Planet Jupiter Has A Younger Sibling - And We Have a Photo of It! - http://clapway.com/2015/08/14/planet-jupiter-has-a-younger-sibling-and-we-have-a-photo-of-it123/

A planet similar to how Jupiter looked in its formative years  has been discovered by scientists using a high-tech camera that has been especially designed to capture photographs of distant planets – the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI).

The planet, known by the name 51 Eridani b is 96 light years away from Earth and is twice the size of Jupiter. However, it still remains as one of the smallest planets in our solar system to be captured by astronomers. Previously, those pictured have been up to 13 times the size of Jupiter.

The star it circles, 51 Eridani is only 20 million years old, in contrast to our sun which is thought to be around 4.5 billion years old.

So Why The Interest In Young Jupiter?

The fact that the ‘new Jupiter’ is still influenced by its surrounding conditions provides astronomers with an opportunity to study 51 Eridani b in great detail. There are also many similarities to Jupiter billions of years ago means that areas that were not focused on the first time around can now be discovered and researched in great detail.

“51 Eridani b is the first young planet that probably looks like Jupiter did billions of years ago, making it currently our most important corner piece of the planet-formation jigsaw puzzle,” says Travis Barman,  Planetary Scientist at University of Arizona.

Another simularity between the two planets is that they both include methane in their atmosphere, giving astronomers the opportunity to learn more about the formation and the evolution of this type of gas-planet. So far, it has been discovered that 51 Eridani b’s temperature is considerably higher, estimated to be around 800 degrees.

A Breakthrough In Discovery

Over the last 20 years, scientists have confirmed the existence of 1,800 exoplanets and  alien planets around other stars. However, this image marks something significant in the breakthrough of technology and discovery. The Gemini Planet Imager has been able to capture something quite remarkable.

“This is exactly the kind of planet we envisioned discovering when we designed GPI,” said James Graham, project scientist for GPI.

This invention of GPI will not only be able to discover unknown planets, but will provide clues as to how the solar systems form.

“Unlike most of the currently known confirmed exoplanets, these GPI images of exoplanets allow us to examine planetary atmospheric information, which will eventually allow astronomers to examine biosignatures from mature planets during the next decade”, said  Song, UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

While this discovery is still fairly new, scientists are going to start observing 51 Eridani b’s orbit in September. In the meantime, check out Science Mag to find out more information and keep up to date on the latest discoveries.

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Planet Jupiter Has A Younger Sibling - And We Have a Photo of It!

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