Lucy in the sky with bling.

This is COROT-7b, a planet discovered on my birthday in 2009 by the French and European space agencies. The planet orbits COROT-7, a star less large, less warm, and less ancient than the sun, although now no less interesting.

COROT-7b is closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun, which gives it a 20-hour year and has it tidally locked so only one side of the planet ever faces the star, similar to only the near side of the moon facing Earth. The side exposed to the sun has temperatures of nearly 2000 K. At these temperatures, minerals vaporise into the atmosphere like water does on Earth.

They include corundum, whose crystalline forms are ruby and sapphire (the colour comes from impurities); enstatite, which when weathered forms the gemstone bronzite and when polluted with chromium forms the gemstone chrome-enstatite; and spinel, which forms part of both the British and the French Crown jewels.

The atmosphere itself acts as a fractionating column, becoming cooler and richer in lighter components at higher altitudes. Eventually, and mostly on the dark side, the minerals condense. Not just condense, but condense in their crystalline forms. They turn into clouds of minute jewels levitating miles above the surface of COROT-7b.

Then they rain.

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Suggested names for COROT-7b:
- Lucy.
- Antoinette (because eet ees French and covered with jewels, non?)
- Fëanor (forged the Silmarils from the light of the Two Trees of Valinor… wait, none of you have read Tolkien’s mythology? Oh. God.)

The best form of jihad.

Here’s to Syed Shahid Ali, the Pakistani I.O.C. member who spoke out against the treatment meted out at America’s airports (mostly to people of his faith and colour of skin). To Obama’s face. Yes, yes, it was Bush’s paranoia, but if Obama has inherited his power and status, it stands to reason he must bear his predecessor’s albatrosses as well.

I am reminded of Riyadh us-Saleheen 1:195, where a man came up to Prophet Muhammad and asked “What is the best type of jihad?”

“Speaking truth before a tyrannical ruler.”, the Prophet answered.

Revenge and logic. Sweet, cold logic.

1. Revenge is sweet.

2. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

From 1 and 2, revenge is ice-cream.

Indian mission finds water on the moon.

Time for some undiluted flag-waving.

India’s maiden mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1, has found water on it, fundamentally changing our perception of the moon. After five decades of exploration of the moon, the breakthrough came from an American probe on the Indian orbiter. It was one of 6 non-Indian probes representing 20 countries that were carried free of cost. Chandrayaan’s 2-year intended mission came to an abrupt end at the 312-day mark, when it stopped transmitting at 1.30 am on 29 August. Inexpensively built with only $80 million, Chandrayaan has already made the most important scientific discovery of the 21st century yet.

It was cheap and it failed halfway through, and it sputtered and died and did something extraordinary. It is, by all means, a very Indian story. Chandrayaan-2, its successor, is already delayed pat on schedule according to Indian standard time, which is actually a good sign that things are being done properly. Oh and this time we’re working with our Russian comrades. You know, the partnership that brought us BrahMos, the world’s fastest cruise missile.

Shout out to all our South Indian scientists and engineers, who pretty much run the space programme. Yenna rascalas… you did find it!

(Other things that will eventually be found on the moon, in due time – one Nair tea stall, one neatly folded lungi, one old copy of Malayala Manorama, and one Indian restaurant owned by a Bangladeshi.)