Cidersomerset
10th August 2013, 08:08
Curvy, hot & pink: solar system's latest addition
kXvQqlDUSnc
Published on 9 Aug 2013
GJ 504b, a just discovered exoplanet, is the newest interstellar body discovered in
the Milk Way. Scientists say the planet is around 57 light years away, but it's still
managing to make headlines all the way back on Earth due to its unusual
appearance. GJ 504b is described as being a delightful shade of pink, and what
NASA scientist Michael McElwain called a shade "reminiscent of a dark cherry
blossom." Erin Ade brings us more.
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Article from last year...
100 EARTH-LIKE PLANETS orbit stars WITHIN 30 LIGHT-YEARS!
Billions more across the galaxy - stand by for aliens
By Lewis Page, 28th March 2012
http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/03/28/new_gliese_concept.jpg
Pink skies may be much more common than blue ones
The new astroboffinry involves examination of red dwarf stars - the most common
type of star found in the galaxy - using the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6-metre
telescope at the La Silla Observatory in the mountains of Chile. The HARPS team
surveyed 102 red dwarfs over a six-year period, discovering nine "super-Earths"
(planets with masses between one and ten times that of Earth, thus probably rocky
planets as opposed to gaseous ones). They were able to measure planetary mass
and orbital distance from the parent stars.
The methods used could discern only a proportion of planets which exist, and the
team's calculations applied to the results indicate that in general approximately 40
per cent of the red dwarfs in the Milky Way should possess an Earthlike, rocky
planet lying within their "habitable zone" - that is orbiting at such a distance as to
permit the existence of liquid water on the planet's surface.
"Because red dwarfs are so common — there are about 160 billion of them in the
Milky Way — this leads us to the astonishing result that there are tens of billions of
these planets in our galaxy alone," enthuses Xavier Bonfils, lead boffin on the
investigation.
According to a statement issued by the European Southern Observatory announcing
the research:
As there are many red dwarf stars close to the Sun the new estimate means that
there are probably about one hundred super-Earth planets in the habitable zones
around stars in the neighbourhood of the Sun at distances less than about 30 light-
years [ten parsecs].
The implications are immense, as these hundred worlds are so close that it is
possible to imagine ways of sending spacecraft to them - though such journeys
would take many decades or even centuries under current assumptions. The
prospect of interstellar colonisation - a staple of science fiction - has become hugely
more likely.*
Perhaps still more importantly, the prospect of such worlds across the galaxy in the
tens of billions suggests that even if the appearance of life on watery worlds is
extremely unlikely, it has probably occurred somewhere else as well as here on
Earth. We could be looking at one or two worlds with some primitive slime in their
oceans, or thousands of aggressive star-conquering alien empires (who could -
given the distances and numbers involved - all be unaware of each others'
existence) but we're much less likely to be alone than we thought we were last
week.
No matter what, this would seem to be a clear wake-up call to humanity to pull its
head out of its - erm - navel, and look outward to the other zero-point-nine-
recurring of the universe. It's not just pretty lights in the night sky: it's potentially
home one day to the vast majority of human beings who will ever live - and
perhaps to lots of other people too.
We could well find out more in the near future.
"Some of these planets are expected to pass in front of their parent star as they
orbit — this will open up the exciting possibility of studying the planet's atmosphere
and searching for signs of life," says Bonfils' colleague Xavier Delfosse.
Readers with enough under the bonnet brains-wise can get the new research
papers in pdf here and here courtesy of the ESO. They appear in the journal
Astronomy & Astrophysics. ®
Bootnote
*Of course these worlds may - probably do - lack any life at present, and as such
humans couldn't live on them unassisted right off. However, they would present a
much less hostile environment than most extraterrestrial ones straight away, and
seeding them with suitably-adapted Earth life to create truly habitable worlds would
be a trivial matter compared to getting there in the first place.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/28/super_earths_hundreds_close_by/
kXvQqlDUSnc
Published on 9 Aug 2013
GJ 504b, a just discovered exoplanet, is the newest interstellar body discovered in
the Milk Way. Scientists say the planet is around 57 light years away, but it's still
managing to make headlines all the way back on Earth due to its unusual
appearance. GJ 504b is described as being a delightful shade of pink, and what
NASA scientist Michael McElwain called a shade "reminiscent of a dark cherry
blossom." Erin Ade brings us more.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article from last year...
100 EARTH-LIKE PLANETS orbit stars WITHIN 30 LIGHT-YEARS!
Billions more across the galaxy - stand by for aliens
By Lewis Page, 28th March 2012
http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/03/28/new_gliese_concept.jpg
Pink skies may be much more common than blue ones
The new astroboffinry involves examination of red dwarf stars - the most common
type of star found in the galaxy - using the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6-metre
telescope at the La Silla Observatory in the mountains of Chile. The HARPS team
surveyed 102 red dwarfs over a six-year period, discovering nine "super-Earths"
(planets with masses between one and ten times that of Earth, thus probably rocky
planets as opposed to gaseous ones). They were able to measure planetary mass
and orbital distance from the parent stars.
The methods used could discern only a proportion of planets which exist, and the
team's calculations applied to the results indicate that in general approximately 40
per cent of the red dwarfs in the Milky Way should possess an Earthlike, rocky
planet lying within their "habitable zone" - that is orbiting at such a distance as to
permit the existence of liquid water on the planet's surface.
"Because red dwarfs are so common — there are about 160 billion of them in the
Milky Way — this leads us to the astonishing result that there are tens of billions of
these planets in our galaxy alone," enthuses Xavier Bonfils, lead boffin on the
investigation.
According to a statement issued by the European Southern Observatory announcing
the research:
As there are many red dwarf stars close to the Sun the new estimate means that
there are probably about one hundred super-Earth planets in the habitable zones
around stars in the neighbourhood of the Sun at distances less than about 30 light-
years [ten parsecs].
The implications are immense, as these hundred worlds are so close that it is
possible to imagine ways of sending spacecraft to them - though such journeys
would take many decades or even centuries under current assumptions. The
prospect of interstellar colonisation - a staple of science fiction - has become hugely
more likely.*
Perhaps still more importantly, the prospect of such worlds across the galaxy in the
tens of billions suggests that even if the appearance of life on watery worlds is
extremely unlikely, it has probably occurred somewhere else as well as here on
Earth. We could be looking at one or two worlds with some primitive slime in their
oceans, or thousands of aggressive star-conquering alien empires (who could -
given the distances and numbers involved - all be unaware of each others'
existence) but we're much less likely to be alone than we thought we were last
week.
No matter what, this would seem to be a clear wake-up call to humanity to pull its
head out of its - erm - navel, and look outward to the other zero-point-nine-
recurring of the universe. It's not just pretty lights in the night sky: it's potentially
home one day to the vast majority of human beings who will ever live - and
perhaps to lots of other people too.
We could well find out more in the near future.
"Some of these planets are expected to pass in front of their parent star as they
orbit — this will open up the exciting possibility of studying the planet's atmosphere
and searching for signs of life," says Bonfils' colleague Xavier Delfosse.
Readers with enough under the bonnet brains-wise can get the new research
papers in pdf here and here courtesy of the ESO. They appear in the journal
Astronomy & Astrophysics. ®
Bootnote
*Of course these worlds may - probably do - lack any life at present, and as such
humans couldn't live on them unassisted right off. However, they would present a
much less hostile environment than most extraterrestrial ones straight away, and
seeding them with suitably-adapted Earth life to create truly habitable worlds would
be a trivial matter compared to getting there in the first place.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/28/super_earths_hundreds_close_by/