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Frozen super-Earth discovered six light-years away
CNN ^ | November 14, 2018 | Ashley Strickland,

Posted on 11/14/2018 10:38:38 AM PST by BenLurkin

The red dwarf star itself emits only about 0.4% of our sun's radiance, so the planet receives about 2% of the intensity that Earth receives from its sun. This is because Barnard's star is in the class of M dwarf stars, cooler and less massive than our sun. It's also an old star that predates our own solar system.

The planet is about the same orbital distance from its star as Mercury is from our sun, making a full pass around the star every 233 days. This places it in the "snow line" of the star, where it's cold enough for water to freeze into solid ice. This region in a planetary system is where the building blocks of planets are thought to form, collecting material to become cores. As they migrate closer to their host stars, gathering more material, they become planets.

It's the first time a planet this small and distant from its star has been detected using the radial velocity technique, which Butler helped pioneer. This method is sensitive to the mass of the exoplanet and measures changes in the host star's velocity. Instruments can be used to detect tiny wobbles in the star's orbit that are caused by the planet's gravity.

In the 1930s, Dutch-American astronomer Peter van de Kamp began a quest to study Barnard's star that lasted for most of his 93 years. His claims of how planets could fit in orbit around the star were refuted...

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS: barnardsstar; petervandekamp; xplanets
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1 posted on 11/14/2018 10:38:38 AM PST by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

A place to exile all the criminal Donk election officials from Broward and Palm Beach counties, Florida


2 posted on 11/14/2018 10:40:47 AM PST by BigEdLB (BigEdLB, Russian BOT, At your service)
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To: BigEdLB

LOL


3 posted on 11/14/2018 10:46:26 AM PST by entropy12 (One million LEGAL immigrants/year is too many, without vetting for skills, Wealth or English skills.)
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To: BenLurkin

The red dwarf star itself emits only about 0.4% of our sun’s radiance, so the planet receives about 2% of the intensity that Earth receives from its sun. This is because Barnard’s star is in the class of M dwarf stars, cooler and less massive than our sun. It’s also an old star that predates our own solar system.

...

And it will still be shining long after the Sun is burned out.

Red dwarfs stay in their main sequence for trillions of years.


4 posted on 11/14/2018 10:47:38 AM PST by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: BenLurkin
Dethaw ideas?
5 posted on 11/14/2018 10:47:44 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: BenLurkin


I've read the book.


6 posted on 11/14/2018 10:52:12 AM PST by treetopsandroofs
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To: BigEdLB

Hell, 6 light years may as well be right down the street.


7 posted on 11/14/2018 10:58:18 AM PST by Tenacious 1
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To: Moonman62

I am of the opinion that it would be easier to heat a cold planet via solar reflectors than to cool a hot planet. Either way, habitation if possible would require some terraforming.


8 posted on 11/14/2018 11:01:20 AM PST by taxcontrol
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To: Tenacious 1

Less than 2 parsecs!

New Horizons travels at around 36,373 mph. One light-year is 5.87849981 × 10 12 miles. (That’s 5,878,499,810,000 miles, or nearly 6 trillion miles). So, it would take New Horizons 18,449 years to travel one light year.

Times 6.


9 posted on 11/14/2018 11:01:21 AM PST by treetopsandroofs
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To: BenLurkin

Is it a great place for Winter Sports ,you know with all our Global Warming


10 posted on 11/14/2018 11:03:05 AM PST by butlerweave
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To: BenLurkin
p22
11 posted on 11/14/2018 11:11:25 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: BenLurkin

Are the Erf-like Planet’s Dinosaurs frozen too?


12 posted on 11/14/2018 11:13:26 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: BenLurkin

Should name the planet Ultima Thule and check out if Brian Blessed is hanging out there. [Space 1999 Reference]


13 posted on 11/14/2018 11:17:39 AM PST by C19fan
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To: taxcontrol
If it still has a magnetic field, molten core and some atmosphere it is possible, just a lot of hard work.

Providing the level of toxins are not too high.

14 posted on 11/14/2018 11:18:42 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea is getting cold.)
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To: BenLurkin

ahh, so if the envirowhackos are right and we end up destroying this one, we can just take another out to thaw...


15 posted on 11/14/2018 11:28:45 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


16 posted on 11/14/2018 11:29:33 AM PST by fieldmarshaldj ("It's Slappin' Time !")
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To: BenLurkin

The red dwarf star itself emits only about 0.4% of our sun's radiance, so the planet receives about 2% of the intensity that Earth receives from its sun.

Did CNN actually stumble on a "global warming" factoid there with regard to solar activity. They won't even realize it. The volume of koolaid they've consumed blinds them to it.


17 posted on 11/14/2018 11:34:07 AM PST by so_real ( "The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.")
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To: BenLurkin

Lemme know when the scientists get a short signal indicating the numbers —> 3.1415 etc etc etc

That’ll be the DAY !!!


18 posted on 11/14/2018 11:39:53 AM PST by litehaus (A memory toooo long.............)
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To: treetopsandroofs
New Horizons travels at around 36,373 mph. One light-year is 5.87849981 × 10 12 miles. (That’s 5,878,499,810,000 miles, or nearly 6 trillion miles). So, it would take New Horizons 18,449 years to travel one light year. Times 6.

Exactly! In galactic terms, right down the street. If we left now, we could be there in 110,694 years or so.

19 posted on 11/14/2018 11:52:07 AM PST by Tenacious 1
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To: BenLurkin

It’s not an Earth, and it’s not a Super-Earth either. And forget about going there. In other words, why this article?


20 posted on 11/14/2018 12:57:46 PM PST by I want the USA back (It's Ok To Be White. White Lives Matter. White Guilt is Socially Constructed)
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