Posts Tagged ‘milky’
February 4th, 2013 | 
Author: Image credit: ESO
A new study suggests that solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy with stars resembling our sun are more likely to support life than our own solar system.
The La Silla Observatory in Chile. (Credit: ESO)
A team of geologists and astronomers at Ohio State University used data from the European Southern Observatory’s High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher spectrometer at the La Silla Observatory in Chile to study eight “solar twins” of our sun. As the Daily Galaxy explains, these are stars that “very closely match the sun in size, age, and overall composition.”
The team specifically looked for elements like thorium and uranium, because those are essential to plate tectonics on Earth. According to the Daily Galaxy, “Plate tectonics helps maintain water on the surface of the Earth, so the existence of plate tectonics is sometimes taken as an indicator of a planet’s hospitality to life.”
Of the eight solar twins studied by the team, seven were found to contain significantly more thorium than our sun. From this, researchers speculate that planets orbiting those stars also contain more thorium, suggesting that the interiors of those planets are warmer than the planets in our solar system. If those planets do, in fact, have more internal heat than Earth, researchers say this would allow for a longer period of active plate tectonics, which, in turn, allows for a longer period in which life could develop.
Ohio State doctoral student Cayman Unterborn explains, “If it turns out that these planets are warmer than we previously thought, then we can effectively increase the size of the habitable zone around these stars by pushing the habitable zone farther from the host star, and consider more of those planets hospitable to microbial life.”
Unterborn presented the team’s findings at the recent American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
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Posted in UFO's in the news | 
Tags: life, Likely, milky, more, solar, support, systems | 
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 ABC News |
Milky Way 'Has 17 Billion Earth-Like Planets'
Sky News "You need very specific conditions to have liquid water," explained Christopher Burke, a scientist with the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. "You can't have your planet too close to your star where it's too hot. You can't have it too far … Could there be 17bn Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way? Kepler discovers over 460 potential planets Kepler telescope: Earth-sized planets 'number 17bn' |
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ABC News |
Could there be 17bn Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way?
Siliconrepublic.com Christopher Burke from the SETI Institute presented the discovery of 461 new planet candidates based on Kepler observations carried out between May 2009 and March 2011. According to NASA, four of these planets are twice the size of Earth and orbit in … Kepler discovers over 460 potential planets Milky Way 'Has 17 Billion Earth-Like Planets' Kepler telescope: Earth-sized planets 'number 17bn' |
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Posted in Seti |
Tags: 17bn, Could, Earthsized, milky, planets, Siliconrepublic.com, there |
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 Voice of America |
Milky Way home to billions of planets the size of Earth
Montreal Gazette It found 461 new candidate planets, bringing the total to 2,740 potential planets, said mission scientist Christopher Burke at the SETI Institute. Most of the new Kepler finds were driven by discoveries of Earth-size planets and super-Earths. Four of … NASA's Kepler Space Telescope discovers 461 new planets |
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 SETI Institute |
Recent Starbursts in the Milky Way Galaxy's Center
SETI Institute WASHINGTON — Researchers using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have captured new images of a seven light-year-diameter ring of gas and dust surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, and of a … |
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Study: Billions of Earth-size planets in Milky Way
Boston.com It found 461 new candidate planets, bringing the total to 2,740 potential planets, said mission scientist Christopher Burke at the SETI Institute. Most of the new Kepler finds were driven by discoveries of Earth-size planets and super-Earths. Four of … |
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Study: Billions of Earth-size planets in Milky Way
Huffington Post It found 461 new candidate planets, bringing the total to 2,740 potential planets, said mission scientist Christopher Burke at the SETI Institute. Most of the new Kepler finds were driven by discoveries of Earth-size planets and super-Earths. Four of … |
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Posted in Seti |
Tags: billions, EarthSize, Huffington, milky, planets, post-, study |
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 THIS TRAIN GOES TO THE MILKY WAY |
A new wallpaper has been posted to the Space gallery on Desktop Nexus.
Uploaded By: Betty49 |
Desktop Nexus Space – New Wallpaper RSS Feed for Other
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 DigitalJournal.com |
Billions of planets in habitable zone of red dwarfs in Milky Way
DigitalJournal.com According to Space.com, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI), in Mountain View, California, said: "The habitable zone would be very, very small. Consequently, the chances that you would … Billions of planets 'may have water, could support life' |
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Tags: billions, DigitalJournal.com, Dwarfs, Habitable, milky, planets, zone- |
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 Discover Magazine (blog) |
In the Milky Way, There Are As Many Planets As Stars
Discover Magazine (blog) “Planets are like bunnies; you don't just get one, you get a bunch,” said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute who was not involved in this research. “So really, the number of planets in the Milky Way is probably like five or 10 … 7 highlights of this week's American Astronomical Society announcements Milky Way may be home to billions of planets Kepler discovery establishes new class of planetary systems |
