684 and counting – Astronomers are finding more planets, faster

Tags

Diamond planet, Discoveries, ESO, European Southern Observatory, exoplanet, Kepler, La Silla Observatory, NASA, Super Earth

There’s been a lot of news about planets lately.

Over the past 9 months, over 160 exoplanets – or planets outside of our solar system – have been found. Those discoveries include a diamond planet, an invisible one, and another darker than the blackest coal. That surpasses figures from 2010, where 110 exoplanets were confirmed.

This week, the number of known exoplanets increased tremendously.  Over 80 were confirmed, according to scientists in several worldwide organizations. This increase in planetary discovery certainly had to do with the second Extreme Solar Systems conference. The six-day event, which took place Sept. 11 to 17, brought together hundreds of exoplanet researchers and enthusiasts.

On the second day of the conference, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) came out with a huge discovery. It had found 50 exoplanets, including one in the “Goldilocks” – or habitable – zone. That means life could be supported on that planet. Also, among the 50 included 16 “Super-Earths,” or planets whose mass is one to 10 times that of Earth.

Big. Very big.

The ESO certainly started the week off with a bang. The discovery was due to the HARPS system, a spectrograph on one of the world’s largest telescopes. Since it began planet hunting in 2003, HARPS has help find 150 planets.

“How is anyone going to top that announcement,” I thought.

The next day, UK astronomers from the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) team announced that it had found 23 gas giants, or planets much like our Jupiter.

Ok. Nice showing. But what, or who, is WASP?  Does it even matter? 23 isn’t going to beat 50.

So we waited for NASA. What did it have up its sleeve? NASA sent out a press release that indicated there was going to be an exoplanet announcement with the Lucas Film guys. Hmmm? Lucas Films? What is going on? (NASA also announced that it had come up with a plan for deeper, manned space travel, i.e. Mars, asteroids.)

I certainly didn’t think NASA was going to announce that it had found Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s home in Star Wars.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt NASA's Kepler mission has discovered a world where two suns set over the horizon instead of just one. The planet, called Kepler-16b, is the most "Tatooine-like" planet yet found in our galaxy and is depicted here in this artist's concept with its two stars. Tatooine is the name of Luke Skywalker's home world in the science fiction movie Star Wars. In this case, the planet it not thought to be habitable. It is a cold world, with a gaseous surface, but like Tatooine, it circles two stars.

Ok, not the real Tatooine, but a planet called Kepler 16-b that orbits two stars. The discovery was due to the Kepler mission, which has been planet hunting since 2009. It has helped confirm 21 planets and identified over 1,200 planetary candidates.

I think Kepler might have beaten HARPS.

You’re putting Star Wars against something we can’t really envision. Sure, we can see the illustrations, but it’s not the same.

No matter who came out on top this week, the fascinating thing is that the discoveries made a lot of people talk about science. With this week’s additions, there are now 684 confirmed planets outside of our solar system. How cool is that?

We’re living in interesting times, my friends. I can’t wait to see what they find next.

50 exoplanets, including one that could support life, discovered by the ESO

Tags

Discoveries, ESO, exoplanet, HARPS, La Silla Observatory, Super Earth

More than four dozen exoplanets, including a “Super-Earth” that could support life, have been discovered, the Eastern Southern Observatory (ESO) announced this morning. It’s the largest discovery of exoplanets reported at one time, the ESO stated in a release.

ESO/M. Kornmesser

This artist’s impression shows the planet orbiting the Sun-like star HD 85512 in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sail). This planet is one of sixteen super-Earths discovered by the HARPS instrument.

Of the 50 planets discovered, 16 are “Super-Earths,” or planets that have a mass similar to our planet.

“These planets will be amount the best targets for future space telescopes to look for signs of life in the planet’s atmosphere by looking for chemical signatures such as evidence of oxygen,” stated Francesco Pepe (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland), the lead author of one of the recent papers.

One planet in particular, HD 85512 b, is located at the edge of the habitable zone -a narrow zone around a star in which water may be present in liquid form if conditions are right, the release stated.

The ESO has found only one other Super-Earth that could support life. That planet, Gliese 581 d, was discovered in 2007.

The planets were found using the HARPS spectograph on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Since scientists started using the HARPS system to detect exoplanets, about 150 new planets have been discovered.

NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 20 exoplanets, however, it has also found  more than 1,200 planetary candidates.

Have we found life? Major exoplanet announcement Monday

Tags

Discoveries, ESO, exoplanet, HARPS

It seems like Monday is going to be a big day for astronomy.

“Significant” discoveries regarding exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system, will be announced by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Monday, Sept. 12. The results were obtained with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), a release stated. HARPS is the spectrograph on a 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile.

What is this announcement? Has the ESO found proof of water on another planet? According to Space.com, ESO scientists “are actively involved in the search for potentially habitable alien planets  — those on which liquid water, and perhaps life as we know it, could exist.”

Space Oddities has found that in 2009, the ESO redefined the orbit of a planet called “Gliese 581 d” and placed it within the habitable zone, where oceans could exist. That discovery was also due to information provided by HARPS.

From the 2009 release:

The new observations have revealed that this planet is in the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist. ‘d’ could even be covered by a large and deep ocean — it is the first serious ‘water world’ candidate.

It has been three years since that news. Is the announcement related?

There are other indications that the announcement will deal with the discovery of water on an exoplanet.  Dr. Francesco Pepe of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland was part of the team that found the “earth-like” exoplanet in 2009. He’s also part of the team that will make the major announcement Monday morning.

This is exciting!

Kepler finds most fascinating planet yet – an invisible one

Tags

Center for Astrophysics, Discoveries, invisible planet, Kepler

The "invisible" world Kepler-19c, seen in the foreground of this artist's conception, was discovered solely through its gravitational influence on the companion world Kepler-19b - the dot crossing the star's face. Kepler-19b is slightly more than twice the diameter of Earth, and is probably a "mini-Neptune." Nothing is known about Kepler-19c, other than that it exists. Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)

You’ve got to be kidding me.

@NASAKepler
Kepler data reveals two New worlds … and ONE is INVISIBLE?

What? How could I not click the Twitter link.

Scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) yesterday announced that NASA’s Kepler spacecraft:

Has spotted a planet that alternately runs late and early in its orbit because a second, “invisible” world is tugging on it.

Um.

This is the first definite detection of a previously unknown planet using this method. No other technique could have found the unseen companion.

If you recall, it was also the CfA that discovered the planet darker than coal.

What do you make of this? I know one thing: I got a lot more research to do. Until then, read more about the planet here.

Astronomers find planet made of diamond in our galaxy

Tags

Diamond planet, Discoveries, exoplanet, Milky Way

It wasn’t too long ago that astronomers said they found the darkest planet known to man. Now, they say they’ve found a planet that could cause quite the light show.

Astronomers announced late this week that they’ve found a planet made of diamond. That’s right, diamond. I know, it seems incredible and a bit unbelievable. But here’s what we know.

According to Sky and Telescope:

… Astronomers infer that the object has a whopping density of roughly 23 grams per cubic centimeter. Carbon compressed to this high density should literally be squeezed into its crystalline form — diamond.

Also,
- The object  is believed to have once been a star.
- It is in our Milky Way, about 4,000 light years away.
- It is located in the constellation Serpens.
- A person would weigh 17 times more on this planet than on Earth.
- It is half the size of Jupiter.

For more detailed information about the discovery, check out this article in Astronomy magazine.

The end of one mission, the beginning of another …

Tags

Atlantis, Discoveries, NASA, shuttle program

Until a couple of months ago, I had no clue that NASA’s Space Shuttle Program was coming to an end. Realizing that I knew very little about the program, I tried to soak up all the information I could before the last mission was long gone. After all, I love astronomy and there’s no way I could let something this historic occur without understanding its true meaning, its real importance.

Then it was time. As I watched space shuttle Atlantis launch into space (albeit, a couple of minutes late),  I could only hope I wasn’t witnessing the end of exploration.

The whole situation got me thinking: Why didn’t I know anything about the program? While in elementary and high school, we certainly talked about the first steps on the moon. But the Apollo 11 landing and moonwalk occurred almost 12 years before the Space Shuttle Program officially began. If we didn’t talk about the successes, we certainly weren’t going to discuss some of the tragic missions such as those of the Challenger and Columbia shuttles.

Overall, there was very little space-related information relayed to us youngsters. We didn’t learn about the rovers that were going to be sent to Mars, or the crafts sent to orbit Saturn and Jupiter; and we were never taught about the Hubble Telescope or the International Space Station.

The only thing I remember about science class was: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies. You remember that mnemonic tool, right? It helped children remember the order of planets in our solar system, starting from the celestial body closest to our sun. I wonder what the mnemonic device is used now since Pluto is no longer considered a planet …

I guess the lack of science education in my life is the reason why I’m starting this blog. There’s so much interesting science news out there, but it’s not talked about as much as I think it should. The more we talk about it, the more we can ensure that future space exploration continues. After all, learning about other planets and solar systems helps us learn where we come from and what’s in store for our future. More on that in future posts.

I hope to provide information on new space exploration technology, new findings (did you know the Kepler mission has found planets outside of our solar system?!?!) and odd stories you won’t read about in common places. Want to learn about a specific topic? Send me a note and my next post could be based on your specific interests.