5 replies to this topic

[spikeman25]

Just found this tonight. http://www.msnbc.msn.com

[Lilly]

Let me see I can't get a direct link to that story. Ok, that appears to have worked.

Also appears that planets may be far more common than once thought...very interesting.

[rice]

awesome...i hope they find an actual planet that is a little further away from the sun...and not a gas giant

[Waspie_Dwarf]

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awesome...i hope they find an actual planet that is a little further away from the sun...and not a gas giant

Most of the exoplanets found so far have been detected by noticing a slight "wobble" in the motion of parent star caused by the planets orbiting them. This method is not yet sensitive enough to detect small, rocky, planets like the earth so it tends to find gas giants or massive rocky planets (which have been nicknamed "super Earths"). In order to know whether the planet is there this wobble must be observed for at least half an orbit of the planet. The so called "hot Jupiters" and "hot Neptunes" can be detected with just a few days of observation. A planet as far out as Earth requires that it's parent star be observed for at least 6 months. To find a planet in an orbit as far out as Jupiter would require an observation period of close to 6 years. This method, therefore, currently favours worlds that orbit close to their star. The longer the search go on the more planets will be discovered that orbit further out. This method will always favour finding massive planets though.

This is all about to change. The French satellite, COROT, launched last year used a totally different technique to search for planets. It looks for transits. This is when the planet appears to move across the face of it's star. As it does so the brightness of the star will dip and then return to normal once the planet has moved on. This technique has been employed with some success using Earth based telescopes but COROT, orbiting above the atmosphere, should have a much higher degree of sensitivity. This technique can spot small, rocky worlds in distant orbits as long the planets orbit is correctly aligned so that it transits the star as seen from Earth. COROT has already detected its first planet.

NASA is also building a planet finding mission, called Kepler. Kepler will be launched in November 2008 and will have a larger and more sensitive telescope than COROT.

[Princess Serenity]

Somehow in the back of my mind. I knew they where going to find some more planets. :/ This is happening a lot. Not as rare as it used to during the 90's.

But that's awsome. <3

Edited by MoonPrincess, 30 May 2007 - 01:23 AM.

[spikeman25]

Quote

Let me see I can't get a direct link to that story. Ok, that appears to have worked.

Also appears that planets may be far more common than once thought...very interesting.

Oh. Sorry about that. I was in in a hurry when i posted that. But indeed it is interesting.