New Planets: What’s out there?

HD 10180 is not a name which rolls off the tongue however this star located in the Hydrus constellation, a mere 127 light-years from Earth has become somewhat famous. Astronomers have just discovered at least 5, possibly 7 planets circling the star opening once again the debate on the possibility of life on other planets: are we alone in the universe?

 

Discovered by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile, these planets supposedly have a mass of 13 to 25 times the mass of Earth. Unfortunately, being so far away, no one can actually see the planets. In fact, the planets were detected in an indirect fashion by measuring the "wobble" of the star. This wobble would be caused by the gravitational effects of its planets.

 

Using the HARPS spectrograph attached to the ESO 3.6m telescope, astronomers were able to study the tiny displacements of the star attributed to the complex interactions of the star with other bodies. Calculations lead the researchers to 5 exoplanets. An "exoplanet" or "extrasolar planet" is a planet outside our solar system and to date, 490 exoplanets have been detected and confirmed.

 

Animation of the planetary system around Sun-like star HD 10180

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kHJMnWPKdI

Generally, exoplanets have been quite a bit larger than Earth, usually closer to the size of Jupiter. However, one of the planets discovered circling HD 10180 may only be 1.4 times the size of Earth, the smallest exoplanet found so far. However, it is supposedly so close to the star, its "year", the time to orbit the star would merely be a day.

 

The European Southern Observatory is run by 14 European countries. Set up in 1962, its objective is to provide European astronomers with access to the southern skies using some of the largest and most technologically advanced telescopes in the world. Located at La Silla, Chile which is 600 km north of Chile’s capital of Santiago, the observatory is set at an altitude of 2,400 metres giving a clear view of the sky. The observatory has been credited with numerous astronomical discoveries such as the fact that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, the oldest star known in the Milky Way and the most distant object measured.

 

Are we alone in the universe? The search continues for a planet similar to our own blue planet and possibly hospitable to the development of life. All of the currently catalogued exoplanets were only discovered in the past 15 years so with scientists guessing there are billions of planets out there; there are many more to discover and it follows that statistically, there has to be other planets just like our beloved Earth. Is there life out there? Only time will tell.

 

Click HERE to read more columns by William Belle. 

 

 

European Southern Observatory (Press Release): Richest Planetary System Discovered

 

Wikipedia: HD 10180

 

Wikipedia: European Southern Observatory

 

YouTube: European Southern Observatory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSlG_CrrefY

 

Wikipedia: Exoplanet

 

The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia

 

2010-08-30