Probes to alpha Centauri

[westwall]

Idaho, for much of the journey, was dry, then the crossing of the Snake were always fraught with hazard. The section from Farewell Bend to Baker City was rocky, steep, and very dry. Once in the Powder River and Grande Ronde Valleys, the Indians would trade them potatoes, many kinds of vegitables, squash, and wild game for cloth and metal. They would also trade a fresh oxen for two worn out ones. And trade those the next year after fattening them up. They also had beef and horses to trade. Not at all the picture that the movies paint of the Native Americans. Very good museum at Baker City featuring facts and item from the Trail.

That's good to know. Next time I am up that way I will check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[westwall]

This is one of the best books on the Oregon Trail that I have read;

https://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Trail-Thorndike-Narrative-Nonfiction/dp/1594139695&tag=ff0d01-20

I just bought it. Should be here day after tomorrow.

 

[sealybobo]

Given the energy available, and chemical makeup of the atmosphere of Jupiter, I would think that an ideal area to look for life not as we know it.

I think Europa. There's water in it. Why jupitar?

 

[Old Rocks]

Given the energy available, and chemical makeup of the atmosphere of Jupiter, I would think that an ideal area to look for life not as we know it.

I think Europa. There's water in it. Why jupitar?

I am thinking of life as we don't know it. At present, the view is that it takes water for any life to develop. That may be true. But if not, where could we see life develop differently? Jupiter's atmosphere has organics, many different pressure and heat gradients, and plenty of excess energy.

I remember how the life in the rift zones totally caught all be surprise. Do I expect there to be life in Jupiter's atmosphere? I do not expect it, but I do think that is a possibility.

 

[Old Rocks]

Idaho, for much of the journey, was dry, then the crossing of the Snake were always fraught with hazard. The section from Farewell Bend to Baker City was rocky, steep, and very dry. Once in the Powder River and Grande Ronde Valleys, the Indians would trade them potatoes, many kinds of vegitables, squash, and wild game for cloth and metal. They would also trade a fresh oxen for two worn out ones. And trade those the next year after fattening them up. They also had beef and horses to trade. Not at all the picture that the movies paint of the Native Americans. Very good museum at Baker City featuring facts and item from the Trail.

That's good to know. Next time I am up that way I will check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

Have you seen the gold display at the US Bank in Baker City?

The Armstrong Nugget Gold Display at US Bank in Baker City | Facebook

 

[sealybobo]

Given the energy available, and chemical makeup of the atmosphere of Jupiter, I would think that an ideal area to look for life not as we know it.

I think Europa. There's water in it. Why jupitar?

I am thinking of life as we don't know it. At present, the view is that it takes water for any life to develop. That may be true. But if not, where could we see life develop differently? Jupiter's atmosphere has organics, many different pressure and heat gradients, and plenty of excess energy.

I remember how the life in the rift zones totally caught all be surprise. Do I expect there to be life in Jupiter's atmosphere? I do not expect it, but I do think that is a possibility.

Jupiter didn't even make the cut. Sorry.

Mars is 700 billion billion tons of iron and rock, wrapped in an unfamiliar landscape of canyons, craters and calderas. The most compelling thing we could find on this enormous, orange orb would be a microgram of wet chemistry able to reproduce, move, grow, and evolve.

Venus. Despite the fact that Venus, our sister planet, has been described as purgatory personified, there are some researchers who still hold out hope for life there. The thick, sulfuric acid-ridden clouds of this planet might be a stable environment for floating life. Venusian acidophiles - analogs to a type of bacteria that can withstand highly acidic environments on Earth might eke out an existence there. It's a long shot but we shouldn't rule out life on this nearby world.

Mars. Then and now, everyone's favorite, inhabited extraterrestrial planet. While Mars' highly reactive and powder-dry landscape is practically guaranteed to be sterile, there is indirect evidence for watery aquifers a few hundred feet beneath the surface. If these liquid reservoirs exist, life may have found refuge within.

Titan. This large moon of Saturn, revealed in detail by NASA's Cassini mission, and subject to shameless examination by the Huygens probe, is far too cold for liquid water. But its air is thick with hydrocarbons. David Grinspoon has suggested that the Sun's weak ultraviolet light might rip apart some of these atmospheric compounds, producing acetylene. Falling into the liquid lakes of methane and ethane below, this gas (best known for firing blowtorches on Earth) could serve as a food for microscopic life. Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.

8 Worlds Where Life Might Exist

 

[westwall]

Idaho, for much of the journey, was dry, then the crossing of the Snake were always fraught with hazard. The section from Farewell Bend to Baker City was rocky, steep, and very dry. Once in the Powder River and Grande Ronde Valleys, the Indians would trade them potatoes, many kinds of vegitables, squash, and wild game for cloth and metal. They would also trade a fresh oxen for two worn out ones. And trade those the next year after fattening them up. They also had beef and horses to trade. Not at all the picture that the movies paint of the Native Americans. Very good museum at Baker City featuring facts and item from the Trail.

That's good to know. Next time I am up that way I will check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

Have you seen the gold display at the US Bank in Baker City?

The Armstrong Nugget Gold Display at US Bank in Baker City | Facebook

No. I don't think it was there when I was doing my trekking. If it was I simply missed it.

 

[Old Rocks]

I first saw the display in 1969 in the First National Bank. But most people did not realize that was there, it was not advertised at all. Still is not, I have many friends in Portland who hunt, fish, and hike in that area, and none of them knew of the existence of that display.