Monday, May 12, 2014
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Possibly Habitable Earth-Sized Planet Discovered
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/04/17/possibly-habitable-earth-sized-planet-discovered
April 17, 2014 - Discover Magazine blog
Exoplanets are fun and all, but those hot Jupiters and super Neptunes and such are kind of beside the point. Everyone knows the real search is for a planet like ours: rocky, smallish, and capable of hosting liquid water. And now scientists have found one, named Kepler-186f — an Earth-sized planet in its star’s habitable zone, the area where conditions aren’t too hot or too cold, but just right, for liquid water to be possible.
The planet orbits a star about 500 light-years away called Kepler-186 and was discovered by the Kepler telescope (and then confirmed at the Keck and Gemini Observatories). The discovery technically includes four other exoplanets found around the star, but Kepler-186f is the only one in the habitable zone. Scientists found them all using the “transit method,” which is just basically looking at stars and waiting for planets to pass in front, dimming the star’s light a little bit.
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April 17, 2014 - Discover Magazine blog
Exoplanets are fun and all, but those hot Jupiters and super Neptunes and such are kind of beside the point. Everyone knows the real search is for a planet like ours: rocky, smallish, and capable of hosting liquid water. And now scientists have found one, named Kepler-186f — an Earth-sized planet in its star’s habitable zone, the area where conditions aren’t too hot or too cold, but just right, for liquid water to be possible.
The planet orbits a star about 500 light-years away called Kepler-186 and was discovered by the Kepler telescope (and then confirmed at the Keck and Gemini Observatories). The discovery technically includes four other exoplanets found around the star, but Kepler-186f is the only one in the habitable zone. Scientists found them all using the “transit method,” which is just basically looking at stars and waiting for planets to pass in front, dimming the star’s light a little bit.
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Kepler Has Found the First Earth-Sized Exoplanet in a Habitable Zone!
http://www.universetoday.com/111319/kepler-has-found-the-first-earth-sized-exoplanet-in-a-habitable-zone/
April 17, 2014 - Universe Today
It’s truly a “eureka” moment for Kepler scientists: the first rocky Earth-sized world has been found in a star’s habitable “Goldilocks” zone, the narrow belt where liquid water could readily exist on a planet’s surface without freezing solid or boiling away. And while it’s much too soon to tell if this really is a “twin Earth,” we can now be fairly confident that they do in fact exist.
April 17, 2014 - Universe Today
It’s truly a “eureka” moment for Kepler scientists: the first rocky Earth-sized world has been found in a star’s habitable “Goldilocks” zone, the narrow belt where liquid water could readily exist on a planet’s surface without freezing solid or boiling away. And while it’s much too soon to tell if this really is a “twin Earth,” we can now be fairly confident that they do in fact exist.
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Observatories find first possibly habitable planet outside solar system
http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system
April 17, 2014 - West Hawaii Today
April 17, 2014 - West Hawaii Today
wo
Mauna Kea observatories confirmed this week the discovery of the first
potentially habitable Earth-sized planet found outside our own solar
system.
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
Two Mauna Kea observatories
confirmed this week the discovery of the first potentially habitable
Earth-sized planet found outside our own solar system.
“What makes this finding
particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting
this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where
water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute
and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in
the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck
and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to
confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according
to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
...
Two
Mauna Kea observatories confirmed this week the discovery of the first
potentially habitable Earth-sized planet found outside our own solar
system.
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
Two
Mauna Kea observatories confirmed this week the discovery of the first
potentially habitable Earth-sized planet found outside our own solar
system.
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
wo
Mauna Kea observatories confirmed this week the discovery of the first
potentially habitable Earth-sized planet found outside our own solar
system.
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
“What makes this finding particularly compelling is that this Earth-sized planet, one of five orbiting this star, which is cooler than the sun, resides in a temperate region where water could exist in liquid form,” said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center, who led a paper on the discovery published in the current issue of the journal Science.
The Hawaii Island-based W.M. Keck and Gemini observatories participated in collecting and analyzing data to confirm the initial discovery, made using the Kepler Space Telescope, according to Keck’s communications officer, Steve Jefferson.
- See more at: http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/observatories-find-first-possibly-habitable-planet-outside-solar-system#sthash.JuoMaleC.dpuf
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Far Out! Icy World Widens Our Solar System's Frontier
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/far-out-icy-world-widens-our-solar-systems-frontier-n62286
March 26, 2014 - NBC News
More than a decade after an oddball world named Sedna was discovered on the solar system's far frontier, a fresh discovery reveals that it's not so odd after all. Sedna and the newly found object, called 2012 VP113, may well be the first of a huge new class of celestial bodies.
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Sheppard and Chad Trujillo, an astronomer at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, describe their find in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. The discovery is based on a year's worth of observations from telescopes in Chile.
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March 26, 2014 - NBC News
More than a decade after an oddball world named Sedna was discovered on the solar system's far frontier, a fresh discovery reveals that it's not so odd after all. Sedna and the newly found object, called 2012 VP113, may well be the first of a huge new class of celestial bodies.
...
Sheppard and Chad Trujillo, an astronomer at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, describe their find in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. The discovery is based on a year's worth of observations from telescopes in Chile.
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Discovery of new dwarf planet hints at other objects in solar system
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-oort-cloud-planet-20140327,0,11548.story
March 26, 2014 - LA Times
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The new dwarf planet, dubbed 2012 VP113 and described in a study published in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, helps confirm the existence of an "inner Oort cloud" in an interplanetary no man's land that was once thought to be barren but could be teeming with rocky objects.
"We had high hopes, and our hopes were confirmed," said Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, who co-wrote the paper with Chadwick Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii.
March 26, 2014 - LA Times
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The new dwarf planet, dubbed 2012 VP113 and described in a study published in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, helps confirm the existence of an "inner Oort cloud" in an interplanetary no man's land that was once thought to be barren but could be teeming with rocky objects.
"We had high hopes, and our hopes were confirmed," said Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, who co-wrote the paper with Chadwick Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii.
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Dwarf planet discovered at solar system's edge
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/26/tech/innovation/dwarf-planet-solar-system/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
March 27, 2014 - CNN
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The dwarf planet's current name is 2012 VP113, and it is located in a "wasteland or badland of the solar system," said astronomer Chad Trujillo, head of adaptive optics at Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and co-discoverer of this object. His study was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
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March 27, 2014 - CNN
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The dwarf planet's current name is 2012 VP113, and it is located in a "wasteland or badland of the solar system," said astronomer Chad Trujillo, head of adaptive optics at Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and co-discoverer of this object. His study was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
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