Bartesch_AST_101_Lab8 (1)
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101
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Astronomy
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Apr 3, 2024
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Lab 8: Hunt for Alien Worlds
NAME
Connor Bartesch
Before beginning this assignment, read Unit 4-5 in the lessons along with Reading: Ch. 21, Sections 3 through 6.
If a link does not work, copy and paste it into a new browser window, or try a search engine such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo to find the answers. "The link did not work" is not acceptable. DO NOT copy more than a few words of text directly from a website, as this is considered plagiarism. Read the passage and then explain what it says in your own words.
Save and rename this lab now with following format YOURLASTNAME_AST101_Lab8. For example:
Bjerke_AST101_lab8. Put your name in the box above. In this lab, you will be introduced to the process of finding planets around other stars. You will learn about the history of finding planets outside of our solar system, research the most recent results in the search for extrasolar planets, and look at some missions that are currently or will in the future search for planets.
Start by going to the following website: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/
Click on "Explore" in the top bar and then "5 Ways to Find a Planet". When you click on the method, you will see an abbreviated description, but "+ more info" will help you answer the first few questions. (Here is the direct link - https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/ways-to-find-a-planet/#
).
1.
In your own words, explain (in 2 to 3 sentences each)
two methods for detecting extrasolar planets. 5 Ways to Find a Planet | Explore – Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System (nasa.gov)
Select more info to answer this question.
One method used is direct imaging. Pictures can be taken of these planets once the glare is removed from stars. Another method for identifying planets is to find stars that wobble. Once these stars wobble the color of light they emit changes leading scientists to believe there is a planet.
2. Why is it so difficult to directly observe planets orbiting other stars?
It is difficult for many reasons. The first being as the planet aligns itself between the observer and the star the planet is dimmed. The stars they orbit also leave a glare so pictures are difficult to take
Now that you are familiar with some techniques that can be used to search for planets, let's take a quick look at the history of planet searching. Select the home button to go back to the Exoplanet Exploration page. Select "Explore" and
the link for "Historic Timeline." (Here is the direct link - https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/historic-timeline/#first-planetary-disk-observed
). You will need to search the timeline to answer the questions below. 3. In the 1980's, scientists found the first real proof for the formation of other solar systems. What did they discover?
Scientist’s discovered the star Beta Pictoris, the image displays a disk of dust and gas surrounding the star.
Continue through the timeline to answer the following questions.
4. When were the first extrasolar planets detected, and by whom? They were detected in January 1992 by Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail.
5. What star did these first extrasolar planets orbit? What is a pulsar? How many planets were detected in this system? They orbited PSR B1 257+12. 3 planets were detected.
6. Is it likely that life exists on any of the planets from the questions 4 & 5? Why or why not?
No because they are constantly bombarded with radiation.
7. When were the first planets detected around a star Updated: Fall 2022
like our sun (a main sequence star)? What is the name of
the star?
Discovered in October 1995, star name 51 Pegasi
Let's now check out some of the most recent results. Go to the following
website: http://exoplanet.eu/
Select All Catalogs
8. How many planets have been detected? How many planetary systems have been detected? 5201 Planets among 3838 planetary systems.
Use the excel file or the pdf in Cobra with Lab 8 to answer the questions below. The first column is the planet’s name
. The second column is Mass - the mass of the planet listed in terms of Jupiter's mass (M
Jup
– the mass of Jupiter is 1) and third column in the table: the semi-major axis,
which is the orbital radius of the planet listed in AU (Astronomical
Units). The fourth column i
s
the year discovered and the fifith colum is the detection_type
is the way the planet was discovered.
Remember that Jovian planets are massive planets and Terrestrial planets are low-mass planets. In our solar system, the Jovian planets' mass ranges from 0.05 M
Jup
(Uranus) to 1 M
Jup
(Jupiter) and Terrestrial planets range from 0.00015 M
Jup
(Mercury) to 0.003 M
Jup
(Earth). 9. Based on the mass ranges given above, are the majority of extrasolar planets found so far Jovian planets
or Terrestrial planets?
Jovian
Our solar system formation model predicts that Terrestrial planets should form near the sun (semi-major axis of less than 2 AU) and Jovian planets should form far from the sun (semi-major axis of greater than 5 AU). 10. Do these planetary systems agree or disagree with the predictions of our solar system formation model? Explain your answer.
No As some of the Jovian planets have a mass between 0.05-1 Mjup, and yet their distance is less than 5AU
11. Is there likely to be life on any of these worlds? Why or why not?
No, as the planets are either too close or too far from their orbiting star.
12. Which planet in the list is most like Jupiter, considering both mass and semi-major axis (M
Jup
= 1, semi-major axis = 5.2 AU)? What year was it discovered? How was it detected?
HIP 11915 b, detected with radial velocity. Discovered in 2015
13. Which planet in the list is closest to the Earth in mass (0.003 M
Jup
)? What is the semi-major axis for this planet? What year was it discovered? How was it detected?
Kepler-42 d, Semi Major Axis = .0154. discovered in 2011, detected with primary transit.
Refer back to the descriptions for the detection methods for extrasolar planets if needed. 14. Why do you think there are so few planets with semi-
major axes greater than 4 AU? (You may want to sort the excel file to look at the numbers)
It is diificult to correctly use Primary transit and radial velocity for finding a planet that is so far away from what it’s orbiting.
Updated: Fall 2022
15. Why do you think there are so many more planets in the catalog with high masses (over 0.1 M
Jup
) than with low masses? A larger mass is easier to distinguish than a smaller one.
Use the Discover Magazine article found in Cobra. Or read it online here https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-big-is-the-biggest-p
How Big is the Biggest Possible Planet? | Discover Magazine
ossible-planet
16. For an object to be considered a planet, what is the maximum mass of the object? 11x the mass of Jupiter
Or 3500 Earth masses.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021. Use this website to answer the question below. Where is Webb? 17. What has been most recently completed for the Webb Telescope? How far away is it today?
The telescope has completed its commission phase and is now currently doing scientific operations. Today the telescope is nearly 1 million miles away.
So, now you know the most recent results in the search for extrasolar planets. What does the future hold? Missions | Discovery – Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System (nasa.gov)
18. In your own words, summarize the upcoming mission that will aid our search for planets in the future. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will probe depths of dark matter and energy and other unknown phenomenons in the universe. It will also take direct images. The telescope could find thousands of exoplanets through microlensing.
The Kepler Mission successfully launched 2009 March 6. The following link is the Kepler Mission home page with details about the mission: http://kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/QuickGuide/
Select "Overview" to answer the questions below. (Here is the direct link - https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/overview/index.html
).
19.List the three types of exoplanets.
Gas giants, hot super earths in short period orbits and ice giants.
20. What was the main goal of the Kepler missions?
The Kepler Mission is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone
and determine the fraction of the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy that might have such planets.
21. What do you
think the future holds in the search for extrasolar planets? Do you think we will find other Earth-
like planets that may support life? (This answer should be more than 1 sentence).
Yes I believe we will find other earth like planets in the future. Our technology will only advance exponetionally, I do truly think it’s only a matter of time until we find a planet with similar composition as our own.
Updated: Fall 2022
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