Doctor Who is not COMPLETELY fictional

Image from wikipedia.com

This article covers arguably one of my favorite topics to swoon over-Doctor Who.  I will be completely honest in saying that my intense interest in studying the solar system and beyond came pretty much single-handedly from watching Doctor Who (and maybe a teensy bit by my mom making me watch old Star Trek re-runs with her when I was a kid…).  So it’s been fun for me to gain a lot more “science-based” understanding of the universe that, in my mind crazy David Tennant-filled dreams, was filled with aliens from all over the universe both time and space-wise attacking our home planet of Earth.  Now that I now a bit more about astronomy, I was curious about how accurate my favorite show was in describing some scientific phenomena.  While I know that alien life hasn’t been discovered yet by scientists here on Earth, I was hoping at least some other aspects of the show were factual and not telling lies just purely for entertainment.

The article above confirms my hope!  Obviously, in a show that has aired over a span of 50 years, the science discussed on the show will advance as the knowledge astronomers gain increases/changes, but this article discusses some notable accuracies in the topics discussed in the series.  From discussion of the Big Bang, formation of our moon, and dinosaur extinction among many other topics, there is some serious science talk going on, which is accurate as far as scientists know!  This makes me feel a bit better about indulging in hours and hours of Netflix watching of my favorite shows, knowing that I am getting at least a bit of real science in the midst of a lot of science fiction.

Some pretty extreme(“ophiles”)

Image from wikipedia.com

That above picture is of a water bear, one of multiple really cool extremophiles discussed in this article.  The article makes a really cool comment about how we are lucky that water bears, and the same probably holds true for other extremophiles as well, are so small.  Otherwise, it is likely that these creatures would rule the planet.  They are nearly invincible it seems, being able to withstand such extreme conditions.  The water bear specifically can live without food or water for 120 YEARS.  Humans on average can’t even LIVE 120 years total, let alone go that long without food or water.  They can withstand pressures grater than six times those found in the oceans, can survive happily at temperatures just barely above absolute freezing, and can also withstand radiation to levels hundreds of times higher than humans can.  The article even says that these creatures can survive in the vacuum of space.  NOW I see why we wouldn’t want these creatures to be any bigger than the half a millimeter they are..without a doubt they would rule our world and possibly many other worlds in our solar system.

This was just the coolest and most extreme creature this article mentioned, but there are many more too!  Including ones that thrive in environments filled with sulfur and emit seriously acidic waste products.  Discovering creatures like these sure changes my view a LOT about how we define life and the possibility of finding it on other planets!

What would life be like on Pluto for humans?

photo from space.com

Above is an artist’s conception of what Pluto would look like if one could stand on one of the dwarf planet’s moons and stare back at Pluto.  But this article goes on to tell us what our experiences would be if we were to actually step foot on the surface of Pluto itself.  Firstly, hopefully no one that makes it to Pluto gets homesick, because even to send a MESSAGE back home to Earth (let’s not even get started on the time it takes to physically travel…) will take anywhere from four to six a half hours depending on where Pluto is in it’s orbit.  This is just one way too, so double that time to get how long it would take to send and receive a response.  If one was brave enough to leave the spacecraft and step on the surface of the planet, one should expect freezing temperatures well below anything we ever experience here on Earth, about negative 223 degrees Celcius, which is dangerously close to absolute zero…with atmospheric pressure being 3/1,000,000 of what we experience on Earth.  So, long story short…you wouldn’t stand a chance out there if you were to venture outside.  On top of the temperature and pressure extremes, these result in a virtual lack of atmosphere around the surface, so you would still manage to receive harmful UV rays from the Sun, granted they would be less than hit Earth due to the drastic difference in distance from the Sun…there would be absolutely nothing blocking them from hitting you.

Astronomers do hope to find out a lot more about the mysterious surface of Pluto in more detail than the little bit of information we can obtain by knowing its distance from the Sun and orbital patterns.  This will be accomplished later this year as the New Horizons probe will fly-by Pluto, allowing the first close-up visuals of the planet ever obtained by NASA.  While I don’t think this will change anything regarding what human life would be like on Pluto as I detailed above, it will tell us a lot more about its surface and active past, potentially adding more insight into its planetary status as well!

Io’s crazy volcanoes!

photo from space.com

So, we all know that Io is notoriously the volcanic moon of Jupiter, but apparently a couple of years ago it randomly got…MORE volcanic? According to this article, in August of 2013 three large eruptions occurred on Io.  To put it in perspective, this is the number of large eruptions that we would normally see over a span of six to seven years, but for some reason they all happened in a short span of only two weeks, with one of the three being the brightest ever observed on the moon.  While astronomers aren’t exactly sure what caused this sudden bursts, they took advantage of this opportunity to obtain really awesome images like the one seen above.  Those are a series of images taken over a series of twelve days during the eruption.  Not only was the event useful for obtaining cool pictures, but it was also a learning experience for astronomers.  They got watch an amazingly volcanically active moon and use this to formulate better ideas as to what the terrestrial planets like Earth and Venus were like during their early, volcanically active days.  So, who knows why this happened, but I guess if it’s gonna happen, we’ve got to take advantage of it and learn as much as possible!