First Water Clouds Reported Outside The Solar System

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: For the first time ever, astronomers have found strong evidence of water clouds on a body outside the solar system. New observations of a frigid object called WISE 0855, which lies 7.2 light-years from Earth, suggest that the "failed star" has clouds of water, or water ice, in its atmosphere, the researchers said. "We would expect an object that cold to have water clouds, and this is the best evidence that it does," study lead author Andrew Skemer, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said in a statement released by the university. Scientists discovered WISE 0855 in 2014, using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. A later paper in 2014 (co-authored by Skemer) uncovered some evidence of water clouds in the object's atmosphere, based on limited photometric data (how bright the object is in specific light wavelengths). In the new study, Skemer and his colleagues used the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to study the brown dwarf for 13 nights. Gemini North is located on the highest Hawaiian mountain (Mauna Kea), at an altitude with little water vapor to interfere with telescopic observations. These observations allowed the astronomers to make the first spectroscopy (light fingerprint) measurements of WISE 0855. The team found water vapor and also confirmed the object's temperature, which is about minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius, or 250 kelvins).

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[TheRealQuestor]

Good evening, friends. It's great that you're looking to the heavens, but let's not forget that Heaven should be our goal and our destiny. However, that choice is up to us. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But because God sent his only son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, we are redeemed. But we must accept this generous offer from our Lord and each of us must be born again. We must all repent of our sins and have a born again experience if we are to be saved. As Peter powerfully spoke shortly after Jesus ascended into Heaven, he commanded that we are to repent and be baptized. Immersion in water is a sign that we are cleansed of our sins. We should all want to spend eternity in Heaven where we shall not need nor want, rather than eternal torment in Hell. If you're ready to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you must be born again and then you should be baptized with water. I hope and pray that you will read this message and your heart and mind will be opened to our Lord, from whom all good things come.

- Pastor Mitch

It's great to see some stand up comedy on here now and then. Always good for a laugh.

Re: Speaking of Water

[DEN_GUY]

So funny to see moral advice from a book with slavery, incest and murder by the heroes. Thanks for the update from the weirdo frontier.

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[spiritplumber]

Given how Hell is described, in an infinite amount of time, it can be terraformed.

Here, I wrote you a thing.

http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/we... [emlia.org]

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[Coren22]

Thank you for sharing.

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[raind]

You must be one of those people who wear symbols of execution and torture on there neck.

Re: Speaking of Water

[cyber-vandal]

Hi Pastor Mitch!

Rain coming?

[MouseTheLuckyDog]

Does that mean the Solar system is gonna have rain soon?

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[hcs_$reboot]

Well, since this was not supposed to be funny (hopefully), the answer is no ; for starters, the clouds are more than 7 light years away, far outside our solar system.

Being an astronaut now becomes less attractive

[LordHighExecutioner]

You travel years all across the galaxy and, when eventually you go out of your spaceship, it rains!

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[somenickname]

Presumably it would only rain if you washed your spaceship that morning.

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[Coren22]

Because if Kirk were visiting the planet, there would be lots of fucking going on?

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[Coren22]

Um, what in the bible says that we are the only intelligent species in the universe?

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[MillionthMonkey]

A freezing Brown Dwarf Star? How the F? But then I guess that means it must be producing some heat since it's still so far above Kelvin 0, and it is an extremely small one too.

Brown dwarfs contain thermal energy left over from the gravitational potential of the gas that formed them. Even Jupiter and Saturn emit more radiation than they get from the sun.

In related news ...

[PPH]

... the Seattle city council passes a resolution making WISE 0855 a sister city.

Obviously...

[R3d M3rcury]

[...] the "failed star" has clouds of water, or water ice, in its atmosphere.

And that's why it's a failed star. You know what water does to fire...

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[Gavagai80]

Of course. The sun is a fairly large star so you could see it for at least 50 light years.

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[RockDoctor]

You could certainly if you were at Alpha Centauri - but it (the Sun) would be far from the brightest star in the sky.