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Place in space for an Earth II (solar system found that could have Earth-like planet)
Sydney Morning Herald ^
| June 14 2002
| By Deborah Smith, Science Writer
Posted on 06/13/2002 9:51:07 AM PDT by dead
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1
posted on
06/13/2002 9:51:08 AM PDT
by
dead
To: dead
Just out of curiosity: why is it that, to the best of my recollection, they never seem to post photographs of all these new planets? I can't remember seeing any images of these newfound solar systems.
To: Darth Sidious
I don't think they have any pictures. Sounds to me like they only have mathetmatical proof of these planets' existence, not photographic.
To: dead
I nominate Hillary as our ambassador to the Cancrians.
4
posted on
06/13/2002 10:18:42 AM PDT
by
tictoc
To: Darth Sidious
They aren't detected using traditional photographic techniques. Even if they were, it would be a tiny dot of light beside a larger dot of light.
They're detected using the red/blue shift in the star caused by the planet orbiting it. All planets exert gravational force on their star, just like the star exerts gravational force on the planets. The difference is the star is much much bigger than the planet. Consider this: Jupiter appears to orbit the sun, but they both really orbit a point a few miles just outside the corona of the sun (the center of mass). Earth does orbit the sun, but only because the center of mass is a few feet from the center of the sun.
If I were at Alpha-Centuari A, looking back at Sol, I would see Sol move in a sinisudial pattern, matching the period of Jupiter's orbit, with a slight wobble to that because of Saturn. (We would not be able to detect the wobble caused by the other planets, because the equipment and techniques are not that refined.)
For more information, and a more-precise explanation, see Exoplanets.org
5
posted on
06/13/2002 10:19:45 AM PDT
by
jae471
To: jae471
Mathematics and spectroscopy... got it, thanks :-)
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7
posted on
06/13/2002 10:24:32 AM PDT
by
Mo1
To: dead
THis is overblown. It is highly unlikey that an E-arth-like planet resides there. Neglecting the other narrow parameters needed to make Earth work, the large planet close to the star almost certainly did not form there. Instead, it formed further out and spiraled in, this would have disrupted the orbit of any Earth-like plnaet along the way. It is unlikey that another Earth drifted into the right spot AFTER this behemoth spiralled in.
8
posted on
06/13/2002 10:27:15 AM PDT
by
Ahban
To: dead
This was the anticipated big announcement. In about 2010 the new extra huge planet finder telescope should be in operation and then we will begin finding earth sized planets in large quantities. But earth sized and earthlike are two different things. This system today may have an earth sized planet or it may not, they don't know. But with a Jupiter sized planet in the inner solar system, the earth sized planet would not be earthlike. Not even close.
To: Darth Sidious
The problem of obtaining a photograph of one of these planets is the star that it's orbiting. It's like trying to single out a single particle of dust that is directly in front of a halogen bulb. It's just hard.
To: VadeRetro; jennyp; junior; longshadow; crevo_list;
RadioAstronomer; Scully; Piltdown_Woman...
More planets for us to invade and rule. Manifest Destiny ping.
To: Tony Niar Brain
a single particle of dust that is directly in front of a halogen bulb An apt comparison. I believe they have actually imaged a few of these, just a spot of light next to a really big spot of light, but most of the extrasolar planets so far have been found by other methods such as a subtle shift in the starlight spectrum or infinitesimal but regular change of light output.
To: RightWhale
... found by other methods such as a subtle shift in the starlight spectrum or infinitesimal but regular change of light output. You gotta get with the program. Mr. Spock can glance at his instrument panel and read out the entire contents of a system from several light-years out.
To: dead
Astronomers discover 13 new planets Astronomers have announced the discovery of 13 new planets among the stars, including one inhabiting a solar system similar to our own.
The newcomers bring the tally of planets found orbiting stars outside the solar system to more than 90.
They include one Jupiter-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star at the same distance as the Jovian giant is from the Sun in our system.
The team, led by US planet-finding pioneers Geoffrey Marcy and Paul Butler, also announced the discovery of the smallest extrasolar planet ever detected - a world with a mass 15% that of Jupiter and 40 times larger than the Earth.
The planetary system similar to the Sun's belongs to the star 55 Cancri, 41 light years away in the constellation of Cancer.
Dr Marcy, professor of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley, said: "All other extrasolar planets discovered up to now orbit closer to the parent star, and most of them have had elongated, eccentric orbits.
"This new planet orbits as far from its star as our own Jupiter orbits the Sun."
The star was already known to have another planet, discovered by Marcy and Butler in 1996. That planet is a gas giant slightly smaller than Jupiter that whips around 55 Cancri in just 14.6 days at a distance one 10th that of the Earth to the Sun.
The newfound planet orbits at about 5.5 times the Earth-Sun distance (5.5 astronomical units, or AU), which is comparable to the 512 million gap between Jupiter and the Sun.
It is between 3.5 and five times the mass of Jupiter, and its slightly elongated orbit takes it around the star in about 13 years - quite close to Jupiter's orbital period of 11.86 years.
Story filed: 18:17 Thursday 13th June 2002
14
posted on
06/13/2002 2:37:45 PM PDT
by
blam
To: PatrickHenry
Speaking of the program, there is more data arriving every day now than can ba analyzed by the professional astronomers, and the raw data is being made available to any and all through the Internet. You, too, can discover a planet or push the boundary of the universe outward to new distances.
To: tictoc
I'm with you. But would she fit into a capsule? She might have a hard time getting her Bay Window through the pod bay doors. And,I don't think they allow black pantsuits under spacesuits. Imagine being confined with Hillary for an indefinate period!
16
posted on
06/13/2002 2:50:49 PM PDT
by
stanz
To: PatrickHenry
Manifest Destiny.... We could leave and let Islam rule over the earth. At the rate they are killing themselves and blowing everything up, we could return one day to find the problem gone.
Imagine there's no jihad...........
17
posted on
06/13/2002 2:57:46 PM PDT
by
stanz
To: stanz
We could leave and let Islam rule over the earth Could Islam rule over earth even if we all left leaving no one but Muslims? I would bet that someone, maybe Egypt or Iran or Turkey, would rise up from within and say enough is enough.
To: dead
Fascinating, it appears we have enough data to begin forming a statistical pattern for Sol-like systems and that number is 1 in 42. Or thereabouts. ;)
19
posted on
06/13/2002 3:08:55 PM PDT
by
Brett66
To: PatrickHenry
Mr. Spock can glance at his instrument panel and read out the entire contents of a system from several light-years out.I disagree - the very complex and resource comsuming ultra-tricorders fitted on to Federation vessels must be within a planet's reasonable orbit.
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