Mirror Planets

The universe--and the science we use to probe it, never ceases to amaze me. News just came out that gives more weight to the existence of "Mirror Matter" that possibly fills the universe. We all know that Dark Matter is that elusive missing matter that exerts certain influences on galaxies and cluster of galaxies. They exhibit tell-tale signs of their existence, but they are unseen.
In the race among physicists to produce direct evidence of Dark Matter, an Italian group announced that they have found signs of Dark Matter from their experiment called DAMA/LIBRA. Then, a US-based experiment called CoGent also found evidence of Dark Matter.
In an effort to reconcile the findings from the two experiments, Liam Fitzpatrick at Boston University suggested that a light, weakly interacting dark matter particle could explain both results. And now, Robert Foot from the University of Melbourne says that the existence of Mirror Matter could explain it better.
In a nutshell, Dark matter, which contains the "missing mass" that's needed to explain why galaxies stay together, could take any number of forms--and Mirror Matter could be one of them.
Most of these ideas are somewhat hypothetical as of yet. At this point I need to clarify that mirror matter is not anti-matter. Whereas anti-matter has more to do with particles of the opposite charge (i.e an electron with a positive charge, called a positron), mirror matter owes it's distinction to parity or chirality. To understand it better, let's use the analogy of left-handed molecules where chirality arises from geometry not composition.
Another difference between mirror matter and antimatter is that anti-matter plus ordinary matter is highly reactive and explosive--both will be annihilated in a burst of energy upon contact. But mirror matter and normal matter reacts so weakly, where the effect of gravity could be the only noticeable "symmetrical" interaction between the two.
Now that you have an idea of mirror matter, here's the mind-blowing aspect of it. The implications of the existence of mirror matter is astounding because when you consider the fact that in the observable universe alone, we already say that there are billions and billions of stars. How much more if there are additional mirror galaxies, mirror stars, and mirror planets? The observable universe that we infer, based on what we have "seen" thus far with our telescopes (like Hubble, Spitzer, etc.), only accounts for 4.6% of the whole universe. Dark matter accounts for 23%! (the rest is dark energy which is even harder to detect).
Even if only a certain percentage of Dark Matter is mirror matter, and if that is proven true--then it will be quite staggering to our imagination.
Think about mirror exoplanets. Think about the kind of life that might arise from planets made of Dark Matter. Think about lifeforms and advanced beings made up of mirror matter. What will happen if you shake hands with a "mirror alien"?
Truly, there is so much we don't know. Our imagination pales in comparison to the unknowns of the universe. And the journey of knowing, and speculating a bit, at each step--is simply a wonderful experience.


Links:
Mirror Matter
First evidence that Mirror Matter from Technology Review
Signs of Dark Matter... from Physorg

Image Credit:
The World is your Mirror from www.seanmantey.co.uk

Giantess: A Possibilian Tale

I came across the Possibilian from a tweet. The Neuroscientist, David Eagleman coined the term to describe someone who is actively open to different ideas. In a nutshell,

"Our ignorance of the cosmos is too vast to commit to atheism, and yet we know too much to commit to a particular religion. A third position, agnosticism, is often an uninteresting stance in which a person simply questions whether his traditional religious story (say, a man with a beard on a cloud) is true or not true. But with Possibilianism I'm hoping to define a new position -- one that emphasizes the exploration of new, unconsidered possibilities. Possibilianism is comfortable holding multiple ideas in mind; it is not interested in committing to any particular story."

The idea of "Possibilianism" appealed to me because it aligns quite well with my twitter manifesto regarding my stance about God (check the last portion of my twanifesto). So I dug deeper into this worldview, finding clues as to how this neuroscientist arrived at a similar view that I hold.
Apparently, David introduced this term during an interview about his book, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. I am now reading this book because I was curious as to the kind of work that a Possibilian would share to the world.
And so I found Sum quite enjoyable, being a collection of short metaphysical stories, it suited my reading style of digesting bite-sized portions, reading one story at a time.
And so I came across a story that gave me a reason to write about it on this blog. The story is called Giantess.
In a nutshell, the story illustrates emergence on a grand scale. An enormity that is expressed only via a metaphor using cellular biology wherein planets, ah yes, exoplanets are merely proteins within a cell we call "The Milky Way", which is one among billions of galaxies within an immeasurable living mass called the Giantess.
On this grand cosmic scale, our tiny solar system dont matter much to the uber-emergent entity, like how we casually wipe away a tiny drop of blood from a pinprick. Life on planets can be wiped away by a rain of asteroids, and entire galaxies would be devoured by blackholes, and the Giantess couldn't care less.
Here's some tidbits from the story to give you a feel of Eagleman's style of writing,

"To be clear," he says to you, "I am not your God. Instead, you and I are galactic neighbors; I am from a planet associated with the star you call Terzan Four..."

"For a long time, we have been studying our neighbors: You Earthlings and thirty seven other planets besides. We have developed highly accurate systems of equations to predict the future growth and social directions of your planets."

The common theme of the book revolves around hypothetical afterlife scenarios and the different playful manifestations of God. But collectively, the stories in Sum covers a wide range of topics that any enthusiast or scholar in many fields (Philosophy, Spirituality, Psychology, Theology, Computer Science, Physics and Metaphysics, Cosmology, etc) will find a 'connecting point' or their own metaphor, and a reason to write about it in their blogs, the same way I did for exoplanetology.
As I keep a close watch over the ongoing march of the Plurality of Worlds, the ever-growing discovery of exoplanets opens up a lot of possibilities, and synthesizes different fields--that the best way to tread is to simply maintain fresh eyes on fascinating wonders of new discoveries, and to keep an open mind to the challenges it would bring to long-held worldviews and beliefs.
Is there life out there? Are there intelligent, conscious beings on other worlds? How does their existence affect humanity's concept of God? How will it affect my Faith?
In light of those kinds of questions, the kind of attitude suggested by Eagleman's book is summed up by it's simple meta-message: We don't know...

Links:
Possibilian
David Eagleman 40 Afterlives
Exoplanetology Twitter Manifesto

Photo Credit:
The Final April Fools, Light & Illusion – Art by Randall Klopping

The Big Dipper and Exoplanets

As of today, August 2009 the total number of known exoplanets stands at 373. Almost every month or every week, there are new exoplanets being discovered.
Pretty soon, exoplanet discoveries will be a regular occurrence that it becomes an ordinary thing. After all, exoplanets may be as "common as table salt", and they are numerous as grains of sand on the beach.

And then people might begin to lose the wonder of it all.

Amidst the accelarating rate of discoveries, I hope that we never lose that sensawunda. That is why it is important to know the exoplanets in the skies. We must be able to point at the stars and say to someone, "Look! Right there is another world!"

What better way to start with the exoplanets in the most-recognized pattern in the night sky--The Big Dipper. The Plough or the Big Dipper is an asterism that is a part of the constellation called Ursa Major. As you stare at the Big Dipper, you may actually be gazing at exoplanets as well. Light that passed through the horizon of another world may actually reach your eyes. Feeble as they may be, the photons of light from other stars carries information about the planets they harbor. Light is the medium by which scientists examine the atmosphere of other worlds. Of course they use instruments that are a millions of times more sensitive than our eyes. And these photometric instruments gather starlight far more efficient than our retinas.

Within the field of view of that big scoop in the sky, there are currently ten eleven exoplanets (as of 03/09/2010) discovered so far. Well, none of these "Big Dipper Exoplanets" orbit the stars of the actual Big Dipper shape, but they belong to the stars within the Ursa Major constellation. We simply use the Big Dipper as a guide.

Among the noteworthy ones of these "Big Dipper Exoplanets" are 47 Ursae Majoris b, the first exoplanet to be discovered within Ursa Major in 1996. It was followed by it's sibling 47 Ursae Majoris c in 2001. Their parent star with a magnitude is 5.1 is visible with the naked eye. Then there's HD 80606 b, a superjovian planet with the most highly-eccentric orbit known so far. HAT-P-3 b is the easiest to find as it lies near Alkaid, the tip of the Big Dipper's handle. HD 118203 b lies close to it near the first joint of the handle.

The rest of them is scattered away from the plough. More information can be accessed with a link via the list below. A KMZ file is also provided for use via Google Sky. And a data set view is set up in Freebase such that any new exoplanet entered with a constellation value of Ursa Major will be automatically included in that data view.

Although at this time the list is tiny, we can expect this list to grow in the coming years. Perhaps the Big Dipper may become so full of exoplanets that it wouldn't be big enough to contain them all.

• 47 Ursae Majoris b
• 47 Ursae Majoris c
• 47 Ursae Majoris d
• HD 80606 b
• 4 Ursae Majoris b
• HD 118203 b
• HD 89744 b
• HAT-P-3 b
• HD 81688 b
• HD 68988 b
• HD 68988 c

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.