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Two Earth Like Planets Found
20th June 2019
Astronomers discover two Earth-like planets orbiting one of the smallest stars ever found
- Teegarden’s star sits just 12.5 light-years away and reaches about 2,700 °C
- Researchers have now spotted two planets orbiting within its habitable zone
- They say the planets are slightly heavier than Earth and could host liquid water
Scientists have discovered two Earth-like planets orbiting a star just 12.5 light-years away.
The newly-found worlds sit within the habitable zone of Teegarden’s star, a star said to be among the smallest measured yet.
Observations so far suggest the pair may share similarities to planets situated closer to the sun in our own solar system, though Teegarden’s star doesn’t get quite as hot.
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Scientists have discovered two Earth-like planets orbiting a star just 12.5 light-years away. The newly-found worlds sit within the habitable zone of Teegarden’s star, a star said to be among the smallest measured yet
Teegarden’s star is one of our solar system’s closest neighbors and reaches about 2,700 °C.
It’s roughly 10 times lighter than the sun.
In a new paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, scientists have detailed the likely existence of two planets in its vicinity.
These were detected in an unusual way; instead of the typical ‘transit’ method, in which planets can be seen passing in front of their star, the position of the two new worlds allowed them to be detected passing in front of our sun.
According to the team, the data are a clear indication of their existence.
‘The two planets resemble the inner planets of our solar system,’ said lead author Mathias Zechmeister of the Institute for Astrophysics at the University of Göttingen.
They are only slightly heavier than Earth and are located in the so-called habitable zone, where water can be present in liquid form.’
Teegarden’s star was only discovered in 2003, and there is still much to be learned about the system.
It may even contain other planets beyond the two described in the new study, the authors say.
‘Many stars are apparently surrounded by systems with several planets,’ explains co-author Professor Stefan Dreizler.
These were detected in an unusual way; instead of the typical ‘transit’ method, in which planets can be seen passing in front of their star, the position of the two new worlds allowed them to be detected passing in front of our sun. This is illustrated above
In a new paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, scientists have detailed the likely existence of two planets in its vicinity. Observations so far suggest the pair may share similarities to planets situated closer to the sun in our own solar system.
The discovery is the latest success from the Carmenes project, which was ‘specifically designed to search for planets around the lightest stars,’ the team says.
Whether the planets are habitable is still a mystery. But, but according to the team, if someone were to stand on the surface, they’d be able to see our own home looking back.
That is, using the traditional technique of searching for planets.
‘An inhabitant of the new planets would therefore have the opportunity to view the Earth using the transit method,’ says Professor Ansgar Reiners.
WHAT IS THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE?
Earth’s Heavy Metals Are The Result Of A Super Nova
18th June 2019
That gold on your ring finger is stellar — and not just in a complimentary way.
In a finding that may overthrow our understanding of where Earth’s heavy elements such as gold and platinum come from, new research by a University of Guelph physicist suggests that most of them were spewed from a largely overlooked kind of star explosion far away in space and time from our planet.
Some 80 per cent of the heavy elements in the universe likely formed in collapsars, a rare but heavy element-rich form of supernova explosion from the gravitational collapse of old, massive stars typically 30 times as weighty as our sun, said physics professor Daniel Siegel.
That finding overturns the widely held belief that these elements mostly come from collisions between neutron stars or between a neutron star and a black hole, said Siegel.
His paper co-authored with Columbia University colleagues appears today in the journal Nature.
Using supercomputers, the trio simulated the dynamics of collapsars, or old stars whose gravity causes them to implode and form black holes.
Under their model, massive, rapidly spinning collapsars eject heavy elements whose amounts and distribution are “astonishingly similar to what we observe in our solar system,” said Siegel. He joined U of G this month and is also appointed to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Waterloo, Ont.
Most of the elements found in nature were created in nuclear reactions in stars and ultimately expelled in huge stellar explosions.
Heavy elements found on Earth and elsewhere in the universe from long-ago explosions range from gold and platinum, to uranium and plutonium used in nuclear reactors, to more exotic chemical elements such as neodymium found in consumer items such as electronics.
Until now, scientists thought that these elements were cooked up mostly in stellar smashups involving neutron stars or black holes, as in a collision of two neutron stars observed by Earth-bound detectors that made headlines in 2017.
Ironically, said Siegel, his team began working to understand the physics of that merger before their simulations pointed toward collapsars as a heavy element birth chamber. “Our research on neutron star mergers has led us to believe that the birth of black holes in a very different type of stellar explosion might produce even more gold than neutron star mergers.”
What collapsars lack in frequency, they make up for in generation of heavy elements, said Siegel. Collapsars also produce intense flashes of gamma rays.
“Eighty per cent of these heavy elements we see should come from collapsars. Collapsars are fairly rare in occurrences of supernovae, even more rare than neutron star mergers — but the amount of material that they eject into space is much higher than that from neutron star mergers.”
The team now hopes to see its theoretical model validated by observations. Siegel said infrared instruments such as those on the James Webb Space Telescope, set for launch in 2021, should be able to detect telltale radiation pointing to heavy elements from a collapsar in a far-distant galaxy.
“That would be a clear signature,” he said, adding that astronomers might also detect evidence of collapsars by looking at amounts and distribution of heavy element s in other stars across our Milky Way galaxy.
Siegel said this research may yield clues about how our galaxy began.
“Trying to nail down where heavy elements come from may help us understand how the galaxy was chemically assembled and how the galaxy formed. This may actually help solve some big questions in cosmology as heavy elements are a nice tracer.”
This year marks the 150th anniversary of Dmitri Mendeleev’s creation of the periodic table of the chemical elements. Since then, scientists have added many more elements to the periodic table, a staple of science textbooks and classrooms worldwide.
Referring to the Russian chemist, Siegel said, “We know many more elements that he didn’t. What’s fascinating and surprising is that, after 150 years of studying the fundamental building blocks of nature, we still don’t quite understand how the universe creates a big fraction of the elements in the periodic table.”
Formation Of The Moon Brought Water To Earth
25th May 2019
New research explains how Earth became a habitable planet
Earth has a large amount of water and a relatively large moon, which stabilizes Earth’s axis. Both are essential for life to develop on our planet. Scientists have now been able to show that water came to Earth with the formation of the moon.
The Earth is unique in our solar system: It is the only terrestrial planet with a large amount of water and a relatively large moon, which stabilizes the Earth’s axis. Both were essential for Earth to develop life.
Planetologists at the University of Münster (Germany) have now been able to show, for the first time, that water came to Earth with the formation of the Moon some 4.4 billion years ago. The Moon was formed when Earth was hit by a body about the size of Mars, also called Theia. Until now, scientists had assumed that Theia originated in the inner solar system near the Earth. However, researchers from Münster can now show that Theia comes from the outer solar system, and it delivered large quantities of water to Earth. The results are published in the current issue of Nature Astronomy.
From the outer into the inner solar system
The Earth formed in the ‘dry’ inner solar system, and so it is somewhat surprising that there is water on Earth. To understand why this the case, we have to go back in time when the solar system was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. From earlier studies, we know that the solar system became structured such that the ‘dry’ materials were separated from the ‘wet’ materials: the so-called ‘carbonaceous’ meteorites, which are relatively rich in water, come from the outer solar system, whereas the drier ‘non-carbonaceous’ meteorites come from the inner solar system. While previous studies have shown that carbonaceous materials were likely responsible for delivering the water to Earth, it was unknown when and how this carbonaceous material — and thus the water — came to Earth.
“We have used molybdenum isotopes to answer this question. The molybdenum isotopes allow us to clearly distinguish carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous material, and as such represent a ‘genetic fingerprint’ of material from the outer and inner solar system,” explains Dr. Gerrit Budde of the Institute of Planetology in Münster and lead author of the study.
The measurements made by the researchers from Münster show that the molybdenum isotopic composition of the Earth lies between those of the carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous meteorites, demonstrating that some of Earth’s molybdenum originated in the outer solar system. In this context, the chemical properties of molybdenum play a key role because, as it is an iron-loving element, most of the Earth’s molybdenum is located in the core.
“The molybdenum which is accessible today in the Earth’s mantle, therefore, originates from the late stages of Earth’s formation, while the molybdenum from earlier phases is entirely in the core,” explains Dr. Christoph Burkhardt, second author of the study. The scientists’ results therefore show, for the first time, that carbonaceous material from the outer solar system arrived on Earth late.
But the scientists are going one step further. They show that most of the molybdenum in Earth’s mantle was supplied by the protoplanet Theia, whose collision with Earth 4.4 billion years ago led to the formation of the Moon. However, since a large part of the molybdenum in Earth’s mantle originates from the outer solar system, this means that Theia itself also originated from the outer solar system. According to the scientists, the collision provided sufficient carbonaceous material to account for the entire amount of water on Earth.
“Our approach is unique because, for the first time, it allows us to associate the origin of water on Earth with the formation of the Moon. To put it simply, without the Moon there probably would be no life on Earth,” says Thorsten Kleine, Professor of Planetology at the University of Münster
Nasa Discovers A Twin Earth
19th April 2019
Kepler-186f, the First Earth-size Planet in the Habitable Zone
A newly discovered planet nicknamed “Earth’s cousin” has just been found 490 light-years from Earth.
The planet, called Kepler-186f, is the first Earth-size planet found in the habitable zone of its star. Only about 10 percent larger than Earth, Kepler-186f is the closest planet to Earth in size ever found in the habitable zone of its star. What else do you need to know about the new alien planet discovery?
Here are five things to keep in mind about Kepler-186f:
Kepler-186f is the first Earth-size alien planet found in the habitable zone of its star. That means the planet, which is only slightly larger than Earth, is in the part of its star system where liquid water could exist on the planet`s surface.
Astronomers have found other planets in the habitable zones of their stars, but this is the first time a planet this close in size to Earth has ever been found in the habitable zone of its star.
“This is an historic discovery of the first truly Earth-size planet found in the habitable zone around its star,” University of California, Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy, who is unaffiliated with the new research, said. “This is the best case for a habitable planet yet found. The results are absolutely rock solid. The planet itself may not be [rocky], but I’d bet my house on it. In any case, it’s a gem.”
Scientists discovered the planet in data collected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
Life could thrive … maybe
Because of Kepler-186’s location in the habitable zone around its star, the planet might be a place where life can thrive. It’s possible that the planet has an atmosphere that can help keep water in liquid form on the surface, a prerequisite for life as it is known on Earth.
Kepler-186f is on the outer edge of the habitable zone, so it is possible that the planet’s water could freeze. Its larger size, however, could mean the planet has a thicker atmosphere, insulating the planet, San Francisco State University astronomer and study co-author Stephen Kane said in a statement.
Although they know the alien world is in its star’s habitable zone, scientists still aren’t sure what the planet’s atmosphere consists of, and they cannot say with certainty that Kepler-186f could support life. The planet is Earth-sized, but it might not be Earth-like.
“Some people call these habitable planets, which of course we have no idea if they are,” Kane said in a statement. “We simply know that they are in the habitable zone, and that is the best place to start looking for habitable planets.”
It is one of five planets in the Kepler-186 star system
Kepler-186f is one of five planets found in the extrasolar system located about 490 light-years from Earth. The newly discovered exoplanet orbits about 32.5 million miles (52.4 million kilometers) from its sun. It takes Kepler-186f about 130 days to orbit its red dwarf star.
The other four planets orbiting the star, however, are not in that “Goldilocks zone.”
“The four companion planets — Kepler-186b, Kepler-186c, Kepler-186d and Kepler-186e — whiz around their sun every four, seven, 13 and 22 days, respectively, making them too hot for life as we know it,” NASA officials said in a statement. “These four inner planets all measure less than 1.5 times the size of Earth.” [10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life]
The Big Bang In 10 Easy Steps
21st January 2019
The Universe: Big Bang to Now in 10 Easy Steps
Introduction
The broadly accepted theory for the origin and evolution of our universe is the Big Bang model, which states that the universe began as an incredibly hot, dense point roughly 13.7 billion years ago. So, how did the universe go from being fractions of an inch (a few millimeters) across to what it is today?
Here is a breakdown of the Big Bang to now in 10 easy-to-understand steps.
Step 1: How It All Started
NASA/WMAP
The Big Bang was not an explosion in space, as the theory’s name might suggest. Instead, it was the appearance of space everywhere in the universe, researchers have said. According to the Big Bang theory, the universe was born as a very hot, very dense, single point in space.
Cosmologists are unsure what happened before this moment, but with sophisticated space missions, ground-based telescopes and complicated calculations, scientists have been working to paint a clearer picture of the early universe and its formation.
A key part of this comes from observations of the cosmic microwave background, which contains the afterglow of light and radiation left over from the Big Bang. This relic of the Big Bang pervades the universe and is visible to microwave detectors, which allows scientists to piece together clues of the early universe.
In 2001, NASA launched the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mission to study the conditions as they existed in the early universe by measuring radiation from the cosmic microwave background. Among other discoveries, WMAP was able to determine the age of the universe — about 13.7 billion years old.
Step 2: The Universe’s First Growth Spurt
NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team
When the universe was very young — something like a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second (whew!) — it underwent an incredible growth spurt. During this burst of expansion, which is known as inflation, the universe grew exponentially and doubled in size at least 90 times.
“The universe was expanding, and as it expanded, it got cooler and less dense,” David Spergel, a theoretical astrophysicist at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., told SPACE.com.
After inflation, the universe continued to grow, but at a slower rate. As space expanded, the universe cooled and matter formed.
Step 3: Too Hot to Shine
NASA/WMAP
Light chemical elements were created within the first three minutes of the universe’s formation. As the universe expanded, temperatures cooled and protons and neutrons collided to make deuterium, which is an isotope of hydrogen. Much of this deuterium combined to make helium.
For the first 380,000 years after the Big Bang, however, the intense heat from the universe’s creation made it essentially too hot for light to shine. Atoms crashed together with enough force to break up into a dense, opaque plasma of protons, neutrons and electrons that scattered light like fog.
Step 4: Let There Be Light
About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, matter cooled enough for electrons to combine with nuclei to form neutral atoms. This phase is known as “recombination,” and the absorption of free electrons caused the universe to become transparent. The light that was unleashed at this time is detectable today in the form of radiation from the cosmic microwave background.
Yet, the era of recombination was followed by a period of darkness before stars and other bright objects were formed.
Step 5: Emerging from the Cosmic Dark Ages
ESA XMM-Newton/EPIC, LBT/LBC, AIP
Roughly 400 million years after the Big Bang, the universe began to come out of its dark ages. This period in the universe’s evolution is called the age of re-ionization.
This dynamic phase was thought to have lasted more than a half-billion years, but based on new observations, scientists think re-ionization may have occurred more rapidly than previously thought.
During this time, clumps of gas collapsed enough to form the very first stars and galaxies. The emitted ultraviolet light from these energetic events cleared out and destroyed most of the surrounding neutral hydrogen gas. The process of re-ionization, plus the clearing of foggy hydrogen gas, caused the universe to become transparent to ultraviolet light for the first time.
Step 6: More Stars and More Galaxies
ESA, Hubble, NASA
Astronomers comb the universe looking for the most far-flung and oldest galaxies to help them understand the properties of the early universe. Similarly, by studying the cosmic microwave background, astronomers can work backwards to piece together the events that came before.
Data from older missions like WMAP and the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), which launched in 1989, and missions still in operation, like the Hubble Space Telescope, which launched in 1990, all help scientists try to solve the most enduring mysteries and answer the most debated questions in cosmology.
Step 7: Birth of Our Solar System
NASA
Our solar system is estimated to have been born a little after 9 billion years after the Big Bang, making it about 4.6 billion years old. According to current estimates, the sun is one of more than 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone, and orbits roughly 25,000 light-years from the galactic core.
Many scientists think the sun and the rest of our solar system was formed from a giant, rotating cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula. As gravity caused the nebula to collapse, it spun faster and flattened into a disk. During this phase, most of the material was pulled toward the center to form the sun.
Step 8: The Invisible Stuff in the Universe
X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.; Lensing Map: NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/
In the 1960s and 1970s, astronomers began thinking that there might be more mass in the universe than what is visible. Vera Rubin, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, observed the speeds of stars at various locations in galaxies.
Basic Newtonian physics implies that stars on the outskirts of a galaxy would orbit more slowly than stars at the center, but Rubin found no difference in the velocities of stars farther out. In fact, she found that all stars in a galaxy seem to circle the center at more or less the same speed.
This mysterious and invisible mass became known as dark matter. Dark matter is inferred because of the gravitational pull it exerts on regular matter. One hypothesis states the mysterious stuff could be formed by exotic particles that don’t interact with light or regular matter, which is why it has been so difficult to detect.
Dark matter is thought to make up 23 percent of the universe. In comparison, only 4 percent of the universe is composed of regular matter, which encompasses stars, planets and people.
Step 9: The Expanding and Accelerating Universe
NASA, ESA, D. Coe (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, and Space Telescope Science Institute), N. Benitez (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain)
n the 1920s, astronomer Edwin Hubble made a revolutionary discovery about the universe. Using a newly constructed telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles, Hubble observed that the universe is not static, but rather is expanding.
Decades later, in 1998, the prolific space telescope named after the famous astronomer, the Hubble Space Telescope, studied very distant supernovas and found that, a long time ago, the universe was expanding more slowly than it is today. This discovery was surprising because it was long thought that the gravity of matter in the universe would slow its expansion, or even cause it to contract.
Dark energy is thought to be the strange force that is pulling the cosmos apart at ever-increasing speeds, but it remains undetected and shrouded in mystery. The existence of this elusive energy, which is thought to make up 73 percent of the universe, is one of the most hotly debated topics in cosmology.
Step 10: We Still Need to Know More
NASA
While much has been discovered about the creation and evolution of the universe, there are enduring questions that remain unanswered. Dark matter and dark energy remain two of the biggest mysteries, but cosmologists continue to probe the universe in hopes of better understanding how it all began.
