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May/June Shows

Jacob — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:24:06 +0000

We’ve got a fun lineup over the next couple of months, with a bit of wedding festivities in between…

May 5 – Mysterytrain @ Pellegrine’s (Altoona, PA)

May 25 – Mysterytrain @ Pellegrine’s (Altoona, PA)

May 26 – Mysterytrain @ Shaw’s (Altoona, PA)

Jun 1 – Mysterytrain @ Pellegrine’s (Altoona, PA)

Jun 9 – Mysterytrain @ Jam Along the Creek (Millmont, PA)

Jun 29 – Mysterytrain @ Liberty Fest (Roaring Branch, PA)

Jun 30 – Mysterytrain @ On the Rise Festival (Reading, PA)

Festival season is almost here, time to dust off your tent and shake out your sleeping bag!

Was Early Mars Less Reflective?

Jacob — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:57:35 +0000

Both Earth and Mars show geologic evidence of flowing liquid water in the distant past, nearly four billion years ago. The presence of liquid water on the surface of these planets is difficult to reconcile with the reduced luminosity of the sun at the time, so scientists have continued to search for possible explanations for the warm climates of early Earth and early Mars. A team of researchers recently suggested that early Earth may have had larger oceans and fewer clouds than today, which would have reflected away less incoming sunlight and might have allowed the planet to remain warm in spite of a fainter sun. Whether or not this solution will pan out for early Earth, it at least suggests the possibility of a similar mechanism on early Mars.

In a recent paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, on which I am co-author, we examine the possibility that reduced reflectivity could have kept early Mars above freezing. We use a computer climate model to calculate the global average temperature at various values of ocean fraction and cloud coverage. We find that our model does indeed produce warm conditions for early Earth, but it fails to do the same for early Mars. In fact, our model can only produce warm conditions if early Mars were nearly entirely covered by oceans and also free of clouds, a result which is unlikely as well as inconsistent with geologic evidence. We conclude that some combination of climate and geochemical mechanisms, as yet unknown, may provide clues for understanding the stability of liquid water on early Mars.

If early Mars did harbor oceans, then the possibility remains that life could have developed. Examining the climates of both Earth and Mars in the past may therefore help in the quest to understand the origin of life. Future Mars exploration missions, as well as continued research on Earth, will slowly shed light on this mystery.

March/April Shows

Jacob — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:22:16 +0000

The long winter is nearly over, and we’re ready for the season with a full set of new songs.

Mar 10 – Mysterytrain @ Blair County Respiratory Society Annual NAC Fundraiser (Bellwood, PA)

Mar 17 – Mysterytrain @ Shamrock Shakedown (Altoona, PA)

Mar 30 – Mysterytrain @ Pelligrine’s (Altoona, PA)

Apr 13 & 14 – Mysterytrain @ Willie’s Midnight Crazy Train (Kempton, PA)

Apr 22 – Mysterytrain @ Penn State Altoona Earth Day (Altoona, PA)

Apr 27 – Mysterytrain @ Pelligrine’s (Altoona, PA)

Apr 28 – Mysterytrain @ Kimball’s (Williamsport, PA)

I’m looking forward to the first campout of the year in April, and it’ll be nice to finally get to play in Willilamsport, too!

January/February Shows

Jacob — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:16:45 +0000

We’re staving off the winter blues with some indoor festivities, including a return of the Pajama Jam.

Jan 13 & 14 – Mysterytrain @ Pajama Jam (Tipton, PA)

Feb 4 – Mysterytrain @ All Night Show (Tipton, PA)

We’ve been getting some good practice in during the off weekends, too. I’ve even managed to start writing some new songs, so stay tuned!

Artifacts in the Solar System

Jacob — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:56:28 +0000

One way that astronomers and astrobiologists search for life in the galaxy is observation of rocky planets orbiting other stars. Such planets may contain an atmosphere, liquid water, and other ingredients that are required for biological life on Earth. Once a number of these potentially inhabited planets have been identified, the next logical step in exploration is to send remote exploratory probes to make direct observations of these planets. Present-day study of other planetary systems is so far limited to remote observation with telescopes, but future plans for exploration include the design and deployment of small robotic exploratory spacecraft toward other star systems.

If intelligent, technological extraterrestrial life exists in the galaxy, then it is conceivable that such a civilization might embark on a similar exploration strategy. Extraterrestrial intelligent (ETI) civilizations may choose to pursue astronomy and search for planets orbiting other star systems and may also choose to follow-up on some of these targets by deploying their own remote exploratory spacecraft. If nearby ETI have observed the Solar System and decided to pursue further exploration, then evidence of ETI technology may be present in the form of such exploratory probes. We refer to this ETI technology as “non-terrestrial artifacts”, in part to distinguish these plausible exploratory spacecraft from the flying saucers of science fiction.

In a recent paper titled “On the likelihood of non-terrestrial artifacts in the Solar System”, published in the journal Acta Astronautica, myself and co-author Ravi Kopparapu discuss the likelihood that human exploration of the Solar System would have uncovered any non-terrestrial artifacts. Exploratory probes destined for another star system are likely to be relatively small (less than ten meters in diameter), so any non-terrestrial artifacts present in the Solar System have probably remained undetected. The surface and atmosphere of Earth are probably the most comprehensively searched volumes in the Solar System and can probably be considered absent of non-terrestrial artifacts. Likewise, the surface of the moon and portions of Mars have been searched at a sufficient resolution to have uncovered any non-terrestrial artifacts that could have been present. However, the deep oceans of Earth and the subsurface of the Moon are largely unexplored territory, while regions such as the asteroid belt, the Kuiper belt, and stable orbits around other Solar System planets could also contain non-terrestrial artifacts that have so far escaped human observation. Because of this plenitude of nearby unexplored territory, it would be premature to conclude that the Solar System is absent of non-terrestrial artifacts.

Although the chances of finding non-terrestrial artifacts might be low, the discovery of ETI technology, even if broken and non-functioning, would provide evidence that ETI exist elsewhere in the galaxy and have a profound impact on humankind. We do not argue that the search for non-terrestrial technology should be given priority over other astronomical missions; however, as human exploration into the Solar System continues, we may as well keep our eyes open for ETI technology, just in case.