Spectrum Scientifics Blog

OK, we are a little bit behind on this one, but it is still worth mentioning. You might have heard of the Kepler Mission, a little space mission with a very, very sensitive photometer. Its sole job is to watch an area of stars for long period of time and notice tiny drops in their magnitude (brightness) as any potential extra-solar planets transit in front of that star. The sensitivity of Kepler’s optics is such that it can detect a planet smaller than Earth (thus far, extra-solar planets we have discovered have been on the larger side). As you might guess, this is the best bet for finding potential for extra-terrestrial life (intelligent or otherwise) and is very exciting.

But such missions cost money, and of late NASA’s funding has been in a bit of a gray area. So to help out the mission the “Adopt-A-Star’ program has been formed, known as the Pale Blue Dot project.

Now it is no secret that many scientists and astronomers, us included are disdainful of various companies that offer to ‘Name a Star’ after you or a loved one for a fee. Such enterprises are deceitful in that they make it seem as if the naming is official (by making such claim that it is ‘written in a book that goes to the Library of Congress). The star-making scam has been sadly lucrative by suckering in those who do not know better. Most astronomers just shake their heads sadly.

But the Pale Blue Dot project is not asking to rename stars, merely allowing you to ‘adopt’ them. In fact you only pick from a small portion of the night sky where Kepler is looking, right near Cygnus and Lyra. Just as a business might adopt part of a highway (and thus pay to keep it clean): they don’t own the highway, they just help it out. Now you can do the same with a portion of the sky. You will need Google Earth installed to adpot a star.

So what about us? We just picked star KIC 3221671. Here’s to star adoption!

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Filed under: Astronomy, International Year of Astronomy, NASA