Posted on 12/20/2012 2:51:42 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
An international team of astroboffins have discovered that the nearest single Sun-like star has one planet orbiting in the sweet spot for potential alien life.
Tau Ceti, which is just 12 light years away and can be seen with the naked eye in the night sky, has five planets in orbit around it, with one lying in the habitable zone.
The potentially life-supporting world has a mass around five times the size of Earth, making it the smallest planet found in the habitable zone of any Sun-like star. The other four planets are between twice and six times the mass of Earth.
"This discovery is in keeping with our emerging view that virtually every star has planets, and that the galaxy must have many such potentially habitable Earth-sized planets. They are everywhere, even right next door!" said Steve Vogt of the University of California Santa Cruz.
"We are now beginning to understand that Nature seems to overwhelmingly prefer systems that have a multiple planets with orbits of less than one hundred days. This is quite unlike our own solar system where there is nothing with an orbit inside that of Mercury. So our solar system is, in some sense, a bit of a freak and not the most typical kind of system that Nature cooks up."
Tau Ceti's worlds were spotted by astronomers from the UK, Chile, the US and Australia when they sifted through more than 6,000 observations from three different instruments using improved "noise-modelling" techniques to spot the wobble in the star caused by the gravitational tug of planets.
"Tau Ceti is one of our nearest cosmic neighbours and so bright that we may be able to study the atmospheres of these planets in the not too distant future," said James Jenkins of Universidad de Chile, who is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire.
"Planetary systems found around nearby stars close to our Sun indicate that these systems are common in our Milky Way galaxy."
So far, noise modelling and other techniques have mostly found high mass planets, since smaller worlds are harder to detect.
The full study, to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, can be found here (PDF). ®
But we can’t get there by Friday.
Did any Boffins die, bringing us this information?
Tow See Tee Ping!.........
I’d weigh about 800 lbs there.
Not necessarily true. These are the ones that can be detected with present technology/methods.
I’d weigh about 1400 lbs there, somebody needs to pack a crane, I’d need it.
Only if the planet has the same diameter as Earth. With a large enough diameter you might weigh the same on the surface of that planet as you do here.
We don't discuss that. Boffins can be replaced.
/johnny
Is it a gun free planet?
Sure we can! Top scientists from the University of Rangoon, and the Knoxville, Tennessee College of Faith Healing have the craft ready for liftoff!
I just finished “Time for the Stars”, By Robert A. Heinlein.
IIRC (my short term memory is kaput), Tau Ceti was home to “Connie”, the first habitable planet found by the Torchship “Lewis & Clark” of the Long Range Foundation.
I’m going by the 5 times mass although the story uses the word incorrectly.
Bloomberg would limit your drink size to about 71 ounces there.
Hooray!
If Neil Armstong had tried to take his giant step there, he’d have weighed about 1000 earth-pounds and his leg would have snapped like a twig.
It also means anything with the ability to walk around down there would be, on average, five times stronger than the average human.
By all means, let’s colonize it. Let’s send them some flowers and candy and have them come visit.
Short, squaty, strong as an elephant? You mean my second ex-wife was from a high gravity planet?
I often suspected she was rather alien....
/johnny
Us little people won’t be going. Only the important people.
Bah Humbug! It is a result of the way planets are detected. The star wobbles slightly and the frequency of the light is shifted. You can detect it easier if the planet is in close so guess what, you find a bunch of planets in close!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.