Latest Kepler Findings Presented at AAS
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This artist’s conception depicts the Kepler-10 star system, located about 560 light-years away near the Cygnus and Lyra constellations. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
During the 218th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, the Kepler team presented new findings: A new planet in the Kepler-10 system – the smallest yet discovered, a plethora of multi-planet star systems, and new methods for discovering the true age of a star.
So far, the Kepler mission has discovered two planets in the Kepler-10 system. In January of this year, the discovery of Kepler-10b was announced. So far, Kepler-10b is the smallest known exoplanet, with a radius about 1.4 times Earth’s and orbits its parent star in less than three hours.
This week, the Kepler team announced Kepler-10c (The larger object in the image to the left). The newly discovered planet is much larger than Kepler-10b, with a radius of twice that of Earth and orbiting its parent star in 45 days. Due to the close proximity of both planets to the Kepler-10 star, both worlds would be incredibly hot.
The new discovery was first identified by Kepler, then by using the combination of a computer simulation technique called “Blender,” and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, validated. Since ground-based telescopes have difficulty resolving small, distant planets using the “radial velocity” method, the team will use the “Blender” combination to validate a majority of their discoveries.
The Kepler team also revealed that with over 1,200 planetary candidates, over 400 are in systems with two or more planets. Interestingly enough, most of the discovered multi-planet systems are very different than our solar system. Download a 1.2MB Powerpoint presentation on the topic by David Latham Also presented was a new method for determining the age of a star by measuring the rate at which it spins on its axis. Download the presentation by Francois Fressin – (7.3MB Powerpoint)
Source:Kepler Mission / NASA Ames Research Center Press Release
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:06:06
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2011/05/25/latest-kepler-findings-presented-at-aas/
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