Kepler space telescope has discovered 9 new planets suitable for life
The whole galaxy in the planets
Research is increasingly convincing: our galaxy - the Milky Way - is simply packed with planets. Two years ago, Erik Petigura from the University of California (Berkeley) demonstrated: 22 percent of the stars in the Milky Way are about 40-50 billion (!) Are not only similar to our Sun, but also have earthly planets with them. type with the atmosphere.
Now, thanks to data collected by NASA's Kepler orbiting telescope (Kepler), the proportion of rocky planets - the diameter of which does not exceed more than 60 percent of the Earth, scientists have increased to 24 percent. Of these, at least 10 billion are potentially inhabited. This opinion is shared by Dr. Natalia Batalha (N. Batalha), a scientific specialist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif, in charge of the telescope.
When and how many planets Kepler found
“Before the Kepler telescope was launched, we didn’t know how many exoplanets in the galaxy, or, conversely, few,” Paul Hertz, head of astrophysics at NASA, told the BBC. - Now it is known that there are more planets than stars.
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NASA's Kepler Orbiting Telescope was launched in May 2009 and is aimed at a stretch of the Milky Way. The telescope searched for exoplanets using the so-called transit method. That is, he watched whether the brightness of the star changed from time to time. And it changes when planets pass along the disk of the star. Astronomers determine the presence of planets by fluctuations in brightness. And then they confirm the preliminary data obtained using the orbiting telescope. Or refute them.
Scientists double-check the data obtained with the Kepler telescope - for example, using optical telescopes
From 2009 to 2012, Kepler recorded the parameters of 150 thousand stars every 30 minutes. And in May 2013 he broke down - lost his orientation.
It seemed that it would be impossible to restore the operation of the telescope. But in 2014 it succeeded. A new stage began, called K2. At the same time, scientists are rechecking the data collected earlier.
After another check at NASA, they announced: 1284 new planets were discovered. And 9 of them are located in the so-called habitable zone - at a comfortable distance from their star. That is, where it is not very hot and not very cold. Where water can exist in liquid form. As, for example, on Earth. Or - with a slight stretch - on Mars.
Among the discovered planets come across potentially habitable
Somewhere on a potentially habitable planet, inhabitants may have lurked
With 9 new "second Earths" their total number exceeded 20.
- The closest potentially inhabited world is located 11 light years from the Sun, - assure Natalya Batalya.
Scientists plan to look at their neighbors in the coming years, when a new generation of telescopes will be launched into orbit, for example TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, in 2017), whose work is based on the same principle as the Kepler telescope. Scientists are pinning their hopes on other devices.
Kepler was directed towards the constellation Cygnus. Probably, in other constellations of planets no less
FARTHER AND FARTHER
New space telescope will detect oceans on planets near other stars
The launch of the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is scheduled for 2018. Astronomers believe that with its help they will be able to "look" commercials for 20-30 light years. And not only to check whether, in fact, in this distance there are planets the size of our Earth - which the data from the Kepler telescope hinted at. It will be possible to find out if there is life there.
Tyler Robinson of the University of Washington in Seattle says the new telescope will help find water and vegetation on exoplanets.
The presence of a vast ocean will give out a "sunbeam" - that is, a glare on the mirror surface of the water. This reflected light from the local star will be captured by the new telescope.
A characteristic "bunny", by the way, once made it clear that Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, has a liquid ocean. True, it turned out to be methane, but it was found.
Spectral analysis will allow you to distinguish water from another liquid. He will complement his studies in the infrared range, which are able to reveal the presence of chlorophyll on a distant planet - a pigment that colors leaves, grass and other vegetation green. He - chlorophyll - is very visible in infrared images. Looks like bright flashes.
“Our goal is to find a planet that is similar to Earth in almost every sense of the word,” says Tyler Robinson.
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), also known as the James Webb Space Telescope, is an infrared observatory. In size, it is larger than the currently operating Hubble Space Telescope. The diameter of the mirror for the Hubble is 2.4 meters, for the JWST it is 6.5 meters.
Initially, the instrument was simply called the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). But in 2002 it was renamed in honor of one of the leaders (1961-1968) of NASA, James Edwin Webb, under whom the Americans flew to the moon.
The telescope will be delivered to a distance of one and a half million kilometers from Earth. And placed at the so-called Lagrange point - L2. This is one of five amazing places located in the Sun-Earth system, where the gravity of both bodies is balanced. If any object is placed at such points, then it will not be attracted either to the star or to the planet, it can be there in eternal rest. They are called Lagrange points, after the mathematician who calculated the coordinates of these areas.
Some scientists believe that probes of alien civilizations can be placed in the Lagrange points. Or capsules with their messages deliberately left in a quiet place millions of years ago.
According to NASA's plans, the new space telescope should work for at least five years. But it will forever remain at the Lagrange point. And the aliens will surely find him whenever they arrive in our vicinity. And they will understand that very intelligent beings lived here. Even if we fail to find them, that is, us.
How the Kepler space telescope searches for planets