Part of the reason astronomers are looking for exoplanets, particularly exoplanets similar to earth is to determine whether there are other planets outside of earth that can sustain life. To accomplish this goal, an exoplanet must meet a few requirements. One of this requirements is for a planet to hold life similar to that on earth, it needs to sit in the habitable zone of its host star, in what astronomers refer to as the ‘goldilocks zone’. This is the area in space in which the planet needs to orbit its host star that is not too close nor too far from its star. This will allow it to have optimal temperatures, gravitational pulls and hopefully, liquid water. A planet also needs to have a solid surface and the right amount of atmospheric pressure. Astronomers know that liquid water is a key component in the survival of all life on earth and therefore, likely on other planets too meaning that liquid water is an important factor in a planet …show more content…
Some types of exoplanets include; rocky planets that are typically earth-sized or smaller. Most of these rocky planets are found in tight orbits, close to their hosts suns. These planets are likely more similar to venus than to earth because of this. The most sought out kind of exoplanets are those that earth-like, a similar size to earth and a similar distance from its host star. These planets are the most likely to be able to host extraterrestrial life however, because they are smaller and further away from their host star, they are harder to find. Super-earths are exoplanets that are much larger than earth but still found in the habitable zone of its host star. These super-earth may be good candidates for life. The most commonly found exoplanet type are hot jupiters. Hot jupiters are similar size to jupiter and are likely gaseous and very hot as they commonly orbit close to their host stars. They are easy to find due to their size and orbits as They block more light from their host stars that smaller and further away
Gliese 581 c is an exoplanet orbiting around a red dwarf star called Gliese 581. It is categorized as a super-Earth, a planet that is between 5 and 10 times the mass of Earth. This could be a potential home for humanity in the future, because it is thought to be in the goldilocks zone. However, it is tidally locked to its star, causing one side to be extremely hot and one side to be extremely cold.
Herschel, an amateur astronomer, was not seeking to discover a new planet. Besides general curiosity, his motivations appear to be money, prestige, and power. He was looking for double stars as a way to measure stellar parallax. He had built his own 7ft reflector telescope which he moved to his house in Bath. There he discovered what would later be called Uranus.
I found the article Winter Wonderworlds extremely fascinating as I have a keen interest in the study of space. I believe that the author took an interesting interpretation of the study of other planets and moons that could appeal to all audiences. For a good understanding of this article it would be helpful to have prior knowledge of the planets and moons in our solar system and a good understanding of astronomy. However, it is not necessary that you understand these points when reading the article as the article explains these things in a basic way. This article I found made several good points about what the other planets and moons in our solar system are like on the surface.
The discovery of Uranus was a pretty big achievement for the astronomical world. It showed many that there was the possibility of many other planets existing in our solar system past Saturn. There wasn’t really that much thought put into identifying other planets past Saturn since almost everyone did not think that there would be planets out there. This all changed after William Herschel’s discovery in 1781. While it does mark an important achievement for the astronomical world, I do not think that he was really intending on finding a new planet, since it was generally accepted that there were not more for the past 2,000 years.
Last but not least, the object must have “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit of other objects. Pluto can’t be a planet also because it's surrounded by other planets the same size and shape. Which according to USA today cannot be considered a planet. Pluto also tends to go into Neptune's orbit. Which means that Pluto isn’t a planet because “true”
Jedi The Juno Mission is a huge mission to see what the origin and evolution of Jupiter is and to trace our solar system 's history. Nasa’s scientist hope to see why Jupiter has the most radiation (Earth has 0.39 of cosmic radiation and Jupiter is expected to have 20,000,000 of a Rad over the course of the Juno mission). Juno will be the first ever mission that gets within 3,000 miles of Jupiter 's cloud tops. The Mission is going to be just the beginning of a huge scientific exploration of Jupiter and our solar system.
Many people also say that having moons is also something that should define if celestial objects should be thought of as planets. Finally from CNN they interviewed Alan Stern, a member of NASA, who
Also in our Solar System there is the asteroid belt and much much more. We are currently trying to study all of the planets by sending an AI. But we need to start focusing on one planet, and that planet I believe should be Pluto. The planet Pluto, is not actually considered a planet. Since it is so small and is two-thirds of Earth’s moon diameter it is better known as a dwarf planet.
And this is a reasonable point. However, The same thing could be said for the ocean, after all it’s mostly unexplored. In Oceanservice the author states that more than 70% of the planet’s surface is water and we explored less than 20% of
Kepler 2.B (Kepler System 22B) Kepler 2.B Or Kepler System 22B is a gigantic gas planet in the Kepler Galaxy Solar System. The “Hubble” Telescope is the only and soon to be the 1st telescope launched into space and went to look at Kepler 2.B. Just a quick tip- if you want to learn more about Kepler 2.B, DO NOT use Google! You may search for Kepler 2.B and there will be a search that says “NASA.Kepler Spacecraft. Kepler 2b”
Through these findings it was able to be determined that the planet Theia (A planet that collided with the earth) was “very close to the size of Mars” (Wiechert
Saturn is the second largest planet and sixth number planet of our solar system. Saturn is a gas giant made up of hydrogen and helium. It is big enough to hold more than 760 Earths within it, and is second massive planet after Jupiter, roughly 95 times Earth 's mass. However, Saturn has the lowest density among all the planets of solar system .It spins faster than any other planet except Jupiter which help Saturn with its magnetic field which is about 578 times more powerful than Earth 's. Although Saturn has at least 62 moons but its largest moon, Titan, is slightly bigger than Mercury, and is the second-largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter 's moon Ganymede (our moon is fifth largest).Although it is the most interesting planet
Kepler-425b is the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun. The habitable zone is a region around a star where temperatures are right for water- an essential ingredient for life, as we know it- to pool on the surface. However, scientists do not know if Kepler-452b can support life or not.
1. How are the outer planets similar to each other? The outer planets are similar to each other as they all have significant amounts of hydrogen and helium in their atmosphere. All the outer planets are believed to have a rock core.