Looking For Pandora?

Keith’s note: While current NASA space science is fighting for its existence, some people are not deterred and dream big. Have a look at: “Seeking The Worlds Of Avatar: Prospects for Detecting Moons Orbiting a Giant Planet in Alpha Centauri A’s Habitable Zone“ (I modified the title): “We focus our simulations on α Centauri A, orbited by a hypothetical giant planet consistent with candidate detections in Very Large Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope observations. We find that such a facility would be capable of detecting ∼Earth-mass moons in a five year campaign, assuming a Saturn-mass planet. More generally, we simulate expected detection limits for a variety of levels of astrometric precision.” According to the official “Avatar” series website: In orbit around α Centauri A is “Pandora one of fourteen moons that orbit the gas giant Polyphemus.” We’ll all be going back to Pandora in December in “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (trailer). While Space Science may be suffering – we can never allow the b*stards to take our dreams away.