The $8.8 billion JWST features 18 hexagonal mirror segments that will work together to form one 21-foot-wide (6.5 meters) mirror — larger than any other mirror that's ever flown in space, NASA officials said. (For comparison, the agency's iconic Hubble Space Telescope sports an 8-foot, or 2.4 m, primary mirror.)
JWST is optimized to view in infrared light. The telescope should be able to do lots of different things during its operational life, researchers say, including scanning the atmospheres of alien planets for oxygen and other gases that could be produced by living organisms. (Such delicate work is best performed by space telescopes, which don't have to look through Earth's atmosphere.)
A star, named KIC 8462852, has been found with a highly curious transit signal. In a paper submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers, including citizen scientists from the Planet Hunters crowdsourcing program, report: “Over the duration of the Kepler mission, KIC 8462852 was observed to undergo irregularly shaped, aperiodic dips in flux down to below the 20 percent level.”
It is not a planet, but is the most recent article about kepler's discoveries
Do you think that scientists should keep searching for more exoplanets? I'm curious as to know whether you think they should stop and leave it as is or if they should keep exploring.
The search for life elsewhere in the universe is on the cusp of a new era: When scientists will have the opportunity to study the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets with future, technologically advanced telescopes. Humans have no foreseeable way to travel to these worlds to study them up close, but the chemical mixtures that surround them may reveal the presence of life. so I think yes they should keep doing this.
“mini-Neptunes” as Marcy called them, represent a huge sample in the Kepler data; about 75% of the planets found by Kepler vary in size between the Earth and Neptune, and for four years since the Kepler data have been rolling in, scientists have been trying to understand these planets.
The transit method of detecting exoplanets, responsible for the majority of our exoplanet discoveries so far. Of course, for distant stars, there's no way the naked human eye would be able to reliably detect a dimming in the amount of light we see, so scientists rely on telescopes (notably, the Kepler space telescope) and other instruments to collect and analyze this data.
This, is essence, is the transit method of detecting exoplanets, responsible for the majority of our exoplanet discoveries so far. Of course, for distant stars, there's no way the naked human eye would be able to reliably detect a dimming in the amount of light we see, so scientists rely on telescopes (notably, the Kepler space telescope) and other instruments to collect and analyze this data.
Can exoplanets be viewed through an infrared telescope? If so, must the telescope be in space or could it be viewed from Earth?
ReplyDeleteThe $8.8 billion JWST features 18 hexagonal mirror segments that will work together to form one 21-foot-wide (6.5 meters) mirror — larger than any other mirror that's ever flown in space, NASA officials said. (For comparison, the agency's iconic Hubble Space Telescope sports an 8-foot, or 2.4 m, primary mirror.)
DeleteJWST is optimized to view in infrared light. The telescope should be able to do lots of different things during its operational life, researchers say, including scanning the atmospheres of alien planets for oxygen and other gases that could be produced by living organisms. (Such delicate work is best performed by space telescopes, which don't have to look through Earth's atmosphere.)
What was the most recent exoplanet to be discovered?
ReplyDeleteA star, named KIC 8462852, has been found with a highly curious transit signal. In a paper submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers, including citizen scientists from the Planet Hunters crowdsourcing program, report: “Over the duration of the Kepler mission, KIC 8462852 was observed to undergo irregularly shaped, aperiodic dips in flux down to below the 20 percent level.”
DeleteIt is not a planet, but is the most recent article about kepler's discoveries
Do you think that scientists should keep searching for more exoplanets? I'm curious as to know whether you think they should stop and leave it as is or if they should keep exploring.
ReplyDeleteThe search for life elsewhere in the universe is on the cusp of a new era: When scientists will have the opportunity to study the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets with future, technologically advanced telescopes. Humans have no foreseeable way to travel to these worlds to study them up close, but the chemical mixtures that surround them may reveal the presence of life. so I think yes they should keep doing this.
DeleteWhat is the most common type of exoplanet found?
ReplyDelete“mini-Neptunes” as Marcy called them, represent a huge sample in the Kepler data; about 75% of the planets found by Kepler vary in size between the Earth and Neptune, and for four years since the Kepler data have been rolling in, scientists have been trying to understand these planets.
DeleteWhat technique is used to confirm how old an exoplanet is ?
ReplyDeleteThe transit method of detecting exoplanets, responsible for the majority of our exoplanet discoveries so far. Of course, for distant stars, there's no way the naked human eye would be able to reliably detect a dimming in the amount of light we see, so scientists rely on telescopes (notably, the Kepler space telescope) and other instruments to collect and analyze this data.
DeleteWhat technique is used to confirm how old an exoplanet is ?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis, is essence, is the transit method of detecting exoplanets, responsible for the majority of our exoplanet discoveries so far. Of course, for distant stars, there's no way the naked human eye would be able to reliably detect a dimming in the amount of light we see, so scientists rely on telescopes (notably, the Kepler space telescope) and other instruments to collect and analyze this data.
Delete