Andrew Yee[_1_]
April 30th 08, 04:08 PM
ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY PRESS INFORMATION NOTE
Issued by RAS Press Officers:
Dr Robert Massey
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307 / 4582
Anita Heward
Tel: +44 (0)1483 420904
NATIONAL ASTRONOMY MEETING PRESS ROOM (31 MARCH - 4 APRIL ONLY):
Tel: +44 (0)2890 975262 / 975263 / 975264
NAM 2008
http://nam2008.qub.ac.uk
Royal Astronomical Society
http://www.ras.org.uk
CONTACT
Neale Gibson
Astrophysics Research Centre
Physics Building
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
Web: http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~ng/
Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 2585
EMBARGOED UNTIL 0001 BST, 2 April 2008
Ref.: PN 08/19 (NAM 10)
Chance of finding Earthlike planets on the 'RISE'
Using a revolutionary new camera, UK astronomers have a real chance of being
the first to find Earth-like planets around other stars. PhD student Neale
Gibson of Queen's University Belfast will present the first results from the
RISE instrument in his talk on Wednesday 2 April at the RAS National
Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.
RISE is a new fast camera designed by astronomers at Queen's University,
Belfast (QUB) in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University and is
now installed on the 2-m Liverpool Telescope on the Canary Island of La
Palma. Professor John Meaburn of the Jodrell Bank Research Centre at the
University of Manchester specified the optics and steered the mechanical
design.
Since the early 1990s, astronomers have found more than 200 planets in orbit
around stars other than our Sun (so-called 'extrasolar' planets). These have
been detected through two techniques that are particularly sensitive to
massive planets in orbit close to their parent star. Firstly, planets can be
found through their gravitational pull on the star they orbit -- as the
extrasolar planet moves the star wobbles back and forth. By measuring this
movement astronomers can deduce the presence of a planet. Secondly, the
transit search technique looks for the dip in brightness of a star as a
planet passes in front of it.
However, neither of these techniques is currently good enough to find small
extrasolar planets similar to the Earth. So far most of those found are
so-called 'hot Jupiters' -- large gas giant planets very close to their
parent star.
The RISE camera is primarily designed to find Earth-mass planets in orbit
around stars already known to host hot Jupiters. With RISE, scientists will
search for extrasolar planets using a technique called transit timing, which
may provide a short cut to discovering Earth-like planets with existing
technology.
Transit timing works on the principle that an isolated hot Jupiter planet
orbiting its host will have a constant orbital period (i.e. its 'year'
remains the same) and therefore it will block out the light from its parent
star in a regular and predictable way. During the planet's transit events,
RISE can very accurately measure the rise and fall in the amount of light
reaching the Earth from the parent star -- the camera can be used to
pinpoint the time of the centre of the event to within 10 seconds.
By observing and timing their transits, astronomers hope to detect small
changes in the orbital periods of known hot Jupiters caused by the
gravitational pull of other planets in the same system. In the right
circumstances, even planets as small as the Earth could be found in this
way.
Gibson comments, "The potential of transit timing is the result of some very
simple physics, where multi-planet systems will gravitationally kick one
another around in their orbits -- an effect often witnessed in our own Solar
System. If Earth-mass planets are present in nearby orbits (which is
predicted by current Hot-Jupiter formation theories) we will see their
effect on the orbit of the larger transiting planets."
"RISE will allow us to observe and time the transits of extrasolar planets
very accurately, which gives us the sensitivity required to detect the
effect of even small Earth-mass planets."
FURTHER INFORMATION INCLUDING IMAGES
* Images of extrasolar planets and RISE camera
http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~ng/pics.shtml
* RISE camera
http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/swasp/Rise_Commissioning_Photos.htm
http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/RISE/index.php
* Liverpool Telescope home page
http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/
http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/RISE/index.php (and RISE
pages)
NOTES FOR EDITORS
RISE is supported by The Queen's University of Belfast, Liverpool John
Moores University, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and Prof
John Meaburn of The University of Manchester.
The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool
John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los
Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support
from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.
The RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2008) is hosted by Queen's
University Belfast. It is principally sponsored by the RAS and the Science
and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). NAM 2008 is being held together
with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) and Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and
Solar-Terrestrial (MIST) spring meetings.
Issued by RAS Press Officers:
Dr Robert Massey
Tel: +44 (0)20 7734 3307 / 4582
Anita Heward
Tel: +44 (0)1483 420904
NATIONAL ASTRONOMY MEETING PRESS ROOM (31 MARCH - 4 APRIL ONLY):
Tel: +44 (0)2890 975262 / 975263 / 975264
NAM 2008
http://nam2008.qub.ac.uk
Royal Astronomical Society
http://www.ras.org.uk
CONTACT
Neale Gibson
Astrophysics Research Centre
Physics Building
Queen's University Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN
Web: http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~ng/
Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 2585
EMBARGOED UNTIL 0001 BST, 2 April 2008
Ref.: PN 08/19 (NAM 10)
Chance of finding Earthlike planets on the 'RISE'
Using a revolutionary new camera, UK astronomers have a real chance of being
the first to find Earth-like planets around other stars. PhD student Neale
Gibson of Queen's University Belfast will present the first results from the
RISE instrument in his talk on Wednesday 2 April at the RAS National
Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.
RISE is a new fast camera designed by astronomers at Queen's University,
Belfast (QUB) in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University and is
now installed on the 2-m Liverpool Telescope on the Canary Island of La
Palma. Professor John Meaburn of the Jodrell Bank Research Centre at the
University of Manchester specified the optics and steered the mechanical
design.
Since the early 1990s, astronomers have found more than 200 planets in orbit
around stars other than our Sun (so-called 'extrasolar' planets). These have
been detected through two techniques that are particularly sensitive to
massive planets in orbit close to their parent star. Firstly, planets can be
found through their gravitational pull on the star they orbit -- as the
extrasolar planet moves the star wobbles back and forth. By measuring this
movement astronomers can deduce the presence of a planet. Secondly, the
transit search technique looks for the dip in brightness of a star as a
planet passes in front of it.
However, neither of these techniques is currently good enough to find small
extrasolar planets similar to the Earth. So far most of those found are
so-called 'hot Jupiters' -- large gas giant planets very close to their
parent star.
The RISE camera is primarily designed to find Earth-mass planets in orbit
around stars already known to host hot Jupiters. With RISE, scientists will
search for extrasolar planets using a technique called transit timing, which
may provide a short cut to discovering Earth-like planets with existing
technology.
Transit timing works on the principle that an isolated hot Jupiter planet
orbiting its host will have a constant orbital period (i.e. its 'year'
remains the same) and therefore it will block out the light from its parent
star in a regular and predictable way. During the planet's transit events,
RISE can very accurately measure the rise and fall in the amount of light
reaching the Earth from the parent star -- the camera can be used to
pinpoint the time of the centre of the event to within 10 seconds.
By observing and timing their transits, astronomers hope to detect small
changes in the orbital periods of known hot Jupiters caused by the
gravitational pull of other planets in the same system. In the right
circumstances, even planets as small as the Earth could be found in this
way.
Gibson comments, "The potential of transit timing is the result of some very
simple physics, where multi-planet systems will gravitationally kick one
another around in their orbits -- an effect often witnessed in our own Solar
System. If Earth-mass planets are present in nearby orbits (which is
predicted by current Hot-Jupiter formation theories) we will see their
effect on the orbit of the larger transiting planets."
"RISE will allow us to observe and time the transits of extrasolar planets
very accurately, which gives us the sensitivity required to detect the
effect of even small Earth-mass planets."
FURTHER INFORMATION INCLUDING IMAGES
* Images of extrasolar planets and RISE camera
http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~ng/pics.shtml
* RISE camera
http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/swasp/Rise_Commissioning_Photos.htm
http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/RISE/index.php
* Liverpool Telescope home page
http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/
http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/RISE/index.php (and RISE
pages)
NOTES FOR EDITORS
RISE is supported by The Queen's University of Belfast, Liverpool John
Moores University, the Science and Technology Facilities Council and Prof
John Meaburn of The University of Manchester.
The Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool
John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los
Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support
from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.
The RAS National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2008) is hosted by Queen's
University Belfast. It is principally sponsored by the RAS and the Science
and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). NAM 2008 is being held together
with the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) and Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and
Solar-Terrestrial (MIST) spring meetings.