Recently, the announcement of a European exoplanet search discovering over thirty new planets orbiting stellar systems other than our own caused much sensation. Using extremely precise instruments capable of determing minute rotational "wobbles" in distant stars, the managed to find exoplanets much smaller, and hopefully rocky like the Earth, than the gas giant planets first found with this method.
This makes more than 400 known exoplanets. Just twenty years ago it was pure science fiction that we could detect actual planets around distant stars, stars whose brightness overwhelms anything orbiting around it (unless it is a twin-star system!).
Just the other day NASA researchers announced their discovery of organic molecules in the atmosphere of a gas planet, the second such planet they have found. That makes two planets outside of our solar system in which the basic chemical ingrediants of life have been detected, water, methane and carbon dioxide. That may not sound like much but being able to detect these chemical pattersn should one day help us accurately detect smaller, earth-like exoplanets.
For a Flash animated timeline of humanity's history of planet and then exoplanet hunting check THIS from NASA. Good stuff.
Showing posts with label Exoplanet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exoplanet. Show all posts
Oct 21, 2009
Dec 29, 2008
-FUPPETS- Loves The Top 5 Astronomy Discoveries Of 2008
Hell yeah. There is nothing better than astronomical discovery, for it just keeps highlighting and emphasizing the exceedingly unimportant and superfluous nature of human existence. YOUR "PROBLEMS" DON'T MATTER! As the year 2008, which was not two-thousand-GREAT as previously predicted, draws to a close, the good folks at Space.com have compiled a list of the top 5 most astounding astronomical discoveries of the past year.
5. Mercury's Mysteries
More than half of our solar system's smallest planet (Pluto once took this honor), Mercury, had remained a mystery until this year. On Jan. 14, NASA's MESSENGER probe made its first flyby of Mercury, beginning a mission to image the entire planet.
From the get-go, the probe sent back intriguing images, including clear evidence for volcanoes. Images of the Caloris basin showed hints of lava flows and the presence of a shield volcano larger than the state of Delaware, with gently sloping sides.
And Mercury is indeed shrinking as its iron-rich core slowly cools. Scientists had speculated this much from images taken during the Mariner 10 mission in 1974. But MESSENGER images showed more faults than did Mariner 10, suggesting the strain from the planet's contraction was at least one-third greater than originally thought.
The thousands of images and other data collected by MESSENGER could also shed light on other Mercury mysteries, including the planet's relatively giant core, which makes up about two-thirds of the planet's mass.
4. Black Hole Antics
Black holes are so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape their gravitational grips. Though invisible, astronomers have inferred the presence of the dark behemoths from their effects on nearby objects. And this year, it seems, all the crazies came out of their cosmic closets.
Take the fastest spinning black hole, found to whirl around at speeds approaching the speed of light.
And when it comes to obesity, one black hole could've gobbled up 18 billion suns. This giant would dwarf the smallest black hole found this year, weighing in at about 3.8 times the mass of our sun and spanning just 15 miles (24 km) in diameter.
Researchers also found this year that some supermassive black holes, which reside at the centers of many or all galaxies, spew out giant bubbles from the tips of their jets. (As material falls into the gravitational clutches of a black hole, the energy can be spit out as jets of radiation and high-speed particles.) The bubbles ultimately pop, spilling their gaseous guts. Turns out, the hot gas keeps the black hole and its galaxy from ballooning to mega sizes.
Black holes can also take the form of "masked fugitive." Computer simulations revealed that when two black holes merge, the energy produced can kick the newly merged black hole clear out of its galaxy.
Also, for the first time this year, scientists detected such a rogue black hole racing along at 5,900,000 mph (2,650 kilometers per second).
3. Dark Energy
Scientists were hot on the trail this year of a mysterious "force" called dark energy that has been expanding the universe at an increasing pace and was only discovered about 10 years ago.
Though, admittedly, scientists say they are more than a few years away from solving the puzzler of what dark energy is, a new method this year confirmed its existence, suggesting the force is stifling the growth of galaxies in the universe. Basically, in an expanding universe dominated by dark energy, galaxies fly away from one another rather than mingle and merge.
These results also suggest dark energy takes the form of what Einstein called the cosmological constant — a term in Einstein's theory of general relativity that represents the possibility of empty space having a density and pressure associated with it.
2. Martian Life?
The red planet has gotten celebrity treatment this past year, with the touchdown of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in May, the continuing presence of the Mars Exploration Rover twins (Spirit and Opportunity) and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (which has imaged nearly 40 percent of the planet).
A major goal of such missions has been to find signs of past or present liquid water, the main ingredient for life. That's why Phoenix snagged a star-studded headline when the lander collected water ice near Mars' north pole this year.
Earlier in the year, Spirit found deposits of silica in Gusev Crater, suggesting, scientists said, that hot water once flowed through the Martian soil in hydrothermal vents. As on Earth, these hydrothermal vents may have once harbored life. The discovered silica could preserve fossils of such ancient life if it did indeed exist there.
And just in from MRO — evidence of carbonates on the Martian surface. Since carbonates can't survive in acidic, harsh conditions, the mineral finding suggests any microbes crawling around when Mars was wet could've enjoyed a cushy existence.
1. Alien Worlds
With the extrasolar planet tally now well above 300, astronomers seem to be on track for spotting another Earth (the astronomical jackpot) before long. Along the way this year, a jaw-dropping announcement came in November when two teams of astronomers reported they had snapped direct images of exoplanets.
Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, calls the images "the most spectacular thing in 2008."
"In my own professional opinion this is by far the most definitive picture of a planet ever taken," Marcy said during a telephone interview, referring to the direct image by the Hubble Space Telescope of the planet called Fomalhaut b.
The gold rush of exoplanet discoveries this year boils down to new techniques and observatories as well as energetic astronomers involved, Marcy said.
Some other highlights include: the least-massive planet, weighing in at just three times the mass of Earth; the hottest planet, with temperatures reaching about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees Celsius); and three so-called super-Earths orbiting a star.
Astronomers like Marcy predict the upcoming year will bring us even closer to detecting Earth's twin. For instance, NASA's Kepler mission is scheduled to launch in March with the goal of finding rocky planets about the size of Earth that orbit within the habitable zone of their host stars where liquid water and life might exist. Stay tuned.
5. Mercury's Mysteries
More than half of our solar system's smallest planet (Pluto once took this honor), Mercury, had remained a mystery until this year. On Jan. 14, NASA's MESSENGER probe made its first flyby of Mercury, beginning a mission to image the entire planet.
From the get-go, the probe sent back intriguing images, including clear evidence for volcanoes. Images of the Caloris basin showed hints of lava flows and the presence of a shield volcano larger than the state of Delaware, with gently sloping sides.
And Mercury is indeed shrinking as its iron-rich core slowly cools. Scientists had speculated this much from images taken during the Mariner 10 mission in 1974. But MESSENGER images showed more faults than did Mariner 10, suggesting the strain from the planet's contraction was at least one-third greater than originally thought.
The thousands of images and other data collected by MESSENGER could also shed light on other Mercury mysteries, including the planet's relatively giant core, which makes up about two-thirds of the planet's mass.
4. Black Hole Antics
Black holes are so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape their gravitational grips. Though invisible, astronomers have inferred the presence of the dark behemoths from their effects on nearby objects. And this year, it seems, all the crazies came out of their cosmic closets.
Take the fastest spinning black hole, found to whirl around at speeds approaching the speed of light.
And when it comes to obesity, one black hole could've gobbled up 18 billion suns. This giant would dwarf the smallest black hole found this year, weighing in at about 3.8 times the mass of our sun and spanning just 15 miles (24 km) in diameter.
Researchers also found this year that some supermassive black holes, which reside at the centers of many or all galaxies, spew out giant bubbles from the tips of their jets. (As material falls into the gravitational clutches of a black hole, the energy can be spit out as jets of radiation and high-speed particles.) The bubbles ultimately pop, spilling their gaseous guts. Turns out, the hot gas keeps the black hole and its galaxy from ballooning to mega sizes.
Black holes can also take the form of "masked fugitive." Computer simulations revealed that when two black holes merge, the energy produced can kick the newly merged black hole clear out of its galaxy.
Also, for the first time this year, scientists detected such a rogue black hole racing along at 5,900,000 mph (2,650 kilometers per second).
3. Dark Energy
Scientists were hot on the trail this year of a mysterious "force" called dark energy that has been expanding the universe at an increasing pace and was only discovered about 10 years ago.
Though, admittedly, scientists say they are more than a few years away from solving the puzzler of what dark energy is, a new method this year confirmed its existence, suggesting the force is stifling the growth of galaxies in the universe. Basically, in an expanding universe dominated by dark energy, galaxies fly away from one another rather than mingle and merge.
These results also suggest dark energy takes the form of what Einstein called the cosmological constant — a term in Einstein's theory of general relativity that represents the possibility of empty space having a density and pressure associated with it.
2. Martian Life?
The red planet has gotten celebrity treatment this past year, with the touchdown of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in May, the continuing presence of the Mars Exploration Rover twins (Spirit and Opportunity) and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (which has imaged nearly 40 percent of the planet).
A major goal of such missions has been to find signs of past or present liquid water, the main ingredient for life. That's why Phoenix snagged a star-studded headline when the lander collected water ice near Mars' north pole this year.
Earlier in the year, Spirit found deposits of silica in Gusev Crater, suggesting, scientists said, that hot water once flowed through the Martian soil in hydrothermal vents. As on Earth, these hydrothermal vents may have once harbored life. The discovered silica could preserve fossils of such ancient life if it did indeed exist there.
And just in from MRO — evidence of carbonates on the Martian surface. Since carbonates can't survive in acidic, harsh conditions, the mineral finding suggests any microbes crawling around when Mars was wet could've enjoyed a cushy existence.
1. Alien Worlds
With the extrasolar planet tally now well above 300, astronomers seem to be on track for spotting another Earth (the astronomical jackpot) before long. Along the way this year, a jaw-dropping announcement came in November when two teams of astronomers reported they had snapped direct images of exoplanets.
Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, calls the images "the most spectacular thing in 2008."
"In my own professional opinion this is by far the most definitive picture of a planet ever taken," Marcy said during a telephone interview, referring to the direct image by the Hubble Space Telescope of the planet called Fomalhaut b.
The gold rush of exoplanet discoveries this year boils down to new techniques and observatories as well as energetic astronomers involved, Marcy said.
Some other highlights include: the least-massive planet, weighing in at just three times the mass of Earth; the hottest planet, with temperatures reaching about 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees Celsius); and three so-called super-Earths orbiting a star.
Astronomers like Marcy predict the upcoming year will bring us even closer to detecting Earth's twin. For instance, NASA's Kepler mission is scheduled to launch in March with the goal of finding rocky planets about the size of Earth that orbit within the habitable zone of their host stars where liquid water and life might exist. Stay tuned.
Nov 13, 2008
Exoplanets In Infrared
Just a few decades ago, the idea of looking for planets in solar systems around stars other than Sol was extremely far-fetched. However, humans being ingenious as all fuck, scientists began devising ways to calculate whether or not a star had a planet around it. They began by focusing high-powered instruments on stars that had a perceived "wobble" which, no matter how minuscule it may have been, indicated the gravitational presence of an orbiting planet.
Many of these were found, causing much glee among the space junkies. Their glee was soon turned to just a light joyfulness, once it was realized that the only planets they "found" were huge gas giants, the size of Jupiter or bigger. These planets do not hold promise for extra-terrestrial life.
Having found many of these planets around many many stars, it appeared that solar systems were fairly common, but no one had ever actually imaged a planet that was not one of our solar system's orbital family.
That has changed. -FUPPETS- is pleased to announce the very first image of "exoplanets," planets found outside of our solar system. The image below was taken of a very massive young star, designated HR8799, with arrows pointing at three gas giant planets orbiting it. It was taken in seven different infra-red spectra. The gas giants are thought to be at least 3 times the size of Jupiter.
Many of these were found, causing much glee among the space junkies. Their glee was soon turned to just a light joyfulness, once it was realized that the only planets they "found" were huge gas giants, the size of Jupiter or bigger. These planets do not hold promise for extra-terrestrial life.
Having found many of these planets around many many stars, it appeared that solar systems were fairly common, but no one had ever actually imaged a planet that was not one of our solar system's orbital family.
That has changed. -FUPPETS- is pleased to announce the very first image of "exoplanets," planets found outside of our solar system. The image below was taken of a very massive young star, designated HR8799, with arrows pointing at three gas giant planets orbiting it. It was taken in seven different infra-red spectra. The gas giants are thought to be at least 3 times the size of Jupiter.
The two innermost planets are the heaviest, about 10 times as massive as Jupiter, while the outer planet is the lightest, about seven times as massive. That size relationship suggests the planets coalesced from a vast disk of gas, dust and ice particles that once encircled the star. The planets reside at roughly 25, 40 and 70 astronomical units from HR 8799. (One AU is the average Earth-sun distance.) By comparison, the solar system’s most distant planet, Neptune, has an average separation of 30 AU from the sun.
Intriguingly, the HR 8799 system’s outermost planet lies just inside a remnant disk of dusty debris that hasn’t been directly imaged but is believed to surround the star.
The disk is similar to the solar system’s Kuiper Belt, which was generated by comet collisions.-Ron Cowen (ScienceNews.com)
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