Exoplanet imaged?!

Palomar · 2005-08-08 07:20:59

*Want to see "Planet 10" (2003 UB313) moving?

"After reading about 2003 UB313, I could not resist trying to take an image of it," says Eric J. Allen of Champlain, Québec. He used his 14-inch telescope and a CCD camera to capture the blink-sequence above, which shows the motion of the 10th planet between July 31st and August 3rd.

So a 14" 'scope can see it; perhaps a 12" would be the limit? There are more images currently being hosted at spaceweather.com's homepage (the site archives everything eventually).

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-30 06:31:23

Search for planets around M dwarf stars?

*They're considering it. M dwarfs make up 70% of the galactic population (I've read that figure before and it still surprises me). They're the smallest stars known, ranging anywhere from 50% to a mere 8% of our Sun's mass (and Sol itself is a G dwarf). M dwarfs cannot be seen with the unaided eye; they are that dim.

There are 240 known M dwarfs within 33 light years of Earth. Scientists are considering extending their studies for planets around these types of stars.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-08-30 06:50:08

Right now the spacedaily link is not working and I am sure it will come back later.
The chances of planets around a Dwarf star is an interesting possibility.
[url=http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=3451]100 billion brown dwarfs
Brown dwarfs may rival the number of all normal stars in our galaxy[/url]

There are suspected ones to be even closer than Epsilon Indi, a star only 11.8 light-years away.

Palomar · 2005-09-10 07:32:57

GM Aurigae

*A star "in" the constellation Auriga, aprox 420 l/y distant, mass 1.05 times that of Sol, one million years old. Astronomers have found an infant solar system somewhat resembling our own. However --

The planets have not been imaged. Rather, the dust and the gap have been seen.

The role of giant planets in the development of a solar system is mentioned.

"GM Aurigae is essentially a much younger version of our Sun, and the gap in its disk is about the same size as the space occupied by our own giant planets," said Dan Watson, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester. "Looking at it is like looking at baby pictures of our Sun and outer solar system."

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-10-19 05:54:01

Smallest planet yet found...

*...orbiting a main-sequence star other than Sol.

This is one of the most difficult abstracts I've yet read. Thought I'd post it anyway.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-10-19 06:26:03

What is really impresive of this is the fact that they have been viewing for planets around this star for 8 years from the Keck observatory.

VRI image of IL Aqr/GJ 876 (the bright red one) an M -Drawf star.

This is where the star is located around 15.2 light-years from sol:

Palomar · 2005-10-21 05:49:07

Planets could be common around brown dwarf stars

*Study involves Spitzer, which has detected what seems to be the early stages of planet formation around brown dwarf stars; clumps of microscopic dust grains and tiny crystals are mentioned involving 5 BD's so far (6 BD's were studied).

Similar material has been seen around other newly forming stars and in our own Solar System. Despite being colder and smaller than stars like our Sun, it appears that brown dwarfs still undergo many of the same stages, including the construction of planets.

The BD's in this study average 40 to 70 Jupiter masses, range from 1 to 3 million years old, reside 520 l/y away in the constellation Chamaeleon.

The astronomers discovered that five of the six disks contain dust particles that have crystallized and are sticking together in what may be the early phases of planet assembling. They found relatively large grains and many small crystals of a mineral called olivine.
"We are seeing processed particles that are linking up and growing in size," said Dr. Ilaria Pascucci, a co-author also of the University of Arizona. "This is exciting because we weren't sure if the disks of such cool objects would behave the same way that stellar disks do.
The team also noticed a flattening of the brown dwarfs' disks, which is another sign that dust is gathering up into planets.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-11-30 10:00:47

Possible birth of tiniest solar system?

Scientists using a combination of ground-based and orbiting telescopes have discovered a failed star, less than one-hundredth the mass of the Sun, possibly in the process of forming a solar system.

Discusses scale, the possibility that planet formation around brown dwarf stars may be more common than previously thought (indications are there's a lot of them out there) and the quandry of whether a brown dwarf's offspring are planets or should be classed as "moons" instead, etc.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-12-01 06:19:26

This one is at least getting closer to the neighborhood being only 20.5 light years away. It is a Neptune size planet that is circling the star G1 581 which is a red dwarf.

Astronomers in Chile discover new planet

Palomar · 2005-12-01 06:42:20

Optical vortex coronagraph

A new optical device might allow astronomers to view extrasolar planets directly without the annoying glare of the parent star. It would do this by "nulling" out the light of the parent star by exploiting its wave nature, leaving the reflected light from the nearby planet to be observed in space-based detectors.

They've tested this at Mt. Lemon, near Tucson, on a specific celestial object.

In lab trials of the optical vortex mask, light from mock stars has been reduced by factors of 100 to 1000, while light from a nearby "planet" was unaffected.

SOHO's coronagraph works differently, but the principle seems the same.

--Cindy

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#26 2005-08-08 07:20:59

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#27 2005-08-30 06:31:23

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#28 2005-08-30 06:50:08

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#29 2005-09-10 07:32:57

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#30 2005-10-19 05:54:01

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#31 2005-10-19 06:26:03

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#32 2005-10-21 05:49:07

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#33 2005-11-30 10:00:47

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#34 2005-12-01 06:19:26

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

#35 2005-12-01 06:42:20

Re: Exoplanet imaged?!

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