Kepler 22b
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Join date : 2010-02-28
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First Alien Earth soon...
BoG Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:47 pm
First 'alien Earth' will be found by 2014, expert predicts
Optimism of pinpointing 'Goldilocks planet' just right for possible life as we know it is high
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46954030/ns/technology_and_science-space/?ocid=todmsnbc11
The first true "alien Earth" will likely be discovered in the next two years, a NASA scientist says.
This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b,
a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star
Astronomers have found more than 750 alien planets to date, and NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has flagged 2,300 additional "candidates" awaiting confirmation by follow-up studies. This haul has not yet included an Earth-like exoplanet — one that's the size of our planet and orbits at the right distance from its star to support liquid water and, possibly, life as we know it.
But that could change soon, according to Shawn Domagal-Goldman, a researcher at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., who specializes in exoplanet biology.
"I believe Kepler will find a 'Goldilocks planet' within the next two years," Domagal-Goldman said in a statement. "We'll be able to point at a specific star in the night sky and say 'There it is — a planet that could support life!'"
Some NASA officials appear to share Domagal-Goldman's optimism, for the agency is already looking into ways to study alien Earths once they're found.
It's difficult to investigate such worlds directly, since faraway Earth-size planets are small and faint, their dim light almost completely drowned out by the bright glare of their parent stars. But researchers are confident that an indirect approach, called transit spectroscopy, can reveal a lot about Goldilocks worlds.
This technique scrutinizes starlight that bounces off the atmosphere of an alien Earth on its way to our cosmic neighborhood. Such starlight carries a sort of fingerprint of the atmosphere, which astronomers can study to learn about the atmosphere's composition.
"The reflected light of an exoplanet tells its story," said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters.
One new mission under consideration, called Finesse, uses the transit spectroscopy method. Finesse, which is short for "Fast INfrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer," would measure the spectra of stars and their planets in two situations — once when the planet is in view, and again when it's hidden behind its star.
The mission would be able to separate the planet's dim light from the star's blazing glare, revealing the composition of the planet's atmosphere in the process, researchers said.
Optimism of pinpointing 'Goldilocks planet' just right for possible life as we know it is high
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46954030/ns/technology_and_science-space/?ocid=todmsnbc11
The first true "alien Earth" will likely be discovered in the next two years, a NASA scientist says.
This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b,
a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star
Astronomers have found more than 750 alien planets to date, and NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has flagged 2,300 additional "candidates" awaiting confirmation by follow-up studies. This haul has not yet included an Earth-like exoplanet — one that's the size of our planet and orbits at the right distance from its star to support liquid water and, possibly, life as we know it.
But that could change soon, according to Shawn Domagal-Goldman, a researcher at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., who specializes in exoplanet biology.
"I believe Kepler will find a 'Goldilocks planet' within the next two years," Domagal-Goldman said in a statement. "We'll be able to point at a specific star in the night sky and say 'There it is — a planet that could support life!'"
Some NASA officials appear to share Domagal-Goldman's optimism, for the agency is already looking into ways to study alien Earths once they're found.
It's difficult to investigate such worlds directly, since faraway Earth-size planets are small and faint, their dim light almost completely drowned out by the bright glare of their parent stars. But researchers are confident that an indirect approach, called transit spectroscopy, can reveal a lot about Goldilocks worlds.
This technique scrutinizes starlight that bounces off the atmosphere of an alien Earth on its way to our cosmic neighborhood. Such starlight carries a sort of fingerprint of the atmosphere, which astronomers can study to learn about the atmosphere's composition.
"The reflected light of an exoplanet tells its story," said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters.
One new mission under consideration, called Finesse, uses the transit spectroscopy method. Finesse, which is short for "Fast INfrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer," would measure the spectra of stars and their planets in two situations — once when the planet is in view, and again when it's hidden behind its star.
The mission would be able to separate the planet's dim light from the star's blazing glare, revealing the composition of the planet's atmosphere in the process, researchers said.