanets around our stellar neighborhood was shown in multiple widescreens scattered across the museum space. He gave some background on adaptive optics, coronal shields (coronagraphy) and spectography. He showed animation clips across the different wavelengths of light seen from a star: the resulting animation is a function not of time but of color. He also gave a hint that soon he will release some new findings they gained using their technique.

The whole aura during the event was simply hip and cool. Just imagine sipping red wine inside the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) with some ambient music while being immersed in planetary stuff. Of course, seeing some twitter friends, @leebillings and @bnroberts at the event was nice. And did I mention that I wore my nerdy Kepler shirt and a beautiful woman commented on it? "Nice shirt!" she said, nodding in approval.

After the lecture, during the Q & A portion I kept raising my hand for the last question but I wasn't picked. But I was glad that Ben picked someone else who asked an excellent question, "What is the Holy Grail in Exoplanet Science?"

And I appreciated the answer I heard: For Ben Oppenheimer, the Holy Grail in Exoplanet Science is simply being part of it. He says that the Holy Grail is not making the best exoplanet discovery and being in the news and in the papers. The Holy Grail is simply being part of the collective efforts of a myriad of people that revolves around the Science of Exoplanets. Ultimately, he says, Exoplanet Science will be done by society as a whole. Now that's the Holy Grail of Exoplanet Science. Amen!

Exoplanetology's Twitter Manifesto

When I started the @exoplanetology twitter account I did not expect that it would take me to an amazing journey through fascinating worlds. Well, twitter is a world of it's own, but it has allowed me to learn and discover new interesting realms that i could never have known without this medium.

My goal to answer the question, "How does the discovery of exoplanets impact humanity's culture and future?" --has guided me into worlds I've never known before. Little did I know that tweeting would become a soul-searching activity as well.

So I am forever thankful to the Tweeps--my Karass, the tweeting embodiment of the hive mind. They helped shape the path to new genres that I am dabbling into.

My latest foray, which I am so excited about--is exploring planetary worlds in fiction, comic books, graphic novels, short stories, movies, music, and videogames. I focus only on those that has something to do with worlds and exoplanets. I became interested in SciFi after I realized how inspiring it is to delve into the narrative behind planetary worlds, all the while enjoying the scientific study of real exoplanets. Without the stories, the study of Exoplanetology would be a bore. In a sense, Imaginative Science is the latest addition to my playground.

Thus, if you follow @exoplanetology then you would be taken along on a journey of exploration in science as well as in literature, culture, and some bit of futurism.

Some wackiness slips in between the cracks, occasionally. I often end up drawing other-worldy insights from mundane experiences, or finding planetary metaphors from simple things like soap bubbles.

Sometimes I tweet about what an astrophysics arXiv article is really saying, or you would just find me RT'ing or raving about a new comic book set on a distant alien world.

I like synthesizing. Often i'd tweet about how I can mix different subjects, for example Synthetic Biology and Astrobiology to find insights about detecting life on other planets. Exoplanetology is itself a synthesis of different fields of Science, namely Astronomy and Astrophysics, so it does not come as a surprise that I like to mash up things! I think it resulted in my blogging style becoming 'interstitial'.

The keyword is "Worlds", and it has become my favorite word lately. For me, "Worlds" is a key that integrates Science and Fiction, using imagination as the glue. And from that stems a redefinition: Aside from being "The Art and Science of New Worlds", Exoplanetology is also the over-all study and "Thought" of Worlds.

My intent with this twitter account is to be a node between the Third Culture and the informed public. Perhaps this makes it part of the Fourth Culture--a term derived after C.P. Snow's lecture, A Tale of Two Cultures.

The @Exoplanetology account is being stewarded by a non-scientist non-literati but with a strong interest in Science, the Humanities and the Arts--plus a penchant for seeking Truth. Thus there is no other way but for @Exoplanetology to act as node between these seemingly disparate things.

In terms of that perennial debate on God or un-God, I tweet from the standpoint of an active 'Seeker'--one who thinks that perhaps we don't know enough just yet to make a solid stance on whether God does or does not exist, but that there is plenty of Wonders in the Universe to inspire Awe, and then ponder upon that mystery. As such, it makes me forever curious.

Lastly, I myself am confused whether to treat @Exoplanetology as a person or as a robotic curator with no will of its own. But i've learned to appreciate the ambiguity of such treatment, after I realized that stewarding Exoplanetology has changed me, and guided my thinking in a lot of ways too.

The melding of the person and a meme is quite interesting to me, for I've never seen a nascent field of science come with a personality along with it's presence on the web. This is "only in twitter" they say, only in twitter.

I am @Exoplanetology and this is my Twitter Manifesto.

The Sense of Wonder at the Crossroads

Definitely, the Crossroads was the best conference I have ever attended in my life. The danger of driving sleepy through foggy roads overnight from Jersey to Cambridge was well worth it. If I was a real journalist, I would have written numerous science topics from that event because all speakers were excellent in their presentations. Every single one of them provided plenty of ideas to write about.
Gerrit Verschuur gave a nice warm-up with the Drake Equation. Dimitar Sasselov mentioned "Life as a Planetary Phenomenon", an idea put forward by Andy Knoll--which is the best phrase I ever heard in years. Maria Zuber's presentation about landing humans on Mars was detailed, and she gave a very informed account of the challenges that a human would undertake on a round-trip mission to Mars. Craig Venter gave an overview about synthetic life which made me very curious how these artificial lifeforms would provide insights to Astrobiologists looking for alien biomarkers on other worlds. Juan Enriquez gave a mesmerizing tour of exciting research brewing around a corner in Cambridge that gave hints of the Singularity, and the coming of Homo Evolutis. Then Peter Ward gave an eye-opening account of his Medea Hypothesis, urging us to stop CO2 and engineer our way out of Global Warming to become true anti-Medeans. David Charbonneau spoke with utmost clarity and eloquence that for a moment I saw Carl Sagan in him. I also think Charbonneau owned the *best* slide ever--Welcome to the Era of Comparative Exoplanetology. He also gave a very positive note about the role of Amateur Astronomy in contributing to Science specially in the field of Planet-hunting. I was delighted to know that the future of Citizen Astronomy is brighter than ever before.
At that point however, the moderator David Aguilar--an Astronomer who's ever so keen, promptly noticed that the conference had already taken an unexpected turn. And it was punctuated by Freeman Dyson who was the last speaker.
Dyson opened his talk with the story about William Herschel who was a dedicated Amateur Astronomer that made excellent contributions to Science and Astronomy. I was moved when Dyson said, "Amateurs, do not be discouraged!"
Thus when I was picked by David Aguilar to have the privilege of asking the last question, I worked hard to contain myself in front of Dyson. "Sir, I am touched by your opening story about Herschel, and how you encouraged Amateurs. And I would like to hear it all over again. May I ask that you inspire us all once more?"
Dyson then proceeds to mention the meeting of Worlds, intersection of Cultures, melding of Disciplines, and the reconnection of Poetry, Science, Art, and the role that technology will play. He then goes on to recommend an upcoming book "The Age of Wonder", by Richard Holmes. It is a tale about the sense of wonder, a common trait among the Romantic Poets and Scientists during Herschel's era.
Finally Dyson concludes the conference saying that we will soon witness the coming of a new Age of Wonder.
Indeed we are on the Crossroads, at the intersection of exciting new worlds where we shall see wondrous things in the coming years.
As I drove back home through the rain, I was mesmerized all the way. I went to Cambridge seeking adventure and inspiration, and I truly found it, with a sense of Wonder.

Crossroads: A Real-Time Experience

Writing from Boston at 3am and digging up the experience that I had earlier during the Crossroads conference in Cambridge, I refuse to let any of my experience just slip away into mere memory. So I came up with this first post on the series about what transpired earlier:
As usual, I arrived late. I missed the first speaker, who spoke about the "meaning" of life. And the amateur "Citizen Science Journalist" that I am, had no audio recorder. But I had a thought recorder, in the form of twitter. So I whipped up my laptop and my new Android.
And as soon as my Twhirl and Twidroid loaded up, and my fabled "Citizen Science Journalist" hat was firm on my noggins, the game was on.
But hush now, there is one secret: Nobody knows that I was conducting a personal experiment:
I wanted to know how it felt like, to be in the midst of it all. To engage the speakers, to be in there capturing snippets of thought, and broadcasting them in real-time. Actually, it was more than broadcasting. It was like "thinking out loud" onto a HiveMind. I was a Twitterer incognito (or so i'd like to think)!.
On the part of the twitterer, the experience is exhilarating. I know because I experienced it first-hand: I was listening to very interesting people. And then I tweeted as they spoke about interesting things. I acted like a node. A live human medium to the global community in real-time. I also asked them questions that I was deeply curious about. And then I "compressed" their answers concisely so I can tell the whole world about it quickly. Twittering makes you listen, and tweeting actually makes you think!
Now perhaps the presence of a twitterer is a horror on the part of the speakers. It may be arbitrary, but if I was one of the speakers, I would certainly be terrified knowing that someone in the audience is waiting for me to blunder so he can tell the whole world about it unedited and unscreened...live!
But no one knew what I was up to. So I avoided Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle: With these scientists not knowing that a twitterer was among the audience, it would not affect their behavior.
And here is my initial conclusion about the whole experiment:
This form of "real-time" media journalism will truly take off like never before in the near future. It will make conferences more engaging, more interactive, more exciting and more cerebral. Citizen Science Journalism will explode.
Tell me if a speaker didn't want to be "heard" by a global HiveMind in real time, and then to evoke reactions "as it happens"?
The fact that he is a speaker means he wants to be heard, and heard big time!
And tell me who among any "Citizen Journalists" would not want to be listened to by his or her "followers"? Tell me who would not want the thought that people could be eagerly awaiting for the next tweet?
Why didn't I bring a digital recorder? Perhaps I knew somehow that I will not listen to the recording anyways. Maybe I knew that listening to it all over again would just be a grudging work to me, transcribing would be a pain. For me, what mattered was the "Now" moment, and the "Aha" that comes in the midst of it.
Atop it all, it was an exhilarating experience to stand face to face with the great scientists of our time. And knowing that perhaps I might never get the chance in my life to meet any of them ever again, makes it all the more cherished.
My heart was thumping like drums as I looked into their eyes, and then I asked my questions.
Truly it was proven to me once again that asking questions is one of the greatest experiences of a human being.
It's alright to be afraid to ask questions, but listen to your heart and let it all out: Ask your questions anyway.

The Citizen Science Journalist Hat

I've mentioned my "Citizen Journalist" hat in the past, but then it was metaphorical. But this time however, the hat's for real. I passed by Lids and thought of fashioning my own insignia to be stitched onto the hat. I was very excited when I got the hat and took a snapshot of it while I was twittering in action. This hat is special because it will be the hat that I'm gonna wear in the upcoming "Crossroads" conference in Cambridge. I am gonna play the part of a Citizen Science Journalist and I will approach these great scientists of our time: David Aguilar, David Charbonneau, Freeman Dyson, Juan Enriquez, Andrew Knoll, Dimitar Sasselov, Craig Venter, Gerrit Vershuur, Peter D. Ward and Maria Zuber. I am going to ask them questions and report it all to you via twitter and this blog.
I've never done that before that's why I am nervous. But it is an adventure for me to thicken my face, say hello, and shake the hands of these movers and shakers. Wish me luck, and please do send me any questions you might want me to ask them. Tweet them to me if you like, or write them up via the comment system of this blog. And hopefully, I will be given a chance to throw your difficult questions at these Scientists.
This Citizen Science Journalism thingy has been a great adventure for me. I am learning a lot of things and I am totally thrilled to try it. To share the experience makes it even more wonderful. And it is a great time to do it, because we are on a threshold of discovering something great. Truly we are on the Crossroads of human history. As Carl Sagan said, "somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." And I just can't wait!

A Dwarf Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

A few weeks ago, I pleaded that I be added on @sciencebase's list of Scientwists because I love science and the people that make it so. Sometime later, this visualization was created by 2020 Science via IBM's "Many Eyes" interface. Curious, I searched where I was on the bubblechart, and I pleasantly found myself on that yellow spot resting atop giant circles. Happily I said to myself that I am a "dwarf standing on the shoulder of giants."
I don't exactly remember from which book I read that phrase, but for my case I know that it is true. Specially that I have immersed myself in what many calls the Hive Mind. Many great ideas are being shared in this medium called twitter and I am just humbled by the fact that a swarm of scientists is my teacher. I learn profound things because of them.
Although I already subscribe to the interpretation of "standing on the shoulders of giants" as "one who develops future intellectual pursuits by understanding the research and works created by notable thinkers of the past", I would like to think that in the age of Science2.0, the thinkers of the present can have a much greater influence on the current generation than ever before.
Now if only more of them will twitter...

"Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants...so that we can see things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."
--John of Salisbury (Metalogicon, 1159)

An Expedition into a World of Science and Imagination

If i wanted to go into an expedition of an alien safari, I would visit this place: Expedition by Wayne Barlowe.
It is speculative biology and Imaginative science at it's best, all rendered with great artistic skill by an artist with a scientific bent, or perhaps a scientist with an artistic inclination.
Whichever is the case, these exo-lifeforms are a feast to my eyes and a tickle to my imagination.
It's amazing how my foray into Astrobiology and Exobiology has taken me to awe-inspiring discoveries such as this one. The worlds opened up by the marriage of Imagination and Science is an endless adventure.
What will the discovery of thousands of exoplanets bring to the fusion of Science and Art? My mind is simply blown away.

A World in Progress: Snaiad

What happens when Imagination glues together Speculative Biology and Exoplanetology? You get Snaiad, a compilation of hand-drawn creatures straight from an imagined world.

"Snaiad is one of Humanity's first off-world colonies, the jewel in the sky, the realm of the sublime. The hopeful colonists arriving from the war-weary Mediterranean found themselves not in a second Garden of Eden, but an unusual new world they had to understand and adapt in order to survive. Understand it they did, and here is what they found."

The world of Snaiad is given life in this site. It has a timeline history nicely chronicled, and even extends up to 550 years later from today. According to this "legend-in-progress", its not until 250 to 433 years from now that extrasolar colonization will occur. It also has a map and geography of the planet.
The Snaiadi creatures are given detailed information regarding their physiology, anatomy and biology. An explanation is also provided on how they are created in a step-by-step process straight from the artist's mind. It is truly amazing!
But here's the best part: You can actually go into this world right now. Yes! You can join the further development of Snaiad. It has a venue for collaboration. It is somehow connected to DeviantArt and some other projects of a similar vein. I am currently pondering how i can contribute to these awesome endeavors. As such, I would gladly recommend these types of projects to spacehack in a kind of off-beat category.
I will continue to explore Snaiad and others like it for I am truly delighted by the discovery of incredible Worlds borne of Imagination and Science.



Links: Alien para-tetrapods of Snaiad

Infinite Worlds

If there is any book at all that best captures Exoplanetology--The Art and Science of Exoplanets, then it is this book: Infinite Worlds by Ray Villard and Lynnette Cook.

If there is any book at all that best captures Exoplanetology--The Art and Science of Exoplanets and Life on other Worlds, then it is this book: Infinite Worlds by Ray Villard and Lynnette Cook. This book is truly a masterpiece worth having in the bookshelf of those who are enthralled by other worlds and beckoned by the prospect of life in other planets.
Although it has been published several years ago, this book will never cease to inspire the next generation of space explorers, and will continue to foster the momentum in exoplanet research by way of inspiration and imagination.
Prior to 1992 there were no known planets orbiting stars outside our own solar system. But the next few years have seen fast-paced developments in astronomy where over 300 extrasolar planets have been discovered by 2008--with more discoveries surely on the way.
Though it will be a few more years before we have compelling direct images of these far-flung worlds, this lavishly illustrated book gives us an idea of what they might look like.
A fascinating exploration of Exoplanetology written for a wide audience, Infinite Worlds brings together Lynette Cook's internationally renowned astronomical artwork, the latest and most dramatic images from the world's top observatories, and scientific findings on subjects ranging from stellar evolution and planetary formation to a possible universe filled with countless planets and life forms.
The newly discovered exoplanets are boggling astronomers' minds with their bizarre characteristics, including an unimagined diversity of sizes and orbits. In Lynette Cook's scientifically based illustrations, we glimpse the landscapes and atmospheres that might adorn these planets. Ray Villard's text elegantly describes the state of astronomy today, imagines where it will take us in the coming years, ponders the chances of success for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and explores the survivability of life in an evolving and accelerating universe.

Links:
Lynnette Cook's SpaceArt

A Glimpse of Science Behind Spore

I was surprised to come across a program from the creators of Spore: ParticleMan simulates gravitational attraction between particles in a cloud. It's system was used to study such gravitational dynamics as orbits, nebula formation, star formation and particle streams from sources like pulsars and black holes.
My experience with the ParticleMan was clean. I saw the formation of stars and planets through the process of accretion - dusts and gas "coagulating" to form larger bodies. I also saw clues of binary star formations and interactions. Often, stars dance around tugging each other in circular orbits until some disturbances from planetesimals (or larger bodies) cause one of them to be hurled out of the Solar System at high speed (as is the fate of some unfortunate planetesimals that get in their way). Sometimes, though they merge together forming a bigger blob of mass.
What I can gleam from observing the simulation provided by ParticleMan is that proto-planets seem to battle it out for survival in the early stages of a Solar System's formation. In the chaotic melee, smaller clumps of rocks either get hurled out or get swallowed by bigger, more massive objects. The survivor planets are the ones that now occupy the stable orbits of a Solar System in equilibrium.
After a few minutes of observing, I was impressed with the light-weight program, considering the fact that it was just one of their many prototypes in the early stages of exploring the game's directions.
Stating the lack of science behind the game in my previous post about the Spore Creature Creator might have been premature, as there could be so much more to see in the actual Spore game to be launched in the next few months. I could be blown away when it finally goes out.
If game-makers deal with these kinds of Science, Gaming could be a great ally in teaching a great deal about the actual universe we live in.

SpaceCollective: Forward-thinking Terrestrials

I came across this awesome site called SpaceCollective that features wonderful insights about Space, Science and the Future, and explores the inner, outer and cyber space. I've watched all of their videos and they are all so inspiring and thought-provoking. Man is a Space-farer, and the human mind is an explorer of Futures. SpaceCollective rolls both into one, and it stays true to their mantra of living science fiction today.

Exoplanetology and Science-Fiction

A nice post about Exoplanets from IO9, one of my favorite sci-fi blogs. It's great to have the Sci-Fi community taking a close watch on developments in Exoplanetology - the Art and Science of Exoplanets. And why not? Man simply cannot resist the call of other Worlds. Exoplanetology is a field that beckons the imagination, and Exoplanets appeals to Sci-Fi because they're far enough to stretch the imagination, but close enough for Science. If any object at all represents a kind of missing link between Science and Fiction, then i think it's The Exoplanet.