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16th October 2012, 09:23 PM | #1 |
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Earth-sized planet found orbiting one of the closest stars to our Sun!
Nearly 1,000 planets have been found so far. It is estimated that there are at least 100 billion planets in our galaxy alone*. cite for both.
*There are an estimated 100 billion to 500 billion galaxies in our universe. Today not only was (AFAIK) one of the lowest mass planets verified, but it is also the closest to us. It is orbiting a star only 4 light years away, which is (AFAIK) the closest neighboring star to our Sun. Unforunately it is orbiting too close to its star to support life. Though, they are not ruling out a habitable planet in the same system. http://www.slashgear.com/earth-sized...auri-16252300/
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16th October 2012, 09:32 PM | #2 |
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I don't think this article is right. 51 Pegasi b could not possibly be orbit in the Centauri system
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16th October 2012, 09:51 PM | #3 |
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51PegasiWP:
51 Pegasi (abbreviated 51 Peg) is a Sun-like star located 50.9 light-years (15.6 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. It was the first extrasolar Sun-like star found to have a planet orbiting it ....On October 6, 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz announced the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting 51 Pegasi (known as 51 Peg b, or Bellerophon). They (slashgear.com) appear to be a bit behind the curve. ...and somewhat under the wheel. The Alpha Centauri system is the only star(s) that are within 5 light years of Earth. The next closest one, Bernard's star, is just a skotch under 6 ly away. |
16th October 2012, 09:53 PM | #4 |
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You're right, I think the slashgear author skimmed the Nature article, saw 51 Pegasi b mentioned as the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a sun-like star, and assumed it was the name of the new planet.
http://www.nature.com/news/the-exopl...t-door-1.11605 |
16th October 2012, 09:55 PM | #5 |
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Indeed. Chinese whispers news/churnalism. The story traces back to this press release:
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1241/ FWIW the correct name for the planet is probably Alpha centauri B b |
16th October 2012, 09:55 PM | #6 |
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The new planet is actually named Alpha Centauri Bb.
Pronounced, I assume, "Alpha Centauri B-flat". |
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16th October 2012, 09:57 PM | #7 |
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I believe the planet would actually be A Centauri B b. Or possibly A Centauri Bd I haven't seen anything yet on the naming convention for planets orbiting a component of a binary star system
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16th October 2012, 10:06 PM | #8 |
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16th October 2012, 10:11 PM | #9 |
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16th October 2012, 10:14 PM | #10 |
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16th October 2012, 10:19 PM | #11 |
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16th October 2012, 10:24 PM | #12 |
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Don't forget Proxima Centauri, which seems to be separate from the 2 Alpha Centauri stars according to this list: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/con...a/nearest.html |
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16th October 2012, 10:28 PM | #13 |
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17th October 2012, 04:29 AM | #14 |
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Since ths planet (Bb) is so close to its parent star, I am assuming that the gravity field of B dominates. At what point do we start getting into the three body problem? Could either A or B host a stable orbit for a planet in the HZ?
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17th October 2012, 06:30 AM | #15 |
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17th October 2012, 06:32 AM | #16 |
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17th October 2012, 06:37 AM | #17 |
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17th October 2012, 07:04 AM | #18 |
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17th October 2012, 07:16 AM | #19 |
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So you're telling me those lazy scientists have finally gotten around to finding the planet Nibiru that's going to collide with Earth on December 21?
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17th October 2012, 07:46 AM | #20 |
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As far as I am aware we don't have the maths to build a scenario as you describe. I have seen models that show a sustainable accretion disk orbiting both stars.
With the centauri system A and B have a very elongated orbit, which pretty much spells doom for any planets trying to orbit the mutual center of gravity |
17th October 2012, 09:18 AM | #21 |
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17th October 2012, 10:12 AM | #22 |
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17th October 2012, 11:35 AM | #23 |
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17th October 2012, 11:56 AM | #24 |
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17th October 2012, 12:38 PM | #25 |
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Isn't Barnards star the fastest moving star?
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17th October 2012, 12:45 PM | #26 |
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Barnard's Star has fastest apparent movement from our point of view. Comes from it being a) one of the closest stars, b) moving almost perpendicular to our viewpoint. Its speed with respect to galactic center is not unusual.
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17th October 2012, 12:58 PM | #28 |
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17th October 2012, 12:59 PM | #29 |
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See my post above. This planet is orbiting at only 6 million Km. At its closest Mercury is 30 million Km from the Sun. The orbit of this planet around its star is closer to that of the moon around the earth than it is to the earth around the Sun. It’s so close to its star that it only takes 3 days to complete an orbit. That looks about right |
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17th October 2012, 01:24 PM | #30 |
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17th October 2012, 01:45 PM | #31 |
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We can only make predictions about life as we know it- water-based life that would only exist between 0oC and, say 100oC (and not generally that extreme). As a chemist, I have a hard time imagining what kind of solvent system would be stable at, say 800oC, and what kind of life-like molecules would be stable in such an environment.
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17th October 2012, 02:55 PM | #32 |
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James Cameron was right! There is a small moon orbiting a gas giant in Alpha Centauri which shields it from the binary rays, and there we will find 10 foot tall panther elves.
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17th October 2012, 03:05 PM | #33 |
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17th October 2012, 03:09 PM | #34 |
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17th October 2012, 03:33 PM | #35 |
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17th October 2012, 06:03 PM | #36 |
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17th October 2012, 06:15 PM | #37 |
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17th October 2012, 06:20 PM | #38 |
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The ability to form long range structures with a reasonable degree of stability and flexibility.
In this case temp is only one problem. That close to a star we would expect the solar wind to strip off anything remotely liquid and the whole place to be hammered by hard radation with would rip apart any remaining structures. Unless you are going to argue for non baryonic life (which the physics suggests is unlikely to say the least) I think we can rule out the possibility of life. |
17th October 2012, 06:57 PM | #39 |
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Phil Plait tweeted that an earlier study showed that not only should Alpha Centauri B should have planets, that many of the Monte Carlo results showed that there should be an earth-sized one in the Habitable Zone. That may still be the case, I would think, and it just hasn't been detected yet. Linky: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...-have-planets/
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17th October 2012, 07:05 PM | #40 |
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