Sister Solar System

An Atmosphere Has Been Detected Around an Earth-Like Exoplanet for the First Time

Posted by

0


Astronomers have detected an atmosphere around an Earth-like exoplanet called Gliese 1132b (GJ 1132b for short), which is located around 39 light-years away in the constellation Vela.

This is the first time atmosphere has ever been detected around a planet with a mass and radius so similar to Earth’s, and that makes it a hugely promising (and exciting) target for researchers searching for signs of extraterrestrial life.

 

“While this is not the detection of life on another planet, it’s an important step in the right direction: the detection of an atmosphere around the super-Earth GJ 1132b marks the first time that an atmosphere has been detected around an Earth-like planet other than Earth itself,” said lead researcher John Southworthfrom Keele University in the UK.

There’s still a lot to learn about GJ 1132b’s atmosphere, but early observations suggest it could be a “‘water world’ with an atmosphere of hot steam” – AKA, a pretty awesome place to go looking for life.

So far, we know that GJ 1132b has a mass about 1.6 times that of Earth’s, and has roughly 1.4 times its radius – which in terms of exoplanets makes it remarkably similar to our home planet.

But as with all exoplanet discoveries, the researchers are quick to remind the public that the observations to date still really don’t give us much insight into how similar GJ 1132b could be to Earth – or how habitable.

Some bad news upfront is it has an estimated surface temperature of 370 degrees Celsius (698 degrees Fahrenheit), which makes it unlikely that it could host life like us.

And let’s not forget that we’ve recently been burned by the detection of the TRAPPIST-1 ‘sister solar system’ and neighbouring Earth-like planet Proxima b, both of which are unlikely to be the friendly places for life we first thought they were.

 But none of those planets had ever gotten as far as having an atmosphere detected, so GJ 1132b is already doing pretty well in terms of a spot that could potentially host life.

Right now, the top strategy for astronomers in the search for life on another planet is to detect the chemical composition of that planet’s atmosphere, looking for certain chemical imbalances that could hint at the presence of living organisms. For example, on Earth, the large amount of oxygen in our atmosphere is that ‘smoking gun’.

We’re a long way off having that much insight into GJ 1132b, but the fact that we’ve detected its atmosphere at all is a good first step.

The planet orbits the not-too-distant red dwarf star Gliese 1132, which Southworth and his team studied using the ESO/MPG telescope in Chile.

They measured the slight dip in brightness across seven wavelengths of light as GJ1132b passed in front of its host star every 1.6 Earth days, in order to get a better idea of the size and composition of the planet.

They were surprised to find that the planet appeared larger when observed in one type of infrared wavelength of light, which suggests that the planet has an atmosphere that’s opaque to these wavelengths.

The team went on to model different possible versions of this atmosphere, and found that an atmosphere rich in water and methane could explain what they were seeing.

Prior to this, the only exoplanets that researchers have detected atmospheres around were planets that were more than eight times more massive than Earth, and gas giants similar to Jupiter.

“With this research, we have taken the first tentative step into studying the atmospheres of smaller, Earth-like, planets,” said Southworth. “The planet is significantly hotter and a bit larger than Earth, so one possibility is that it is a ‘water world’ with an atmosphere of hot steam.”

The type of star GJ 1132b is orbiting also makes the planet of particular interest – its host star is a low-mass red dwarf, which are incredibly common throughout the Universe and are frequently found to host small, Earth-like planets.

But they’ve also been shown to be particularly active, often blasting huge solar flares out at their surrounding planets – something previous research has suggested would evaporate any traces of a planet’s atmosphere.

But the new discovery suggests that an atmosphere is possible of enduring this bombardment for billions of years without being destroyed – which opens up the possibility that thousands more planets orbiting low-mass stars could potentially harbour atmospheres.

“Given the huge number of very low-mass stars and planets, this could mean that the conditions suitable for life are common in the Universe,” a press release explains.

We still have a lot to learn about GJ 1132b, and hopefully we’ll have some more answers soon – the new discovery makes it one of the highest-priority targets to be studied by instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2018.

Source:sciencealert.com

Bad news, humans: TRAPPIST-1 is not the alien paradise we were hoping for – ScienceAlert

Posted by

0


Our newly discovered ‘sister solar system’ – a seven-planet conga line orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1 – has been hailed as a potentially habitable pocket of the Universe, flush with liquid water and temperate climates, and only 39 light-years away.

But the closer we look, the less ‘alien-friendly’ this star system appears, with scientists now finding that TRAPPIST-1 is so volatile, either its three ‘Earth-like’ planets have one hell of a magnetosphere, or we’re looking at yet another set of uninhabitable worlds.

 

A team led by astronomer Krisztián Vida from Konkoly Observatory in Hungary has been analysing luminosity patterns in the raw photometric data of TRAPPIST-1, obtained during the K2 mission of NASA’s Kepler space telescope.

Over an 80-day period, they clocked 42 high-energy flares blasting from TRAPPIST-1, including five that were ‘multi-peaked’ eruptions, meaning they gave off several bursts of energy in one go.

The strongest eruption the team identified was about as powerful as the largest flare we’ve ever witnessed from our own Sun – the infamous Carrington Event of 1859, which if it happened today, would devastate global communication systems.

At the time, the flare sent electrical surges through telegraph lines, and gave rise to aurorae so bright, they woke up gold miners in the Rocky Mountains, fooling them into thinking it was morning.

But if life on Earth can withstand flares like the Carrington Event, why can’t hypothetical aliens on TRAPPIST-1’s three Earth-like planets?

The first thing to consider is that the average time between these flares was just 28 hours, so we’re talking serious and near-constant bombardment here.

 And the researchers go so far as to say the solar storms caused by TRAPPIST-1 ‘s flares would be hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than the storms that hit Earth.

According to a separate study released last year, it would take 30,000 years for a planet’s atmosphere to stablise after one of these powerful flares – so they’re not getting much done in just 28 hours.

On top of all of that, the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system are much closer to their star than we are to our Sun.

That means this relentless bombardment would likely destroy any stability in their atmospheres, making it very difficult for even the most primitive life to get a foothold.

“The frequent strong flares of TRAPPIST-1 are probably disadvantageous for hosting life on the orbiting exoplanets, as the atmospheres of the exoplanets are constantly altered and cannot return to a steady state,” the team concludes.

Just to drive this depressing point home even further, Evan Gough over at Universe Today points out that Earth’s robust magnetic field protects us from the worst parts of the Sun’s flares, but it’s unlikely the TRAPPIST-1 planets have the same shield up.

“This study suggests that planets like those in the TRAPPIST system would need magnetospheres of tens to hundreds of Gauss, whereas Earth’s magnetosphere is only about 0.5 Gauss,” says Gough.

“How could the TRAPPIST planets produce a magnetosphere powerful enough to protect their atmosphere?”

So things aren’t looking so great for our sister solar system.

And while we’ve pretty much gotten used to the emotional roller coaster that is the search for life elsewhere in the Universe, this is a tough one, because remember that Google Doodle of our new planet friends?

planets-google

They just look like such a cool hang.

One thing to keep in mind is that the study is still undergoing peer-review, so the results might be subject to change.

But if taken alongside previous studies that have already brought the system’s habitability into question, we might have to reconsider those awesome NASA travel posters, and come up with something more… Hellscapey.

Source:sciencealert.com

NASA Just Released the Raw Data From its Latest Observations of our ‘Sister Solar System’

Posted by

0


You see what they see.

 
 A few weeks ago, NASA announced the discovery of seven, Earth-sized planets orbiting a star just 39 light-years away.

Known as the TRAPPIST-1 star system, the seven planets appear to be rocky, have life-friendly surface temperatures, and could potentially harbour liquid water – leading scientists to nickname it a ‘sister solar system’ to our own, and a pretty good spot to look for extraterrestrial life.

 Since then, researchers have debated how habitable these planets could really be, given the stellar activity of the dwarf star they orbit.

But the truth is, until we get a closer look, no one can say for sure whether or not life could be supported somewhere in the star system. Which is why NASA has just rushed out data from its latest and longest observations of TRAPPIST-1 to date.

The initial discovery of the star system was made over several months last year, using a combination of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes.

But since 15 December 2016, NASA’s had its own planet-hunting Kepler space telescope trained on TRAPPIST-1 for follow-up observations. And this week, they’ve made all that additional data freely available to the scientific community and public to trawl through. (Note: you need Python-based Kadenza software to extract the raw data files.)

In total, the observation period, which was part of Kepler’s K2 Campaign, provided 74 days of monitoring, which is the longest, nearly continuous set of observations of TRAPPIST-1 to date.

Unfortunately, we can’t tell you exactly what’s in that gold mine of data just yet, because in its current state, it’s totally raw and uncalibrated, and it’s going to take weeks for scientists to make sense of what Kepler has seen.

 But this early release gives scientists an opportunity to get more insight into the gravitational interaction between the planets – a clue to whether any of them are tidally locked – as well as the chance to spot any planets that may remain undiscovered in the system.

Interestingly, TRAPPIST-1 wasn’t on Kepler’s original list of systems to study last year. But in May 2016, when the discovery of the first three planets orbiting the star was announced, NASA decided to point it towards the constellation Aquarius, home of the TRAPPIST-1 system, to get a closer look.

Specifically, Kepler monitored minuscule changes in the star’s brightness as the seven planets orbit in front of it.

That kind of ‘dimming data’ can give astronomers insight into the size and mass of the planets passing in front of their host star, and will hopefully help them nail down the orbital period of the seventh planet, which until now has only been observed passing in front of its star once.

The observations could also reveal information about the magnetic activity of the host star, which would greatly affect its habitable zone. That’s why they’ve rushed out the data’s release – NASA usually waits until its data has been processed before it gives us a look.

“Scientists and enthusiasts around the world are invested in learning everything they can about these Earth-size worlds,” said Geert Barentsen, K2 research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Centre.

“Providing the K2 raw data as quickly as possible was a priority to give investigators an early look so they could best define their follow-up research plans. We’re thrilled that this will also allow the public to witness the process of discovery.”

And it’s not just for the public’s benefit – astronomers around the world are currently preparing proposals for where we should aim Earth-based telescopes next winter, which are due by the end of March.

Telescope spots are hard to secure, so the new TRAPPIST-1 data will hopefully give researchers enough ammo to convince regulatory bodies that they should be given time to observe the star system in the coming months.

If the raw data means very little to you – and, let’s face it, if you’re not used to looking at this type of data, it’s like another language – don’t worry. NASA plans to finish processing the data by late May, and will release a ‘translated’ version then, hopefully with some exciting discoveries for us.

Although Kepler observations are amazing, what the scientific community is even more excited about is the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope next year, which will be powerful enough to actually detect the atmospheric composition of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

In the meantime, thanks to this freely available data, it could be a member of the public who stumbles across the next big discovery in the star system, and that’s pretty awesome.

NASA Just Released the Raw Data From its Latest Observations of our ‘Sister Solar System’

Posted by

0


You see what they see.

A few weeks ago, NASA announced the discovery of seven, Earth-sized planets orbiting a star just 39 light-years away.

Known as the TRAPPIST-1 star system, the seven planets appear to be rocky, have life-friendly surface temperatures, and could potentially harbour liquid water – leading scientists to nickname it a ‘sister solar system’ to our own, and a pretty good spot to look for extraterrestrial life.

 Since then, researchers have debated how habitable these planets could really be, given the stellar activity of the dwarf star they orbit.

But the truth is, until we get a closer look, no one can say for sure whether or not life could be supported somewhere in the star system. Which is why NASA has just rushed out data from its latest and longest observations of TRAPPIST-1 to date.

The initial discovery of the star system was made over several months last year, using a combination of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes.

But since 15 December 2016, NASA’s had its own planet-hunting Kepler space telescope trained on TRAPPIST-1 for follow-up observations. And this week, they’ve made all that additional data freely available to the scientific community and public to trawl through. (Note: you need Python-based Kadenza software to extract the raw data files.)

In total, the observation period, which was part of Kepler’s K2 Campaign, provided 74 days of monitoring, which is the longest, nearly continuous set of observations of TRAPPIST-1 to date.

Unfortunately, we can’t tell you exactly what’s in that gold mine of data just yet, because in its current state, it’s totally raw and uncalibrated, and it’s going to take weeks for scientists to make sense of what Kepler has seen.

 But this early release gives scientists an opportunity to get more insight into the gravitational interaction between the planets – a clue to whether any of them are tidally locked – as well as the chance to spot any planets that may remain undiscovered in the system.

Interestingly, TRAPPIST-1 wasn’t on Kepler’s original list of systems to study last year. But in May 2016, when the discovery of the first three planets orbiting the star was announced, NASA decided to point it towards the constellation Aquarius, home of the TRAPPIST-1 system, to get a closer look.

Specifically, Kepler monitored minuscule changes in the star’s brightness as the seven planets orbit in front of it.

That kind of ‘dimming data’ can give astronomers insight into the size and mass of the planets passing in front of their host star, and will hopefully help them nail down the orbital period of the seventh planet, which until now has only been observed passing in front of its star once.

The observations could also reveal information about the magnetic activity of the host star, which would greatly affect its habitable zone. That’s why they’ve rushed out the data’s release – NASA usually waits until its data has been processed before it gives us a look.

“Scientists and enthusiasts around the world are invested in learning everything they can about these Earth-size worlds,” said Geert Barentsen, K2 research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Centre.

“Providing the K2 raw data as quickly as possible was a priority to give investigators an early look so they could best define their follow-up research plans. We’re thrilled that this will also allow the public to witness the process of discovery.”

And it’s not just for the public’s benefit – astronomers around the world are currently preparing proposals for where we should aim Earth-based telescopes next winter, which are due by the end of March.

Telescope spots are hard to secure, so the new TRAPPIST-1 data will hopefully give researchers enough ammo to convince regulatory bodies that they should be given time to observe the star system in the coming months.

If the raw data means very little to you – and, let’s face it, if you’re not used to looking at this type of data, it’s like another language – don’t worry. NASA plans to finish processing the data by late May, and will release a ‘translated’ version then, hopefully with some exciting discoveries for us.

Although Kepler observations are amazing, what the scientific community is even more excited about is the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope next year, which will be powerful enough to actually detect the atmospheric composition of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

In the meantime, thanks to this freely available data, it could be a member of the public who stumbles across the next big discovery in the star system, and that’s pretty awesome.