New planet may lead to Earth’s twin

“That’s what Spanish scientists think they may soon detect after finding the smallest planet outside the solar system..”

(Source + Video: http://www.sciam.com)

New planet may lead to Earth’s twin

“That’s what Spanish scientists think they may soon detect after finding the smallest planet outside the solar system..”

(Source + Video: http://www.sciam.com)

How to Find Other "Earths"

A new laser technique could locate planets much like our own.

(Full Article: http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20509/)

Google helping in the search of exoplanets.

“When starships transporting colonists first depart the solar system, they may well be headed toward a TESS-discovered planet as their new home.”

George R. Ricker, senior research scientist at the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at MIT

Google has joined MIT scientists who are designing a satellite-based observatory -the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)- that they say could for the first time provide a sensitive survey of the entire sky to search for earth-like planets outside the solar system that appear to cross in front of bright stars. Google will fund development of the wide-field digital cameras needed for the satellite.

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(Full Article: http://www.dailygalaxy.com)

Nearby Star Should Harbor Detectable, Earth-like Planets

A rocky planet similar to Earth may be orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors and could be detected using existing techniques, according to a new study led by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The closest stars to our Sun are in the three-star system called Alpha Centauri, a popular destination for interstellar travel in works of science fiction. UCSC graduate student Javiera Guedes used computer simulations of planet formation to show that terrestrial planets are likely to have formed around the star Alpha Centauri B and to be orbiting in the “habitable zone” where liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface. The researchers then showed that such planets could be observed using a dedicated telescope.

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(Full Article: http://www.redorbit.com)

Professor mulls odds of life in outer space

by Katie Petroski

More than 300 attendees crowded into a Welch auditorium Wednesday evening to hear what Chris Chyba, a Princeton astrophysical science professor, had to say about the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

The event is part of a yearlong program, “Forging the Future of Space Science,” that began in September 2007 and is held by the Space Studies Board, which will continue to host an array of international space scientists to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year. During that year, scientists internationally coordinated a comprehensive collection of observations, resulting in events such as Russia’s launch of Sputnik.

Chyba focused most of his 90-minute lecture on analyzing the presence of liquid water on Mars and under the ice crust of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. He projected recent images of formations on Mars’ surface for the audience to consider the possibility that the formations might have been carved by moving water.

“Whether life ever existed or if it successfully retreated to the subsurface is up for speculation,” he said.

Chyba spoke about the upcoming Kepler Mission that will examine more than 100,000 stars to determine how many Earth-sized planets orbit stars.

“After this mission, we’ll know the answer of how many Earth-sized worlds are out there and what fraction are at the right distance from stars to have liquid water at its surface,” Chyba said. “This is something we need to make sure we don’t sleepwalk through two years from now.”

Chyba said he believes it is possible that humans exist alone as science does not yet know the conditions under which life originates or intelligence evolves.

“Astrobiology also needs to speak to human future and the future of human civilization,” he said. “It’s uniquely precious whether we are entirely alone or whether we are part of a grand community.”

Physics freshman Taylor Ratliff said he entertains thoughts of extraterrestrial life and said Chyba was not afraid to speculate with appropriate qualifiers.

“We can’t assume we have the right picture of the universe until we actually find out,” Ratliff said. “If there’s one thing you learn through science, it’s that you shouldn’t say anything is impossible.”

After the lecture, the audience hoped to look at the total lunar eclipse through telescopes but was unable to see the moon through the clouds. The next total lunar eclipse will be visible in December 2010.

(Source: http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com)

Planet-hunters set for big bounty

Rocky planets, possibly with conditions suitable for life, may be more common than previously thought in our galaxy, a study has found.

New evidence suggests more than half the Sun-like stars in the Milky Way could have similar planetary systems.

There may also be hundreds of undiscovered worlds in outer parts of our Solar System, astronomers believe.

Future studies of such worlds will radically alter our understanding of how planets are formed, they say.

New findings about planets were presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston.

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(Full Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7249884.stm)

NASA Probe Begins Hunt for Alien Planets

A recycled comet-smashing probe has begun a new mission to seek out alien worlds beyond our own solar system.
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(Full Article: http://www.space.com)

3 New Exo-Planets

A British-led team of scientists have discovered three planets which are hotter and heavier than Jupiter, but with a little bit of help from internet auction site eBay.

The planets, named Wasp-3b, Wasp-4b and Wasp-5b, were found by a team led by astronomers from St Andrews University in Fife -partof SuperWASP, the UK’s leading extra-solar planet detection program comprising of a consortium of eight academic institutions.

The team used a powerful instrument fitted with 16 cameras to produce the new images but as they assembled the equipment they discovered that they were 13 lenses short and that the camera’s manufacturer had discontinued the product.

Luckily the scientists were able to track down the crucial £4000 lenses from a dealer in South Korea by looking on eBay.

SuperWASP consists of two robotic observatories that operate continuously all year around, allowing them to cover both hemispheres of the sky.

WASP-4 and WASP-5 are the first planets discovered by the WASP project’s cameras in South Africa, and were confirmed by a collaboration with Swiss and French astronomers. “These two are now the brightest transiting planets in the Southern hemisphere” said Dr Hellier. WASP-3 is the third planet that the team has found in the North, using the SuperWASP camera sited in the Canary Islands. Dr Don Pollacco, of Queen’s University Belfast, said “We are the only team to have found transiting planets in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres; for the first time we have both SuperWASP cameras running, giving complete coverage of the whole sky”.

Exoplanet expert Professor Andrew Cameron, of St. Andrews University, comments “All three planets are similar to Jupiter, but are orbiting their stars so closely that their `year’ lasts less than two days. These are among the shortest orbital periods yet discovered”. Being so close to their star the surface temperatures of the planets will be more than 2000 degrees Celsius, so it is unlikely that life as we know it could survive there.

The finding of Jupiter-mass planets around other stars supports the idea that there are also many Earth-sized planets waiting to be discovered as astronomers’ technology improves.

The team conducted huge “mosaic sweeps” of the sky at night, capturing images of millions of stars.
The data was then analysed at the Haute-Provence Observatory in France.

The three ‘wasps’ were located using specialist cameras in La Palma in the Canary Islands and Sutherland in South Africa.The first, SuperWASP-North is located on the island of La Palma amongst the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes (ING). The second, SuperWASP-South is located at the site of the South African Astronomical Observatory.

The observatories each consist of eight wide-angle cameras that simultaneously monitor the sky for planetary transit events. A transit occurs when a planet passes in front of its parent star temporarily blocking some of the light from it . The eight wide-angle cameras allows the SuperWASP teams to monitor millions of stars simultaneously enabling them to detect the rare transit events.

The SuperWASP consortium includes Cambridge University, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes, Keele University, Leicester University, the Open University, Queen’s University Belfast and St. Andrew’s University.

(Source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/11/brits-discover-.html)