It's been an eventful week for NASA: for the first time, astronomers detected light from planets outside our solar system. Also, NASA announced that it will begin offering annual cash prizes to technology buffs doing research in specific areas that are applicable to space exploration. (The first two contests are geared toward developing a strong but light material from which to make tethers, and finding new ways to wirelessly transmit power. Tufts engineers, take note: college students are eligible for the competition.) In this installment of "By the Numbers," the Daily looks skyward.
2 Planets outside our solar system (HD 209458b and TrES-1) from which astronomers saw light through the Spitzer Space Telescope last week
0 Times before this that light from planets outside our solar system has been seen
10 Years for which NASA has been attempting to see this light
130 Planets outside out solar system that have been "detected" but not seen directly over the past 10 years by NASA
6 trillion Miles in a light year
153 How many light years away HD 209458b is
500 How many light years away TrES-1 is
1,450 Temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) of TrES-1
1,570 Temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) for HD 209458b.
60 Average temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) of the Earth
$50,000 Amount of prize money the winners of NASA's first two competitions (the Tether Challenge and the Beam Power Challenge) will win
15 Teams that have signed up for the competitions so far
$100,000 Amount of prize money the winners of NASA's 2006 competitions will win
47 Years since NASA was founded (in 1958)
The information cited above comes from the Daily Times, Scotsman.com, the New York Times, EarthTimes.org, nasa.gov, and www.epa.org.
