Extrasolar planet lab

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Dec 6, 2023

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Abeyta - Kinne1 Tearny Abeyta - Kinnevy AST 1110 October 31, 2022 Lab 10: Extrasolar Planet 1. There are eight planets in the Solar System. For each planet, calculate its density relative to the Earth's density (when calculating for each planet, you need to type out the planet name for calculation. Formula: Density= (mass of planet) / (volume of planet) = mass/volume Volume of planet = (4/3) x pi x (radius of planet)^3 = (4/3)( pi) (r^3) Volume of Mercury: (4/3)(3.14) (0.382^3)= .233377226 Volume of Venus: (4/3)(3.14) (0.949^3)= 3.578219861 Volume of Earth: (4/3)(3.14) (1.00^3)= 4.186666667 Volume of Mars: (4/3)(3.14) (0.53^3)= .6232983733 Volume of Jupiter: (4/3)(3.14) (11.2^3)= 5881.965227 Volume of Saturn: (4/3)(3.14) (9.41^3)= 3488.488173 Volume of Uranus: (4/3)(3.14) (3.98^3)= 263.9475292 Volume of Neptune: (4/3)(3.14) (3.81^3)= 231.5492143 Density of Mercury = 0.06/.233377226= .2570944947 Density of Venus = 0.82/3.578219861=.2291642302 Density of Earth = 1.00/4.186666667=.2388535032 Density of Mars = 0.11/.6232983733=.1764804863 Density of Jupiter = 318/5881.965227=.0540635634 Density of Saturn = 95/3488.488173=.0272324271 Density of Uranus = 14.6/263.9475292=.0553140241
Abeyta – Kinnevy 2 Density of Neptune = 17.2/231.5492143=.0742822646 2. Data for Eight Planets in the Solar System Planet Distance from the Sun (in AU) Mass (Earth Masses) Radius (Earth Radii) Density relative to Earth Mercury 0.387 0.06 0.382 .98 Venus 0.72 0.82 0.949 0.82/3.57821986 1=.2291642302 Earth 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00/4.18666666 7=.2388535032 Mars 1.52 0.11 0.53 0.11/.623298373 3=.1764804863 Jupiter 5.20 318 11.2 318/5881.96522 7=.0540635634 Saturn 9.54 95 9.41 95/3488.488173 =.0272324271 Uranus 19.22 14.6 3.98 14.6/263.947529 2=.0553140241 Neptune 30.06 17.2 3.81 17.2/231.549214 3=.0742822646 3. There are two types of planets in the solar system, terrestrial planets (like the Earth) and gas giants (like Jupiter). a) How do the mass, radius, and densities of these planetary types differ? i. Comparing the terrestrial planets to the jovian planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—reveals that Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are all smaller in both mass and radius. Even though the terrestrial planets are denser than the Jovian planets, they are smaller in terms of mass and radius. b) How do the distances from the Sun differ for terrestrial and Jovian planets? ii. The Jovian planets are farther away from the sun, while the terrestrial planets are closest to it.
Abeyta – Kinnevy 3 4. Let's say you discover a planet that's 50 times the mass of the Earth. a) Even without visiting the planet, what might you presume about the planet (what will its general characteristics be)? i. Based on the structure of our solar system and comparison of the properties of the terrestrial planets to those of the Jovian planets, I believe that if we discovered a planet that is 50 times larger than Earth, it would be less dense than Earth and predominantly made of cooler gaseous components. Additionally, since the discovery would be less dense, it would most likely be farther from the sun and have a temperature that is always in the negatives. 5. Go to the Web site for the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia . Click on the tab “All Catalogs”. a) How many planets have been discovered to date? How many planetary systems? How many multiple planet systems? i. Out of the billions of exoplanets in our galaxy alone, more than 5,000 have been found and are deemed "confirmed," according to NASA. There are countless other "candidate" exoplanet detections that need to be observed in order to confirm the exoplanet's reality. ii. However, the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia catalog indicates that there are 839 multiple-planet systems and 5204 planets, as well as 3841 planetary systems. 6. From the pull-down menus select: Status = Confirmed, Detection = Radial Velocity, click on the Filter button. Notice that planet mass is given in “Jupiter masses”, thus, if you
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Abeyta – Kinnevy 4 were to see a number of 0.5 then that would be half the mass of Jupiter. For example a 0.3 would be a Saturn-sized planet, 0.04 Uranus-sized, and an Earth sized planet would be 0.0031 Jupiter masses. Look through many of the discoveries. a) What are the characteristics we can determine about an exoplanet from the Radial Velocity technique? i. A star does not remain perfectly stationary when a planet is orbiting it, which is the basis for the radial-velocity method for finding exoplanets. As a result of the smaller companion's gravitational pull, the star moves very little in a small circle or ellipse. The pace at which the distance between an object and a given location changes is called the radial velocity of the object. In other words, the radial velocity is the portion of the item's velocity that is directed in the direction of the radius separating the object from the point. Meaning that through this technique we can calculate the period (day/night cycle) and Au. b) Are these planets similar in mass or are they all very different? i. As said above, this would lead to these planets ranging in a variety of different masses. All would be uniquely different. 7. From the pull-down menus select: Status = Confirmed, Detection =Primary and Secondary Transit, click on the Filter button. a) What are the characteristics we can determine about an exoplanet from the Transit technique? i. Using this technique, the mass for each exoplanet is even closer and more information is provided.
Abeyta – Kinnevy 5 b) What kind of trends do you see with the planet mass and radius? ii. The length of the planet's transit increases with its distance, and the larger the exoplanet, the more light it blocks. 8. Histogram Plot a) Take a screenshot of your plot with settings (include this in your report). b) Briefly describe what you see, e.g., what is the mass the majority of the planets? What is the trend when it comes to the mass of bigger planets?
Abeyta – Kinnevy 6 i. The mass of the vast majority of planets is roughly equal to Jupiter's size. Bigger planets typically have sizes that are at least equal to or greater than Jupiter. 9. Now change only the “X axis” = Planetary Radius and the Detection =Primary and Secondary Transit. a) Take a screenshot of your plot with settings (include this in your report). b) What does the data show you? Speak to where you see the highest numbers (bars), and what is the largest radius we see? What kind of planets are we seeing? (Review what was noted in #5 about masses).
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Abeyta – Kinnevy 7 i. Based on the larger radius, the planet we are seeing is likely from gas giants or Jovian planets. Since the highest numbers are showing high frequency. 10. Scatter Plot a) Take a screenshot of your plot with settings (include this in your report). b) In this plot we are looking at the mass of the planets and how far out they are in AU from their stars. Write a few sentences about the trends you see in the data. For example, where do you see the more massive planets, smaller planets, speak in terms of AU and do some comparing to our own Solar System etc.
Abeyta – Kinnevy 8 i. The data suggests that gas giants and larger planets are generally found near to their stars. Small planets are typically found close to their stars, just like the larger planets. In contrast, the gas giants in our solar system are much farther away from one another than is typical in other systems. Like terrestrial plants, which are far closer to their star than those in our own solar system. Oddly, the majority of planets seem to orbit their stars at distances between 1/10th and 1/20th those of the Earth and the sun. c) Change only on the right: “X axis”
Abeyta – Kinnevy 9 d) Write a few sentences about the trends you saw in the data as you zoomed in. For example, where do you see the more massive planets, smaller planets, speak in terms of AU and do some comparing to our own Solar System etc. ii. When compared to our solar system, there are more big planets as you get closer to 4e-2AU, which is strange. All of them are 5.2 AU or farther from our solar system. The trend that I saw in the data that made me come to this conclusion is how the majority of it tends to gather along the left side of the plot. Thus, leading me to believe that those are the smaller planets. 11. Now change only “Y axis” a) Take a screenshot of your plot with settings (include this in your report).
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Abeyta – Kinnevy 10 b) In this plot we are looking at the radius of the planets and how far out they are in AU from their stars. Write a few sentences about the trends you see in the data. For example, where do you see the larger planets, smaller planets, speak in terms of AU and do some comparing to our own Solar System etc. i. The majority of planets in other systems are only a small portion of an AU away from their parent star. It seems that in most other systems, rocky planets are often located at a distance of about 1e-1 AU, whereas gas giants are typically found at a distance of -4.5e-2. Thus, practically all planets orbit their stars in close proximity. 12. Now change “X axis” = Planetary Radius, for min/max= 0 and 3, “Y axis” = Planetary Mass, for min/max= 0 and 5. Notice that our Jupiter would be found at (1,1) on the plot. a) Take a screenshot of your plot with settings (include this in your report).
Abeyta – Kinnevy 11 b) How are these planets different from our Jupiter? i. The gas giants, which can be seen in the upper right, appear to have masses between 1e-1 and 7e+0 and range in size between .9 Rjup and 1.5 Rjup. They typically range in size from 1e-1 to 7e-1 Mjup and in mass from 8e-3 to 1e-1 when it comes to the second set of planets to the bottom left of those. 13. Change only: the x-axis min= 0, max = .4, and y-axis min= 0, max = .02 these are all the planets similar to Earth-size, Earth would be at the point (.09, .003), very near the bottom left corner. a) Take a screenshot of your plot with settings (include this in your report).
Abeyta – Kinnevy 12 b) How are these planets different from our Earth? i. These planets differ from our Earth in that they are larger and have a lot more mass. 14. Write a few sentences to summarize what you’ve learned about the planets that we’ve discovered around other stars. i. I've observed that when it comes to the planets we have found, small planets are uncommon, and the majority often appear to weigh more. Most intriguingly, most gas giants and the majority of the smaller planets we have spotted are located quite close to their star. 15. Research what the “Habitable Zone” is for a star and define it in your own words. i. A star is said to be in a habitable zone if it can support liquid water and the temperature is moderate. We now or formerly did think that this was the region where life would flourish. a) Where is the Habitable Zone in our own Solar System? i. The habitable zone for our system would be between Venus and Mars
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Abeyta – Kinnevy 13 b) What kind of life would we expect to be in this “Habitable Zone” around other stars? ii. Since we would anticipate the presence of water in such a zone in some systems, we would anticipate finding swimming organisms as well as most definitely bacteria and single-celled organisms. c) What would it take for life to survive outside of a planet's Habitable Zone? Explain. (What physical processes might be going on?) iii. The prerequisites have been assumed to be energy and liquid water. For life to survive, energy would undoubtedly be required. Thermal activity, such as volcanic activity, would enable liquid water to exist in regions below the frost line. Hence, possibly life as well d) Are there places/objects in our own Solar System outside the Habitable Zone where we theorize life might exist? Explain, try to be specific in your locations. Iiii. The zone has indeed been enlarged to cover the moons of the Jovian planets. There is the possibility of life as long as there is liquid water. We think there may be life on Titan, Europa, and potentially even Mars. Works Cited Color-shifting stars: The radial-velocity method . The Planetary Society. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://www.planetary.org/articles/color-shifting-stars-the-radial- velocity-method Histogram plot → diagrams: Scatter plot . The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia - Diagrams. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2022, from http://exoplanet.eu/diagrams/?t=s Johnson, M. (2022, October 18). Habitable Zones of Different Stars. Retrieved from
Abeyta – Kinnevy 14 https://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/habitable-zones-of-different-stars NASA. (2022, October 18). Earth Comparison. Retrieved from https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ NASA. (n.d.). How many exoplanets are there? – exoplanet exploration: Planets beyond our solar system . NASA. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/faq/6/how-many-exoplanets-are-there/