New Habital Planets Found?

[Stephen of Borg 2]

Three medium-sized planets of roughly the same mass as Neptune have been discovered around a nearby Sun-like star, scientists announced today.

 

The finding, detailed in the May 18 issue of the journal Nature, marks a first for astronomers because previously discovered multi-planet solar systems besides our own contain at least one giant, Jupiter-sized planet.

 

 

"For the first time, we have discovered a planetary system composed of several Neptune-mass planets," said study team member Christophe Lovis of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.

 

 

The setup is similar to our own solar system in many ways: The outermost planets is located just within the star's habitable zone, where temperatures are moderate enough for liquid water to form, and the system also contains an asteroid belt.

 

 

The newly discovered planets have masses of about 10, 12 and 18 times that of Earth and they zip around the star in rapid orbits of about 9, 32 and 197 days, respectively.

 

 

Based on their distances from the star, two inner worlds nearest the star are rocky planets similar to Mercury, the scientists suspect. The outermost planet is thought to have a solid core of rock and ice and shrouded by a thick gas envelope.

 

 

The planets were discovered around HD 69830, a star slightly less massive than the Sun located 41 light-years away in the constellation Puppis (the Stern), using the ultra-precise HARPS spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter La Silla telescope in Chile.

 

 

Recent observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope last year revealed that HD 69830 also hosts an asteroid belt, making it the only other Sun-like star known to have one.

 

 

When the asteroid belt was found, it was suspected that there might be an unseen planet that was shepherding the asteroids; it now seems that there is more than one shepherd. The researchers think the asteroid belt could lie between the two outermost planets or beyond the third planet.

 

 

The planets have not been photographed. They were found using the Doppler, or "wobble," technique, in which astronomers infer the presence of a planet by measuring the gravitational influence it exerts on its parent star. This technique was used to find most of the more than 180 planets so far discovered.

 

 

In the early years of planet hunting, the wobble technique was sensitive enough to spot only large, massive planets because they produce more significant stellar wobbles. However, the technique has since been refined to the point where lower-mass planets can now be detected.

 

 

 

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[mj 7]

I don't think those planets are habitable by humans. The much larger mass means gravity will be to high.

[ARMS 0]

I suspect most gas giants have microbes in a habital zone in the thick atmosphere, containing life giving gases.

[mj 7]

I suspect most gas giants have microbes in a habital zone in the thick atmosphere, containing life giving gases.

 

That seems reasonable if the planets are close enough to their suns. Didn't think of that.

[Odie 0]

On Earth, it has been proven the sun is not need to have life. In the deepest oceans where sun cannot even reach the bottom life exits near superheated water pipes. If there is a source of energy that is hot enough life might be present.

[mj 7]

On Earth, it has been proven the sun is not need to have life. In the deepest oceans where sun cannot even reach the bottom life exits near superheated water pipes. If there is a source of energy that is hot enough life might be present.

 

 

Gosh, I didn't think of that either. And actually the ocean depths are quite cold ( to humans).

 

And to think this is a sci-fi website, where we constantly speculate about alien life, like the Andorians and their ice-world! :blush 2: ( I don't do this in real life).

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I don't know if they meant habitable by human or just habitable by any form of life. But MJ is right about gravity. And tubeworms may live in ocean vents but humans couldn't for various reasons, we can't breathe underwater for one and we can't survive the pressure more than a few feet below the surface, or the heat or the toxic chemicals produced by the vents.

 

The third planet doesn't appear to be a gas giant since gas giants don't have solid cores or a distinct atmosphere. The critical detail is that it has the condition for liquid water.

[Kor37 9]

I found it facinating that when they found the Titanic 2 miles below the ocean, there were fish and other lifeforms flourishing there. The water pressure down there is incredible and there is absolutely no light yet these fish still thrive.