Scientists in England may be the first to find Earth-like planets using a revolutionary camera. Nils Gibson, a PhD student at Queen's University Belfast will present the initial findings at the Royal Astronomy Conference in Belfast
Scientists in England may be the first to find Earth-like planets using a revolutionary camera. Nils Gibson, a PhD student at Queen's University in Belfast will present the initial findings at the Royal Astronomical Society conference in Belfast.
Rice is a fast camera designed by astronomers from Queen's University, in collaboration with John Morse University in Liverpool. It is currently installed on a 2 m diameter telescope in the Canary Islands in La Palma.
The stars we see in the sky are suns which, unlike the planets, emit light produced by a nuclear fusion process. Detecting planets cannot be done directly with a telescope because planets are too small and do not shine.
Since the 90s astronomers have found more than 200 planets orbiting suns outside the solar system. There are two main methods of finding planets which are mainly used when the planet is close to its parent star. First, you can locate a planet when you discover its gravitational effects on the star it orbits - with the rotation of the planet you can notice the vibration of the mother star back and forth. Measuring the small displacement allows astronomers to conclude on the existence of a rotating planet. Second, the "transit" method - when a planet's orbit passes between us and the parent star, astronomers can measure a dimming of the star's light or even notice a dark disk on the surface of the parent star's luminous disk, just as occurs during an eclipse, and thus infer the existence of a planet spins
But both methods are not good enough for detecting planets as small as the size of DHA, for example. So far all the planets discovered are the size of Jupiter (about 320 Earth masses) and very close to the mother star.
The Rice camera was designed to observe stars that are known to have large orbiting planets and possibly find additional Earth-like planets.
During a "transit" event when a planet is between us and the parent star, the camera will be able to take measurements with great accuracy and speed. Astronomers will be able to analyze the information and hopefully detect slight changes in the rotation path caused by the gravitational forces of another smaller planet. Under the right conditions, astronomers will be able to detect Earth-like planets.
Gibson notes, “The potential for transit timing is a product of very simple physics, where multi-planet systems will kick each other during their satellite orbits—an outcome that also occurs in our own solar system. If earth-sized planets are present in the flooded area (which is expected according to the theories of such systems) we will see the effect in the orbit of the large planets."
"Rice will allow us to observe and time the transits of planets outside the solar system very precisely, and this will allow us the necessary degree of sensitivity to distinguish the effects of nose masses smaller than Earth-sized planets."
12 תגובות
The process of the development of life on Earth will not repeat itself
No other planet is infested with life and everywhere it will be a process
unique to his planet so that those living creatures that appeared in the evolutionary lineage here in the last billion years until man did not
They will appear anywhere and not a single point of similarity will be found between a planet and its counterpart
Levi, I agree that civilizations so different from ours may have developed that even if a future astronaut were to walk across such an alien planet, he would not notice an intelligent and advanced life form going on under his nose. I just didn't understand why exactly you say "isn't?", and how exactly does the order of development matter?
Very simple
Our galaxy is infested with Earth-like stars
A life developed on them that is fundamentally different from the form of life on our planet
Little.
The problem is that we are not able to locate these stars technologically yet
And it is not in our imagination to digest so many different forms of life yet
Levi, I'm not sure I get to the bottom of your mind..
Why is she gone?
Who said that the development of life on earth-like planets
The order of development on our planet will be mentioned at all, perhaps the development
On the distant planets it is something that is sublime among us.
After all, this is why we are surprised every time by every discovery
Raises doubts (not news) about the discovery of intelligent life on an alien planet. Even if it is a very distant planet (say thousands of light years) it is not pointless, beyond the mere knowledge that we are not alone. Even without the ability to communicate (which is due to the speed limit of light given the aforementioned distance) there will be the possibility to try and decipher the received data and as if watch from the outside the "history" of a civilization that was and may no longer be.
I have the impression that in the near future we will be surprised again and realize how much of a country
He is one of many species and even one of the least special
"Detecting planets cannot be done directly with a telescope because planets are too small and do not shine." Except for planets that belong to our solar system.
Attempt to clarify:
From looking at the news that appears on the Royal Astronomical Society website, it seems to me that the term "fast camera" refers to the fact that the camera will take a photo of the observed star every 10 seconds. The goal is to accurately measure the orbit of a giant planet (Jupiter-like) in transit, that is, when it passes between the Earth and the observed star. I did not find in the article a reference to a particularly short exposure time and therefore I assume that the exposure time is long enough to get a picture. What's more, it's possible (and I say this only on my own opinion) that the observed star is not very far away, say tens of light years.
With the "normal" methods, the cycle time of the planet, its mass and its (average) distance from the star can be measured quite accurately.
On the other hand, in the more precise measurement, by photographing the planet every 10 seconds, it is possible to notice deviations-vibrations of the planet in its orbit around the star. These deviations are attributed to the influence of the planet's gravity
A smaller one suspected of being a "terrestrial" planet.
They claim that they will take fast photos, but the amount of photons reaching the camera that shoots quickly is smaller than normal photos that last at least a few minutes. Since the amount of photons is small, the percentage change in the amount of photons arriving from photo to photo is also much greater than the possible effect of a small planet. That's why I'm very interested to know how confident they are in improving the chances of discovering a small planet.
may we have a nice week
Sabdarmish Yehuda
Kudos to the British... I knew about a similar technology being developed for a satellite that is created in orbit, but if they plan to do it from Earth (quote: "Canary Islands in La Palma") it is indeed a technological leap.
Let them invent a device that will make it easier for them to understand reality...these Brits