by Scientists have created a first-of-its-kind catalog of extrasolar planets that show similar sizes to Earth and are watched over by a “big sister,” a planet like Jupiter. Called the Kepler Giant Planet Search, the catalog took ten years to compile. .
finding extrasolar planets, or “exoplanet,” in such formations while orbiting a star, the team says, could be a critical part of our ongoing search for life elsewhere in the universe. The Milky Way. This is because Jupiter has been identified as a key element in allowing life to develop here World.
The IS gas giantearly gravitational influence Solar system, scientists believe, helped slingshot rocky and icy debris towards the young sun. These pieces were the building blocks that allowed the primordial Earth to form. In addition, some of this debris may also have carried the key components to life as we know it, such as water and basic components of complex molecules.
“This catalog is the first of its kind and an unprecedented opportunity to explore the diversity of planetary systems out there with solar system-like objects, but not exactly the solar system, and it provides an opportunity for us to rewrite the story. on how the planets form,” Lauren Weiss, team leader and assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, said in a statement. “The scientific question I’ve been trying to answer for the past ten years is: Of the other small Earth-like planets out there, which of them are Jupiter brothers? Because this could be an important characteristic to look for, if we want to figure out where to come to life.”
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Looking at ‘wobbly stars’ to see distant planets
Weiss and his colleagues built the catalog using data collected by the WM Keck Observatory located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to record the radial velocities – the speed at which an object moves away from Earth – of 63 solar-like objects. stars which together are known to host 157 minor planets.
These planets range in size from about Marswhich is slightly smaller in size than the Earth, to about a diameter Neptune — which is four times the size of our planet. Some of these worlds are thought to have solid rocky surfaces that could support life as we know it. In their analysis, the researchers also saw 13 Jupiter-like planets, eight Neptune-sized worlds and three companion stars hanging around the main target star objects.
Despite their enormous sizes, planets like Jupiter can be difficult to see when they are located far away from their stars or when they do not regularly cross, aka “transit”, the face of their parent stellar bodies from our vantage point on Earth. Furthermore, if these planets are inclined, the diminutions in starlight they create as they transit their star are small and easy.
The method the team used, the radial velocity technique, measures the change in light from a star that a planet makes as gravity tugs on that star, causing it to “wobble” a bit and move back and forth from Earth.
“Jupiter is big, and they pull a lot on the stars that we can measure. We can find them if we do many, many measurements over timeand that’s exactly what I had to do,” Weiss said.
For each star the team used, Weiss and his colleagues had to measure the light transition for at least 10 nights — and sometimes as long as several hundred nights while controlling the Keck telescope from remote observing stations . The length of time a star was studied depended on the star, according to Weiss.
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As well as the discovery of Jupiter-like planets and delivering a catalog of Earth-like worlds with big sibling worlds, the research carried out by this team is the lead paper in the Kepler Giant Planet Search and will therefore form the basis for further research here. . Some of the future papers will focus on the orbital structure of distant planetary systems, while others will help refine planetary detection methods. Some will also coordinate partnerships of major and minor planets.
“Probably the thing I’m most excited about is revisiting this story of how the Earth was formed,” Weiss concluded. “Now that we know more about the other types of planetary systems out there, we’re looking for patterns, making new discoveries, and these possibilities really excite me.”
The team’s research is to be published in the Astrophysical Journal.
