Nearby Exoplanets |
Nearby Exoplanets |
Nov 15 2017, 04:17 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
There have been a few topics in recent years pertaining to exoplanets found circling nearby red dwarfs, particularly Proxima Centauri and Trappist-1. There's a new one to report, and I thought I'd give the topic a more general scope rather than specific to this one.
The star in question is Ross 128, and the planet's solar flux is between that of Earth and Venus. There's a good chance that this is potentially the most "habitable" exoplanet yet found, and is happily quite close (13th closest system), so that telescopes will be able to separate the light of the planet from that of the star. This is a circumstance that only a few nearby stars will permit in the foreseeable future, so Ross 128 is likely to figure large in our exoplanet studies over the next century. https://www.eso.org/public/archives/release...36/eso1736a.pdf |
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Nov 15 2018, 01:46 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 291 Joined: 29-December 05 From: Ottawa, ON Member No.: 624 |
Bernard's star was the first star ever to have a suspected planet. In the sixties Peter van de Kamp claimed that he had detected a perturbation in the proper motion caused by a Jovian-class planet. It was eventually refuted but I'm glad to see the star finally has been confirmed as having a planet. Exciting news to have something so close to home.
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Nov 15 2018, 06:24 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Yeah, Steve, my public library had a book that flat-out stated that Barnard's Star had planets, so it's a sweet resolution to that long-running narrative – and, as is clear, this discovery cannot be the planet(s) that were claimed long ago.
I took a picture of Barnard's Star this summer so I can make a "video" of its proper motion over a span of year(s) – it's a pretty little dot, more orange than red. One distinction held by this system is that it's the closest planetary system (and closest star, period) that can be seen from north of the tropics. With a nominal orbital distance of 0.4 AU, Barnard's Star b will have about 5 times the angular distance from its star that Proxima b will from Proxima Centauri. That is much less angular separation, however, than cases like Fomalhaut b, which is much farther from its primary than Neptune is from the Sun. Barnard's Star b will likely be one of the easiest exoplanets to resolve and one day reveal non-pointlike images of its surface. |
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