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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
I think Kepler has downloaded about 5 months of observations. This
would mean that they should've dicovered planets with rotation period of 1.5 momths (about half of Mercury's), if there were any new ones. Does it mean that there actually very few extrasolar planets out there ? Please note that planets with short rotation period are more likely to have their orbital plane inclined in the right way for Kepler to discover them than planets with longer periods. So it seems that it will be even less likely that they will discover any planets in the habitable zone, now that they have not discovered any planets with 1.5 month period. Does it sound right ? |
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
"ivk" wrote in message ... I think Kepler has downloaded about 5 months of observations. This would mean that they should've dicovered planets with rotation period of 1.5 momths (about half of Mercury's), if there were any new ones. Does it mean that there actually very few extrasolar planets out there ? Please note that planets with short rotation period are more likely to have their orbital plane inclined in the right way for Kepler to discover them than planets with longer periods. So it seems that it will be even less likely that they will discover any planets in the habitable zone, now that they have not discovered any planets with 1.5 month period. Does it sound right ? Algol's planet "Androcles" has a period of 70 hours. It's beyond the range of Kepler, though. Besides, do you expect a result for just one orbit if other planets are involved? That would be magic. http://www.androcles01.pwp.blueyonde...lgol/Algol.htm --Androcles |
#3
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
Dear ivk:
"ivk" wrote in message ... I think Kepler has downloaded about 5 months of observations. This would mean that they should've dicovered planets with rotation period of 1.5 momths (about half of Mercury's), if there were any new ones. Why do you think that? Don't you believe that it takes analysis of the data, and not just reams of data? Do you think one small area of sky accounts for the whole sky? Does it mean that there actually very few extrasolar planets out there ? Doesn't follow. Please note that planets with short rotation period are more likely to have their orbital plane inclined in the right way for Kepler to discover them than planets with longer periods. So it seems that it will be even less likely that they will discover any planets in the habitable zone, now that they have not discovered any planets with 1.5 month period. Does it sound right ? They have repeated finding known exoplanets, and returned additional depth of data on those. I think they are just now collecting data in earnest, if they can keep the computer from shutting down... David A. Smith |
#4
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
"ivk" wrote in message
... I think Kepler has downloaded about 5 months of observations. http://groups.google.com/group/sci.s...2c6b2d9d23b911 .... so we'll know more tomorrow. David A. Smith |
#5
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc) wrote:
"ivk" wrote in message ... I think Kepler has downloaded about 5 months of observations. http://groups.google.com/group/sci.s...2c6b2d9d23b911 ... so we'll know more tomorrow. David A. Smith "WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss early science results of the Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist." Where does the press release talk about Oct 7th, 2009? Yousuf Khan |
#6
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
Dear Yousuf Khan:
On Oct 6, 9:40*pm, Yousuf Khan wrote: N:dlzcD:aol T:com (dlzc) wrote: "ivk" wrote in message ... I think Kepler has downloaded about 5 months of observations. http://groups.google.com/group/sci.s...2c6b2d9d23b911 ... so we'll know more tomorrow. "WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss early science results of the Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist." Where does the press release talk about Oct 7th, 2009? Yes, it could be today (Wed 6th), tomorrow (Thu 7th), or next year when Oct 7th falls on a Thursday... David A. Smith |
#7
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
On Oct 6, 9:40*pm, Yousuf Khan wrote:
N:dlzcD:aol T:com (dlzc) wrote: "ivk" wrote in message .... I think Kepler has downloaded about 5 months of observations. http://groups.google.com/group/sci.s...2c6b2d9d23b911 ... so we'll know more tomorrow. "WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss early science results of the Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist." Where does the press release talk about Oct 7th, 2009? Yes, it could be today (Wed 6th), tomorrow (Thu 7th), or next year when [Oct 6th] falls on a Thursday... Gaaa.... David A. Smith |
#8
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
I am still looking for somebody to answer the original question Let
me try to formalize it. There were no reports of any new extrasolar planets found in about 5 months of Kepler's operations; does it mean that they did not find any planet with a period 1.5 months and at least Earth size (or bigger) ? Or it is just that they are waiting for some other confirmations, in addition to simple occlusions that are obeservable from Kepler ? |
#9
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
On 2009-10-07, ivk wrote:
There were no reports of any new extrasolar planets found in about 5 months of Kepler's operations; does it mean that they did not find any planet with a period 1.5 months and at least Earth size (or bigger) ? No, it does not mean that. They are surely taking and reducing data, and waiting to understand things before publishing. I expect a flurry of results next January at the AAS meeting. |
#10
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Kepler Mission: why no near planets yet ?
"Greg Hennessy" wrote in message ... On 2009-10-07, ivk wrote: There were no reports of any new extrasolar planets found in about 5 months of Kepler's operations; does it mean that they did not find any planet with a period 1.5 months and at least Earth size (or bigger) ? No, it does not mean that. They are surely taking and reducing data, and waiting to understand things before publishing. I expect a flurry of results next January at the AAS meeting. "They" is a computer on board the space telescope called "Kepler". "They" will not be attending any AAS meeting. http://kepler.nasa.gov/about/news.html |
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