\nBy the way, when you follow the Wikipedia link, you will see that there is some doubt now if this planet\u00a0 really exists.<\/p>\n
In March\u00a0 2009, a satellite has been launched with a mission to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. It was named\u00a0 , very appropriately,\u00a0 the Kepler satellite<\/a><\/p>\n Here is the satellite, note the size of the humans<\/p>\n How to discover planets? The stars may be hundreds of light-years away. Planets will not be directly visible at that distance. An ambitious program, right? The Kepler approach will be, to look at the intensity of the starlight and at the dip in this intensity during the passage of the planet. Well, it works!! Now, do NOT<\/strong> be fooled by the “artist impressions” of these planets.The blueish, watery color of several candidates is not based on any factual information about the presence of water. By the way, note that Gliese 581 d is still in the list (outer edge of the habitable zone), but Gliese 581 g is no longer mentioned.<\/p>\n And also Kepler 22-b<\/a> is not there, because that is the recent discovery, announced last week, that caused so much excitement.<\/p>\n Why the excitement? Here is a sketch<\/p>\n a) The star Kepler 22 is very similar to our Sun, in size and temperature Again, the image of Kepler-22b in the above picture is an artist impression<\/strong>! Hm. Then I like this report better: Kepler 22b: probably not home to interesting aliens<\/a><\/p>\n Here are a few more links Do you want to help? Kepler is monitoring more than 150.000 stars, and is using computer software to look at recurring “dips” in the received starlight. A huge job. Humans are still better in pattern recognition. So why not become a planet hunter yourself<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is quite a long time ago that I have reported to you about interesting science topics! Much of this year has been quiet, but that might change. So expect a few posts..:-) 1. Probably you have heard about neutrino’s … Continue reading
\nHere is the procedure followed by the Kepler mission:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/kepler.jpg\" "\\"kepler\\"")
<\/a>1. When a star has a planet,\u00a0 the orbit of this planet can be such that it passes between Earth and the star.
\n2. In that case, the amount of star light reaching the earth will be slightly reduced during passage of the planet.
\n3. Measure the light intensity of the star. If there are periodic (minuscule) dips, it could be because of a planet passing. This will give the period of the planet. How large the dip is, will tell us something about the size of the planet.
\n4. When you know the mass of the star, Kepler’s third law will give you the radius of the planetary orbit, so you can draw conclusions if the planet is in the habitable zone of its star.<\/p>\n
\nIn 2004, our own planet Venus passed between the Sun and Earth.
\nWith a group of friends we have been watching the event. You must take precautions not to be blinded by the sunlight.
\nHere is what we managed to see. The black dot in the sun’s image is Venus.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/venus_transit.jpg\" "\\"venus_transit\\""){kind=spacer}
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nNot easy. “This is akin to sensing the drop in brightness of a car\u2019s headlight when a fruitfly moves in front of it<\/span>“<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\nUntil now, more than two thousand of so-called K<\/strong>epler O<\/strong>bjects of I<\/strong>nterest (KOI’s), have been found. Not all of those will be planets.
\nHere is a preliminary list of potential habitable planets, found until December 2011.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/kepler_list.jpg\" "\\"kepler_list\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe Kepler data give information about the size of the planet and its location within the habitable zone. It’s amazing that this can be done, for a star that maybe at a distance of hundreds of lightyears, but that’s it, for the time being.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/kepler-22b.jpg\" "\\"kepler")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nb) Kepler 22-b is within the habitable zone of the star
\nc) The planet is still larger than earth, but not much larger. So it could<\/strong> be a rocky planet. (Large planets, Jupiter size, will be gaseous) A rocky structure and liquid water are often seen as prerequisites for the development of life.<\/p>\n
\nKeep that in mind when you read\u00a0 reports like Human-like Life Could Exist on Newly-discovered Planet<\/a>
\nWith this quote: “A newly-discovered Earth-like planet could very well contain continental features where normal human-like life<\/strong> could exist. Or it\u00a0 could be more of a water world with an ocean containing life forms similar to dolphins<\/strong><\/em>”<\/p>\n
\nThe official website of the Kepler Mission<\/a> ,well-designed, very interesting.
\nThe website of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory<\/a><\/p>\n