'Exomoonologist': NASA can detect forest moon of Endor One of Blighty's top exomoonologists has said that NASA's new "Kepler" space telescope - in addition to its hotly-anticipated ability to discover habitable planets orbiting other stars - will also be able to detect habitable moons orbiting the gas giants of far-flung solar systems. David Kipping, an astronomer at University …
Given the tidal forces that would be exerted on the moon of a gas giant orbiting a star in the liquid-water zone, I don't think any intelligent life on one would be able to technologically advance enough to build a multi-story building, much less an interplanetary spacecraft.
Inhabitalbe != capable of producing a spacefaring race
It doesn't work like that.
When an astronomer says that a future instrument will detect X (his favourite thing), what he actually means is...
If I hype it enough, I might get time on this instrument. That will provide me with an excuse to get a grant for some students. Assuming the instrument doesn't plummet to earth immediately after launch and all the lackeys who built it have done their calculations right, that will give me the rights to some of the data. When my students have analysed it, I'll be able to publish a paper speculating that X might possibly even exist, but (obviously) stating that further research is necessary to confirm this, etc., etc. and that a new, even bigger grant is needed to investigate further. Bla, bla, bla...
So Kepler's just a sort of gravy train really, and Kipping wants to be on board.
UCL is the original College of London University, the first higher education institute in the UK that took the view that you could be educated even if you weren't male and Church of England.
Also known as the Godless Institute of Gower Street. One of the founders still attends meetings, at least, his head does, recorded in the minutes as "present but not voting".
"That's not a moon...."
@h6 - UCL is a University, but is also a college of the larger University of London, of which it was one of the founding members alongside King's College, London (also a university) in 1836. It claims to be the third oldest university in England, and is considered to be one of the best ones in the country.
*Disclaimer: I didn't go there... never even thought to apply!
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