Super-Neptune Planet Found

Space.com ^ | Jan 23rd, '09 | Spacecom Staff

[blueplum]

Astronomers have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth.

While Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses.

HAT-P-11b was discovered because it passes directly in front of its parent star, thereby blocking about 0.4 percent of the star's light. This periodic dimming, called a transit, was detected by a network of small, automated telescopes known as "HATNet," which is operated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Arizona and Hawaii.

More than 300 extrasolar planets are now known to exist.

HAT-P-11b is the 11th extrasolar planet found by HATNet, and the smallest yet discovered by any of the several transit search projects underway around the world.

Transit detections are particularly useful because the amount of dimming tells the astronomers how big the planet must be. By combining transit data with measurements of the star's "wobble" (radial velocity) made by

[Darkwolf377]

Good, now Pelosi can go home and be with her fellow aliens.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Pelosi might prefer Neptune, Barney Frank would prefer Uranus.

[VanShuyten]

Great news! They’re getting better and better at finding smaller planets.

[Dallas59]

[Darkwolf377]

No, he’d go for Jupiter—he’s a size queen.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

so many guesses in a “discovery” like this.

[count-your-change]

What kind of name is that for a decent sized planet? Yeah, it’s code or something, but why not B 1 PHAT 1 so at least it sounds it came from a STAR TREK movie.
Sounds better in press releases too! “Phat Planet Found! You Are Not Alone!”
Maybe a health club by that name? PHAT PLANET sounds right.
Anything but Hat-P. Come on folks! Better Phat than Hat!

[Deklane]

"so many guesses in a “discovery” like this." What's with the scepticism? And the scare quotes? This is a planet discovered by observing it crossing the face of its parent star. A lot of planets of other stars were identified by indirect means (i.e., the infinitesimally slight effect of their gravity on their parent stars' motion) that could be challenged, but this is evidence as robust as it gets. Heck, the technology is now to the point where the *atmospheres* of some of these planets of other stars can be analyzed. I don't see any religious issues involved, since the planet in question is probably a lifeless gas giant like the gas giants in our solar system, so what's the deal with your snort and sneer here?

[RetSignman]

That incredibly important find should keep the funding alive for awhile.

It’s almost as important as finally being able to see the ‘dark side’ of the sun.

[Dr. Ursus]

December 21st,2012 all our problems will be over!

[Thermalseeker]

so many guesses in a “discovery” like this.

Yep. How in the world do astronomers know the precise mass of Neptune and that it is 17 times that of Earth? I seriously doubt that the precise mass of Earth is known to any degree of accuracy. It's all a WAG if you ask me....

[Teacher317]

The methods used are quite simple and reliable. Everything with mass has gravitational pull, including you and me. (Well, my pull is probably bigger than yours, at least until my diet gets rolling, LOL.) When the planet passes in front of a star, the light coming from that star gets bent a little bit by the gravity of that planet. The precise amount of bending will give a very accurate idea of that planet's mass. The size is easily measured, since we get its distance with simple trigonometry. (Our distance from the moon and sun and other planets had been measured with great accuracy several centuries ago.) Once you have size and mass, you divide the two to get density. There are no tricks, and the only assist we get from technology is to get some really precise measurements of how much light shifts when the planet crosses in front. The rest is simple math.

If you hadn't tossed out your tv, you might've got some of this info from the Discovery Channel or other educational programming! ;^)

(Okay, okay, so I watch House, NFL games, and the Simpsons more than I watch the History Channel, etc.)

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

It’s almost as important as finally being able to see the ‘dark side’ of the sun.

Posting on scientific subjects while you're wasted is not the best idea!

[Rebelbase]

People think we have an obesity problem on Earth, they ain’t seen nothing till they get to super Neptune.

[LibraTango]

he was referring to and article posted a while ago on FR in which the term dark side of the sun was used by a “scientist”. It was about two spacecraft that did imaging of the suns surface blah blah blah. while he may have been wasted, it was an accurate re-statement.
BTW- what the HELL do we get out of the billions we spend on this SH_T?

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

what the HELL do we get out of the billions we spend on this SH_T

If you can demonstrate that we spent billions of dollars to identify this planet I will agree with you. However, I suspect that there may have been one or two other things included in that sum.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

If you hadn't tossed out your tv, you might've got some of this info from the Discovery Channel or other educational programming! ;^)

I have 2 degrees. I'm aware of the basic discovery channel stuff.

There are a lot of guesses & assumptions in something like this, but it's presented as 100% certain data by the crappy newspeople, because they like to give the impression science is all-powerful. It's part of the lib agenda. The truth is our knowledge is scrappy at best.

"Super-neptune" - yeah that's discovery channel type stuff alright!

[LibraTango]

I was speaking of the billions we spent aggregately.
in total. being somewhat naive as to the benefits derived from these scientific “explorations’ the question was not merely rhetorical but well, actually a question. what one or two other things could have been included that would justify the expenditure. just wanting to know!
thanks

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Antibiotics, coming from government subsidized medical research, computers, and the internet are a few items.