The most earthlike planet yet

Astronomy ^ | 02/02/06 | Francis Reddy

[KevinDavis]

Scientists using an observational technique that exploits Albert Einstein's theory of gravity report the discovery of a planet just 5.5 times Earth's mass. The new world, located in Sagittarius toward the Milky Way's center, orbits a cool M-dwarf star 21,500 light-years away.

"This finding means that Earth-mass planets are not that uncommon," says Kailash Sahu of Baltimore's Space Telescope Science Institute and a member of the discovery team. "If we found one, there must be more."

The new world is the first discovered around another star that agrees with astronomers' theories of how planetary systems form. Princeton astronomer Bohdan Paczynski explains: "Around red dwarfs, the theory predicts Earth- and Neptune-sized planets to be more common than Jupiter-sized planets. The planets would be located between 0.1 and 10 times the Earth-Sun distance from their stars."

[IslandJeff]

Okay, you got me, fella. I'll fess up: my grandparents shipped a bunch of old refrigerators there.

[clyde asbury]

Sounds like it would be in the lower right corner.

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/academics/courses//astro201/hr_diagram.htm

[lepton]

Let me give you another example. One of the two dogs my family had while I was growing up had a speaking vocabulary of more than a dozen distinct words. I thought this capability in dogs was more or less "common." Now that I've been around a bit longer, and never found another dog with more than two words of spoken vocabulary - and those pretty rare - and not having found anyone else who had come across dogs with demonstrably similar capabilities, apparently this is very rare. Finding one of something is proof it exists. It is not grounds for determining its commonness.

[CurlyBill]

2 questions here:


1. Does it orbit within the "habitable zone?

2. Can you detect an atmosphere through the spectra?

[IslandJeff]

Saved the diagram, thanks much. At Mag 15, how did they even find the thing? Wow.

[clyde asbury]

At Mag 15, how did they even find the thing?

It is very dim, but it's even dimmer than 15th magnitude. That's the absolute magnitude, which is the star's apparent brightness when seen from about 33 light years away (10 parsecs). Amateur scopes can easily see stars of 15th magnitude.

This star's apparent magnitude from 22,500 light years (its distance from us) could be computed. It's sufficient to say that it is *extremely* dim.

[Smokin' Joe]

SOmehow, the idea of Hillary orbiting a red dwarf fits....

[Cincinatus]

"Earthlike" doesn't mean "habitable." Venus is Earthlike.

[dpa5923]

I will have to disagree. If you had a dog who could speak with a vocabulary of more than a dozen words (earth) and you found another dog that could speak with a vocabulary of more than a dozen words (this new planet) the implication is the ability of a dog to speak with more than a dozen words is more common than previously thought and it would not be a stretch to assume within the millions of dogs out there, you would be able to find more since you already found two.

I agree, one does not a trend make, but two does imply more. (At least in nature)

[Political Junkie Too]

what's the size/age/radiation of an "M-dwarf" star?

African or European?

-PJ

[chemicalman]

Hope the fishing is good there.

[lepton]

you would be able to find more since you already found two.

Hmmm. There's my flaw. :)

[HardStarboard]

>>>Not a nice place to visit..<<< Wear several layers of fleece. Has amazing insulative properties.