An Exosolar planet is a planet that is not in orbit around our star.
Planets are formed from the protoplanetary disk surrounding a star soon after its formation. The disk is mainly composed of dust particles. Over time the these particles attract each other and the dust to clump together creating planetesimals( a planet-like form to small to be considered a dwarf planet or a planet). Eventually (time can vary for different planets) the planetesimals can form into full planets.
The image shows the evolution of planets from dust to planets.Terrestrial
Examples
all the inner planets(Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)
Composition
Core and Mantles of molten metals
Crust of metals and rock
Atmosphere of Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen, Oxygen
Gas Giant
Examples
Jupiter, Saturn
Composition
Core of Ice
Mantle of Metallic Hydrogen (caused by pressure)
Envelope of gasses (Hydrogen & Helium)
Examples
Uranus, Neptune
Composition
Core of rock and ice
Mantle of water, methane, and ammonia
Envelope of gasses (helium, methane)
Note: most data on water worlds and gas giants is theoretical only
If you want to find out more follow the links at the end to watch a National Geographic episode on the formation of our solar system and why the planets are what they are and where they are.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
When the star is moving closer to the observer the light given off turns red, but when it goes away from the star it turns blue. By the amount of wobble scientists can determine the size and mass of the planet and its distance from the star. Based on this the type of planet can be determined
A real life example of this is if you are standing on a sidewalk as an ambulance goes past. When the ambulance is approaching you the sound you hear is a different pitch than it is when it is moving away from you. This example uses sound instead of light but the principal is the same.
Land based telescopes are used for this method
This image shows a land based telescope picking up the light wave from a star as it orbits a central point in space.If a planet moves directly between the observer and a star the stars brightness dims.Scientists then determine the mass, size and distance from the star by how large the dip was and how long it lasted.
You can see this anytime if you hod an object that is smaller than the light between you and a light source.
Telescopes in space use this method
In the image you can see the stars usual brightness the planet entering the observation line and the planet directly in front of the star.By putting a physical mass to block a stars sunlight we can see the corona of that star. Then without the stars light in the way planets orbiting that star are illuminated by the corona and we can directly see them.
This was originally invented for the purpose of studying our stars corona without he need to wait for a solar eclipse. One of these could be tried at any time the sun is shining.
Both land and space telescopes use this method.
In the image there is a physical mass blocking the stars light and the corona is illuminating the planet that the scientist is looking at.Kepler -current 
- Uses Transit Method
- Launcehed March 6 2009
- one meter diameter telescope
- monitor approximately of sky covered by an hand held at arms length( two big dipper scoops)
- NASA funded
Hubble-current
- uses transit method
- Launched April 1990
- monitors amount of sky covered by a grain of sand at arms length
- NASA, ESA CSA funded
- Extreamly famous for pictures of nebule
James Webb-future
- infa red imaging
- can observe atmospheric composition
- gathers data on planets
- planed launch 2013
- NASA, ESA, CSA developed
- 6.5 meter telescope
The name of the star -(letter in order of discover starting with b)(-a is the star)
Because of order of discovery naming it can you can end up where e is closer to the star than b
Examples
Gliese 581g
Located 20 light years
Announced by NASA on September 29th 2010
Terrestrial planet that may support water
11 years of observation was put into the discovery and analysis effort An artist rendition
has multiple other planets in the system
Most likely discovered planet to support life
Fomalhaut b
Located 20 light years away in the southern fish
Gas giant
Announced by NASA November 13th 2008
First exosolar planet to be photographed
one year on Fomalhaut b is equivalent to 872 earth years
Still a protoplanetary disk in around the star
The first real image taken of an exosolar planet the actual image is in the little box, its those bright red dots.
Kepler 10b
560 light years away
Terrestrial and first that is most defiantly rocky
only 40% larger than earth
orbit distance is 1/20 of Mercuries
called a scorched planet
Artist rendition of Kepler 10b
Interesting facts
main reason for interest is to see if we are alone in the universe
PSR 1257+12 B was the first exosolar planet ever discovered
PSR 1257+12 B orbits a pulasar
Over 530 exosolar planets have been found
Most planets are huge (many times the size of Jupiter)
Hi Bryce!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! You have great information, no spelling/grammar mistakes, etc etc etc. The few things you could have changed are not having an extremely long and complicated National Geographic video, you should try to find something more simple, even though you found a good video about corona graphing. You also need to have some more "exciting" voice. Your science looks great, and your pictures are captioned. Great job! :)
Bryce - great job on this post. You have covered everything you discussed in class and incorporated a picture for each topic, although some of them are missing their caption. Your links are excellent, especially the National Geographic information and all of them work! Your scientific explanation, especially of the three detection methods, is clear and understandable - congratulations on that, as this is a difficult topic. Some things you could have improved are spelling & grammar - there are a few errors here. Plus, you did not add your date in the title, nor did you include labels. But the media you used really was your strong point. Well done! ~Ms. D.
ReplyDeleteHello Bryce,
ReplyDeletethis is a very good post. You've done a terrific job in choosing the different pictures, links, videos and scientific data for Exosolar planets.
I especially like the videos about the creation of planets and the universe, but your layout is a bit confusing for the reader. You should watch out for your subtitles, titles and different sizes of font, so the reader could know what is more and less important etc. You asked me what program I used to design my blog post. It is CorelDRAW, a graphic editing program. You can practice during the summer, so you could become the best blogger in your future school. Good luck! Dave :-D
Actually, you have a grammatical error of "hod" which should be changed to "had".
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the light emitted when a star approaches the observer is blue, and when it recedes the star emits red light (longer wavelength). You have stated the reverse.