Hungry, Hungry Jupiter

Back when I was growing up, there was some debate whether Jupiter consisted only of gases, or if it had something more or less solid in the middle of it. At the time, scientists just didn't know. They had no way of seeing past the swirling vortexes of clouds that Jupiter presented to the universe.

Flash through the last few decades, and they finally came up with a way to 'see' past those clouds. NASA's Juno space probe gathered gravitational data about the planet in a variety of locations, and that data, combined with data by Galileo probe, indicates that yes, there is some solidity down in those depths.

The theory of Jupiter's creation is that it gathered vast amounts of gas and dust from what was left after the sun's creation, mainly hydrogen and helium. The more it gathered, the bigger it got, the more gravity it had, and thus the more it gathered.

This new data indicates there is a rich array of heavy elements in the rocky core of the system's biggest planet. Which suggests that Jupiter also gobbled up plenty of planetesimals (or baby planets) while it was gathering materials.

Planetesimals are space rocks spanning several miles, so larger than most of the asteroids. If they had been left alone, they might have grown up into planets. But alas, their fate was to be eaten and become just another piece of a huge planet. Just a bit like bits of gravel eaten by birds to help their digestion.

I hope those 'stones' at least gave Jupiter indigestion for a while.

But at least we now know that Jupiter has a rocky core.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-find-remains-of-baby-planets-swallowed-by-jupiter/ar-AAYHi95?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBnb7Kz 

What Size Is It?

Astronomers have been finding more and more planets outside our home system lately. I find that extremely exciting. But when I'm reading about these discoveries, I'm sometimes left wondering, just how big is this newly-discovered planet?

First, let's understand that because of the distances involved, and the methods currently in place for discovering planets, it takes a big planet to be noticed. I don't find that disappointing, because within our own system, we have 4 big planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus), an equal number of smaller planets, and a scattering of dwarf planets. So just because they haven't found lots of Mars- or Venus-sized planets circling other stars, doesn't mean they aren't there.

So, they are finding big planets, but they've developed a short of short-hand lingo to indicate a few tidbits of information just in what they call a new discovery. I recently read an article in Astronomy magazine that briefly explained what this lingo meant.

A Super-Earth sounds exciting, doesn't it? A planet like Earth! Well, up to a point. They are rocky planets like Earth, but remember that they are mostly finding big planets. A Super-Earth can range in size up to 10 times the Earth's mass. That means a lot of gravity, and I don't think we'd be colonizing that size a planet. But they are a rocky planet! Our system is not the only place where rocky planets exist. In fact, these may be the most common type of planet in our galaxy.

Then there are Mini-Neptunes. These ice giants range in size from 14.5 to 17 times the mass of Earth. (Neptune weighs in at 17 times Earth's mass.) These are also pretty common around other stars.

Which brings us to the 'Jupiter' class of planet, which come in 2 types.

A Hot Jupiter is a gas giant that orbits their star in under 10 days. (I can't name them, but I've heard of some that circle their star in a matter of hours.) A Hot Jupiter usually orbits at around 1/10 the distance between the Earth and the sun, or less. These are not common around stars like ours, occurring in only about 1% of systems having a star similar to ours.

A Cold Jupiter is a gas giant that—like our own Jupiter—lies beyond the ice line, where it's too cold for water to remain a liquid. There was no comment given about how common these might be. I assume Saturn is also a Cold Jupiter.

And then there are Brown Dwarfs, which is a type of star, not a planet. But they don't last long as a star, and then they cool off and they're just a big mass. It's not clear where the dividing line is between massive planets and dead brown dwarfs, but it seems to be somewhere around 10 times the mass of Jupiter.

Got that? Good. The next time you read about a newly-discovered planet, you can figure out a little something about it just by what they call it.

Getting Things Right

Have you ever had a project that you had to try several times to get it to come out correctly? It could be something you've done before, but in any case, you know the steps that have to be done, and you've done them, so why won't it come out right this time?

That's been me, this past month and more, trying to get 5 books correctly formatted as ebooks. Okay, yes, there were parts of that time when I couldn't work on them; the time we were on a cruise, the 2 weeks we were fighting covid, and a weekend spent in Kansas City. But when I could work on them, it felt like I was repeatedly slamming my head against a brick wall.

I studied the instructions each time before I started the process. I would work at the procedure for 2 hours and then take a break, because it was mind-numbing, repetitive work. 5 times I formatted these books and fed them through the converting software, only to open up the converted epub file and find mistakes.

Different mistakes each time. Where were they coming from? How could I be flubbing up that badly each time, in a different way from the time before? There was the time when most of the paragraphs were indented from the left margin by an inch. How could I have made such a stupid mistake and not notice it at the time? Another time, some paragraphs were in 12-pt font, but others were in 10-pt. And then there was the time when all the paragraphs were justified except one, and it was centered. And always, always, the 2 pictures that I had added to these books would float away during conversion and wind up as much as 3 pages from where they were supposed to be, making it impossible to read 2 or 3 paragraphs of the story!

Last week, I carefully went through each epub file and noted the problems. I actually wrote them down so I could remind myself what they were. I looked for answers in the instructions. I wrote the Help people with a couple questions. I considered hiring a professional to get it done right. But there were 5 books, and that would have involved a bit of money.

Last Saturday, I swept all my chores aside and devoted the day to formatting. I had stumbled across a way to 'anchor' the pictures to a particular location, and I was going to give it One Last Try, myself. I drank lots of caffeine that day, and when I took a break, I made sure I got some exercise as well as a change of scenery. I only got 4 of them done on Saturday, but I got the 5th one done on Sunday. Then I took the rest of Sunday off and forgot the whole project for a few hours.

Since then, I have fed them through the conversion software. I've checked the pdf files, and they look great. I'll be checking the epub files later today and tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Of Mice and Bananas

I just read an interesting article about mice. And bananas.

And no, it wasn't that bananas is a favorite food of mice.

It turns out that bananas stress mice out, particularly male mice. Stressed out as in they are ready to fight or run away.

Bananas can't even move on their own, or why would they be seen as a threat by male mice?

It all comes down to pheromones. Pregnant and lactating female mice produce a pheromone that tells stranger males to go away. It is their first line of defense to keep their pups safe, since stranger males are likely to try to kill pups. By producing this pheromone, the females are warning the males away, introducing the idea that a fight is imminent if they don't leave.

The pheromone in question is n-pentyl acetate, which occurs in the urine of late-term and lactating female mice.

So, where does the banana come in? Well, n-pentyle acetate is very similar to a compound found in many kinds of fruit, but that very similar compound is also used to produce banana extract. And sure enough, when the scientists brought in some banana extract bought from the local grocery store, and put some in the cage with male mice, they got some very stressed-out mice.

I'm glad n-pentyle acetate doesn't work that way on humans.