NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden has often observed that humans are closer to their first mission to Mars than ever before in history. In this current series of Hangout discussions, we will hear from experts on breaking the gravitational reins to enable the first human expedition beyond low-Earth orbit in a half century. Join Tony Darnell, Harley Thronson and Alberto Conti as they discuss with Tim Cichan and Steve Jolly, both from Lockheed Martin, and Darby Cooper from Boeing, a new scenario for human exploration of the Red Planet. Here are the links discussed in the hangout: http://beyondearth.com/path-to-mars/ http://lockheedmartin.com/us/ssc/mars-orion.html Download the DeepAstronomy App and stay current on all content: Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.dwnld.vrf985&hl=en_GB Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deep-astronomy/id1098749154?ls=1&mt=8 Follow DeepAstronomy on Twitter: @DeepAstronomy Like DeepAstronomy on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeepAstronomy/ Like Space Fan News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpaceFanNews/ Follow DeepAstronomy on Google+ http://google.com/+DeepAstronomy http://google.com/+TonyDarnell We also have a great Google+ Community, come share your thoughts and join the discussion! https://plus.google.com/communities/109849939648748938781 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLmbUtxLGU

Studies of planetary systems have indicated that star systems with high metallicity (think iron - actually anything heavier than helium) may preferentially form planets,but a new survey suggests there are many compact, multiple-planet systems for which this trend does not hold. There could be many such compact systems that have been undetected until recently. The most common systems discovered have larger Jupiter or Neptune sized planets. A team at Yale University has conducted a survey of 700 stars and been able to find smaller panels with newer technology such as their Extreme Precision Spectrometer (EXPRES). This instrumentation enables discovery of the smaller planetary systems. Such low metallicity systems have formed early on in the history of the universe and have been in existence for quite a long time. So what are those planetary systems like? Join Tony Darnell and Carol Christian during Afternoon Astronomy Coffee on November 8 at 3PM Eastern time as they discuss with the investigators John Michael Brewer and Songhu Wang (both from Yale University) about their survey and the intriguing relationship of metal content and the formation of planets. Get the paper to follow along here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BCFJSBNuyfvMyNeKN7h0jlr4OrdnQz4W Like this content? Please consider becoming a patron: https://patreon.com/DeepAstronomy Follow DeepAstronomy on Twitter: @DeepAstronomy Join our free Discord server for always-on chat action! https://discord.gg/nqGpvtK ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-KzI7TxGJ8