NASA's Kepler Spots Atmosphere On Distant Planet

www.informationweek.com...

Now they are finding atmosphere on distant planets. This technology sure is evolving. It makes me want to explore outer space even more when I read news like this.

I will be paying much closer attention to news coming out of this program at this point.

reply to post by wayouttheredude


amazing isn't it!
I've always loved Astronomy since I was young. Nothing like getting out there with the telescope at 3 AM chasing some object. Nothing gives that sense of being so small, like that!

Now imagine if you had control of an orbiting space telescope. Then you could just kind of surf the sky day or night and find all kinds of interesting stuff.

well it's about time!!

i consider this a giant step in proving that there's life on other planets!

reply to post by wayouttheredude



ok the reason they can "see" it is becuase the planet is so big and hot it radiates its own light. kepler is sensitive enough to distinguish the light from the planet from the light from the star.

Kepler will not be able to "see" smaller planets atmospheres as they wont be hot enough or big enough.

The news that they can do this with this exoplanet means the telescope is performing well enough to be able to detect terrestrial planets in the HZ of a star.

Actually to be precise they are just outside that but as they get more data and tweak the software the performance will increase to the level where they can detect terrestrials in the HZ.

reply to post by yeti101


What is "HZ" if you dont mind me asking. People always use all these abbreviations assuming that some of us automaticaly know what it is. Well im a retard i guess.......

MessOnTheFED!

reply to post by MessOnTheFED!


hi, the HZ is the habitable zone of a star. This is the distance from the sun where earth is - not too close like mercury (too hot) & not too far away like mars (too cold)

This distance is important becuase its where water can remain liquid without freezing or being boiled off. Liquid water is seen as an essential element for complex life.

[edit on 7-8-2009 by yeti101]

reply to post by yeti101


Thank you for clarifying that for me. Im not too up to dat on all the abbreviations. And i can honestly say that i would have never figured that out.

Originally posted by yeti101
reply to post by MessOnTheFED!

 

Liquid water is seen as an essential element for complex life.

As far as we know...

reply to post by yeti101

Right. The planet is so hot it glows. Kepler looked at this previously known planet specifically because it was expected that it would be able make these observations.

The depth of the occultation and the shape and amplitude of the light curve show the planet has an atmosphere with a day-side temperature of about 4,310 degrees Fahrenheit. Little of this heat is carried to the cool night side. The occultation time compared to the main transit time shows the planet has a circular orbit. The discovery of light from this planet confirms the predictions by researchers and theoretical models that the emission would be detectable by Kepler.

science.nasa.gov...

Yes, its just a test.

I read this story today at few places and found that it isn't a new discovery of a planet with atmosphere. They simply tested the satellite on an already known planet which was detected from ground based telescopes.

Search and you should find details. Still very cool new though.