Dwarf planet Eris, ancient solar observatory and plausibility of interstellar communication

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Scientists were startled when they discovered in 2004 that the center of our galaxy is emitting gamma rays with energies in the tens of trillions of electronvolts. Now astrophysicists have found a mechanism that might produce these high-energy rays. The black hole at the center of our Milky Way could be working like a cosmic particle accelerator, revving up protons that smash at incredible speeds into lower energy protons and creating high-energy gamma rays. See http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0703/02blackhole/.
g Abodes - In this lecture, Michael Brown talks about his discovery of the dwarf planet, Eris. He also explains how scientists take a tiny point of light in the night sky and figure out how big it really is. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload
&name=News&file=article&sid=2256mode=thread&order
=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - Archeologists from Yale and the University of Leicester have identified an ancient solar observatory at Chankillo, Peru as the oldest in the Americas with alignments covering the entire solar year, according to an article in the March 2 issue of Science. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070302082441.htm.
g Cosmicus - Small devices for continually monitoring radiation risk and exposure will help ensure the safety of astronauts on long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. See http://www.astrobio
.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article
&sid=2258mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Learning - Here’s a neat set of lessons, designed for at-risk students: “The Plausibility of Interstellar Communication and Related Phenomena Depicted in Science Fiction Literature and the Movies.” The curriculum has four major objectives: first, to educate students to develop concepts about the proximity of our solar system in relation to other probable solar systems in the Milky Way Galaxy; second, to give students the opportunity to use these concepts to evaluate the plausibility of interstellar communication depicted in science fiction literature and movies; third, to create an opportunity for students not only to look out on the universe but to turn it inward to look at the world, their own society, and themselves as individuals; and fourth, an objective that will be integrated with all of the others is to give students to opportunity to learn and/or sharpen skills in: using the scientific method, research, reading, writing, collaboration, discussion and in critical thinking. See http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/6/98.06.02.x.html.