Q: How many presidential appointments are on hold by the Senate? How many are by Georgia senators?
-- Fred Smith, Tucker
A: Holds are often held in secret by Senate leadership, so that number is not currently available, said John Isaacson, who owns and runs presidential-appointments.org, a website that tracks presidential appointments. "The problem is that these holds ... do not have to be made public," he told Q&A on the News in an email.
Q: A recent story stated that the "Earth-like planet Kepler-22b has a surface temperature of 72 degrees.” My question is: How can they determine that if the planet is 600 light years away and would take 22 million years to reach?
-- Ray Prior, Newton
A: Scientists haven't determined that yet. If Kepler-22b has a surface and atmosphere similar to Earth, the surface temperature would be about 72 degrees, Trent J. Perrotto, the public affairs officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington, told Q&A on the News in an email. "We know the planet's size, and ground-based observations later this year may be able to determine its mass," Perrotto said. "With mass and size, scientists can determine density and thus more information about the planet's composition." He said scientists don't know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, "but the discovery is an important milestone in the search for Earth-like planets."
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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