Earth-like planets orbiting close to small stars may possess magnetic fields that can protect their surfaces from stellar radiation. #earthlikeplanets #exoplanet #magneticfield - http://clapway.com/2015/09/30/earthlike-planets-magnetic-fields123/

According to astronomers at the University of Washington, Earth-like planets orbiting close to small stars may possess magnetic fields that can protect their surfaces from stellar radiation. Scientists believe that these magnetic fields, or forces created by electric currents, could be similar to that of our own Earth, which may be conducive to life. The findings are now published in Astrobiology.

EARTH-LIKE PLANETS SHOW SIGNS OF MAGNETIC FIELDS

Researchers were able to come to this conclusion after using computer simulations to model Earth-mass planets in close orbit around low-mass M dwarf stars. Such a star, among the most common in the galaxy, is small and dim, which means its habitable zone – or the region around the star within which planetary-mass objects can maintain liquid water on their surfaces – is relatively close in.

Thus, a planet that orbits very closely to its star may become tidally locked due to the star’s strong gravitational pull. The same phenomenon can be observed in the Moon, which has its near side forever facing the Earth. According to Peter Driscoll, a geophysicist at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. and the lead author of the paper, this kind of tidal-locking could ultimately heat the interior of earth-like planets.

Would this cause the planets to be “roasted by gravitational tides?” What is the effect of tidal heating on magnetic fields across long periods of time? These were some of the questions that scientists wanted to answer.

WHAT THE DATA REVEALS

Up until this discovery, it was generally assumed by astronomers that tidally locked planets were unlikely to hold protective magnetic fields. Rory Barnes, an assistant professor of astronomy, expected that the tidal heating would actually suppress the planet’s own core heat flow – which is the most important driver of magnetic fields.

Much to the surprise of the scientists, however, the opposite seemed to be true. Based on the collected data, which combined models of orbital interactions and heating with thermal evolution planetary interiors, such magnetic fields could actually be sustained for billions of years – at earth-like levels too; in fact, the more tidal heating a planet experiences, the better its mantle is able to dissipate the heat, which in turn, cools the core and helps to form a strong magnetic field.

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Planets Have Magnetic Fields Conducive To Life

Closest Super Earth Ever Just Discovered - http://clapway.com/2015/07/31/closest-super-earth123/

Another extrasolar planet, now called HD 219134b was just discovered, and it’s actually a rocky planet, like Earth. It’s also the closest rocky planet (a super earth!) discovered this close to our own solar system. Huzzah!

HOW FAR IS THIS MAJESTIC SUPER EARTH?

Too far for you to walk or drive. Or fly, for that matter. The super earth, HD 219134b, is 21 light years away, but it is possible for us to explore the planet someday.

This newfound planet is also a “transiting” world, meaning that, from our perspective, it crosses in front of its host star. Of course we can’t see it from Earth, even if we had the most powerful telescopes at hand, because its star is so bright in comparison. Imagine trying to see a bird descend from the sky in the same line of sight as the sun.

SO HOW DO WE DETECT EXTRASOLAR PLANETS?

When a transiting planet passes in front of its host star, the host star’s brightness drops to a significant enough degree because of some of that light is being eclipsed by the transiting planet. This means we can measure the drop in brightness, and therefore, infer the planet’s mass and size. From here we can calculate the planet’s density, and with that knowledge, we can know whether the planet is rocky like Mars, Venus or Earth, or gaseous, like Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune (or even icy, like Pluto).

“Transiting exoplanets are worth their weight in gold because they can be extensively characterized,” said Michael Werner, the project scientist for the Spitzer mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This exoplanet will be one of the most studied for decades to come.”

New data on this extrasolar planet HD 219134b, set to be released soon after publishing, will be available through the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. This data shows, among other things, that the massive exoplanet is 4.5 times Earth’s mass, and roughly 1.6 times the diameter. This is relatively close to Earth’s size and mass, when compared to the “Earth-like” planets” scientists are usually getting so excited about.

SO WHAT’S KEEPING US? LET’S GO!

The problem is that this newly discovered super earth is much too close to its sun for it to harbor life–whether originated or transplanted. It orbits its star once every three days. This planet, and all of its properties were confirmed using only NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, but scientists hope researchers will soon focus many more telescopes on the new find.

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Closest Super Earth Ever Just Discovered

Kepler 452b: Second Earth Perhaps Not For Us - http://clapway.com/2015/07/24/kepler-452b-second-earth-perhaps-not-for-us789/

Many scientists and space enthusiasts awaiting news about a second Earth were answered when NASA announced the results its phoenix-like telescope, Kepler, had found. The exoplanet that created so much excitement has a size and age reminiscent of Earth’s, and, critically, even exists in the Goldilocks zone of its Sun-like star, ensuring its neither freezing nor burning away any possibility of complex life.

Size, age, and other specs of second earth

Known as Kepler 452b, it’s the smallest exoplanet we’ve discovered existing within that coveted circular area of a G2 star colloquially called the Goldilocks zone. G2 is a category of star-luminescence that our own Sun also falls under. The new planet is about 6 billion years old, has a diameter sixty percent that of the Earth, and is located in the constellation Cygnus, roughly 1,400 light-years away from us.

WHY Kepler 452b IS SIMILAR TO EARTH

Kepler 452b orbits its sun-like star in a year lasting 385 days, which puts it undoubtedly within the habitable zone, which means it is very likely it will have liquid water.

But we shouldn’t get too excited to leap into our planet’s family’s arms.

DON’T JUMP THE SHARK, BECAUSE YOU CAN’T

The associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s Washington headquarters, John Grunsfeld, called Kepler 452b a “close cousin to the Earth.” This is an apt description. Since the planet is rocky, like ours, yet smaller, the difference in gravity could do more harm than good.

Additionally, initial studies have suggested to us that the planet has entered a rather misfortunate runaway greenhouse gas phase, similar to what happened to Venus long ago, which is why the planet is so hot and antagonistic to life.

COLLECTIVE FERVER & SENTIMENTALITY

But this unfortunate atmospheric development didn’t stop the Chinese from getting excited, whom after hearing about the new planet flooded social media with over 44 million posts about the planet’s “substantial opportunity” to host life. China’s microblogging service, Sina Weibo, the hashtag #AnotherEarth exploded, with nearly 90,000 participants in the discussion.

Their state-run Xinhua news agency, Xinhua, had to quell high hopes for Kepler 452b’s biocompatibility, but the Chinese populace remained undaunted in its manic ravishing of the discovery, with the highest trending comment “Even Earth has found its other half, why am I still single?” lending credence to the notion of humankind’s innate alienation.

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Kepler 452b: Second Earth Perhaps Not For Us

Watch #NASA unveil news of a #AnotherEarth #LIVE --today. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/23/is-there-another-earth-nasa-live-stream-announcement-of-new-planet-112/

The whole world will be watching a live stream conference as NASA reveals their findings about a potential new planet that is similar to our own today, Thursday July 23 at Noon EDT.

NASA Will Reveal Findings on New Planet Similar to Ours

NASA has big plans today as they are setting up a news conference regarding the newest discovery from the Kepler Space Telescope. Launched in 2009, the Kepler mission is devoted to finding planets within what scientists explain as the “habitable zone,” but to what the average space cadet can call the Goldilocks Zone.

Space enthusiasts are abuzz with gossip that the US space agency will be announcing a monumental find: a new earth-like planet in the Milky Way’s Goldilocks Zone that may be able to support life.

What is perhaps just as exciting as the new find is viewers can tune in LIVE as NASA streams the conference, uncovering what may be the most newsworthy astronomical discovery of the past decade.

Why the Goldilocks Zone is Important for New Earth-like Planets

All planets, by definition, must revolve around a star. If the planet is too close, it will be too hot for water to exist. Yet, if too far away, it will be too frigid for water to stay liquid. Just like in the popular children’s story Goldilocks, the conditions must be just right for a planet to support liquid water, which in turn would sustain the life that we know of.

However, the keywords in that previous sentence are “that we know of” because recent efforts proposed by NASA are interested in finding alien life.

Kepler Hunts for Exoplanets Like Earth That Can Sustain Life

Since launching only six short years ago, the Kepler telescope has been a huge success having discovered 1,028 planets and 4,661 candidate planets. Most of these exoplanets are giant, gaseous bodies similar to Saturn and Jupiter.

Only 11 planets qualify as being in the habitable, Goldilocks Zone with a size much smaller than the gas giants and relatively similar to Earth.

In a news update on the live stream page, NASA has all but spelled out that brink of the discovery: “Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years — another Earth.”

For most Internet theorists, even without watching the livestream today, that one sentence alone has changed the idea of a new planet that can sustain life from mere potential to definite reality.

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Is There Another Earth? NASA Live Stream Announcement of New Planet