# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/101 "2008-05-12T15:54:13Z")
I bet it’s Russell’s Teapot. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/102 "2008-05-12T16:19:13Z")
Half the baryonic matter is missing? That’s cuz the other half is mirror matter! Sheesh…astronomers don’t know this? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/103 "2008-05-12T16:33:08Z")
Personally I’m hoping that it will be the Leather Goddesses of Phobos. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/104 "2008-05-12T16:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=Projammer] Personally I’m hoping that it will be the Leather Goddesses of Phobos. [/QUOTE] What other adventure let’s you shag a guerrilla, or use scratch and sniff? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/105 "2008-05-12T16:55:22Z")
[QUOTE=mwbrooks] Just a nit: Rysdad’s cite mentions dark matter, but if you read closer you’ll see that what they actually found was some of the ordinary matter that had been missing (theorized about but not in evidence). [/QUOTE] That’s still dark matter, even if it’s baryonic. [Dark matter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter) could be two (or more) types of matter – MACHOs or WIMPs are two types; one is baryonic, one is (theoretically) not. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > The composition of dark matter is unknown but may include ordinary and heavy neutrinos, recently postulated elementary particles such as WIMPs and axions, astronomical bodies such as dwarf stars and planets (collectively called MACHOs), primordial black holes and clouds of nonluminous gas. Also, matter that might exist in another universe but might affect ours via gravity would be consistent with some theories of brane cosmology. Current evidence favors models in which the primary component of dark matter is new elementary particles, collectively called nonbaryonic 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 12, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/106 "2008-05-12T18:06:41Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] What other adventure let’s you shag a guerrilla, or use scratch and sniff? [/QUOTE] You obviously weren’t present at the last Dopefest… ---
**Author:** ![mwbrooks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mwbrooks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mwbrooks)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/107 "2008-05-12T19:34:11Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] That’s still dark matter, even if it’s baryonic. [Dark matter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter) could be two (or more) types of matter – MACHOs or WIMPs are two types; one is baryonic, one is (theoretically) not. [/QUOTE] OK, I was misled by the word “ordinary” in… > [@](#): > > Small as the percentage might be, half of the ordinary baryonic matter is unaccounted for. I took that to mean they were not actually talking about missing dark matter, which I don’t think of as “ordinary.” I’m also surprised that they found X-ray emitting dark matter. It seems to me that would rate much more excitement than the article seems to be showing. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/108 "2008-05-12T20:21:49Z")
Here’s an XRay story: [http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/timing\_mechanism.html](http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/timing_mechanism.html) > [@](#): > > It’s an exciting discovery," says astrophysicist Tod Strohmayer of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The QPO frequencies are related to the mass and size of the neutron star, so we may be able to use them to pin down the masses of some neutron stars. It gives us a new tool to study these fascinating objects. ---
**Author:** ![DCTrekkie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dctrekkie/32/18862_2.png) [@DCTrekkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCTrekkie)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/109 "2008-05-12T21:58:21Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] What, there were three moons and now we have just the one? Dammit, I miss everything. [/QUOTE] Actually we have either [two](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZdF3zAJlYo) moons (watch from 4 mins onwards) or [five](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iIut1jx4xE) (from about 6 mins onwards). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/110 "2008-05-13T03:37:30Z")
The third Van Allen belt–this time with neutrons! ---
**Author:** ![iturntoyou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e36b37/32.png) [@iturntoyou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iturntoyou)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/111 "2008-05-13T04:21:53Z")
The blogs I read all seem to point to the discovery of liquid water, no inferred like on Europa but actual liquid water… We’ll see ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/112 "2008-05-13T06:42:22Z")
Jimmy Hoffa? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/113 "2008-05-13T09:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=DCTrekkie] Actually we have either [two](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZdF3zAJlYo) moons (watch from 4 mins onwards) or [five](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iIut1jx4xE) (from about 6 mins onwards). 😃 [/QUOTE] Ah [Cruithne](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne), I should have guessed :smack: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/114 "2008-05-14T06:39:58Z")
so apparently revelation will come tomorrow… _2001 theme plays in the background as I prepare to dance around waving a drumstick_ ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/115 "2008-05-14T06:45:45Z")
They’ve discovered that the LHC is going to destroy us all, and as a practical joke they’re waiting until a few hours before it starts to tell us. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/116 "2008-05-14T13:46:32Z")
So has the announcement been made yet? ETA: Oh, it’s not till 1pm \*\*US \*\* time, doh! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/117 "2008-05-14T13:50:42Z")
There’s supposed to be a link to the stream of it [here.](http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/118 "2008-05-14T13:51:15Z")
[QUOTE=sandra\_nz] So has the announcement been made yet? ETA: Oh, it’s not till 1pm \*\*US \*\* time, doh! :smack: [/QUOTE] Nope… about 3 more hours, give or take. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/119 "2008-05-14T17:05:32Z")
Posting as a hedge against missing the announcementon cable news. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575/120 "2008-05-14T17:07:18Z")
Scientists using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered the Milky Way’s most recent supernova, which exploded a mere 140 years ago, a few years after the Civil War. Source: [NASA Live Blog: 'Aside from the Loonies, That Went Quite Well' | WIRED](http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/05/liveblog-nasa-a.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-set-to-announce-discovery-any-guesses-as-to-what-it-is/448575.md?page=7)