# NASA set to announce discovery... any guesses as to what it is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575 "2008-05-08T16:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/21 "2008-05-08T18:01:12Z")
NASA is finally going to own up to the existence of that face on Mars. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/22 "2008-05-08T18:20:26Z")
They finally really found Yuggoth, which isn’t Pluto at all, but a REAL planet ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/23 "2008-05-08T18:37:23Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] They finally really found Yuggoth, which isn’t Pluto at all, but a REAL planet [/QUOTE] I heard NASA had hired some fun guys…wonder if there’s a connection… What? Fun guys, yeah…oh, wait…fungi? Oohhh… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/24 "2008-05-08T18:45:14Z")
The big asteroid that’s going to end us all? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/25 "2008-05-08T18:46:38Z")
Advanced computer modeling has revealed when Hillary will finally drop out of the race. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/26 "2008-05-08T18:46:55Z")
I’ts been posted. They didn’t discover anything. A researcher has said that “Earth might have had two smaller moons at one time in the distant past.” wow. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/27 "2008-05-08T18:50:09Z")
If they really have been searching for “fifty years”, then it’s not a neutron star or black hole (neither concept had been fully formed in 1957). It’s not a nearby gamma-ray burster since we didn’t know about those either. If it’s a “galactic” hunt, then it’s not local to our solar system. X-ray observations would be irrelevent to a SETI or habitable planet search. I’m stumped. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/28 "2008-05-08T19:00:11Z")
“blue stragglers” My work here is done. Come back and congratulate me later, after the press conference. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/29 "2008-05-08T19:03:12Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] I’ts been posted. They didn’t discover anything. A researcher has said that “Earth might have had two smaller moons at one time in the distant past.” wow. [/QUOTE] That doesn’t seem to correlate very well with the press release. An object in our galaxy they’ve been looking for for 50 years. Discovered using X-ray observations. Or did you just wooosh my face? ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/30 "2008-05-08T19:08:37Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Advanced computer modeling has revealed when Hillary will finally drop out of the race. [/QUOTE] Well, she dropped out of the _human_ race back when she married Bill. Ah, Hah hah!! ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/31 "2008-05-08T19:10:54Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] I’ts been posted. They didn’t discover anything. A researcher has said that “Earth might have had two smaller moons at one time in the distant past.” wow. [/QUOTE] What, there were three moons and now we have just the one? Dammit, I miss everything. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/32 "2008-05-08T19:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=Philster] “blue stragglers” My work here is done. Come back and congratulate me later, after the press conference. [/QUOTE] Or white dwarfs. Yeah, congratulate me after they say that. 😃 I’m done with my stupid longshots! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/33 "2008-05-08T19:15:44Z")
New “furthest detectable object”? ---
**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/34 "2008-05-08T19:17:00Z")
[QUOTE=cmyk] My guess is a supernova in our galaxy. [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t a supernova in our galaxy pretty much turn us into toast? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/35 "2008-05-08T19:18:15Z")
[QUOTE=Astroboy14] I’ve been trying to figure out what they’ve spent 50 years searching for [/QUOTE] Could it be **America’s way**? If it’s a supernova, how far away would it have to be to be detectable but not visible? ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/36 "2008-05-08T19:20:11Z")
All along, I’ve been saying that there’s an alternative earth floating directly across from us, behind the sun. The High Evolutionary himself lives there, for chrissakes! Now, NASA finally knows what I know. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/37 "2008-05-08T19:30:21Z")
[QUOTE=flex727] Wouldn’t a supernova in our galaxy pretty much turn us into toast? [/QUOTE] No. It could, if it produced a gamma-ray burst (we don’t think all supernovae do) and the gamma-ray burst were pointed toward us. > [@Lumpy](#): > > If they really have been searching for “fifty years”, then it’s not a neutron star or black hole (neither concept had been fully formed in 1957). It’s not a nearby gamma-ray burster since we didn’t know about those either. If it’s a “galactic” hunt, then it’s not local to our solar system. X-ray observations would be irrelevent to a SETI or habitable planet search. > > I’m stumped. Could it be something having to do with dark matter? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/38 "2008-05-08T19:35:20Z")
[QUOTE=flex727] Wouldn’t a supernova in our galaxy pretty much turn us into toast? [/QUOTE] What **Anne Neville** said. See [the Crab Nebula](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_nebula). The supernova that created it was observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054 A.D. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/39 "2008-05-08T19:40:20Z")
I’d guess they’ve finally located the black hole at the core of the Milky Way. There was an article in _Smithsonian_ a month or so ago about how they searching for it and were on the verge of locating/pinpointing it exactly. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/40 "2008-05-08T19:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] I’d guess they’ve finally located the black hole at the core of the Milky Way. There was an article in _Smithsonian_ a month or so ago about how they searching for it and were on the verge of locating/pinpointing it exactly. [/QUOTE] That’s what I was thinking. Seems to fit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575.md?page=3)