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Tip

Never mind the science,

May 19, 2017 10:49AM PDT

isn't it a beautiful planet?

Discussion is locked

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Kepler
Jun 15, 2017 1:51PM PDT

"These flashes could be a marker that helps researchers determine whether an exoplanet has water or not." - one more tip! Also read about Kepler at http://solarstory.net/discovery/. This telescope examines the brightening and dimming of the stars in other systems. So far, as of this year, the Kepler telescope has discovered 4,302 objects in other systems. That also might increase chances to find Earth type planets in our neighbor systems. Who knows, maybe we're just one step from the discovery of intelligent life somewhere in the neighborhood?

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People? Like us? Nearby?
Jun 15, 2017 3:48PM PDT

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

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We're on the way
Jun 18, 2017 7:26AM PDT

Opportunity - a new probe, that decided to stay on the Mars. Seems like we've started the race Happy

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BTW, thanks for the very interesting link; I'm saving it.
Jun 15, 2017 10:50PM PDT

The first part is very good so far. It implies that serious attention was paid to celestial movements, and no doubt that was true at least for religious matters. But what's called farmer's or shepherd's astronomy was simpler.
Example: The Egyptians knew that the position of Sirius at a certain time of year meant the annual flood was due in a certain time; time to prepare the land for it. The Jews planned their farming around a lunar cycle, with rule-of-thumb allowances for the well-known irregularity.
Religion, put together with farming in the article, is always more complicated because the sun and moon are givens, whereas who knows what the gods are thinking. An example from Christendom is the planning of Easter in those churches that observe it. The group we now call the Catholic Church knew it was tied to the Passover, but was reluctant to keep a Jewish observance. [They were the Jesus-killers, remember?] And they wanted to keep their Sunday as "the Lord's day". Pope Gregory stepped in with his calendar reform for that reason. But, down to this day the Jews and others fix the Passover easily, using only the instructions in the Bible.

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The artist Giotto used the Halley apparition
Jun 15, 2017 11:28PM PDT