The ARC 2003 News and Updates
Volume 1 ~ Issue 2
An Internet publication of The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center
Www.AlternateRealities.orG
Inside This Issue
1) The Perseid Meteor Shower
2) Mars Closest Approach in 60,000 Years
3) The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Conference 2003 on DVD
4) The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Conference 2004 Updates
5) New Membership Program for The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center
6) Local and Regional Monthly Group Meetings of The ARC
7) Thirty Billion Exoplanets In Our Galaxy Alone According To New Study
8) Mission: SPACE, New Disney World Space Themed Attraction
9) Earth's Gravity May Be Shifting According To New Findings
10) Imperfect Estimate Claims Universe Has 70 Sextillion Stars
11) Sun-like Stars More Likely to Harbor Planets
12) Closing Comments and Acknowledgments
1) The Perseid Meteor Shower: To quote Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon
(1863-1941), "In these days of great trouble and unrest, let people
look to
the stars for comfort." And, there is no time like the present. We are
in
the middle of the Perseid Meteor Shower, which will peak August 12.
Perseid
meteors come from the comet Swift-Tuttle, and provide a great reason to
go
outside in your pj's in the early morning hours. You'll see "shooting
stars
racing along the Milky Way." A perfect end to the summer season.
2) Mars Closest Approach in 60,000 Years: This month and next Earth is
catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest
approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time
Mars may
come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on
Mars
and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has
not
come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long
as
60,000 years.
The encounter will culminate on August 27 when Mars comes to within
34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in
the
night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc
seconds wide. At a modest 75 power magnification Mars will look as
large as
the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the
beginning
of August, it will rise in the east at 10 pm and reach its azimuth at
about
3 am. But by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars
will
rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 am.
That's
pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has
seen
in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August
to
see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
3) The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Conference 2003 on DVD: We are working
on
the production of DVD copies of our 2003 Conference... Please write to
us at
Director@AlternateRealities.orG for more information...
4) The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Conference 2004 Updates: It's our 10th
Year
Anniversary... and everyone is invited to attend! The date and location
has
been set for our ten year event and everyone is invited to join us in
the
celebration! The event will be held at the Carnegie Hotel in Johnson
City,
Tennessee ~ at the heart of the Tri-Cities Tennessee and Virginia area
of
Northeastern Tennessee ~ Friday, Saturday and Sunday of September 24th,
25th, and 26th, 2004... We have many surprises in store for you, but
the
event, which will contain elements of all things paranormal including
UFOs,
Bigfoot, Haunted Places, and more, will be 'Ghost Themed'...
We are currently involved in a year long study of all of the most
famous
Haunted Places and Buildings of the upper Southern Appalachian area and
will
reveal our findings, along with a guided photo tour, of this year-long
study
at "The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Conference 2004"... You simply won't
want
to miss this! Also included in this gala event will be a guided tour of
Tennessee's oldest town ~ Jonesborough ~ complete with old fashioned
lanterns for each participant and many other surprises...
So far, confirmed speakers for our 2004 conference include Kriss
Stephens,
host of the former Mtv series entitled "FEAR"; Patti Starr, of Ghost
Chasers, Int'l; Beth Rigby, who did not get to join us for our 2003
conference has ask to participate in our 2004 event, will talk about
Global
Dance ~ Where Yoga Meets Dance...
There will be several other well informed speakers added to the list of
the
confirmed and YOU can help determine who we bring to our Ten Year
Anniversary Event... Simply go to Www.AlternateRealities.orG and visit
the
conference area of our website to VOTE for your preferred speakers.
Unconfirmed speakers include: Dr. Roger Leir, The "Implant Doctor";
Dennis
G. Bathaser, From Roswell, New Mexico; Gillian MacBeth-Louthan,
Speaking on
"The Time Travelers"; Jim Hickman, on "5,000 Years Of UFOs"; Donald
Ware,
"UFOs and The Spiritual Hierarchy"; Frank Joseph, "UFOs and Ancient
Civilizations"; Jason Martell, "Ancient Astronauts and the Sumerian
Culture"; Paola Harris, On Her Book Entitled "Connecting the Dots"; and
we
are leaning toward Mr. Paul Anderson of the Canadian Crop Circle
Research
Center as a confirmed speaker at this time...
There will be a planning committee meeting at our annual awards banquet
in
January 2004... All are welcome to attend... Please stay tuned for
further
updates concerning this developing event...
5) New Membership Program For The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center:
Beginning July 1st, the United States UFO Information and Research
Center
became "The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center" as described in the
previous
edition of this newsletter... We have since adopted a brand new
membership
program with a fantastic training program for folks who want to get
more
involved with Field Investigations of the Paranormal. In addition, we
have
constructed a new Field Investigator's Training program along with a
pocket
guide to field investigation procedures (currently in production) for
all
our members who wish to become pro-active with the organization...
Members of The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center enjoy immediate access
to
all information submitted by way of the Case Submission Form on our
website
and by way of our Extraordinary Experiences Hotline at (423) 735-0848.
Report information is dispersed via email directly from The ARC
Investigations Forum. Reports go out as soon as we receive them so that
our
Members know about incidents reported right away with no favoritism as
to
who gets the information.
Members will also receive discounts for items appearing in our online
store;
for example: $12 for a T-Shirt, $14 for a Long Sleeve T-Shirt, and $16
for a
Sweatshirt all of which feature the organization's logo and which
include
shipping costs. Further discounts for members will be placed on
admission to
conferences and events we host annually. Members also have the
opportunity
to learn more about the exciting world of paranormal investigations by
learning to identify and investigate paranormal events in their
residential
communities by way of The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center's Field
Investigations Training Program.
Our new Field Investigations Training Program includes a simple three
step
process to obtain the necessary skills and experience before Members of
The
ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center can be certified to represent the
organization on investigations assigned to them following incidents of
the
paranormal reported in their area of residence. These include the
following:
a) Submit an Associate Membership Application for a Platinum, or Gold
Membership with The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center as described
below, b)
Read and Complete the open book exam in the back of The ARC ~ Alternate
Realities Center's Training Manual, which is currently still in
production
at this time, c) Responsibly complete assignments given in each
investigator's area of residence in a timely manor both during the
evaluation period and following certification...
There are three options for membership with The ARC ~ Alternate
Realities
Center. They are as follows:
Bronze Membership is a $20 donation to the organization for the first
year
for a Supporting Membership with an annual renewal of $10 per year,
after
year one, to maintain membership status. This option includes: a)
Frameable
Membership Certificate, b) Member Identification Card, c) Supporting
Membership status, d) Access to The ARC Investigations Forum...
Platinum Membership is a $35 donation to the organization for the first
year
and is directed to all aspiring field investigator's seeking to be
certified
for case assignments in their area of residence with an annual renewal
of
$10 per year, after year one, to maintain membership status. This
option
includes: a) Frameable Membership Certificate, b) Member Identification
Card, c) The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center's Pocket Guide to Public
Relations and Paranormal Investigations, d) Dual Field Investigator
Trainee
and Supporting Membership status, e) Access to The ARC Investigations
Forum,
f) Assignments will given based on case availability in the area where
each
member resides and based on the successful completion of our
investigations
training program. The pocket guide mentioned above with its
accompanying
exam for investigator certification is an additional $15 donation to
cover
publishing costs...
Gold Membership is a one-time donation to the organization of $100, or
more
for a Lifetime Membership with The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center.
This
option includes everything from the Platinum Membership with no need to
renew membership on an annual basis...
Here's how to join... To get more information about "The ARC ~
Alternate
Realities Center" or to apply for membership, please visit our website
at
Www.AlternateRealities.orG and thank you in advance for your support.
All
proceeds from our membership drive go to support the center. Your
support is
so needful and appreciated...
PLEASE NOTE: If you are a paid member of "The ARC ~ Alternate Realities
Center", or the former "United States UFO Information and Research
Center"
and are not subscribed to "The ARC Investigators Forum" please visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arcinvestigations to sign up and get the
latest paranormal sightings and encounters. This real-time forum will
take
the place of our former publication, "The American UFO Journal"...
6) Local and Regional Monthly Group Meetings: Local paranormal special
Interest and support group meetings are now being held by "The ARC ~
Alternate Realities Center". Meetings are Free and open to the public
held
on the 2nd Saturday of each month. Here's the details...
The Alternate Realities Center, or The ARC, holds local monthly
meetings to
discuss UFO sightings, alien contact and abductions, Bigfoot and other
Crypto-Zoological encounters, ghosts and haunted places, Earth changes,
as
well as many other paranormal issues. Topics of discussion focus on
paranormal experiences reported locally, from residents in East
Tennessee
and the surrounding Southern Appalachian region, including Southwest
Virginia and Western North Carolina. Meetings begin at 6 PM and are
held at
the Unicoi County Library at 201 Nolichucky Avenue, located in downtown
Erwin, just off Exit 18 of the new Interstate 26 from Asheville.
Meetings
are informal and all meetings are free and open to the public and
residents
from all over Southern Appalachia are welcome to attend. A love
offering for
refreshments (provided) will be accepted, but NOT required, limited to
seating...
Our upcoming meeting calendar is as follows: TONIGHT ~ Saturday, Aug 9,
2003
at 6 PM, Saturday, Sept 13, 2003 at 6 PM, Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 6
PM,
and November the 8th. Meetings are held at the Unicoi County Public
Library
beginning Saturday, August 9, 2003 and will be held regularly at this
location until further notice. Please refer to our website at
Www.AlternateRealities.orG under "Local Meeting information, from the
main
website directory, for a map and directions to the meeting site located
in
downtown Erwin, Tennessee, half way between Kingsport, Tennessee and
Asheville, North Carolina...
The Unicoi County Public Library is housed in the old train station
depot
and is a historic landmark of the area with many mysteries attached to
it.
The facility is also thought to be haunted and a study is currently
underway
to determine the validity of this notion. Visit us at one of our
upcoming
meetings for further details...
For further details on our next meeting, please call (423) 735-0848.
Inquiries may also be sent via Email to Director@AlternateRealities.orG
if
you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Please visit our website
for
more information about our organization at Www.AlternateRealities.orG
7) Thirty Billion Exoplanets In Our Own Galaxy According To New Study:
Chances are you haven't spent a whole lot of time wondering how many
Jupiter-like planets exist in our galaxy. But Charley Lineweaver has,
because it bears on a more important question: How many potentially
habitable planets are there?
New calculations by Lineweaver and Daniel Grether, both of the
University of
New South Wales in Australia, provide an encouraging answer to this
question. The researchers expect a flood of Jupiters will be found,
perhaps
50 percent more than currently expected.
Each such discovery would be significant in the hunt for planets that
could
harbor life.
Why? Because much of the evolution of our own solar system, including
the
formation of Earth, was orchestrated or affected by Jupiter, the
largest
planet with by far the bulk of the solar system's mass, excepting the
Sun,
of course.
"Our solar system is Jupiter and a bunch of junk," as Lineweaver puts
it.
When Jupiter developed, it simply bullied other objects into position
or out
of existence. Then the mighty gas giant became Earth's protector.
Though the fledgling Earth was pummeled by asteroids and comets, making
it
difficult for life to take hold, it could have been much worse. Jupiter
shielded Earth from an even heavier bombardment of debris that made its
way
from the outskirts of the new system toward its central star.
That protective role continues. In 1994, Jupiter used its immense
gravity to
lure comet Shoemaker-Levy into a death plunge. Had the comet hit Earth,
it
would have sterilized much or all of the planet.
For now, no one knows whether our solar system represents a common
method of
formation and evolution. In fact, discoveries over the past six years
seem
to indicate otherwise. Most of the roughly 80 planets discovered
outside our
solar system are much more massive than Jupiter. They also orbit
perilously
close to their host stars, locations that would likely prevent rocky
planets
from forming in so-called habitable orbits.
But experts attribute these findings to the limitations of technology.
Smaller planets in more comfortable orbits around other stars simply
can't
be detected. Yet.
All this in mind, Lineweaver and Grether worked out some new
calculations
for the prevalence of planets that are about Jupiter's size at about
the
same distance from their host stars. The calculations are based on some
of
the most recent extra solar planet discoveries, in which ever-smaller
objects are being detected at ever-greater distances from their host
stars.
So how many Jupiters are out there orbiting Sun-like stars in the Milky
Way
Galaxy?
"At least a billion, but probably more like 30 billion", some
scientists
say.
And the math behind that?
"There are about 300 billion stars in our galaxy. About 10 percent (or
30
billion) are roughly Sun-like," he explained. "At least 5 percent (1.5
billion) but possibly as many as 90 percent or 100 percent (about 30
billion) of these have Jupiter-like planets."
These estimates would vary based on exactly what you call Jupiter-like
or
Sun-like, Lineweaver said.
What about Earths?
The calculations, which are part of a paper that has been submitted to
the
journal Astrobiology, don't bear directly on worlds like our own. But
with
what's known of planet formation, some speculation is possible.
"A reasonable guess is the same number of Earths as Jupiters,"
Lineweaver
said.
That, however, depends heavily on how one defines Earth-like. If one
includes rocky planets in general, like Mercury, Venus and Mars, "then
they
are probably more common than Jupiters," he said. If, however, you mean
rocky planets with liquid water at the surface, "then we really can't
answer
that very well. They may be as common as Jupiters, or they may be much
less
common."
Alan Boss, an expert in planetary system formation at the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, said the new calculations for Jovian twins
seem
reasonable. Trying then to estimate the number of Earth-like planets
requires "a leap of faith, but one which appears to be plausible," he
said.
"As the veil covering the unseen portions of discovery space is lowered
in
the next decade, I expect we will find that Jupiter-like planets are
commonplace," said Boss, who was not involved in the new study.
"Whether or
not that also means Earth-like planets are common can only be proven by
NASA's Kepler mission."
Kepler, recently approved to launch in 2006, will monitor 100,000 stars
for
telltale dips in light indicating an Earth-sized planet in an
Earth-like
orbit has crossed in front of the star. While it would not take
photographs,
Kepler could provide the first census of planets that have the
potential to
support life.
8) Mission: SPACE, New Disney World Space Themed Attraction: There's no
need
to wait for NASA to come up with a way to get astronauts to Mars.
Guests of
the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando will soon have a new way to
experience the trip by stepping inside Mission: SPACE -- a
long-awaited,
space-themed ride that is arguably the most technologically advanced
amusement ever developed by Disney Imagineers.
The Epcot attraction is scheduled to "soft open" to the public Aug. 15.
That
will be followed by a star-studded, grand opening celebration in
October.
"We have worked for a long time about doing 'space' at Epcot because
it's
just such a natural fit with what we're about here," said Brad Rex,
Disney's
vice president in charge of Epcot. "This is a tribute to NASA and the
space
program."
Sponsored by HP, the attraction was designed with the full support of
the
space agency and is believed to have cost Disney more than $100 million
to
develop and construct. During a recent media preview, this writer
toured the
attraction and took a spin on the ride, which exactly describes the
secret
behind the four-minute adventure that is the main attraction of the
re-modeled Horizons pavilion sandwiched between the Test Track and
Wonders
of Life buildings.
At the heart of Mission: SPACE is a centrifuge -- a spinning arm with a
seat
at the end that exposes the rider to varying g forces depending on how
fast
the arm is turning. One g is normal gravity, while two g's makes you
feel
like you've doubled your weight. A normal shuttle mission exposes the
crew
to a maximum of about three g's. Disney won't confirm how many g's
Mission:
SPACE pulls at most, but it's close to two g's...
9) Earth's Gravity May Be Shifting According To New Findings: Something
strange has been going on under our feet for the past four years.
Earth's
gravity field suddenly shifted gears and began getting flatter,
reversing a
course of centuries during which the planet and its gravity field grew
rounder each year.
The scientists who noticed the change and report it in the Aug. 2 issue
of
the journal Science suspect Earth itself may be flattening out, with
the
oceans rising near the equator, but they aren't sure. What they do know
is
that Earth has never been round. It has always bulged at the equator
and is
about 0.3 percent fatter there, partly a result of the planet's
rotation.
Getting rounder... Yet ever since the last Ice Age, the planet has been
getting rounder as ground beneath the polar regions, relieved of the
weight
from ice that was miles thick in places, has been rebounding. In some
parts
of Scandinavia and Canada, the ground rises a quarter-inch (1
centimeter)
per year.
Since the late 1970s, satellite measurements have shown that this
post-glacial rebound, as it is called, generates a corresponding
rounding of
Earth's gravity field. Suddenly the trend has reversed. "Sometime
around
1998, something began to make the Earth's gravity field flatter," says
Christopher Cox of Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific
Services.
"The result is it looks as if post-glacial rebound has reversed itself.
But,
we do not have any reason to think that post-glacial rebound has in any
way
stopped or changed."
In effect, Cox said in an interview, while post-glacial rebound
continues to
make the Earth rounder, some movement of mass on the surface of the
Earth
must be making the gravity field flatter. It's not a change anyone
could
notice; it's only revealed by sensitive satellite measurements. The
shift,
however, is significant. "The effect is twice as large as post-glacial
rebound in terms of effect on the gravity field, and it's in the
opposite
direction," Cox said. "Whatever it is, it's big."
Like a rubber ball... Cox, who also works at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight
Center, described post-glacial rebound as similar to pushing a rubber
ball
in at the top and bottom with your fingers. "The sides come out, and
the top
and bottom go in. Take your fingers off that rubber ball, and the sides
are
going to go in and the top is going to come out again."
What does this have to do with Earth? "You have material moving
inside," Cox
explained. The rubber is compressed, but air is also pushed around.
Some of
the post-glacial rebound is caused by the ground simply decompressing.
But
scientists have long known that to account for what they've measured,
Earth's physical shape must change. Material --ground, water or air --
must
be moved around. Though the planet's shape and its gravity field are
not
directly correlated, they are related.
Cox and his colleague, Benjamin Chao of Goddard, were at first baffled
by
the sudden reversal and flattening of the gravity field. They
considered
that ice melting at the poles and raising the overall sea level could
be the
culprit. Calculations showed, however, that "you would have to drop a
10x10x5 kilometer cube of it into the ocean every year for the past
five
years." Separate measurements of sea surface height from NASA's
TOPEX/Poseidon mission don't support this scenario.
Material in Earth's crust can't be responsible -- it couldn't move so
quickly from the poles to the equator. Molten rock oozing around in
Earth's
core might be to blame, but data do not support such a scenario.
Changes in
the atmosphere might be involved, but no data supports that being the
primary cause, either.
So what is it? Instead, Cox said, long-term circulation patterns in the
ocean seem to be the most likely cause. Shifts in huge ocean currents
--
similar to El Nino but on larger scales and moving in a north-south
direction -- might transport enough water toward the equator to account
for
the flattened gravity field. One such cycle is called the Pacific
Decadal
Oscillation. "We have a strong suspicion that it's in the ocean," Cox
said.
"Whatever the cause, the results of Cox and Chao emphasize the
importance of
gravity variations as a barometer of integrated mass changes in the
Earth
system," write scientists Anny Cazenave and R. Steven Nerem in an
analysis
of the research for Science. "Monitoring these variations with improved
spatial and temporal resolution would provide an important tool for
studying
Earth system changes."
Since Cox and Chao submitted their paper to the journal, they've
continued
to look into the mystery and are more confident that the ocean is
behind it
all. "But we need more data," Cox said. That data could come from
NASA's
GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission,
which
will provide the most precise measurements ever made of Earth's gravity
field. GRACE launched in March.
10) Imperfect Estimate Claims Universe Has 70 Sextillion Stars:
Astronomers
announced today that there are 70 sextillion stars in the visible
universe,
or some 70 thousand million million million. That's a 7 followed by 22
zeros.
The figure paints an inadequate picture of the scope of the cosmos,
however.
Other scientists have previously tried to pin down this most elusive of
astronomical numbers. The new figure is 10 times more accurate than
previous
attempts, according to those who made it. Still, the researchers admit
that
it is just an estimate, based on surveying only a small patch of sky.
The
Universe is still boggles the minds of us 'Finite Creatures'.
"This is not the total number of stars in the universe, but it's the
number
within range of our telescopes, said Simon Driver of the Australian
National
University. "The real number could be much, much larger still -- some
people
think it is infinite."
A previous estimate, cited by NASA, put the figure lower, a 1 followed
by 21
zeros. Another NASA Web site sagely puts the count at zillions, a word
that
does not represent a real figure but rather an "extremely large,
indeterminate number." That presumes we'll never really know. The new
calculation was made by studying the brightness of a few galaxies in
the
relatively nearby region of the universe in one direction, in order to
estimate how many stars each held. That was extrapolated to the entire
universe.
The result is said to be more stars than there are grains of sand on
all of
Earth's beaches. "Even for a professional astronomer used to dealing in
monster numbers this is mind-boggling," Driver said while presenting
the
number at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in
Australia.
His research team included Jochen Liske of the Royal Observatory
Edinburgh,
Nicholas Cross from Johns Hopkins University, Warrick Couch from the
University of New South Wales and David Lemon from St Andrews
University.
Many factors frustrate the effort to count all the stars. Telescopes
cannot
see individual stars in the most distant galaxies -- they just record
blobs
of light. In fact, the structures of the most distant galaxies that
have
been detected remain largely unknown. Astronomers do not know exactly
when
and how rapidly stars form as a galaxy develops, nor how many stars
existed
in the universe's earliest galaxies.
Further, stars are forming all the time, so the number is never fixed.
Also,
when telescopes are pointed at a galaxy that is, say, 10 billion
light-years
away, the light it detects left that galaxy 10 billion years ago. The
galaxy
has changed greatly since then, and astronomers can only guess at how
it
evolved -- and how many stars it might now contain -- by studying more
mature galaxies closer at hand.
Finally, astronomers do not know if our apparent universe is the
Universe.
There may be much, much more out there that is not observable and never
will
be known. If these are not enough problems, scientists even have
difficulty
counting the stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. The figure is typically
put
at between 100 billion and 300 billion.
One thing is certain: We cannot see most of the stars that are out
there.
Under very dark skies in remote locations on Earth, roughly 8,400 are
visible to the naked eye, globally speaking. From any given location on
a
single night, about 2,500 are available to the discerning eye. Under
bright
city lights, the quantity of stars visible to the unaided eye can drop
to
mere dozens.
11) Sun-like Stars More Likely to Harbor Planets: Common stars like our
Sun
rich in heavy elements are more likely to harbor planets, according to
a new
study. The finding suggests extra solar planets might be more common
than
thought, and it should help planet hunters pick their targets more
effectively.
Theorists had long said that planet formation would be more common
around
stars rich in "metals," which in astronomers' parlance means anything
heavier than hydrogen and helium, the two most common elements in the
universe. The new study confirms this beyond expectations. The survey
of 754
relatively nearby stars showed that the more metal a star contains the
more
likely it is to harbor one or more planets. The results represent a
stark
shift in the percentage of metal-rich stars now said to be potential
homes
to orbiting worlds.
"Astronomers have been saying that only 5 percent of stars have
planets,"
said Debra Fischer, an astronomer at the University of California,
Berkeley.
"If you look at the metal-rich stars, 20 percent have planets. That's
stunning." Elements are forged in stars. The first stars in the
universe
were made almost entirely hydrogen. Subsequent generations of stars
contain
more and heavier elements. Our Sun, at about 4.6 billion years old, is
young
compared to the universe, which is 13.7 billion years old. The Sun is
fairly
metal-rich.
What does this have to do with planets? A star is born from a cloud of
material -- hydrogen and other elements. Planets form from the
leftovers. If
the cloud is rich in heavy material -- metals and rock -- then it has
more
of the stuff that theorists think planets require to begin their
development. "The metals are the seeds from which planets form," said
Fischer's colleague, Jeff Valenti of the Space Telescope Science
Institute.
Very metal poor stars can form planets, however. One example, announced
recently, involves what is presumed to be the oldest planet in the
universe.
It must have been born around one of the earliest stars -- a star with
very
little metal, a separate research team said. Almost all of the 121
known
extra solar planets have been found nearby and around stars similar to
the
Sun, though. Most are larger than Jupiter and made mostly of gas. But
scientists suspect they might have rocky cores. At the least, metals
are
needed for the gas to properly organize into a planetary ball,
theorists
say.
Stars abundant in heavy metals are five times more likely to have a
planetary companion than metal-poor stars, Fischer said. The survey
included
61 stars known to have planets and 693 that do not, though further
investigation could show that some of these other stars do in fact
harbor
planets that are very far away from their host star and thus hard to
detect.
It is the first large-scale survey comparing stellar metalicity to
planet
formation. The results were presented Monday at a meeting of the
International Astronomical Union meeting in Sydney, Australia.
Stars like the Sun, a typical star in this part of the Milky Way, have
a 5
to 10 percent chance of hosting planets, the analysis showed. Stars
three
times more metal-rich than the Sun have a 20 percent chance of hosting
planets, while stars with only one-third the amount of solar metalicity
have
just a 3 percent chance. Fischer also is part of the world's most
prolific
planet-hunting team, lead by Geoffrey Marcy at UC Berkeley and Paul
Butler
of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
"These results tell us why some of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy
have
planets while others do not," Marcy said. "The heavy metals must clump
together to form rocks which themselves clump into the solid cores of
planets."
12) Closing Comments and Acknowledgments: This edition of our periodic
newsletter has been dedicated to the fantastic current events going on
in
our night sky. The wonders of the Universe are infinite and The ARC ~
Alternate Realities Center is about opening our minds to the
possibilities
that are... Succeeding issues will delve into other mysteries of the
Universe closer to home...
Finally, we hope you have enjoyed this edition of The ARC News and
Updates,
and we hope to see some of you at tonight's, or any of our others
upcoming
area meetings, or public awareness events... Once again, we thank each
everyone of you who make this newsletter possible... Happy blessings,
light,
and truth to you and yours...
Stacey Allen McGee
Founder and National Director
The ARC ~ Alternate Realities Center
Www.AlternateRealities.orG
Email: Director@AlternateRealities.orG
Mailing Address: Post Office Box 153, Unicoi, TN 37692 USA
Extraordinary Experiences & Sightings Hotline: (423) 735-0848
Office Telephone and Meeting Information: (423) 943-6477
Quotes: "Chance favors the prepared mind..." ~ Lewis Pasteur
"A mystery will only remain as such while it is unknown to us..." ~
Stacey
Allen McGee
"The biggest question facing humanity is not when are we going to
learn, but
rather when are we going to act according to what we already know." ~
Author
Unknown
NOTE: The name of this organization was formerly the United States UFO
Information and Research Center @ www.USUFOCenter.com