Exoplanet Discoveries, discussion of the latest finds |
Exoplanet Discoveries, discussion of the latest finds |
Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Apr 21 2009, 11:10 AM
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Guests |
Well-known exoplanet researcher Dr Michel Mayor ( discoverer of Peg 51b with Dr Didier Queloz in 1995 ) today announced the discovery of the lightest exoplanet found so far. The planet, “e”, in the famous system Gliese 581, is only about twice the mass of our Earth. The team also refined the orbit of the planet Gliese 581 d, first discovered in 2007, placing it well within the habitable zone, where liquid water oceans could exist:
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-r...9/pr-15-09.html |
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Aug 24 2016, 07:49 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 716 Joined: 3-January 08 Member No.: 3995 |
FYI, Centauri Dreams is a good resource for exoplanets as well as general interstellar exploration topics:
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/ |
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Aug 25 2016, 12:59 AM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
This work contains, also, an interesting hint of the cup-half-empty: The detection of this planet and not any other apparent signal that interferes appreciably with it says something about a lack of other planets within certain parameters. There must be no planet that is closer to Proxima Centauri and more than a fraction of the mass of Proxima b, nor any planet a bit further out and a few times more massive. This is interesting because, a priori, there could be space for another terrestrial planet with prospects for liquid water on the surface. Proxima Centauri may still – and very likely does – have other planets, but this work places bounds on their size and orbits.
Hopefully, we'll soon get some information on the systems of Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. Planets with earthlike temperatures would have much longer orbital periods than 11 days (more like 150 to 500 days) and so much longer studies will be needed. On the plus side, planets orbiting one of those could be observed directly a bit more easily, using a chronograph to block a star that is 0.4 to 1.1 AU away from the planet, which is easier due to the larger angular separation than blocking Proxima Centauri to observe Proxima b. |
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