Solar system similar to ours discovered: US astronomers

Yahoo! News via Drudge ^ | June 13, 2002 | Yahoo! News staff

[Exit 109]

Friday June 14, 3:19 AM

Solar system similar to ours discovered: US astronomers

US astronomers announced the discovery of a solar system similar to our own, at a press conference at NASA's headquarters here.

Astronomers said they had identified an extra-solar planet orbiting this star at about the same distance Jupiter orbits the sun. They discovered a total of 15 extra-solar planets.

University of California at Berkley astronomy professor Geoffrey Marcy discovered the star, named 55 Cancri, 15 years ago, jointly with his colleague at Washington's Carnegie Institution Paul Butler.

In 1996, Marcy and Butler announced the discovery of a first planet orbiting 55 Cancri "in 14.6 days at a distance only one-tenth that from Earth to the sun."

55 Cancri is located 41 million light-years from the Earth, in the constellation of Cancer. The star, believed to be around five billion years old, is visible to the naked eye, astronomers said.

[Hamza01]

Thanks. Very informative. I had suspected that light refraction would play a key role in this, but I didn't realize that we could get such a wealth of detail. So, it appears that we'd be able to break down the composition of a planet's atmoshphere merely by studying how light refracts off it.

And you say we'll have planet-seeing telescopes in space... But will we get actual pictures, or computer constructs based on the data?

[Don Myers]

Do you suppose those people over there have their stuff more together than we do?

[monkeyshine]

"US astronomers announced the discovery of a solar system...15 years ago!"

[Hamza01]

I believe and it's my opinion, that one day, Earth based telescopes will actually be able to see some surface detail of planets orbiting other stars.

Appreciate your post. I too hope to actually "see" the surface of an extra-solar planet. Sadly, it seems from the article that the size of lens we'd need to actually pull this off would be about the size of Australia. And if we were able to "see" it, it would be history.

The depressing part of all this is-- when you realize the distances involved-- you come to the difficult conclusion that we are barely out of the muck.

[RightWhale]

We don't get actual photographic pictures any more, not with the big scopes. It's all sensors acquiring data in spectral bands. There is simply too much data coming to be all analyzed anymore, so much of it is being made available on the Internet for anyone so disposed to take a crack at it.

The planet-finder telescopes in space will be new technology arrays. There would be no way to get a photographic picture since the data will have to pass through various mathematical filters in order to make anything recognizable.

[Hamza01]

Thanks for the clarification. And once it passes through the filters, there'd be enough information for a visually recognizable reconstruction.

[Brett66]

The Keck and European Southern Observatory telescopes should have the power to directly image some of the larger exo-planets when they become fully operational.(2003-2005) If we can get a moon-base optical interferometer set up with a baseline the diameter of the moon, we'll be able to get Voyager quality pictures of exo-planets out to 20-30 light years. We could get Mariner-quality pics of exo-planets out to 30-70 light years from Earth.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Sadly, it seems from the article that the size of lens we'd need to actually pull this off would be about the size of Australia.

Oh, with the current technology, I completely agree. However, I still believe that in the future, maybe in the next 50 to 100 years, we will be able to develop new optical instruments that will be able to see some planetary details on planets orbiting stars that are relatively close to our solar system.

If you just think of the stunning advances in optical astronomy just since Galileo's day, I think it will be entirely possible with new advances and a whole new breed of telescope technology. Galileo would not believe the advances that have been developed in just a matter of several hundred years.

[RightWhale]

Kind of reminds one of the radar image of Venus last year using two of the big radio telescopes. A 1000 miles baseline [whatever it was, I forget] gives a decent resolution of the surface, like SAR images of earth.

[Joe Hadenuf]

We don't get actual photographic pictures any more, not with the big scopes. It's all sensors acquiring data in spectral bands.

Even with high end amateur backyard telescopes, very few people are using film photography. Most with money, are using CCD digital cameras with extreme light sensitive chips, where the images can be readily brought up on the home PC and digitally enhanced if wanted.

I am currently still using film photography, as I don't quite have the 7 to $10,000 for a new, CCD camera. However, I am looking at a used one for $4000, and the prices are coming down slowly. Every month that goes by, newer CCD cameras are being developed with larger and more light sensitive chips.

As I am sure you are aware, what use to take 60 minutes to track and expose film to a star cluster or nebula, now only takes about 100 seconds with CCD imaging. The advances, even in amateur astronomy are truly incredible.

[going hot]

or we'll have another tool to beat fundie Christians over the head with!

There are in fact some who really are not interested in new info or discoveries, intra or extra terrestrial. There are others, who are afraid, very afraid, of new discoveries causing their core beliefs to come crashing down around their ears.
Such has been the core of resistance to exploration and the development of new ideas for centuries.

[general_re]

I am currently still using film photography, as I don't quite have the 7 to $10,000 for a new, CCD camera. However, I am looking at a used one for $4000, and the prices are coming down slowly. Every month that goes by, newer CCD cameras are being developed with larger and more light sensitive chips.

Keep saving those pennies - for a boatload of money, and if you promise not to export it, I can get you a 25 megapixel CCD that does stereo images in vis and near-IR. Of course, it'll come off a pod meant to be mounted underneath an F-16, so the lenses will be your problem, but I bet you can figure something out. Ground station not included ;)

[Joe Hadenuf]

The boatload of money will be my problem, not the lenses.

[general_re]

Yeah, you and me both. Plus, this CCD is about 10 cm by 10 cm, and I'm not likely to get a scope nearly large enough to justify such a thing ;)

[That Subliminal Kid]

I'm afraid I don't understand exactly how aliens would cause anyone's beliefs to come "crashing down". Maybe you'd like to elaborate.

[TomB]

I'm afraid I don't understand.........

You've finally said something I can agree with.

[#3Fan]

55 Cancri is located 41 million light-years from the Earth, in the constellation of Cancer.

41 million? Well, if we detect any intelligent life there it would have been as it was 41 million years ago. I'm sure they nuked themselves at least 40 million years ago. LOL

Typo, obviously, it wouldn't be visible to the naked eye at that distance.

[Spandau]

The Hubble Space Telescope was able to resolve the image of a star called Betelgeuse(sp). Betelgeuse is a red giant type of star in the constellation Orion. I think it's 1000x more massive than the Sun, and it's relatively close (40-50 light years). I believe this is the only image of anything outside our solar system that is more than a point of light. I would post it, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. It's a historic photograph, but not much to look at.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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