GNR649 Lecture32 Extrasolar Planets
GNR649 Lecture32 Extrasolar Planets
GNR649 Lecture32 Extrasolar Planets
GNR 649
*Sentient → having the ability to use your senses to see and to feel
Overview
• The presence of sentient life on the Earth inevitably raises the
question whether planets like the Earth orbit other stars in the Milky
Way galaxy and whether some of these planets are inhabited by
intelligent lifeforms that have achieved a level of technological
expertise similar to ours
• Our Sun is one of at least 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, a spiral
galaxy about 100,000 light-years across.
• The stars are arranged in a pinwheel pattern with four major arms,
and we live in one of them, about two-thirds of the way outward
from the center.
• The Milky Way galaxy is just one of billion of galaxies in the universe.
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/
What is an exoplanet?
• An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system. Most orbit other stars, but
free-floating exoplanets, called rogue planets, orbit the galactic center and are
untethered to any star.
• Most of the exoplanets discovered so far are in a relatively small region of our
galaxy, the Milky Way.
• By measuring exoplanets’ sizes (diameters) and masses (weights), we can see
compositions ranging from very rocky (like Earth and Venus) to very gas-rich (like
Jupiter and Saturn).
• Exoplanets are made up of elements similar to those of the planets in our solar
system, but their mixes of those elements may differ.
• We’ve identified lava worlds covered in molten seas, puffy planets the density of
Styrofoam and dense cores of planets still orbiting their stars.
• Although exoplanets are far – even the closest known exoplanet to Earth, Proxima
Centauri b, is still about 4 light-years away
Previous Image
• This artist’s impression shows a view of the surface of the planet
Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest
star to the solar system.
• The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image.
• Proxima b is a little more massive than the Earth and orbits in the
habitable zone around Proxima Centauri, where the temperature is
suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. Credit: ESO/M.
Kornmesser
• https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1383/eso-discovers-earth-size-
planet-in-habitable-zone-of-nearest-star/
Previous Image
• Image of the night sky above Paranal, Chile on 21 July 2007, taken by ESO
astronomer Yuri Beletsky. A wide band of stars and dust clouds, spanning
more than 100 degrees on the sky, is seen.
• This is the Milky Way, the galaxy to which we belong. At the centre of the
image, two bright objects are visible.
• The brightest is the planet Jupiter, while the other is the star Antares. Three
of the four 8.2-m telescopes forming ESO’s VLT are seen, with a laser
beaming out from Yepun, Unit Telescope number 4.
• The laser points directly at the Galactic Centre. Also visible are three of the
1.8-m Auxiliary Telescopes used for interferometry. They show small light
beams which are diodes located on the domes. The exposure time is 5
minutes and because the tracking was made on the stars, the telescopes
are slightly blurred.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7398904
https://web.archive.org/web/20081121184421/http://www.eso.org/gallery/v/ESOPIA/Paranal/phot-33a-07.tif.html
Where are we?
• Diagram of the Sun’s location in the Milky
Way, the angles represent longitudes in
the galactic coordinate system.
• The galactic center is an intense radio
source known as Sagittarius A*, a
supermassive black hole of 4.100 (± 0.034)
million solar masses.
• As viewed from Earth, the visible region of
the Milky Way’s galactic plane occupies an
area of the sky that includes 30
constellations.
• The Galactic Center lies in the direction of
Sagittarius, where the Milky Way is
brightest.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/
Milky Way Galaxy
• Using infrared images from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have
discovered that the Milky Way’s elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two
arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was
thought to possess four major arms.
• The galaxy’s two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen
attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor
arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major
arms.
• The major arms consist of the highest densities of both young and old stars; the
minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets of star-forming activity.
• The artist’s concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the “Far-3 kiloparsec
arm,” discovered via a radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is
shorter than the two major arms and lies along the bar of the galaxy.
• Our Sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located
between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.
Exoplanet detection techniques
• The main techniques used to detect exoplanets are:
• Direct imaging
• Radial velocity or Doppler Shift
• Transits
• Microlensing
• Transit timing variations
https://www.paulanthonywilson.com/exoplanets/exoplanet-detection-techniques/
Exoplanet detection techniques
• Direct Imaging: The exoplanet is imaged directly using large telescopes
fitted with adaptive optics and coronagraphs. The technique is most
sensitive to the warmer, bright (young) and massive exoplanets on wide
and/or eccentric orbits (large sky projected separations). The separation
from the host star allows for spectra to be obtained directly and allows for
the direct measurement of the luminosity.
• Radial velocity: The exoplanet is detected by measuring the Doppler shift
in the host star light, a consequence of the gravitational affects between
the two bodies. The technique is most sensitive to exoplanets with a large
mass orbiting close to their host star perpendicular to the plane of the sky.
The radial velocity technique allows for a minimum mass (dependent on
orbital inclination) to be calculated. The periodic shifts of the absorption
lines are used to calculate the velocity of the star as it moves toward and
away from the Earth.
Exoplanet detection techniques
• Transits: The exoplanet is detected by measuring a periodic decrease in the
flux received from the host star, as a consequence of the exoplanet
transiting in front of the host star.
• The transiting technique is most sensitive to large exoplanets orbiting close
to their host star stars and provides an accurate determination of the
planetary radius relative to the host star.
• While the radial velocity method provides information about a planet’s
mass, the photometric method can determine the planet’s radius.
• If a planet crosses (transits) in front of its parent star’s disk, then the
observed visual brightness of the star drops by a small amount, depending
on the relative sizes of the star and the planet.
Exoplanet detection techniques
• Microlensing: The exoplanet is detected by measuring characteristic light
curve changes caused by changes in the lensing effect observed when a
star with a planet passes in front of a distant star. The technique is limited
to distant one time events and by the lack of accurate determinations of
the planet and orbit parameters. It is however a very valuable technique
due to the lack of strong radii or mass biases making it ideal for statistical
population studies.
• Transit timing variations: The exoplanet is detected by observing a change
in periodic phenomena due to the presence of an exoplanet. Examples
include a change in transit time (known as TTV) of one planet, due to the
presence of others in multiple planet systems and pulsar timing, where
anomalous movement (measured at radio wavelengths) can be used to
infer the presence of a planet.
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/ways-to-find-a-planet/
– Rita Levi-Montalcini
”
Next time …
Optics and Telescopes