Astronomers Discover 16 New Planets!

"NASA Team Finds New Planets in Milky Way Galaxy
By Sean Maroney
Washington
05 October 2006

The U.S. space agency, NASA, says a team of scientists using the Hubble
Space Telescope has discovered 16 potential planets orbiting distant
stars in the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope announced Wednesday the
discovery of potentially 16 new planets. These extrasolar candidates
are roughly the size of Jupiter and nearly 26,000 light-years away. The
Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, as the quest is
called, led the Hubble survey of about 180,000 stars. Team member Mario
Livio says his group's findings offer new insight into our galaxy.
"This allows us to say now with a very high degree of confidence that
there are literally billions of planets in our galaxy," he said.

But he stresses that what the team found are potential planets. Hubble
could not directly view the planets. The astronomers had to use a
transit method, measuring the slight dimming of a star when a celestial
body passed in front. With this method, astronomers could obtain mass
measurements only for two planets. However, the team leader, Kailash
Sahu, says he expects that number to be higher.

"Doing a careful analysis of all their light curves, we can estimate
that at least seven of these 16 candidates must be genuine planets."

NASA plans to launch into space a new telescope in 2008 that, it says,
is designed to hunt for new planets. The Kepler telescope, named after
a 16th Century German astronomer, will be one meter in diameter and
capable of detecting what NASA calls "Earthlike planets."

The Carnegie Institute's Alan Boss says there are more exciting
findings to come. "We're really getting the feeling that we are going
to find planets relatively nearby that have habitable worlds, if not
inhabited, but certainly habitable," he said.

Boss says there will be plenty of work for astronomers to find out more
about the newly discovered planets."

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-10-05-voa2.cfm


Double-A

Double-A very interesting knowing there are planets 26,000 LY away.
Someday we might be able to see them. Their passing in front of the
star,and dimming it can be tricky. Best to keep in mind that Sun spots
can do the exact same thing Bert

G=EMC^2 Glazier wrote:
Double-A very interesting knowing there are planets 26,000 LY away.
Someday we might be able to see them. Their passing in front of the
star,and dimming it can be tricky. Best to keep in mind that Sun spots
can do the exact same thing Bert


But not with regularity.

Double-A

"G=EMC^2 Glazier" wrote in message
...
Double-A very interesting knowing there are planets 26,000 LY away.
Someday we might be able to see them. Their passing in front of the
star,and dimming it can be tricky. Best to keep in mind that Sun spots
can do the exact same thing Bert

Good point about sun spots, so my question is are they still looking at the
"wooble" of a star.

Double-A That begs the question "what is their regularity. Best to
keep in mind it has to be in our line of our view. 26 million LY away
viewing can get tricky.. Have to think in every direction.about stars
having ways to dim. Planets dimming stars is the most interesting way to
view,but not the only way. Bert

"Double-A" wrote in message
ps.com...

"NASA Team Finds New Planets in Milky Way Galaxy
By Sean Maroney
Washington
05 October 2006

The U.S. space agency, NASA, says a team of scientists using the Hubble
Space Telescope has discovered 16 potential planets orbiting distant
stars in the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope announced Wednesday the
discovery of potentially 16 new planets. These extrasolar candidates
are roughly the size of Jupiter and nearly 26,000 light-years away. The
Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, as the quest is
called, led the Hubble survey of about 180,000 stars. Team member Mario
Livio says his group's findings offer new insight into our galaxy.
"This allows us to say now with a very high degree of confidence that
there are literally billions of planets in our galaxy," he said.

But he stresses that what the team found are potential planets. Hubble
could not directly view the planets. The astronomers had to use a
transit method, measuring the slight dimming of a star when a celestial
body passed in front. With this method, astronomers could obtain mass
measurements only for two planets. However, the team leader, Kailash
Sahu, says he expects that number to be higher.

"Doing a careful analysis of all their light curves, we can estimate
that at least seven of these 16 candidates must be genuine planets."

NASA plans to launch into space a new telescope in 2008 that, it says,
is designed to hunt for new planets. The Kepler telescope, named after
a 16th Century German astronomer, will be one meter in diameter and
capable of detecting what NASA calls "Earthlike planets."

Yes! Habitable worlds!
We need some place to go when our population explodes!



The Carnegie Institute's Alan Boss says there are more exciting
findings to come. "We're really getting the feeling that we are going
to find planets relatively nearby that have habitable worlds, if not
inhabited, but certainly habitable," he said.

Boss says there will be plenty of work for astronomers to find out more
about the newly discovered planets."

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-10-05-voa2.cfm


Double-A

Dana "Wobble" is the best way. A large planet going around its Sun can
wobble to the right,and later wobble to its left. It shows speed of the
large planet. Aliens studying our solar system have Jupiter,and if
they're as smart as me will have figured out it distance,or its size.
Best to keep in mind "gravity" is better to approximate with than light.
Bert

Mark Earnest wrote:
"Double-A" wrote in message
ps.com...

"NASA Team Finds New Planets in Milky Way Galaxy
By Sean Maroney
Washington
05 October 2006

The U.S. space agency, NASA, says a team of scientists using the Hubble
Space Telescope has discovered 16 potential planets orbiting distant
stars in the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope announced Wednesday the
discovery of potentially 16 new planets. These extrasolar candidates
are roughly the size of Jupiter and nearly 26,000 light-years away. The
Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, as the quest is
called, led the Hubble survey of about 180,000 stars. Team member Mario
Livio says his group's findings offer new insight into our galaxy.
"This allows us to say now with a very high degree of confidence that
there are literally billions of planets in our galaxy," he said.

But he stresses that what the team found are potential planets. Hubble
could not directly view the planets. The astronomers had to use a
transit method, measuring the slight dimming of a star when a celestial
body passed in front. With this method, astronomers could obtain mass
measurements only for two planets. However, the team leader, Kailash
Sahu, says he expects that number to be higher.

"Doing a careful analysis of all their light curves, we can estimate
that at least seven of these 16 candidates must be genuine planets."

NASA plans to launch into space a new telescope in 2008 that, it says,
is designed to hunt for new planets. The Kepler telescope, named after
a 16th Century German astronomer, will be one meter in diameter and
capable of detecting what NASA calls "Earthlike planets."

Yes! Habitable worlds!
We need some place to go when our population explodes!



Society will find it much cheaper to spay and neuter most of the
population than to send off the surplus to far flung Earth-like
planets.

Double-A




The Carnegie Institute's Alan Boss says there are more exciting
findings to come. "We're really getting the feeling that we are going
to find planets relatively nearby that have habitable worlds, if not
inhabited, but certainly habitable," he said.

Boss says there will be plenty of work for astronomers to find out more
about the newly discovered planets."

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-10-05-voa2.cfm


Double-A

"Mark Earnest" wrote in message
...

"Double-A" wrote in message
ps.com...

"NASA Team Finds New Planets in Milky Way Galaxy
By Sean Maroney
Washington
05 October 2006

snip

Yes! Habitable worlds!
We need some place to go when our population explodes!

6.5 Billion human is a NUCLEAR explosion just before the mushroom cloud!!!

"Double-A" wrote in message
oups.com...

Mark Earnest wrote:
"Double-A" wrote in message
ps.com...

"NASA Team Finds New Planets in Milky Way Galaxy
By Sean Maroney
Washington
05 October 2006

The U.S. space agency, NASA, says a team of scientists using the Hubble
Space Telescope has discovered 16 potential planets orbiting distant
stars in the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope announced Wednesday the
discovery of potentially 16 new planets. These extrasolar candidates
are roughly the size of Jupiter and nearly 26,000 light-years away. The
Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, as the quest is
called, led the Hubble survey of about 180,000 stars. Team member Mario
Livio says his group's findings offer new insight into our galaxy.
"This allows us to say now with a very high degree of confidence that
there are literally billions of planets in our galaxy," he said.

But he stresses that what the team found are potential planets. Hubble
could not directly view the planets. The astronomers had to use a
transit method, measuring the slight dimming of a star when a celestial
body passed in front. With this method, astronomers could obtain mass
measurements only for two planets. However, the team leader, Kailash
Sahu, says he expects that number to be higher.

"Doing a careful analysis of all their light curves, we can estimate
that at least seven of these 16 candidates must be genuine planets."

NASA plans to launch into space a new telescope in 2008 that, it says,
is designed to hunt for new planets. The Kepler telescope, named after
a 16th Century German astronomer, will be one meter in diameter and
capable of detecting what NASA calls "Earthlike planets."

Yes! Habitable worlds!
We need some place to go when our population explodes!



Society will find it much cheaper to spay and neuter most of the
population than to send off the surplus to far flung Earth-like
planets.

All we need to get the burdening populations to habitable worlds is:
A good scout ship,
Scouts that build space shuttle type landing strips,
and a fleet of rocket planes.