Friday, December 18, 2015

Astronomers Have Discovered The Closest Potentially Habitable Planet



Australian scientists have spotted the closest potentially habitable planet yet.
‘Wolf 1061c’ is around 14 light years away, or around 126 trillion km, and is located in the constellation Ophiucus.
The newly discovered planet’s star is the 35th closest to Earth - that has so far been discovered.
Wolf 1061c is orbiting a red dwarf ‘M-type’ star - Wolf 1061 - alongside two other planets, according to Researchers at the University of New South Wales.
All three planets are thought to feature rocky terrain, similar to Mars.
“It is a particularly exciting find because all three planets are of low enough mass to be potentially rocky and have a solid surface, and the middle planet, Wolf 1061c, sits within the ‘Goldilocks’ zone where it might be possible for liquid water - and maybe even life - to exist,” says lead study author UNSW’s Dr Duncan Wright.
Most of the rocky exoplanets discovered so far are hundreds or thousands of light years away.
“While a few other planets have been found that orbit stars closer to us than Wolf 1061, those planets are not considered to be remotely habitable,” Dr Wright says.
The new planet is 4.3 times bigger than Earth and orbits its star every 18 days, though the Wolf 1061 star is much cooler than our Sun.
In future, it is hoped that the planets can be studied to see if they would be able to sustain humans.
“The close proximity of the planets around Wolf 1061 means there is a good chance these planets may pass across the face of the star. If they do, then it may be possible to study the atmospheres of these planets in future to see whether they would be conducive to life,” says team member UNSW’s Dr Rob Wittenmyer.




FOR MY JUNIOR SCIENTISTS
LOVE AUNT JEANNIE


One of my junior scientists, also a devoted  environmentalist, Jenny 11 years old, had a few terse comments to make about the search for an earth-like exoplanet. I quote:

"Potentially habitable planet" - did others than I think this would be about the Earth yet some time after the Paris-summit? Lets inhabit it and screw it up like Earth with religion politics and wars.
With all the money and research spent on looking for another planet, why not just restore this one back to nature, as so we can continue.What is the purpose of finding a supposedly habitable planet that is 14 light years away; when we have two perfectly habitable planets right here in our own solar system; the first being Earth and the second Mars.
If this planet has life on it, do you really think they would want humans to inhabit it? It would be ruined within a couple of months, and end up being ruined like the earth already has. My god who would want humans to occupy anything?
As a species and Human race, look what have we done to the planet in the last 200 years and made it so toxic that existence is threatened, not just the human, but all life forms, and now we are looking for greener pastures to do the same all over again?
Bravo Jenny! Bien joue'! Those are my sentiments too.

Jenny,
In time the earth will be completely destroyed. Partly from what we did to ourselves, but mostly because when our sun starts dying in about ten billion years, it will burn brighter and hotter and cook the earth along with every species on it. We'll need places to go, long before that happens. So, for that reason and simply because we are just curious to know if we are alone out here, we search the cosmos. Humans have always been explorers. It's in our bones.

Jenny's brother and cousin, Jonny and Chris added:
Pretty bold assertions - when will all this technology & expertise translate into being able to get the local weather forcast right more than half the time?
14 light years? That would be 6 trillion X 14 or 84 trillion miles away (8230000000000 miles) Only a multi-generational trip would make it with our current technology.

Quite right boys, sometimes you could get better weather information by looking out your window. And deep space travel is a long way off. Maybe a couple of hundred years. We would, at least, have to travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). The nearest star to us is Proxima Centauri. It is 4.243 light years from earth.  The fastest outward-bound spacecraft yet sent, Voyager 1, has covered 1/600th of a light-year in 30 years and is currently moving at 1/18,000th the speed of light. At this rate, a journey to Proxima Centauri would take 80,000 years. Don't hold your breath.


These kids are very bright and very conscious of what is happening in the world around them and beyond.  They make me feel a bit simple. At their ages, I think I was still learning how to tell time.
Thank you Jenny, Jonny and Chris

2 comments:

  1. Jonny and Chris4:13:00 PM

    Aunt Jeannie , We got a look at some of the things we will study when we return to NASA next year . We are out for the holidays and will return to school January 4, 2016 .
    Chrirs and I is working real hard , we hire our sisters to help us . Man and Bubba help some . We asked Jenny to give us her opinion , uncle Sal and poppa and his brothers laughed so hard and they told Uncle Harvey and he said that is his girl . We put what Jenny said .
    14 light years? That would be 6 trillion X 14 or 84 trillion miles away. (8230000000000 miles) Only a multi-generational trip would make it with our current technology.
    Jenny said .
    "Potentially habitable planet" - did others than I think this would be about the Earth yet some time after the Paris-summit? Lets inhabit it and screw it up like Earth with religion politics and wars.
    With all the money and research spent on looking for another planet, why not just restore this one back to nature, as so we can continue.What is the purpose of finding a supposedly habitable planet that is 14 light years away; when we have two perfectly habitable planets right here in our own solar system; the first being Earth and the second Mars.
    If this planet has life on it, do you really think they would want humans to habit it? It would be ruined within a couple of months, and end up being ruined like the earth already has. My god who would want humans to occupy anything?
    As a species and Human race, look what have we done to the planet in the last 200 years and made it so toxic that existence is threatened, not just the human, but all life forms, and now we are looking for greener pastures to do the same all over again?
    Pretty bold assertions - when will all this technology & expertise translate into being able to get the local weather forcast right more tha half the time? We asked her to write it down you can not write that fast . Uncle Henry said he hope we do not bore you with what Jenny say , Uncle Harvey told him you like getting a laugh from us , Uncle harvey told him we think you have more understanding than him . I do not think Uncle Harvery like poppa brothers .
    Hope you are feeling better and ready for Christmas , mama say she is never ready .
    We love you and Jeannie and please stay warm and feel good thank you for the post .
    Your Junior scientists
    wrote by Jonny

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Jonny and Chris,
    My,my, That Jenny sure do have a lot to say on the subject and she is spot on. So I put her comment on the blog. She just may save the world single handed.
    Uncle Harvey is right, I love to hear from you guys. You already know that. I put another picture on the blog, new from NASA of some kind of beam. Any thoughts on what it could be??
    Let me know,
    Love Aunt Jeannie

    ReplyDelete

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