Posted on 06/08/2018 9:54:31 AM PDT by Red Badger
Credit: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
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The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the University of Oviedo present today the discovery of two new planetary systems, one of them hosting three planets the same size as the Earth.
The information about these new exoplanets has been obtained from the data collected by the K2 mission of NASA's Kepler satellite, which started in November 2013. The work, which will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), reveals the existence of two new planetary systems detected from the eclipses they produce in the stellar light of their respective stars. In the research team led jointly by Javier de Cos at the University of Oviedo, and Rafael Rebolo at the IAC, participate, along with researchers from these two centres, others from the University of Geneva and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC).
The first exoplanetary system is located in the star K2-239, characterized as a red dwarf type M3V from observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma). It is located in the constellation of the Sextant at 50 parsecs from the sun (at about 160 light years). It has a compact system of at least three rocky planets of similar size to the Earth (1.1, 1.0 and 1.1 Earth radii) that orbit the star every 5.2, 7.8 and 10.1 days, respectively.
The other red dwarf star, called K2-240, has two super-Earth-like planets about twice the size of our planet. The atmospheric temperature of red dwarf stars around which these planets revolve is 3,450 and 3,800 K respectively, almost half the temperature of the sun. These researchers estimate that all planets discovered will have temperatures tens of degrees higher than those of Earth due to the strong radiation they receive in these close orbits to their stars.
Future observation campaigns with the new James Webb space telescope will characterize the composition of the atmospheres of the discovered planets. Spectroscopic observations with the ESPRESSO instrument, installed in the Very Large Telescope (VLT), of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), or with future spectrographs in the GTC or in new astronomical facilities, such as the ELT or the TMT, will be crucial to determine the masses, densities and physical properties of these planets.
Explore further: Astronomers find Earth-like planets capable of hosting water
More information: Díez Alonso, J.I. et al. Two planetary systems with transiting Earth-size and super-Earth planets orbiting late-type dwarf stars, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. arxiv.org/abs/1806.01181
Journal reference: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Provided by: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Nice reference.
I follow this stuff some what closely and I find it absurd that some of these things are reported. It is not just the size, it also has to be in the goldilocks zone and have the right type of sun. Having an orbit time that can be be counted in hours really does matter.
I believe that intelligent life can exist somewhere in the universe but we have yet to find it.
OH, does this mean that they are “just like Earth”? and that we should plan on colonizing them?
Better bring along some heavy duty air conditioners.......................1,000,000,000 BTU....................
Earth “sized” means diddly squat!!
Gravity must be within human limits.......................
Hopefully, there’s no life on them there planets. Us Americans just can’t afford to go throwing anymore welfare at foreigners.
Not just gravity, but many things.
Why has the “search for life”, actual life, within and beyond the solar system been so elusive? It is not as frequently occurring as many would like to think.
Just once is all we know about..................
“ It has a compact system of at least three rocky planets of similar size to the Earth (1.1, 1.0 and 1.1 Earth radii) that orbit the star every 5.2, 7.8 and 10.1 days, respectively. A lot of celebrating? New Years Eve every 5.2, 7.8, and 10.1 days. Too far away to determine lengths of their days.
Happy 45,000,000 birthday!..............
Hey, Huey, Dewey, and Louie! We have the tech to build them now - I want one. They were the coolest droids ever on film.
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