NASA Announces Televised Chandra News Conference

[jayfish]

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-157_Chandra_Update.html

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 12:30 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 15, to discuss the Chandra X-ray Observatory's discovery of an exceptional object in our cosmic neighborhood.

The news conference will originate from NASA Headquarters' television studio, 300 E St. SW in Washington and carried live on NASA TV.

Very interesting! I have no idea what they mean by "cosmic neighborhood" though. Strictly speaking that could be anywhere in the Universe.


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html
http://chandra.harvard.edu/

[tridim]

1. Whoa! I take it this isn't about the gamma ray Bubbles they just found.

A neighboring black hole would be pretty interesting and useful.

[jayfish]

2. Nope, that was Fermi.

I did hear some recent scuttlebutt about Sag A* being a kind of dark matter collider though. Maybe some sort of confirmation?


ON EDIT: Either of which would be considered the galactic neighborhood.

[tridim]

4. I've been perusing the astronomy blogs, and nobody knows.

The word "exceptional" has me stoked. It almost has to be something new.

Maybe it has the dimensions 1^2 x 2^2 x 3^2?

[jayfish]

7. Intelligent structure embedded in the CMB?

Yeah the word "exceptional" is the kicker for me too. Monday seems a long way away.

[pokerfan]

3. A thirty mile long perfect cylinder?

[tridim]

5. What is that?

[phantom power]

10. Rama:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama_%28spacecraft%29

[tridim]

11. I thought it sounded familiar.

It has been a long time since I read it.

[jayfish]

6. Or...

[pokerfan]

12. Fortunately we still have some Humpbacks left (nt)

[DavidDvorkin]

8. That's such a long time to wait

I wish it could just be posted on a Web site right away.

[tridim]

9. Maybe all the scientists are running around the office celebrating.

:woohoo: :toast: :woohoo:

Everyone is too drunk to write the story.

[pokerfan]

13. Or...

[sfwriter]

14. Dyson Sphere?

LOL that would be AWESOME!

[didact]

23. Save Dr. Halsey*

NFM

[Phoonzang]

15. This isn't going to be nearly as exciting as it sounds.

It never is. It'll be some "interesting" cosmic phenomenon or object.

Please NASA, no more secretive press conferences until you find proof of intelligent alien life. If I had my way, finding it would be NASA's number 1 goal. This world needs a wake up call before it's too late.

[jayfish]

16. You're probably right. I have a personal rule...

that tells me to remember the Ginger/IT debacle when stuff like this comes up. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work. The word "exceptional" is awfully enticing though.

[Phoonzang]

18. Lol....yeah I remember thinking the Ginger was going to be

a hoverboard. Too much sci-fi I guess. :)

Here's hoping that "exceptional" really is. Though astrophysicists tend to get excited over things the average science geek would find only slightly interesting.

[Orsino]

24. If it were earth-shaking news...

...we would wouldn't have to guess as to which NASA TV channel will carry the news conference: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html There's a note which hints that the Chandra conference will be on the Media channel: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html (which is to have STS feed up until 1230 Eastern).

If it were really important, I doubt it would be co-announced by Alex "Please Punch My Smug-ass Grin" Filippenko. I suppose he's telegenic enough, as is Dr. Weaver.

[Occulus]

17. Hmm. Interesting.

Scientists involved in the research will be available to answer questions. Panelists providing analysis of the research include:
- Jon Morse, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington
- Kimberly Weaver, astrophysicist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Alex Filippenko, astrophysicist, University of California, Berkeley

Related to some nearby source of dark matter, perhaps, given it was the Chandra that found it? Although... it's tantalizing that an astrophysicist from the Goddard Space Flight Center will be answering questions, isn't it....

By far the most exciting thing would be the detection of a regularly-shaped (i.e., engineered) object, but the odds on that score are so very very low that I really doubt it's anything of the sort.

Still.....

[Ready4Change]

19. They found my remote?

To think of all the time I've wasted searching between the cushions of my couch.

[txlibdem]

20. Excellent! Mwahahahahahaha. My plan is almost complete..

(strokes cat) The world will finally see my genius on Monday! Muh-mwa-mwa-ha-ha-ha.

[daleo]

21. Maybe a 2 plus solar mass pulsar?

That would have implications for the equation of state, possibility of exotic matter, etc.

[sofa king]

22. Oooh! I want to guess.

I'm gonna guess that it's the remnants of a nearby gamma ray source which may have caused the Ordovician-Silurian extinction.

[sofa king]

25. And I was... not even close!

http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/10_releases/press_111510.html

Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have found evidence for the youngest black hole known in our cosmic neighborhood - a mere 30 years old --, that providesing a unique opportunity to watch a black hole develop during its infancy. The object could help scientists better understand how massive stars explode, which ones leave behind black holes or neutron stars, and how many black holes are in our galaxy and others.

Which will require a new edition of college astronomy textbooks!