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Where Are the Distant Worlds? Star Maps
W here Are the Distant Worlds? Star Maps Abo ut the Activity Whe re are the distant worlds in the night sky? Use a star map to find constellations and to identify stars with extrasolar planets. (Northern Hemisphere only, naked eye) Topics Covered • How to find Constellations • Where we have found planets around other stars Participants Adults, teens, families with children 8 years and up If a school/youth group, 10 years and older 1 to 4 participants per map Materials Needed Location and Timing • Current month's Star Map for the Use this activity at a star party on a public (included) dark, clear night. Timing depends only • At least one set Planetary on how long you want to observe. Postcards with Key (included) • A small (red) flashlight • (Optional) Print list of Visible Stars with Planets (included) Included in This Packet Page Detailed Activity Description 2 Helpful Hints 4 Background Information 5 Planetary Postcards 7 Key Planetary Postcards 9 Star Maps 20 Visible Stars With Planets 33 © 2008 Astronomical Society of the Pacific www.astrosociety.org Copies for educational purposes are permitted. Additional astronomy activities can be found here: http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov Detailed Activity Description Leader’s Role Participants’ Roles (Anticipated) Introduction: To Ask: Who has heard that scientists have found planets around stars other than our own Sun? How many of these stars might you think have been found? Anyone ever see a star that has planets around it? (our own Sun, some may know of other stars) We can’t see the planets around other stars, but we can see the star. -
100 Closest Stars Designation R.A
100 closest stars Designation R.A. Dec. Mag. Common Name 1 Gliese+Jahreis 551 14h30m –62°40’ 11.09 Proxima Centauri Gliese+Jahreis 559 14h40m –60°50’ 0.01, 1.34 Alpha Centauri A,B 2 Gliese+Jahreis 699 17h58m 4°42’ 9.53 Barnard’s Star 3 Gliese+Jahreis 406 10h56m 7°01’ 13.44 Wolf 359 4 Gliese+Jahreis 411 11h03m 35°58’ 7.47 Lalande 21185 5 Gliese+Jahreis 244 6h45m –16°49’ -1.43, 8.44 Sirius A,B 6 Gliese+Jahreis 65 1h39m –17°57’ 12.54, 12.99 BL Ceti, UV Ceti 7 Gliese+Jahreis 729 18h50m –23°50’ 10.43 Ross 154 8 Gliese+Jahreis 905 23h45m 44°11’ 12.29 Ross 248 9 Gliese+Jahreis 144 3h33m –9°28’ 3.73 Epsilon Eridani 10 Gliese+Jahreis 887 23h06m –35°51’ 7.34 Lacaille 9352 11 Gliese+Jahreis 447 11h48m 0°48’ 11.13 Ross 128 12 Gliese+Jahreis 866 22h39m –15°18’ 13.33, 13.27, 14.03 EZ Aquarii A,B,C 13 Gliese+Jahreis 280 7h39m 5°14’ 10.7 Procyon A,B 14 Gliese+Jahreis 820 21h07m 38°45’ 5.21, 6.03 61 Cygni A,B 15 Gliese+Jahreis 725 18h43m 59°38’ 8.90, 9.69 16 Gliese+Jahreis 15 0h18m 44°01’ 8.08, 11.06 GX Andromedae, GQ Andromedae 17 Gliese+Jahreis 845 22h03m –56°47’ 4.69 Epsilon Indi A,B,C 18 Gliese+Jahreis 1111 8h30m 26°47’ 14.78 DX Cancri 19 Gliese+Jahreis 71 1h44m –15°56’ 3.49 Tau Ceti 20 Gliese+Jahreis 1061 3h36m –44°31’ 13.09 21 Gliese+Jahreis 54.1 1h13m –17°00’ 12.02 YZ Ceti 22 Gliese+Jahreis 273 7h27m 5°14’ 9.86 Luyten’s Star 23 SO 0253+1652 2h53m 16°53’ 15.14 24 SCR 1845-6357 18h45m –63°58’ 17.40J 25 Gliese+Jahreis 191 5h12m –45°01’ 8.84 Kapteyn’s Star 26 Gliese+Jahreis 825 21h17m –38°52’ 6.67 AX Microscopii 27 Gliese+Jahreis 860 22h28m 57°42’ 9.79, -
The Search for Exomoons and the Characterization of Exoplanet Atmospheres
Corso di Laurea Specialistica in Astronomia e Astrofisica The search for exomoons and the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres Relatore interno : dott. Alessandro Melchiorri Relatore esterno : dott.ssa Giovanna Tinetti Candidato: Giammarco Campanella Anno Accademico 2008/2009 The search for exomoons and the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres Giammarco Campanella Dipartimento di Fisica Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza” Associate at Department of Physics & Astronomy University College London A thesis submitted for the MSc Degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics September 4th, 2009 Università degli Studi di Roma ―La Sapienza‖ Abstract THE SEARCH FOR EXOMOONS AND THE CHARACTERIZATION OF EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES by Giammarco Campanella Since planets were first discovered outside our own Solar System in 1992 (around a pulsar) and in 1995 (around a main sequence star), extrasolar planet studies have become one of the most dynamic research fields in astronomy. Our knowledge of extrasolar planets has grown exponentially, from our understanding of their formation and evolution to the development of different methods to detect them. Now that more than 370 exoplanets have been discovered, focus has moved from finding planets to characterise these alien worlds. As well as detecting the atmospheres of these exoplanets, part of the characterisation process undoubtedly involves the search for extrasolar moons. The structure of the thesis is as follows. In Chapter 1 an historical background is provided and some general aspects about ongoing situation in the research field of extrasolar planets are shown. In Chapter 2, various detection techniques such as radial velocity, microlensing, astrometry, circumstellar disks, pulsar timing and magnetospheric emission are described. A special emphasis is given to the transit photometry technique and to the two already operational transit space missions, CoRoT and Kepler. -
Dynamical Stability of the Inner Belt Around Epsilon Eridani
A&A 499, L13–L16 (2009) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200811609 & c ESO 2009 Astrophysics Letter to the Editor Dynamical stability of the inner belt around Epsilon Eridani M. Brogi1, F. Marzari2, and P. Paolicchi1 1 University of Pisa, Department of Physics, Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] 2 University of Padua, Department of Physics, via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padua, Italy e-mail: [email protected] Received 31 December 2008 / Accepted 17 April 2009 ABSTRACT Context. Recent observations with Spitzer and the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory have discovered the presence of a dust belt at about 3 AU, internal to the orbit of known exoplanet Eri b. Aims. We investigate via numerical simulations the dynamical stability of a putative belt of minor bodies, as the collisional source of the observed dust ring. This belt must be located inside the orbit of the planet, since any external source would be ineffective in resupplying the inner dust band. Methods. We explore the long-term behaviour of the minor bodies of the belt and how their lifetime depends on the orbital parameters of the planet, in particular for reaching a steady state. Results. Our computations show that for an eccentricity of Eri b equal or higher than 0.15, the source belt is severely depleted of its original mass and substantially reduced in width. A “dynamical” limit of 0.10 comes out, which is inconsistent with the first estimate of the planet eccentricity (0.70 ± 0.04), while the alternate value (0.23 ± 0.2) can be consistent within the uncertainties. -
Exoplanet Community Report
JPL Publication 09‐3 Exoplanet Community Report Edited by: P. R. Lawson, W. A. Traub and S. C. Unwin National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California March 2009 The work described in this publication was performed at a number of organizations, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Publication was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Compiling and publication support was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. © 2009. All rights reserved. The exoplanet community’s top priority is that a line of probeclass missions for exoplanets be established, leading to a flagship mission at the earliest opportunity. iii Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 EXOPLANET FORUM 2008: THE PROCESS OF CONSENSUS BEGINS.....................................................2 -
Starshade Rendezvous Probe
Starshade Rendezvous Probe Starshade Rendezvous Probe Study Report Imaging and Spectra of Exoplanets Orbiting our Nearest Sunlike Star Neighbors with a Starshade in the 2020s February 2019 TEAM MEMBERS Principal Investigators Sara Seager, Massachusetts Institute of Technology N. Jeremy Kasdin, Princeton University Co-Investigators Jeff Booth, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Matt Greenhouse, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Doug Lisman, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Bruce Macintosh, Stanford University Stuart Shaklan, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Melissa Vess, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Steve Warwick, Northrop Grumman Corporation David Webb, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Study Team Andrew Romero-Wolf, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory John Ziemer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Andrew Gray, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Michael Hughes, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Greg Agnes, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Jon Arenberg, Northrop Grumman Corporation Samuel (Case) Bradford, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Michael Fong, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Jennifer Gregory, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Steve Matousek, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Jonathan Murphy, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Jason Rhodes, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dan Scharf, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Phil Willems, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Science Team Simone D'Amico, Stanford University John Debes, Space Telescope Science Institute Shawn Domagal-Goldman, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Sergi Hildebrandt, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Renyu Hu, NASA -
THE SEARCH for EXOMOON RADIO EMISSIONS by JOAQUIN P. NOYOLA Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University Of
THE SEARCH FOR EXOMOON RADIO EMISSIONS by JOAQUIN P. NOYOLA Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2015 Copyright © by Joaquin P. Noyola 2015 All Rights Reserved ii Dedicated to my wife Thao Noyola, my son Layton, my daughter Allison, and our future little ones. iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the people who have helped throughout my career at UTA, including my advising professors Dr. Zdzislaw Musielak (Ph.D.), and Dr. Qiming Zhang (M.Sc.) for their advice and guidance. Many thanks to my committee members Dr. Andrew Brandt, Dr. Manfred Cuntz, and Dr. Alex Weiss for your interest and for your time. Also many thanks to Dr. Suman Satyal, my collaborator and friend, for all the fruitful discussions we have had throughout the years. I would like to thank my wife, Thao Noyola, for her love, her help, and her understanding through these six years of marriage and graduate school. October 19, 2015 iv Abstract THE SEARCH FOR EXOMOON RADIO EMISSIONS Joaquin P. Noyola, PhD The University of Texas at Arlington, 2015 Supervising Professor: Zdzislaw Musielak The field of exoplanet detection has seen many new developments since the discovery of the first exoplanet. Observational surveys by the NASA Kepler Mission and several other instrument have led to the confirmation of over 1900 exoplanets, and several thousands of exoplanet potential candidates. All this progress, however, has yet to provide the first confirmed exomoon. -
Signatures of Giant Planets on the Solar System Kuiper Belt Dust Disk and Implications for Extrasolar Planet in Epsilon Eridani
Lunar and Planetary Science XXX 1698.pdf SIGNATURES OF GIANT PLANETS ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM KUIPER BELT DUST DISK AND IMPLICATIONS FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANET IN EPSILON ERIDANI. J.-C. Liou1 and H. A. Zook2, 1GB Tech/Lockheed Martin, C104 Lockheed Martin, 2400 NASA Rd. One, Houston, TX 77058, 2SN2, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77052. Summary: One method to detect extrasolar Dust disks in Beta Pictoris, Epsilon Eridani, planetary systems is to deduce the perturbations of and other systems are analogues to our Solar Sys- planets on the observed circumstellar dust disks. tem’s Kuiper Belt dust disk. Therefore, it is of Our Solar System, with its known configuration of great interest to understanding how the Kuiper planets, provide an excellent example to study how Belt IDP distribution is affected by the giant plan- the distribution of dust particles is affected by the ets in our Solar System. We have numerically existence of different planets. Numerical simula- simulated the orbital evolution of Kuiper Belt tions of the orbital evolution of dust particles from IDPs, including gravitational perturbations from 7 Kuiper Belt objects show that the four giant plan- planets (Mercury and Pluto are not included due to ets, especially Neptune and Jupiter, impose distinct their small masses), solar radiation pressure, and and dramatic signatures on the overall distribution PR and solar wind drag. Dust particles range from of Kuiper belt dust particles. The signatures are 3 to 23 micrometers in diameter. For a given size, very similar to those observed in Epsilon Eridani. 100 IDPs are included in the simulations. -
Planetquest Outreach Toolkit Manual and Resources Cd
Outreach ToolKit Manual DISTRIBUTED FOR MEMBERS OF THE NASA NIGHT SKY NETWORK THE NIGHT SKY NETWORK IS SPONSORED AND SUPPORTED BY JPL'S PLANETQUEST PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM. PLANETQUEST IS A PART OF JPL’S NAVIGATOR PROGRAM, WHICH ENCOMPASSES SEVERAL OF NASA'S EXTRA-SOLAR PLANET- FINDING MISSIONS, INCLUDING THE KECK INTERFEROMETER, THE SPACE INTERFEROMETRY MISSION (SIM), THE TERRESTRIAL PLANET FINDER (TPF), THE LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE INTERFEROMETER (LBTI), AND THE MICHELSON SCIENCE CENTER. NASA NIGHT SKY NETWORK: http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/ PLANETQUEST: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/ Contacts The non-profit Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), one of the nation’s leading organizations devoted to astronomy and space science education, is managing the Night Sky Network in cooperation with JPL. Learn more about the ASP at http://www.astrosociety.org. For support contact: Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) 390 Ashton Avenue San Francisco, CA 94112 415-337-1100 ext. 116 [email protected] Copyright © 2004 NASA/JPL and Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Copies of this manual and documents may be made for educational and public outreach purposes only and are to be supplied at no charge to participants. Any other use is not permitted. CREDITS: All photos and images in the ToolKit Manual unless otherwise noted are provided courtesy of Marni Berendsen and Rich Berendsen. Your Club’s Membership in the NASA Night Sky Network Welcome to the NASA Night Sky Network! Your membership in the Night Sky Network will provide many opportunities for your club to expand its public education and outreach. Your club has at least two members who are the Night Sky Network Club Coordinators. -
Astronomy 2009 Index
Astronomy Magazine 2009 Index Subject Index 1RXS J160929.1-210524 (star), 1:24 4C 60.07 (galaxy pair), 2:24 6dFGS (Six Degree Field Galaxy Survey), 8:18 21-centimeter (neutral hydrogen) tomography, 12:10 93 Minerva (asteroid), 12:18 2008 TC3 (asteroid), 1:24 2009 FH (asteroid), 7:19 A Abell 21 (Medusa Nebula), 3:70 Abell 1656 (Coma galaxy cluster), 3:8–9, 6:16 Allen Telescope Array (ATA) radio telescope, 12:10 ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array), 4:21, 9:19 Alpha (α) Canis Majoris (Sirius) (star), 2:68, 10:77 Alpha (α) Orionis (star). See Betelgeuse (Alpha [α] Orionis) (star) Alpha Centauri (star), 2:78 amateur astronomy, 10:18, 11:48–53, 12:19, 56 Andromeda Galaxy (M31) merging with Milky Way, 3:51 midpoint between Milky Way Galaxy and, 1:62–63 ultraviolet images of, 12:22 Antarctic Neumayer Station III, 6:19 Anthe (moon of Saturn), 1:21 Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), 4:24 APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) radio telescope, 3:19 Apollo missions, 8:19 AR11005 (sunspot group), 11:79 Arches Cluster, 10:22 Ares launch system, 1:37, 3:19, 9:19 Ariane 5 rocket, 4:21 Arianespace SA, 4:21 Armstrong, Neil A., 2:20 Arp 147 (galaxy pair), 2:20 Arp 194 (galaxy group), 8:21 art, cosmology-inspired, 5:10 ASPERA (Astroparticle European Research Area), 1:26 asteroids. See also names of specific asteroids binary, 1:32–33 close approach to Earth, 6:22, 7:19 collision with Jupiter, 11:20 collisions with Earth, 1:24 composition of, 10:55 discovery of, 5:21 effect of environment on surface of, 8:22 measuring distant, 6:23 moons orbiting, -
The Detectability of Nightside City Lights on Exoplanets
Draft version September 6, 2021 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX63 The Detectability of Nightside City Lights on Exoplanets Thomas G. Beatty1 1Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; [email protected] ABSTRACT Next-generation missions designed to detect biosignatures on exoplanets will also be capable of plac- ing constraints on the presence of technosignatures (evidence for technological life) on these same worlds. Here, I estimate the detectability of nightside city lights on habitable, Earth-like, exoplan- ets around nearby stars using direct-imaging observations from the proposed LUVOIR and HabEx observatories. I use data from the Soumi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite to determine the surface flux from city lights at the top of Earth's atmosphere, and the spectra of commercially available high-power lamps to model the spectral energy distribution of the city lights. I consider how the detectability scales with urbanization fraction: from Earth's value of 0.05%, up to the limiting case of an ecumenopolis { or planet-wide city. I then calculate the minimum detectable urbanization fraction using 300 hours of observing time for generic Earth-analogs around stars within 8 pc of the Sun, and for nearby known potentially habitable planets. Though Earth itself would not be detectable by LUVOIR or HabEx, planets around M-dwarfs close to the Sun would show detectable signals from city lights for urbanization levels of 0.4% to 3%, while city lights on planets around nearby Sun-like stars would be detectable at urbanization levels of & 10%. The known planet Proxima b is a particu- larly compelling target for LUVOIR A observations, which would be able to detect city lights twelve times that of Earth in 300 hours, an urbanization level that is expected to occur on Earth around the mid-22nd-century. -
Epsilon Eridani's Planetary Debris Disk: Structure and Dynamics Based on Spitzer and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory Observa
The Astrophysical Journal,690:1522–1538,2009January10 doi:10.1088/0004-637/690/2/1522 c 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. ! EPSILON ERIDANI’S PLANETARY DEBRIS DISK: STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS BASED ON SPITZER AND CALTECH SUBMILLIMETER OBSERVATORY OBSERVATIONS D. Backman1,M.Marengo2,K.Stapelfeldt3,K.Su4, D. Wilner2,C.D.Dowell3, D. Watson5,J.Stansberry4, G. Rieke4,T.Megeath2,6,G.Fazio2,andM.Werner3 1 Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy & SETI Institute, 515 North Whisman Road, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA 2 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 3 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA 4 Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA 5 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA Received 2008 May 25; accepted 2008 September 8; published 2008 December 22 ABSTRACT Spitzer and Caltech Submillimeter Observatory images and spectrophotometry of ! Eridani at wavelengths from 3.5 to 350 µmrevealnewdetailsofitsbrightdebrisdisk.The350µmmapconfirmsthepresenceofaring at r 11""–28""(35–90 AU), observed previously at longer sub-mm wavelengths. The Spitzer mid-IR and far- IR images= do not show the ring, but rather a featureless disk extending from within a few arcsec of the star across the ring to r 34"" (110 AU). The spectral energy distribution (SED) of the debris system implies acomplexstructure.AmodelconstrainedbythesurfacebrightnessprofilesandtheSEDindicatesthatthe∼ sub-mm ring emission is primarily from large (a 135 µm) grains, with smaller (a 15 µm) grains also present in and beyond the ring.