Exoplanetary Year-end Summary

It has been a terrific year for Exoplanetology. First things first: Numbers. At the year's end the total known exoplanets is 415. At the beginning of 2009 it was only around 331. So for the past year there were around 84 new exoplanets discovered--overshooting my forecast about the Future of Exoplanetology which I posted at the beginning of 2009.
Of course, the launch of Kepler last March makes 2009 even more special for planetary science.

The Meme
Well, I'm happy to say that Exoplanetology is now in history. Yes, the Brussels Journal dubbed Exoplanetology as an important new branch of planetary Science. Also several articles from the coolest magazines has mentioned Exoplanetology in their articles--Wired and SEED magazine to name a few. Wired Magazine even created a special tag for it. Another thing is that Exoplanetology is making it's way into ArXiv.org, being mentioned in some important papers. Michel Mayor even said that the future of Exoplanetology is bright!

Culture
In the movies, there's no doubt that Avatar has all aspects of Exoplanetology written all over it. Upon which we can add District 9 as a surprise hit, which hinted at the Prawns' homeworld with seven moons. Another surprise was Pandorum, the scifi thriller that mentioned mankind's detection of another habitable world and the trouble we might encounter on a perilous journey to an exoplanet.

Exoplanets
All exoplanet discoveries are important. But the notable ones that captured much of the public's attention early this year were CoRoT-7 b the first known exoplanet with a density similar to that of Earth – even if the planetary surface seems less Earth-like with scorching temperatures. Then Michel Mayor's discoveries in the Gliese 581 planetary system. Gliese 581 e is still the least massive among all exoplanets to date--at twice the mass of earth and rocky, it is also perceived to date as among the most similar to earth from among the zoo of giant exoplanets.

My personal favorite is actually WASP-17 b because it teaches about the Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect on how to determine the exoplanet's direction of orbit.

GJ 1214 b was discovered using MEarth, a project headed by David Charbonneau--that uses commercially available cameras and amateur grade telescopes controlled robotically. Very cool indeed, as it serves as an inspiration for amateur exoplanet enthusiasts with entry-level toolkits.

Some new important things learned for 2009 were the relationship of exoplanets to the Lithium content of their parent stars. Thus this provides the astronomers with a new, cost-effective way to search for planetary systems: by checking the amount of lithium present in a star astronomers can decide which stars are worthy of further significant observing efforts.
The introduction of the Habitability Index was nice as it somewhat upgrades the Drake Equation, which is quite outdated judging from the new findings in planetary science.

There are definitely a lot of other noteworthy things that I failed to mention in this post. There's simply too many of them. But if you need more atomic details for the exoplanetary things that happened in the past year of 2009, please check this interactive timeline.

Thus, we close 2009 with a Bang! Many thanks to all who supported this blog in any way, by simply reading my posts, or via links, tweets, mentions, and so on. You are much appreciated. You truly inspire me. As the steward of this site, I hope to continue to share to others that inspiration.

Happy New Year, Earthlings!!!

Billions of Births

Merry Christmas to all! This post on a festive day serves to greet you and to celebrate Life throughout the far reaches of space. The photo says it best. From the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), recent star births within the Orion Nebula, makes way for proplyds or Protoplanetary Discs--signalling the birth of planets..and with it, the potential for life.

Links:
APOD December 22, 2009

A Closer Look at Pandora

Pardon my ignorance. I didn't realize that there was already an elaborate world-building investment involved with Pandora, the lush setting of the movie Avatar. After I posted my review of that movie, I was alerted (via a comment) regarding a book that gave some relevant details about the physical characteristics of the world of Pandora.
As it turns out, Pandora is a moon orbiting a gas giant called Polyphemus. What surprised me is that Polyphemus belongs to the Alpha Centauri trinary system. The largest star, Alpha Centauri A (or ACA, as they call it) serves as the main sun of Pandora. The third companion Alpha Centauri C, as it is written in that book, is a red dwarf. Obviously, it is not accurate with regards to the real Alpha Centauri system which is a binary system. A third star called Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our sun is believed to be gravitationally linked to the Alpha Centauri system.
The floating mountains which i found quite odd, had some explanations on why it floats. The Hallelujah Mountains, as it is called, are laced with "Unobtainium" a high-temperature superconducting element that is levitated by powerful magnetic fields generated by Pandora's swirling molten core.
I do find the name of that fictitious substance funny, and for a perfect reason: Unobtainium may never be obtained, because it will never occur in nature, well at least in the earth-like temperature of Pandora. Atoms would never align uniformly to make a perfect superconductor specially with Pandora's climate. And not even the frigid icy moon like Titan or Europa would produce anything close to superconductors.
More details can be found in that book regarding the Geology, Atmosphere and Chemistry of Pandora, and still more from around the web.
Of course, nothing would sway me from simply enjoying the movie's impressive special effects. I would simply stop my mind from analysing and just admire the view. I would watch it again in 3D and immerse myself in a world of imagination, the way it's supposed to be.

Avatar. I See You.

Avatar has a lot of heart and soul. This movie will make you cycle through the full range of human emotions. It will surprise you, delight you, it will make you laugh and cry and go mad.

The poignant storyline has successfully appealed to our deepest essence as a sentient being, as a tribe and as a civilization. Indeed, it has allowed us to see ourselves within a simple story, with that familiar pattern of discovery, conquest, colonization and exploitation which has occurred countless times on the islands of our planet since humanity began--and that which will probably occur in the outer reaches of space, on fertile new worlds yet to be known.

I am delighted by the rich set of planetary values, environmental virtues, spiritual awareness, and respect for life that is taught within a simple tale set on Pandora--an exomoon orbiting a gas giant in a distant exoplanetary system.

Pandora is home to a variety of life that includes the Na'vi, the dominant species. One can see that painstaking detail was crafted into Pandora and all its local inhabitants. In terms of the Art and Science of that world, the Aesthetics is a pure win. How about the Science? Did the filmmakers consult a planetary scientist or an astrobiologist during their brainstorming sessions? To begin with, i see it proper that the atmosphere on Pandora is toxic to humans--thus the need for the Avatar on a Xenosociological mission to learn more about the Na'vi culture. In reality, an atmosphere that is inhospitable to us would likely be the case even for "earth-like" worlds that we may discover in the future.

Although I admire the breathtaking sceneries on Pandora, what distracted me was the concept of the floating mountains which in my opinion, is quite odd with respect to the geological or chemical properties of Pandora. I don't think it's possible with the known laws of physics in that setting. Correct me if i'm wrong but making rocks levitate has something to do only with powerful magnets and ultracool superconductors.

As for the lifeforms on Pandora, i like them enough to want to see more variety. Only a handful were depicted when there should have been more (even as extras) within the ecosystem as rich as a jungle depicted in the film. I quite didn't notice any insect-like creatures which, based on my bias--should be one of the most numerous type of animals on any inhabited planet. Also, the extra pair of legs on their "horses" don't offer any advantage so i tend to question the evolutionary idea behind it. The animals look like plastic at times but it's all trivial, so that's alright, the design team made up by sporting a lot of Bioluminescence--of which i'm a big fan, in their flora and fauna.

Convergent Evolution may allow cat-like humanoid creatures such as the Na'vi. So I dont mind having thundercat creatures on exomoons. And yes, i know it's a cliche but I am happy about the references to an emergent organism--that of the trees linked to each other to make a global consciousness.

The last one of my observations is about the concept of the Avatar itself. The Na'vi avatar is a fully functioning biological creature with a brain capable of cognitive abilities. It would be possible for it to attain its own set of consciousness. What if it starts to dream in it's sleep? Many existential or ethical questions then arises if the avatar wakes up unlinked to Jake. Perhaps the sequel would answer that!

These blue avatars are way advanced compared to the robotic probes that we currently use to explore other planets. Yes, Spirit, Opportunity and even New Horizons are our Avatars, believe it or not. And the longstanding problem is the lagtime of the signal throttling back and forth the controller and the probe. Perhaps taming Quantum Entanglement is only possible with a scifi movie such as this. One can only hope. A real-time quantum link would indeed open up tremendous possibilities for space exploration.

Avatar's impact is strong. To me, the personal inspiration it gives is simple yet direct: With one chance at Life, what do you do with your body--your one and only Avatar?

On a global scale, I see this film as a major achievement because it opens up the idea of distant worlds to the general population at a perfect moment when science is on a hot trail of planetary discoveries, and at the fringes of discovering the first truly earth-like world. The recent discoveries of super-earths punctuated by a waterworld called GJ 1214 b somehow collaborated to launch this immersive film. The timing is all so perfect.

James Cameron's film has lived up to my expectations when I wrote about it nine months ago. And yes, the film-makers did actually consider habitable exomoons! Avatar is truly an epic Exoplanetology film. Do not leave Earth without watching this movie.

The Geminid Exoplanets

At the end of my vacation I boarded a plane in the Philippines on December 13, flew for almost 20 hours, and landed in New York--still on December 13. Talk about a long day! It's also the day when i saw the most meteors of my life on a single night!

During the trip while the plane was over the Pacific ocean, with an altitude of 37,000 ft, and headed towards the direction of the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands--I saw a delightful series of meteor streaks from my window seat. They were the Geminids!

Here's how i was able to see the spectacular sight: during the flight, while it was relatively dark inside the plane and most of the passengers were sleeping, I draped a blanket over the window and over the back of my head, creating a mini-tent using my arms and hands.

I had to eliminate any glare from inside the plane and keep it as dark as possible by the window.
Yes, i must've looked weird if anyone noticed what i was doing. But as i saw the Geminid meteors--one long streak every minute--they brought a smile to my face and I didn't care what anyone would think.

I've never really had a chance before to enjoy meteor showers, so this experience was a blast. Having missed the Leonids and the Perseids due to cloudy nights, i couldn't bear to miss this one. And i truly enjoyed it.

Because as everyone knows, part of my inspiration to write anything about annual meteor showers is my custom to compile known exoplanets within the proximity of the radiant. So i had to see the Geminids for myself if I was going to write about the last meteor shower of the year.

Although this post was long overdue (I meant to write this before i took my vacation) i'm glad to write it now in a delightful mood. Because as i got home--still December 13--i looked up in the Jersey skies and there they were--the Geminids once again!

So what exactly are the Geminids?

Geminids are pieces of debris from a strange object called 3200 Phaethon. Long thought to be an asteroid, Phaethon is now classified as an extinct comet. It is, basically, the rocky skeleton of a comet that lost its ice after too many close encounters with the sun. Earth runs into a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon every year in mid-December, causing meteors to fly from the constellation Gemini.

There are only three known Geminid exoplanets so far. And all three of them are gas giants. Now if you've been staring at the direction of the Gemini constellation, you won't miss Castor and Pollux. Two bright stars of Gemini, the twins.
Pollux is the 17th brightest in the sky. But did you know that orbiting this orange star is a gas giant exoplanet? The other gemini exoplanet is orbiting a 5th magnitude orange star HD 59686. The third geminid exoplanet is orbiting a 6th magnitude star HD 50554, quite faint for the unaided eyes but still good for an exogazing challenge.

And so, during your meteorwatch make sure that you talk about these exoplanets to your friends as you wait for the next streak of meteor in the Gemini sky.

May you continue to enjoy the night sky wherever you may be. Clear skies!


Links:
Geminid Exoplanets on Freebase
Geminid Exoplanets KMZ file
The Geminids 2009

The Leonid Exoplanets

In November 1833, Astronomers noticed an unusual number of meteors that seemed to emanate from the Leo constellation. It has come to be called The Leonids, a meteor shower with an amazing display of light caused by dust and debris from a comet. This comet, named "Tempel-Tuttle" visits the inner solar system every 33 years and leaves a stream of dusty debris in its wake. When the Earth crosses that stream of dust, the particles gets swept in the upper atmosphere and burn up as dazzling streaks of light.

Come November 17, 2009--we will be given a treat to see this grand display under the predawn sky. The Leonids will be a major show this year, specially that the Earth will pass through a pair of streams laid down by Comet Tempel-Tuttle in 1466 and 1533 AD. The double crossing could yield as many as 300 Leonids per hour. Another great thing is that Mars happens to be along the radiant of the the Leonids, so it would appear that meteors are emanating from Mars!

Because I often think of exoplanets when gazing at the starry night sky, exogazing has been part of my activity. Thus it has become customary for me to chart known exoplanets within the field of view of meteor showers.

Below is a compilation of The Leonid Exoplanets that will keep me busy while waiting for the meteorite streaks to pour--which would be around 30 per hour in my area in Northern America and 300 streaks per hour in Asia.

To date, there are 9 stars that host a total of 10 exoplanets within the Leo constellation (but they will grow in large numbers soon). One of them hosts 2 of the planets listed below. Unfortunately, most of these stars can not be seen with the naked eye, especially in light-polluted areas--as they are fainter than magnitude 7 (visual magnitude listed below). You can use binoculars but of course, you better put it down when the Leonid streaks come pouring in. Meteor showers are best viewed with the naked eyes.

UPDATE! The only Leonid Exoplanet in my list that can be seen with the naked eye is Gamma Leonis 1 b, which orbits one of the brightest stars in the Leo Constellation! Gamma Leonis 1 b, orbiting around Algeiba--was confirmed just a few days ago! Yes! This exoplanet wanted to join the Leonid Exogazing event this year! This exoplanet actually pushed the total number of known exoplanets to 404!

The star chart I generated from Google Sky would give you an idea where they are so you can approximately point at them in the sky while telling your friends and family about these other Worlds.

Here's the KMZ file and the Leonid Exoplanets listed at Freebase if you want more details on the exoplanets themselves.
Don't forget to set the alarm to wake up very early and enjoy the Leonid show with your friends and family. It will be a memorable event I am pretty sure!

*HD 89484 b (Gamma 1 Leonis b) 2.1
HD 99492 b 7.57
HD 81040 b 7.72
Gliese 436 b 10.68
BD-20 2457 b 9.75
BD-20 2457 c 9.75
HD 100777 b 8.42
HD 88133 b 8.01
HD 89307 b 7.06
HD 99109 b 9.1

More Links:

About Leonids
From NASA
From Physorg
Viewing Tips

Life is a Pattern

"Life is a pattern." He whispered in an epiphany of realization as he gazed at the patchwork of visualizations displayed on the walls of his control room. Inside the room was an amazing view of a menagerie of extrasolar planets, exomoons and hypothetical microbes and extremophiles that may thrive on the planetary environments. This was a facility doing research on Planetary Science and Astrobiology.

The control room tapped a powerful cloud computing grid with a database that tracked thousands of extrasolar systems. Parameters for the simulations are updated by planet-hunting teams from around the world. Information such as planetary mass, type of planet, distance from the host star, orbital period, chemical make-up, atmospheric density and so on, were fed into a powerful AI software running in the cloud. It's aim was to virtually "find" exolife even before it was discovered in the real world. It was the largest open collaboration of Astronomers, Astrobiologists and Astrophysicists ever set up, and backed up by the leading Computer Scientists.

Throughout the years of manning the control room, Dalro Villaramas has garnered some insight to come up with a solution that might revolutionize the way to search other forms of life. The secret, he thought was to view life in a new way. He was certain that his idea would expand the methods to detect life into other platforms beyond the water-based or carbon-based forms that we know of. He rubbed his hands together excitedly as he decided that he was going to start writing an ArXiv paper. He was going to tell the whole world about it.

Suddenly, he was startled by his manager who barged into the room as he spoke hurriedly, "Dalro, there's a new planet that was detected. Its nothing that's ever been found in history..."

"Hey that's great! But...why do you look so...grim? Are you ok?"

It was odd, very different than the usual when he informs him of new exoplanet discoveries. Instead of the bright sparkle in his eyes, it was glazed. He proceeded, "...please run a simulation of how it would affect the planets in our solar system...earth..."

"What?! Did we just find a new planet in our solar system?"

"Yes...and, no. The planet is now within our solar system but it came from somewhere else. As we speak, a rogue planet--a Planemo is barreling its way toward our Sun. Amateur Astronomers just detected it after it entered our heliosphere and showed signs of its presence. The parameters are being fed into the grid in real-time. Start the process now and feed the results back to the global network. Please hurry, we don't have much time..."

Dalro hammered on the keyboards and directed all computing resources to this job. In a few minutes, the walls were filled with a view as if from a spaceship's cockpit looking down at the solar system. The 'hypervelocity' Planemo was travelling so fast, way too fast.

For the next few minutes, the simulation showed what would happen--most of the planets would be disturbed from their orbits. The massive planemo would miss Pluto but disturb the Kuiper belt scattering thousands of rocks. It would graze close to Neptune, and hemmorhage Uranus, and distort the rings of Saturn. As it wobbles Jupiter, several moons would be yanked out. Then he gasped as he saw the spheriod rock dig deeper in the solar system. Earth and it's moon would be flung from orbit in a slingshot effect--out into interstellar space.

The alarm sounded in the background. The commotion was now starting to stir other countries around the world. The earth was shaking.

Dalro was now alone in the room. He stood watching the simulated view of the Earth as it made its way out into the cold, dark empty space. The simulation stopped.

He closed his eyes. Images of all his loved ones flashing in his mind, fading with images of Earth--frozen in mid-chaos.

"Life is a pattern..." he whispered as he started to shiver. The temperature was dropping too fast. Darkness fell. Then silence.

A Roller Coaster Ride with Kepler

It was a carefree feeling glancing at the beautiful sunset while speeding and spinning through the towering steel structures. There were few people at Six Flags on their last night of the season so the lines were quick for the roller coaster rides. As night came, I hopped on to Nitro. And as our coaster positioned itself on the steep incline, I was amused that it was directly aimed at the Moon. The view was amazing. As I gazed around further at the clear night sky, I immediately recognized Cygnus. And of course, I couldn't help but think of the Kepler telescope staring at that same patch of sky. And for a couple of minutes as we slowly inched our way up, I was exogazing.

When Kepler was launched on March earlier this year, I was very happy. It was the telescope that could find earth's twin and probably help mankind answer one of our deepest questions.

A few days after Kepler's launch, I became worried about some silly things. For one, I thought that they launched Kepler but forgot to remove the "lens cap". Its a kind of joke that you can laugh about, but which might have been a nightmare if the protective cover didn't pop out at all. Then Kepler went through a some troubles, such as going into safe mode.

Then, everything seemed to work fine for the next few months as Kepler succesfully confirmed some data for a known exoplanet. I was very happy. Kepler was showing a lot of promise.

Until one day, entropy caught up with it.

Noise.

Last week, news came out that the Kepler had some "noisy" electronics that was affecting the data. And the fix for the software probably wouldn't come until 2011, delaying the chance to find Earth-sized planets. I was sad once more.

Suddenly, I was headed down. Our coaster crossed the peak and started barreling down at top speed. It was exhilarating. And in no time at all I was on my way up again for a 360 degree loop.

You see, Just this morning i heard that Kepler is actually doing well according to William Borucki, the project leader. He said that the news concerning Kepler's woes were inaccurate. If there's anyone who'd probably have emotional ups and down in the ongoing saga of the mission, then it must be this soft-spoken man and the Kepler team. But i have to admit that I am being taken on a ride. But it's all good. I can see that the story of man's quest to discover other worlds is filled with many ups and downs--with some twists and turns along the way.

Comparing the ongoing planet-hunt saga to a roller coaster ride may not be too far-fetched. Moreso that the best loop is yet to come. Yes, the quest for other worlds is a wild ride. I simply raise my arms up and scream.

EVE's Planetary Interaction

As a follow-up to my previous post about EVE's exoplanetary upgrades to their Dominion expansion, here's what i found out:

By December 2009, the graphical upgrade will affect all 50,000 planets and several hundred thousand moons inside EVE. Each of them are unique with procedurally-generated textures and colors. Clouds move!

Gamers will have more Planetary Interaction. That means more engagement closer to the planets in low orbit. Players will get treats such as owning planets, managing and developing and manufacturing stuff on planets, and controlling the lives of people in the planets. Many of my questions from my previous post were answered. And from the looks of it, EVE's planetary upgrade is definitely impressive.

Of course, "procedurally generated" textures means that there's plenty of physics, math and planetary science in it. It's also fantastic to know that there's 50,000 planets inside a virtual game! And several hundred thousand moons just blows me away. All this is definitely a win. More power to EVE Online!

All the photos below are from the EVE Fanfest 2009

The topic on Planets starts at 23 minutes through the clip below.

EVE goes Exoplanetary

EVE Online, one of my favorite Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) has just made an important update. They added more details to the exoplanets in their universe.

The last time I've played EVE was almost 4 years ago during the months when I was unemployed. It was one of the virtual worlds I explored, attempting to earn income and hoping it would support my expenses in the real world. Of course, you can't make real money with EVE but it was an awesome experience just simply playing the coolest game ever. I miss my garage setup which I considered as my cockpit. I explored interstellar space through several monitors which I imagined as windows to another universe, a metaverse so to speak.

In EVE there are jump-gates that your ship needs to go through in order to reach a target destination via a series of warp jumps. These gates are somewhat bigger than those in Stargate Universe. Often, these jump-gates are near Extrasolar Systems, and the view is splendid. But then, I was virtually confined to my cockpit. The best I could do was to admire the view of planets and suns from afar because I cannot land on any planet and walk on it's surface. To that effect, I was simultaneously running several instances of Second Life and Entropia Universe on several other CPU/monitors--to give me the feel of being on the surface of another planet.

Today, Eve players still cannot land on any extrasolar planet "in-world". And with the recent upgrade concerning the details of the planets, I can only wonder how much Science they put into the Dominion update. Did they incorporate parameters for gas giants, super-earths, waterworlds or earth-like planets? Did they include exomoons? How did they incorporate the planetary details in the gameplay? Can the players mine the planets? How do the planets fit in the new storyline? These questions only draws me closer to sign up and set up my rig once again to find out.

As I reflect on my virtual-immersion days I realize that my past experience with virtual worlds was a valuable part of my journey to fully appreciate our natural world--our real universe. And though in the back of my mind the Ontological question remains whether any universe--virtual or otherwise--is real or not, the adventure to learn more about the wonders of our Cosmos remains steadfast.

Because exoplanets remain unseen, they provide ample ground for the mind to play between the real and the imaginary, or the wonderful and the mysterious. Exoplanets are a natural bridge between Science and the Arts.

Eve online's potential as a great teaching tool for Science is enormous. It's also a good source of inspiration for space travel, specially for this generation trapped in an age where human space exploration is not yet a reality.

But in my mind's eye, I can see that day when the first Exoplaneteer will brave the Cosmos, the first Exonaut who will visit Worlds I've never seen or imagined.



Links:
EVE's planetary graphics kicked up yet another notch for Dominion expansion
Eve's New Look at it's Planets
More Clips

An Exoplanet By Any Other Name

I came across an ArXiv post today calling for the noble attempt to name all exoplanets using the traditional Greek/Roman system. I commend the effort but unfortunately it would fail for some reasons.
One flaw lies with the system itself. Even all characters in the Greek/Roman mythology will not suffice. There's not enough of them to match all the exoplanets--which will probably number up to thousands in the next few decades.
Another thing is that the state of affairs in human politics involved in naming things is out of whack. We can't even agree what a planet is. So i understand why IAU does not want to jump in on it.
So if you'll allow me, I'd like to suggest a fun way to name exoplanets.
Let me start by saying that I have trouble remembering names, and that I love mnemonics. Thus it only leads me to one simple idea and one simple system to go about naming exoplanets.
I think that the host stars should be given more memorable nicknames. Then the names of the exoplanets they hold will follow from that.
For example, instead of HD80606, lets call it "Bogog". Then we'll have "Bogogbee" for its exoplanet.
HD156411 b will then be called "Isgaiibee", HD16141 b will be "Igiaibee". HD190360 b will be "Ipoegobee". And it's sibling will be "Ipoegocee".
If you look closely, you'll notice a very complex multi-dimensional pattern in how I name it. I'll let you figure that out, all you geniuses!
I know that using my system makes the exoplanets sound all weird but hey, it's fun! It makes me laugh just reading those numbers.

Links:
List of Proposed Exoplanet Names

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!