Posted on 06/08/2018 9:54:31 AM PDT by Red Badger
Credit: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
__________________________________________________________________________
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the University of Oviedo present today the discovery of two new planetary systems, one of them hosting three planets the same size as the Earth.
The information about these new exoplanets has been obtained from the data collected by the K2 mission of NASA's Kepler satellite, which started in November 2013. The work, which will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), reveals the existence of two new planetary systems detected from the eclipses they produce in the stellar light of their respective stars. In the research team led jointly by Javier de Cos at the University of Oviedo, and Rafael Rebolo at the IAC, participate, along with researchers from these two centres, others from the University of Geneva and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC).
The first exoplanetary system is located in the star K2-239, characterized as a red dwarf type M3V from observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma). It is located in the constellation of the Sextant at 50 parsecs from the sun (at about 160 light years). It has a compact system of at least three rocky planets of similar size to the Earth (1.1, 1.0 and 1.1 Earth radii) that orbit the star every 5.2, 7.8 and 10.1 days, respectively.
The other red dwarf star, called K2-240, has two super-Earth-like planets about twice the size of our planet. The atmospheric temperature of red dwarf stars around which these planets revolve is 3,450 and 3,800 K respectively, almost half the temperature of the sun. These researchers estimate that all planets discovered will have temperatures tens of degrees higher than those of Earth due to the strong radiation they receive in these close orbits to their stars.
Future observation campaigns with the new James Webb space telescope will characterize the composition of the atmospheres of the discovered planets. Spectroscopic observations with the ESPRESSO instrument, installed in the Very Large Telescope (VLT), of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), or with future spectrographs in the GTC or in new astronomical facilities, such as the ELT or the TMT, will be crucial to determine the masses, densities and physical properties of these planets.
Explore further: Astronomers find Earth-like planets capable of hosting water
More information: Díez Alonso, J.I. et al. Two planetary systems with transiting Earth-size and super-Earth planets orbiting late-type dwarf stars, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. arxiv.org/abs/1806.01181
Journal reference: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Provided by: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
X-O Planet Ping!................
NASA funding time again.
Hussein only wanted NASA to do outreach to Muslims.
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias located in the Canary Islands. ................
It's Kepler's Law, not Mustafa's Law.
If viewed from outside our solar system, Venus would be the holy grail of “Earth-like” planets: A rocky planet that is almost exactly the same size and mass as Earth and that orbits a G-type main sequence star within the apparent “Goldilocks zone.”
And it has water.......................
It is located in the constellation of the Sextant at 50 parsecs
Wow, that’s FAST!
Being that close to their sun, they will all be tidal locked, with one hemisphere always noon, and the other side always midnight.
If these planets are too hot, and they would be on the noon side, the reverse would be too cold.
Just imagine the dynamics of the atmosphere if they have any. Warm air rising on the sun side, cold air falling on the reverse... How would the winds flow? Could humans survive in the periphery of the sun side, where it is always dawn/evening twilight?
They can’t even park on the moon again.
If Earth did not have a strong geomagnetic field and a large moon it would probably look a lot more like Venus. As far as I know, we have not yet developed a means to determine if “Earth-like” exoplanets have either.
-PJ
Nope, not yet..................
Manny, Moe, and Jack.
Huey, Dewey and Louie................
How they “find” and estimate the size of these planets is underwhelming.
Find a star.
Observe light flickers that indirectly indicate something passing between the star and the observer.
Quantify the reduction in light, and translate that to the size of the object.
I know you have to start somewhere, but this isn’t exactly exciting.
Well, it sure beats the old method....................
Thanks Red Badger.
 |
||
| · join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
| Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.