NASA to announce discovery of 'intriguing planetary system'

[Skymon876]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/26/nasa.planet.hunt/index.html?hpt=C2

For more than a year, the spacecraft Kepler has been combing the vastness of space looking for Earth-like planets.

Earth-like planets???????

Put aside the messed up UFO field.

This stuff from NASA I can get excited about

 

[Hoffmeister]

I have an iphone app called exoplanets that updates me every time they find a new planets, and shows the path around its star and a whole bunch of other data.
Apparently today they announced Kepler - 9 c and Kepler - 9 b
NASA's Kepler mission discovers two planets transiting same star

As i understand it, transiting is when we detect the planet by it going across the front of the star, and its unusual in this case because there are two that do that. We have often detected multiple planets by looking at the stars wobble but not by transiting.

 

[Frank Stalter]

I have an iphone app called exoplanets that updates me every time they find a new planets, and shows the path around its star and a whole bunch of other data.
Apparently today they announced Kepler - 9 c and Kepler - 9 b
NASA's Kepler mission discovers two planets transiting same star

As i understand it, transiting is when we detect the planet by it going across the front of the star, and its unusual in this case because there are two that do that. We have often detected multiple planets by looking at the stars wobble but not by transiting.

I'd love to be able to question somebody who is a pro in this area. For the sake of making a point, let's say that our solar system is a plate sitting on a table. Can the light dimming system of exo-planet discovery only work on a solar system that is sitting on the same table and not on the seat of a chair or on a shelf above the table level? Does that question make sense?

 

[TClaeys]

I'd love to be able to question somebody who is a pro in this area. For the sake of making a point, let's say that our solar system is a plate sitting on a table. Can the light dimming system of exo-planet discovery only work on a solar system that is sitting on the same table and not on the seat of a chair or on a shelf above the table level? Does that question make sense?

Let's suppose Pluto is Jupiter sized, or even Earth sized. Now Pluto is way out of wack with the other planets, something like 17% off the ecliptic. If we look at all the other planets (even though I know Pluto isn't a planet), they are all sitting on the "plate" and all orbit in the same general manner (around the plate). But Pluto wouldn't be on the plate, it would be, well... let's say on the seat of the chair as you used.

Now, is your question would Kepler be able to detect this Jupiter sized planet even though it is off the ecliptic?? Because it may not transit and go in front of the Star. In which case I think that is an interesting question. If we were way out in space and Pluto was replaced by something much larger, would a Kepler type satellite be able to detect it?? Is that the gist of the question?? I don't have an answer but it's a good question.

 

[Frank Stalter]

Let's suppose Pluto is Jupiter sized, or even Earth sized. Now Pluto is way out of wack with the other planets, something like 17% off the ecliptic. If we look at all the other planets (even though I know Pluto isn't a planet), they are all sitting on the "plate" and all orbit in the same general manner (around the plate). But Pluto wouldn't be on the plate, it would be, well... let's say on the seat of the chair as you used.

Now, is your question would Kepler be able to detect this Jupiter sized planet even though it is off the ecliptic?? Because it may not transit and go in front of the Star. In which case I think that is an interesting question. If we were way out in space and Pluto was replaced by something much larger, would a Kepler type satellite be able to detect it?? Is that the gist of the question?? I don't have an answer but it's a good question.

I'm assuming that Kepler is properly equipped to use the star wobble technique too. Not sure. I'll ask around and hopefully can find an answer.

 

[jkoci]

Here is a link to the NASA Kepler website. It can find planets as they transit their host star. Amazing capability.

Kepler: Home Page

 

[dyingsun]

I don't get my hopes up too high, I guess they found a planetary system that is like ours, planets in a stable orbit around their star. Not to belittle that, it still would be damn cool.

 

[Ron Collins]

Turns out they think it has two Jupiter sized planets orbiting a star.
Two Planets

 

[Roger]

Here's another announcement for an announcement:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jan/HQ_M11-020_Kepler.html

 

[Nina Garfinkel]

Along these lines are two links to articles in yesterday's NY Times that I thought might interest forum participants:

The first deals with "2012-ers" in France, something I was surprised to see the Times reporting on at all, and the second re NASA's Kepler project. They are both from yesterday's Times.

Doomsday Destination - Some Head to Bugarach, France - NYTimes.com


Kepler Observatory Seeks More Earths and Other Beings - NYTimes.com

 

[Slim Shady]

Along these lines are two links to articles in yesterday's NY Times that I thought might interest forum participants:

The first deals with "2012-ers" in France, something I was surprised to see the Times reporting on at all, and the second re NASA's Kepler project. They are both from yesterday's Times.

Doomsday Destination - Some Head to Bugarach, France - NYTimes.com


Kepler Observatory Seeks More Earths and Other Beings - NYTimes.com

Collecitve suicide =P well that will get alot of nutters out of the way and erased from this planet , can't wait for 2012! =D

 

[Kandinsky]

If a planet happens to cross -- or transit -- in front of a star, the star dims in brightness.

That is how Kepler determines it may have come across a planet.

The writer has distilled leading edge science and complex planetary motion into 30 words that an idiot could understand.

That's pretty f***** awesome.

 

[Ezechiel]

I'd love to be able to question somebody who is a pro in this area. For the sake of making a point, let's say that our solar system is a plate sitting on a table. Can the light dimming system of exo-planet discovery only work on a solar system that is sitting on the same table and not on the seat of a chair or on a shelf above the table level? Does that question make sense?

To answer your question: yes.
Makes perfect sense. The planetary orbits have to be on a plane that makes them go in front of the star relative to us. Like detecting a star eclipse... stars are so huge that you can only see a bit of dimming.

 

[NTS]

IIRC, yes, only some fraction of star systems will have planets that cross in front of their star so that Kepler can detect them. However the sample will be large enough that good estimates can be made of the overall numbers, sizes, etc. of planets in the galaxy. Here's the Kepler website. It has an FAQ section that discusses the planet orientation issue (and a lot of other stuff):

http://kepler.nasa.gov/