22 January 2014

This film starts with an image of a betrothed woman who cheats on her soldier with another. It is assumed that this very woman turns into the bed-ridden old grandma. Her daughter takes care of her and has had two daughters from two happy marriages. She also takes on a third suitor during the film. According to Nina (the daughter) the only unhappiness in her own marriages was her mother. This is the only explanation we get as to why the marriages ended. Her oldest daughter, Lida, turns out to be a mistress like her grandmother had been. The youngest daughter, Nastia, is pregnant and the father loves her and is willing to be with her and the baby. These are the women that live in the house.

Every day, as they get ready, there hangs a poster of Adam and Eve on their bathroom door. The poster seems to say: for every man, there is a perfect woman who suits him so well, it is almost as if he made her from a part of himself. The message of the movie, though, is something completely different. It seems to say that there is no one man for every woman or vise versa. The grandmother is the first example. She looked so happy getting married, yet she looked just as happy with her lover. Next, we have Nina. The men that fathered her children are perfectly good men which love their daughters as well as Nina, still, even though they are separated. She also falls easily into a romance with a new man. Again, we see that there could have been any number of men Nina could have settled down with. Lida is another example with her affair. Nastia also shows an unconventional pairing.

The director seems to tell us that there is no one perfect man. There are choices. However, the director does seem to say that if we do not choose one and take advantages of this knowledge that there are choices, we (women) will live a miserable life, as exemplified by the grandma.

They treat the grandma like a child. From the way Nina speaks to her to the television program she watches to changing her diapers, she is one pouty child. At one point, Nina gets frustrated with her and accuses her of acting. Then, at the end of the film, the old and supposedly paralyzed lady gets up out of bed and the film abruptly ends after showing the shocked and somewhat angry faces of her caretakers.

The grandmother was probably the biggest symbol in the film. Of what, though? I am not sure. Wether I feel sorry for her or am angry with her, it is hard to say. Maybe by getting up, she symbolizes the breaking of this cycle the women seem to follow in the house. The movie is left wide open for interpretation. Though maybe too open to grasp what was going on the mind of the director.

21 January 2014

Why is it that we relate to Gala?After all, she leaves behind her “family” and a man who “loves” her for the superficial pursuit of success in the glam world. We should actually dislike her. However, if we look closer, we see that there is no real love for her in Rosov. Plus, she tries to leave her parents money and with a goodbye to her boyfriend: all good intentions.

Despite her bad childhood, though, she is determined and always has a smile on her face. In the dirty world of behind the scenes glam, she manages to stay clean. When her boyfriend propagates her success, she is not pleased to have gotten ahead, but rather upset that it went against her morals. She says that she is willing to do anything to get to the top, but we see that Gala has a strong moral compass. She will work hard but is not quite willing to give up her dignity.

Another example of this is toward the end of the film with Misha. Gala becomes unhinged after sleeping with him. With Misha, she has everything that she has ever dreamed of in front of her. Or, that is, everything we thought she wanted. WHen she tells MIchael that she will not marry him, we see that what she actually values is happiness. SHe merely thought that a glamorous life meant happiness because that is exactly what all the glossy magazines portrayed.

With this, the director Andron Konchalovsky is trying to say that this modern portrayal of happiness is false and that deep down the modern Russians cannot possibly value these things. Though Gala is not the only character to realize the same thing, too late. The editor of the glossy magazine pretends to take on these values, but we see they are not really what she believes. Her daughter, having grown up with these values, turns into a heartless monster. Her mother cannot even be mad, knowing it is her own fault. Finally, the fashion designer is out last example. He goes against what is true to himself just  to make sales. His show was  hit, though the only thing that made it popular was its equivalence to a circus. The designer lost his dignity trying to uphold these modern values. All three characters did: the editor, the designer and especially Gala.

At the end of the film ,Gala’s old boyfriend shoots her dead. Although the ending does not clearly confirm this, I believe it to be true. She waves goodbye to her childhood, finally free of the haunting memories. THen, she imagines a glamorous and happy life with Michael. In this life, he is a man capable of love and the glossy world has a heart, painting the covers of the magazines with Gala’s face, a beauty on the inside, shredding all the previous fashions to bits. THough at the very end of this montage, we see the magazine with her on the cover in the shred pile.

Andron leaves us with this final message: Not even in your dreams will this glossy lifestyle bring you happiness. We are left pitying the victims of this new ideal, no matte how selfish each of them may have been.

“But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is it that drives us to search for planets outside our solar system? Possibly because an ingrained curiosity to further our understanding of the world around us. Or maybe we owe it to future generations to find a new home, as Wernher von Braun suggested, before Earth is swallowed by our sun, destroyed by an asteroid, or ruined due to our own negligence. Almost one thousand exoplanents have been discovered to date (999 as of this past Saturday according to Exoplanet.eu), but only a tiny fraction of these could potentially harbor life. Astronomers have been searching for more than twenty years and still have yet to find a plant that resembles Earth. The practical goal now is not to find another Earth, but instead a planet that could sustain life.

Hope

A promising lead in the right direction came almost two years ago when researchers at ESO or the European Southern Observatory, confirmed the existence of a planet called Gliese 667 Cc. The researchers discovered the planet using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Seracher, more commonly known as HARPS, located at La Silla Observatory in Chile. This method works by measuring a star’s speed towards and away from us, which is slightly influence by the gravity of the planets orbiting it. Through these slight changes in the stars velocity we are able to confirm the presence of planets. Gliese 667 Cc is located in the triple-star system Gliese 667, which resides in the Scorpius constellation twenty two light years away. Two stars, Gliese 667 A and B, lie in the center of the constellation, orbiting each other at a separation from 20AU to 5AU. Gliese 667 C on the other hand orbits the previously mentioned stars at an average of 230AU, which is nearly five times the distance from our sun to Pluto. The latter is particularly interesting because orbiting it are at least five rocky planets, three of which are within its habitable zone. Gliese 667 C is a M1.5V type red dwarf star that has a luminosity only a fraction of our Sun’s and is relatively cool at 3700K, yet it still emits a fair amount of energy in the infra-red spectrum.

Cold Hard Facts

Gliese 667 Cc is a prime candidate for a habitable exoplanet and here’s why. The planet is located inside of the habitable zone around the star it orbits and could hold liquid water. It is thought to be composed of rocky materials like those on Earth. It is big enough to retain a molten core; necessary for generation of a magnetic field to protect the planet. Given the proper atmosphere it is likely that Gliese 667 Cc could sustain life.

A visual of the habitable zone around Gliese 667 C, (credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory @UPR Arecibo)

A key selling point to scientists of Gliese 677 Cc, as mentioned, is that it is comfortably within its parent star’s habitable zone or the area that is able to support liquid water around the star. To calculate the inner and outer boundaries of the habitable zone D_inner and D_outer, respectively, we use the following two equations for the inner and outer edges, where L is the luminosity of a star in terms of L_sun.By using a value of 0.0137 for the luminosity we get a habitable zone stretching from 0.11AU to 0.16, which works out well for Gliese 667 Cc because it orbits at an average of 0.125AU way from its parent star. This ability to support water is due to an ideal temperature range on the planet which we can estimate using the following equation, where A is the planet’s albedo or reflectivity, D is the distance in AU from the planet to the star it orbits, and L is the parent star’s luminosity in terms of L_sun.

Since this planet was detected using the Dopler method it has not been directly observed and therefore scientists have yet to calculate a value for its albedo. To estimate a range of possible temperatures, assuming the planet has relatively similar atmosphere to Earth, we use albedo values of 0.01, 0.99, 0.125AU for D, and 0.0137 for L to get a temperature range from 85.1K-268.3K. However, according to more precise blackbody calculations from scientists the temperature is probably closer to 277.4K. Two other factors here play a huge role in the planet’s temperature. Since the planet is so close to the star it is orbiting, it is likely tidally locked and therefore only one side of the planet ever receives light from the star, which would make that side much hotter. The next thing to take into account is the planet’s atmosphere, if thick enough it could distribute this uneven heating to the dark side of the planet. Finally we must take into account the size of Gliese 667 Cc. Current calculations place it at around 4.5 times more massive than Earth, while its exact size is unknown it is certainly large enough to have current molten core. This is extremely important in generating a magnetic field, which in turn shields the planet’s atmosphere from being swept away by solar radiation.

A comparison of light on Earth (left) to predicted light on Gliese 667 Cc (right), (Credit: Sven Wedemeyer-Böhm)

A Bit of Speculation

If life were to exist on 677 Cc it would certainly be different to life here on Earth. One major difference is the sunlight. The planet receives about 90% of the light that we do, but almost all of it is in the infra-red spectrum. This means that life there would have genetically adapted to see more in the IR spectrum and plants would be able to photosynthesize using more IR light than visible. The surface of the planet is likely covered in rocky land masses and oceans on which the planets inhabitants live on and in. Since the planet is tidally locked an intelligent species living there would have built much of its infra-structure that requires solar energy, such as agriculture on the sunny side of the planet. Another aspect of life to consider is the force of gravity. Since the planet is more massive than Earth we would experience up to 1.6 times heavier than we are. Also due to its larger mass the planet would have a much heavier atmosphere which could add much more pressure than we are currently use to. So any life that evolved on Gliese 667 Cc would be much more suited to living at these higher pressures.

Back to Reality

There are still many more exoplanets out there to be discovered and vast amounts of information to be studied about ones already found, especially in the case of the Gliese 667 system. Whether life exists on Gliese 667 Cc is yet to be determined, but if it does it would certainly be different form life here on Earth. Hopefully through further analysis we will learn more about the planet’s atmosphere and surface composition, so we can answer the question of habitability once and for all. If we discover that Gliese 667 Cc is inhabitable, there is no need to worry because two other planets, Gliese 667 Cf and Ce, within the star’s habitable zone.

Sources:

http://science.kqed.org/quest/2013/03/22/gliese-667-cc-musing-the-possibilities-of- another-earth

http://www.mn.uio.no/astro/english/research/news-and-events/news/astronews-2012-02-17.html

http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.0446

http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.4058v2

http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1328/eso1328a.pdf

GJ 1214b Water World

The Kepler space telescope, which started operation on March 6^th, 2009, is one of a number of new projects aimed at discovering extra-solar planets.  This goal, which was once just a dream of astronomers, has been realized in recent years due to a number of new telescopes, spearheaded by the Kepler space telescope, a 37 inch telescope dedicated to finding new planets (Britannica).  Although it was previously believed that planets might be scarce, and that our system rather special, the new data revealed by Kepler and other telescopes have revealed hundreds of planets orbiting foreign stars.  Though initially the only planets we were able to detect were large, massive Jovian planets, more recently we have been able to detect many terrestrial planets.  Most are a few times more massive than Earth, and have been dubbed, “super earths” for their size and terrestrial nature. 

The methods for finding planets are varied and numerous.  The six methods used today are pulsar timing, astrometry, Doppler shift, direct imaging, transits and micro-lensing.  Of these six, by far the most commonly used are transits, astrometry and Doppler shift.  The transit method, used by the Kepler telescope, looks at the changes in luminosity of stars as planets transit their disc (Britannica).  This method can be very accurate, but is not infallible; multi star or planet systems need complex models to be understood, and this method is prone to finding very large planets, not the small terrestrial ones that could support life.  Another weakness is that this method requires the plane of the system to be in line with ours, further limiting its usefulness.  Doppler shift and astrometry are very similar.  Both look at the movement of stars as they orbit the center of mass of their system to find planets.  By breaking down the star’s orbit and fitting it to a model, we can predict the mass and placement of the surrounding planets.  The difference in these methods lies in how they collect data.  The Doppler shift method, as the name suggests, uses the red or blue shift of the star to model the orbit while astrometry uses imaging.  Both methods are prone to detecting Jovian planets much more frequently than terrestrial ones, but both have been used to great effect.

One planet detected by the transit method is Gliese 1214b or GJ 1214b.  Detected as part of the MEarth Project, GJ 1214b has a radius roughly 2.6 times larger than that of Earth, and mass around 7 times greater than Earths.  Orbiting a small, dim, M class dwarf star called GJ 1214, GJ 1214b is only 47 light years from Earth, just a step away compared to most other super-Earths.  Though little is directly known of the planet’s composition due to its thick atmosphere, its low density tells us that it is likely to be a water world, with much less rock than Earth (Wiki, GJ 1214b).  The current proposed model, pictured above, would make this planet a prime candidate for life, with a hot atmosphere and a huge, warm sea.  The planet’s heat is due to its proximity to its host star.  With a semi major axis of just .014 AU, GJ 1214b orbits closer to its star than any body in our solar system.  This proximity is not problematic for life due to the star’s (GJ 1214’s) low temperature and luminosity (Wiki, GJ 1214b).  The atmosphere of GJ 1214b is very thick, low Raleigh scattering provides evidence of a water rich atmosphere.   Raleigh scattering is a technique that looks at how starlight is scattered as it goes through the atmosphere of a planet to determine its composition.  Because some low levels of scattering are observed, but very little light goes all the way through the atmosphere, we can conclude that a cloudy, water rich atmosphere is likely (Daily Mail).  One more factor that makes life possible on GJ 1214b has to do with the star it orbits.  Dwarf stars are very stable and very long-lived, giving life lots of time to evolve, unlike high mass stars which burn through their fuel faster, and so live shorter lives. 

Due to these factors GJ 1214b is a prime candidate for further study, and one of the most likely places that life could exist in a system close to ours.  The conservative boundaries of the habitable zone around a star are given as such:

D_inner = .95AU√(L_star/L_sun) and

D_outer = 1.4AU√(L_star/L_sun)

Given GJ 1214’s luminosity we can calculate the habitable zone

D_inner = .95AU√(.00328☉)

D_outer = 1.4AU√(.00328☉)

So the habitable zone around GJ 1214b is between .054 AU and .081 AU. 

Though the orbit of GJ 1214b is outside these limits, it does not mean that the planet cannot support life.  These equations do not take into account any atmospheric effects, nor does it use albedo to determine temperatures.  To find a more accurate indication of temperature we can use an equation for equilibrium temperature.  This too does not include atmospheric effects, but will still give a better idea of the temperatures on GJ 1214b.

4πσ(T_eq)⁴ = (1-A)(L_★/4d²)

Where σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.670373 × 10⁻⁸ W m⁻² K⁻⁴), A is the albedo, L_★ is the luminosity of the star in watts, d is the semi-major axis of the planet’s orbit in meters and T_eq is the equilibrium temperature in degrees kelvin.  Though we cannot directly measure the albedo of GJ 1214b, our best models put it at around .4 (astro.ex.ac.uk).

4π(5.670373 × 10⁻⁸ W m⁻² K⁻⁴ )(T_eq)⁴ = (1-.4)(1.259192 x 10²⁴ W/4((2.139 × 10⁹m)²)

(7.12560086 x 10^-7 W m⁻² K⁻⁴)(T_eq)⁴ = 41240 kg / s³

(T_eq)⁴ = (41240 kg / s³)/ (7.12560086 x 10^-7 W m⁻² K⁻⁴)

T_eq = 490.4 K

This temperature, while hot, could still support liquid water at different depths (and pressures).  Using different models and different albedos scientists have put GJ 1214b’s temperature at somewhere between 393 and 555 degrees kelvin, or around 120 – 282^oC.

Though these temperatures are to hot for most terrestrial life to survive in, Methanopyrus kandleri and Geogemma barossii are both microorganisms that can survive and even reproduce in temperatures of greater than 120^oC (NSF).  While that is still on the lower end of the predicted range, evolution could make more species suitable for these conditions. 

            As previously mentioned, the star GJ 1214 is an M-class red dwarf.  This is important in determining the possibility of life on GJ 1214b because dwarf stars have very long lives, giving plenty of time for life to evolve.  A red dwarf’s life cycle is different than that of a massive star.  A high mass star, such as VY Canis Majoris, which has a radius of approximately 6.6 AU, and is around 20 times more massive than the sun, has a lifetime of around two million years, far too short for life to evolve.  Unlike these massive stars, red dwarfs are expected to live up to 10 trillion years, giving life plenty of time to evolve.

            GJ 1214b shows promise as a life-bearing planet due to a number of characteristics.  Its composition, primarily water, is perhaps the most exciting of them all, water is a well known necessity for terrestrial life, and its use as a solvent and catalyst is crucial for life.  While other liquids could be used for the same purpose, water is the best we have found so far, with a wide variety of temperatures at which it can remain liquid.  The planet’s temperature, while extreme by terrestrial standards are still within the limits of life on Earth, and could be considered pedestrian by extraterrestrial life.  Other characteristics such as its water rich atmosphere and long-lived star provide additional support to the idea that life may exist on GJ 1214b.  Its proximity and the aforementioned characteristics make GJ 1214b a prime candidate for further investigation and study.

Works Cited:

 “GJ 1214” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.  Web.  Oct. 22, 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GJ_1214_b

“Kepler.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1474027/Kepler>.

“Kepler Telescope” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.  Web.  Oct. 22, 2013.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_telescope

Lovley, Derek. “Microbe from Depths Takes Life to Hottest Known Limit” NSF.  NSF.gov. Web. Oct 22, 2013. http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0384.html

Marcy, Geoffrey.  “Extra Solar Planets: Water World Larger Than Earth” Nature. Nature.com.  Web. Oct. 22, 2013. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7275/full/462853a.html

Zolfagharifard, Ellie. “Super-Earth 40 light years away ‘is rich in water with a thick, steamy atmosphere’, confirm Japanese astronomers” The Daily Mail.  Daily Mail.  Web. Oct. 22, 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2412151/Super-Earth-GJ-1214b-40-light-years-away-rich-water-steamy-atmosphere.html

The Quest:

For as long as humans have walked the earth we have looked up at the stars and wondered whether we are alone in the universe. Until very recently, we did these two things independently, unaware that one day we might wonder whether or not we are actually gazing at other worlds in the night sky. With the invention of the telescope, with Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler and the rest, we redefined our understanding of the universe, and it wasn’t long before we began to question our uniqueness in the cosmic expanse. Beginning with Huygens in the 1600s and continuing up to the present day, a new field of astronomical inquiry was born, dedicated for the search for extrasolar planets, or planets orbiting stars other than our Sun.

This quest for other worlds hold’s significance for us in several areas: not only does it aid in our understanding of the structure of our galaxy, it also offers the possibility of discovering extrasolar life, the holy grail of many branches of astronomy. While we have discovered almost 1,000 exoplanets (and thousands more candidate planets), we have yet to refine our technology to the point of being able to detect life on any of them. The discovery of life beyond Earth would revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and have gigantic implications for humanity in general, from religion to politics to even economics. Consequently, various nations have devoted large amounts of resources and technological expertise to the cause.

The methods used to detect exoplanets have evolved over the years as our technology has developed, but we still have only a handful of ways we can catch a glimpse of our neighboring worlds. The simplest is to observe a star over a long period of time and monitor it for slight changes in position that could indicate the gravitational tug of an orbiting body. This technique, known as astrometrics, was used to discover the first exoplanets in the 1900s. Since then we have created more precise ways of measuring the orbital wobble of planet-supporting stars, such as the Doppler Shift technique, which detects shifts in the wavelength of light emitted by a star (an indication of changing velocity), and pulsar timing, in which researchers calculate the change in timing of pulses emitted from neutron stars to determine whether they exhibit the orbital wobble. Other methods such as transit detection (observation of a star “dimming” when a planet passes in front of it), gravitational microlensing (observation of a star’s light being magnified by the gravitational field of a planet), and even direct imaging make up the rest of discoveries. However, most of these methods push the boundaries of our current technology, and leave plenty of room for improvement.

(Light curve of WASP-12, used to detect the transit of WASP-12b)

One particular planet, discovered with the transit method, has provided astronomers with an intriguing sight. Discovered in April of 2008 by the SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) international survey team, WASP-12b is the only planet ever to be discovered in the process of being consumed by its parent star. At 1.39 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting a G0-Type star (just slightly hotter than the sun, and 1.57 times the size), 12b seems to be a fairly typical exoplanet at first sight. What makes it unusual is its orbital distance. This massive gas giant zips around its parent star at 0.0229 AU, or 1/44 of the Earth’s distance from the sun, completing a full orbit every 1.09 Earth days. This extreme proximity to its planet star has caused 12b to warp into slightly egg-shaped form, and is stripping the planet of its atmosphere by 189 quadrillion tons per year. The planet is essentially being eaten by its star.

Is It Habitable?

With a deteriorating atmosphere and the distorting warp of its cannibalistic parent star, WASP-12b appears to be the perfect stage for science-fiction apocalypse story. It’s tempting to imagine an advanced race of aliens desperately trying to escape the surface of their dying planet, building arks or sending out emissaries to carry on their legacy, much like the classic Superman-Krypton story. However, as far as the habitability of 12b goes, the truth is far less exciting. Based on our understanding of life on Earth and our knowledge of the conditions on 12b, there is no possible way life could exist on its surface today.

For instance, let’s examine its orbit. At 0.0229 AU (3,425,791 kilometers) away from its parent star, the amount of solar radiation absorbed by 12b is enormous. Given its distance and the luminosity of WASP-12, we can use the equation for equilibrium temperature…

… where A_b is the planet’s albedo, D is its average orbital distance in AU, L_star is the luminosity of WASP-12 (in solar luminosities) and L_sun is the luminosity of our sun, to calculate the planet’s average surface temperature. With an albedo of about 0.1, an orbital distance of 0.0229 AU and an approximate luminosity of 1.26 L_sun, the calculations produce a surface temperature of 2560 Kelvin.

(Artist’s impression of WASP-12b and parent star)

A surface temperature of 2560K is much too high to accommodate liquid water, let alone liquid methane or ethane. This fact alone means that 12b fails the so-called “litmus test” of habitability. Without a liquid medium for chemical reactions to occur, the occurrence of life is impossible. In order to maintain temperatures suitable for life, 12b would have to orbit within the “habitable zone” of WASP-12b, or the orbital area within which planets should be able to maintain liquid medium on their surface. The limits of this zone can be calculated with relative ease. Given the luminosity of the star, we can use the equations…

… where D_inner and D_outer are the distances from the star to the inner and outer boundaries of the habitable zone, respectively. Plugging in the luminosity of WASP-12 (about 1.26 solar luminosities), we calculate the inner boundary to be about 1.07 AU away from the star, and the outer to be 1.57 AU. 12b, at only .0229 AU, is a far cry from the sweet spot. In fact, unless the planet has migrated in towards the star from a more distant orbit throughout its lifetime (which scientists think may be possible explanation for the position of many large exoplanets), it is unlikely that 12b has ever existed within the habitable zone of its star, making life on its surface an impossibility. Additionally, as its low mass parent star evolves, becoming a red giant when it depletes its fuel supply of hydrogen, it will eventually envelop 12b before dying and expelling its outer layers in a planetary nebula, making the case for potential habitability even more obsolete.

However, despite this seemingly condemning piece of evidence, let’s continue our examination of other characteristics of the planet that might affect its habitability. The composition of 12b is still being debated today, but a recent spectroscopy taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has given scientists some data on which to base their hypotheses. The Hubble imaging indicates that the planet has a higher carbon-to-oxygen ratio than does the Sun, which seems to indicate that it is a carbon-rich gas giant. The carbon should be contained in its atmosphere, which is swollen to three times the radius of Jupiter, in the form of carbon monoxide and methane, a mixture that would be toxic to most life on Earth. Another point against the planet’s habitability (at least for life as we know it).

Science Fiction:

However, if we stretch our imaginations slightly it is possible to visualize what life might be like if it could survive on WASP-12b. It is hypothesized that, much like Jupiter, 12b’s outer layers are made up of differentiated levels of gas clouds. Assuming that it has at least some water content, it is possible that at a certain altitude, the temperature and pressure ranges would create a small layer suitable for water vapor. It is here that life might be able to exist, utilizing small droplets of water in the air as a liquid solvent to facilitate chemical reactions. Given that the temperature would still be somewhere much higher than is suitable for most life on Earth, we might only find 12b’s version of extremophile bacteria floating in this habitable layer. However, because of the strong vertical winds of 12b’s atmosphere, any free-floating bacteria would inevitably be swept to higher or lower altitudes, into the uninhabitable zones of the atmosphere. More complex life might be able to develop techniques to counteract this turbulence, perhaps by developing large, gas-filled sacs capable of creating a buoyancy to maintain a stable atmosphere. However, in order to reach the right balance, these creatures would have to be enormous. Not to mention capable of breathing carbon dioxide and methane. You can almost imagine huge, floating, jellyfish-like aliens, bobbing around through the giant’s atmosphere, snagging floating bacteria or the occasional, unwitting space ship for their afternoon snack.

What Can it Tell Us?

While it hasn’t aided us in our search for habitable planets beyond our solar system, WASP-12b has given us valuable insight into the nature of solar system formation and the orbital patterns of gas giants. While it may be incapable of supporting life, 12b has at the very least given us an extreme view of the conditions existing in the universe. At approximately the same size as Jupiter, orbiting a star approximately the same size as our sun but at only a fraction of Earth’s orbital distance, 12b sports surface temperatures of 2560 K and a toxic atmosphere of carbon dioxide and methane. If nothing else, this blazing hot ball of gas, this planet being devoured by its own sun has probably given science fiction writers something to chew on.

Bibliography

“WASP-12b.” Wikidpedia. Wikipedia , 04 Sep 2013. Web. 20 Oct 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP-12b&gt;.

“WASP-12.” Wikidpedia. Wikipedia, 04 Sep 2013. Web. 20 Oct 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WASP-12&gt;.

“Planet WASP-12 b.” Exoplanet.eu. Exoplanet.eu. Web. 20 Oct 2013. <http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/wasp-12_b/&gt;.

David, Wilson. “SuperWASP Planets.” SuperWasp.org. N.p.. Web. 23 Oct 2013. <http://www.superwasp.org/wasp_planets.htm&gt;.

Another Earth?

Introduction:

Exoplanets are planets with host stars that are not our sun, in other words any planet outside of our solar system. While exoplanets, or extrasolar planets, were undetectable to us until recently (the first was detected in 1992), today almost 1,000 have been recorded (1). It is also estimated that generally all stars have at least one planet in orbit (2). For this reason, exoplanets play a large roll in the search for extraterrestrial life, though candidates are severely narrowed by stellar diversity.

There are many ways of detecting exoplanets, all of which fall into two categories: direct imaging, and indirect. While direct imaging can tell us more about a planet’s characteristics, because of light pollution from host stars, indirect is far more common. Aside from capturing visible light / infrared spectra, there are a number of indirect detection techniques. These include: Astrometry, Doppler shift, Transit/Eclipse, Gravitational microlensing, and Pulsar timing. Astrometry is a method in which one precisely measures the location of the star in an attempt to observe the wobble that results from orbiting the center of mass. A Doppler shift is when the stars orbital disk is in a similar plane to Earth and therefor during the times when the star is traveling toward or away from our observation the wavelength detected is either elongated or compressed. These alterations are referred to as red shift and blue shift depending on which direction. The Doppler effect is a common phenomenon and therefor a versatile detection method. Transit and Eclipse methods both take advantage of either the star or planet blocking the other from our observation. Each method measures the total light (visible or infrared) and how it changes over time. In Transit detection, when the orbiting planet comes in front of its star, it blocks some percentage of emitted light therefor our graphs demonstrate a regularly shaped dip in light detection. In Eclipse detection, there is a drop in infrared light when the planet moves from the side of the star to behind it since the planet emits infrared light. Gravitational microlensing detects the light of an object hidden from the observer’s field of view by an extremely massive body, as that light is bent around the body. Finally, pulsar timing utilizes the regular and precise movement of neutron stars to detect an orbit from imprecision. The very first exoplanet was discovered by pulsar timing detection.

Kepler-22b was discovered transiting its host star in 2009, and then confirmed with a third transit detection in late 2010. The planet’s radius is approximately two and a half that of Earth, though its mass and composition are still unknown (3). It orbits a G5 spectral type star very similar to our own sun. Found 600 light-years away, the host star (Kepler-22) has a mass of about 0.97 solar masses, a radius of about 0.98 solar radii, and a luminosity of about 0.8 times the luminosity of our sun (4). Kepler-22b was an important discovery for the Kepler mission as it was the first exoplanet found orbiting a star similar to our sun within the specific habitable zone.

Habitability:

Though the potential habitability of Kepler-22b is still largely unknown, from the information we have gathered so far, it seems to be a promising candidate for sustaining life. The planet orbits Kepler-22 at an average distance of 0.85 AU (1), which correlates with a similar position within it’s habitable zone as Earth. Earth is located at 1 AU and our sun’s habitable zone is between 0.95 and 1.4 AU. The habitable zone of Kepler-22 is located between 0.82 and 1.21 AU as calculated using the following equations: D_inner = 0.95 AU √(L/L_sun) and D_outter = 1.4 AU √(L/L_sun)

(http://kepler.nasa.gov/images/Kepler22bDiagram.jpg)

The bond albedo and atmospheric conditions of Kepler-22b are unknown; therefor the actual temperature is incalculable using the following equation: T_equilibrium = 255K   D^-1/2

However, models have estimated the planet’s equilibrium temperature under 3 different atmospheric conditions. The first of which is an atmospheric greenhouse gas effect similar to Earth’s, which results in an average temperature of 295°K. Should the planet have experienced a runaway greenhouse gas effect similar to that of Venus, the planet should have an average temperature of about 733°K. Lastly, if the planet has been stripped of its atmosphere completely, it likely has an equilibrium temperature of 262°K. These values are very earth-like and appear to be potentially supportive of life. (5)

            The planet was detected and confirmed using the method of Transit. Since Transit detection measures the decrease in light picked up as the planet crosses in front of its host star, the dip in luminosity can be described as:

(πr_star² – πr_planet²)/(πr_star²) in terms of the percentage of total light still detectable when partially blocked by planet. For Kepler-22b, the light from Kepler-22 should decrease from 1.00 to 0.999337.

            Since Kepler-22 is a G5 spectral type star, it is slightly less massive and luminous than our very own G2 spectral type sun. Kepler-22 is young at only 1 billion years old, compared to our sun’s age of 4.57 billion years. Since it is a much younger star, it has more stellar life left than our sun, though it can be expected to follow the same fate as our sun once it is old enough. The habitable zone will continue to widen and distance itself from the star before fusion is complete, at which point it will expand and cool before evolving into a giant.

Science Fiction

            Kepler-22b is the closest you can find to home, away from home! If you aren’t already dying to take a trip with the family to Kepler-22b, you’re about to be! While 22b is home to tropical warm weather and white sand beaches, there are entirely new aspects to the world that will excite the whole family. First of all, the beaches are made of crystal sand instead of boring old earth minerals! Second of all, the beach water isn’t even water, it’s methane! What could be better than a decade long getaway to swim in the methane oceans of 22b with the kids? The only thing I can think of is CALLING NOW to get 15% off on your next seat booking. Survival not guaranteed.

Works Cited:

1. http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/
2. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v481/n7380/full/nature10684.html
3. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepscicon-briefing.html#.UmUyFJTwLtg
4.  Kepler-22b, NASA Ames Research Center, retrieved 2011-12-06 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-22#cite_note-nasa_ames-2)
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-22b#cite_note-bbc20111205-9

Introduction

To our knowledge, Earth is the only known planet to contain life.  Considering we have discovered thousands of planets since the discovery of the first exoplanet in the mid-1990s, this is a bit shocking.  Since then, we have found multiple methods of detecting planets around stars other than our Sun, the most prominent of which are planetary transits, and Doppler shifts, also known as radial velocity measurements.  Recently, the technology to directly image the planets has been invented, but these images are still very low resolution and does not provide much information about the planets.  In order to possibly contain life, a planet must be within a star’s habitable zone.  A habitable zone is the are of a star’s orbit where liquid water could potentially exist on its surface.  NASA’s Kepler mission has been very successful discovering planets that are potentially habitable, notably Kepler-22b.  Conversely, it has discovered many more planets that have very extreme environments.

Kepler-70: A Dying Star

Far away in the constellation Cygnus, 3,849 light-years to be precise, lies a subdwarf-B star known as Kepler-70.  It is a much smaller star than the Sun, with a radius of 0.203 solar radii, only 1/5 of the Sun.  It is also much less massive at 0.496 solar masses.  The luminosity is, however, 18.9 times greater than that of the Sun.  For the luminosity of the star, the following  equation was used:

In this equation, r is the radius of the star, σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, and T is the average temperature of the star.  Kepler-70 is an ancient star, having evolved completely through the main sequence and red giant stages of its life.  Estimates determine that Kepler-70 exited the red giant stage 18.4 million years ago.  Since then, the star’s core has been fusing Helium.  Once the supply is exhausted, the star will complete its lifetime by contracting into a white dwarf.

An example of the brightness dip from a transiting planet.

Discovering Planets around Kepler-70

When a planet’s orbit lies on the same orbital plane viewable from Earth, the planet will cross in front, or transit, the star once every orbital period.  This causes the observed brightness of the star to drop relative to the size of the both the star and the planet.  Unlike other planetary detection methods, this allows the transit method to discern the radius of a transiting planet.  Three or four transits are required for conformation of an extrasolar planet.  NASA’s Kepler mission uses the transit method to discover new planets around stars, including two that have been discovered around Kepler-70 by Stephane Charpinet.  The discovery of these planets was announced on December 12, 2011.

The innermost planet, Kepler-70b, has one of the most extreme environments ever found on a planet, yet some of its characteristics are very similar to Earth.  It has a very similar density at 5500 kg/m³, compared to Earth’s 5515 kg/m³.  However, it is only 44% of Earth’s mass.  Despite some similarities, the environment on Kepler-70b is just too hostile for any forms of life as we know it to exist there.  The main obstacles, and large ones at that, standing in the way of life on Kepler-70b are its lack of an atmosphere, proximity to its host star, extreme temperatures, and it was actually inside its host star during the recent past.

What is Kepler-70b Like?

Today, Kepler-70b is not really a planet in the tradition sense.  Rather, it is all that remains of a gas giant that formed with the original star system.  Millions of years ago, Kepler-70b was likely a hot Jupiter, a Jovian-sized planet that orbits unusually close to its host star.  In the case of Kepler-70b, the planet orbits just 0.006 AU from the star.  Comparatively, Mercury orbits 65 times further from the Sun.  This is far inside the inner boundary for the habitable zone of Kepler-70, both conservative and optimistic measurement, which range from 4.13-6.08 AU and 1.95-7.39 AU respectively.  Usually, these orbital distances compare to those of   Mercury or Venus.  The inner and outer boundaries of a star’s habitable zone can be calculated using the following equations where the conservative measurement is the upper pair of equations and the optimistic is the lower two.

As Kepler-70 aged, the star expanded to become a red giant about 18.4 million years ago.  Because of 70b’s extreme proximity to the host star, the planet was actually enveloped in the expanding star’s atmosphere, consequently destroying its atmosphere.  Normally, planets in this situation are disintegrated by the extreme temperature and pressure.  However, some Jovian-sized planets are large enough that they can actually survive.  As the star exits its red giant stage and begins to shrink, the remaining iron core of the planet is all that remains.  Naturally, the temperatures of such an object are extremely high.  Kepler-70b currently holds the record for the hottest known planet with an surface equilibrium temperature of 7288˚K.  The equilibrium  temperature of a planet can be calculated using the equation:

where A_b is the albedo of the planet, D is the distance in astronomical units from the host star to the body, and L_☉ is the brightness of the host star in solar luminosities.  The estimated surface temperature of Kepler-70b was calculated using an assumed bond albedo of 0.1 because the true albedo of the planet cannot be determined by the transit method and remains unknown. Kepler-70b also orbits its star with one of the shortest orbital periods of any exoplanet: just over 5 hours.  In order to complete its orbit this quickly, it orbits at just under 5% of light speed.

Can Life Exist on This Planet?

Life as we know it cannot exist on Kepler-70b in its current state. It orbits Kepler-70 far inside both the conservative and optimistic habitable zones, roughly 65 times closer to its sun than Mercury to ours.  Not only does this create surface temperatures that exceed any temperature on Earth where life is found, but it results in the complete lack of water in any form on the planet.  In our Solar System, planets without surface water might perhaps have water vapor high in their atmosphere where conditions allow it, but Kepler-70b has no atmosphere to house water vapor.  Without an atmosphere, there is also no potential energy source that organic compounds could draw from to make energy.  Further evidence against life on Kepler-70b comes from the planet’s “solid”iron composition.  In fact, the surface is very likely completely molten, which is hostile to life.

It is possible that life could have existed on it in the past.  Scientists theorize that microbial life could exists on Jovian planets like Kepler-70b.  This life would need to live in extremely high elevations in the atmosphere in order to be at habitable pressures and temperatures, as well be near the water vapor that exists there.  In order to do so, it would  need to be be buoyant enough to stay at that elevation.  Even so, any life on the planet would have been irradiated when the Kepler-70 became a red giant.  The atmosphere was completely demolished by the expanding star, and temperatures quick rose.  The final nail in the coffin would have come when the planet was finally engulfed by the Kepler-70.  It would be impossible for any organic compounds to survive the inside of a star.  Even after Kepler-70b left the star, it has only been 18.4 million years, far too short for any life to evolve on the planet even if it its conditions were perfect.

Additionally, Kepler-70b is orbiting a star very late in its lifetime.  Soon, cosmically speaking, this star will become a white dwarf, entering the final stages of its life.  Observations of planets orbiting similarly sized stars, especially this close, show that the planets become tidally locked far sooner than it would take for life to evolve on the planet.  This holds true even for planets in the habitable zone, let alone planets only 0.006 AU from the star.  Once the planet becomes tidally locked, it will be impossible for life to evolve.

What About Sci-Fi Life?

Take a step back for a second and imagine a universe where life could evolve and adapt to changing environment conditions very quickly.  For example, if the microbial life hidden in the clouds of Kepler-70b became extremely heat resistant.  This shell of theirs would be able to shield them from the 28,000˚K interior of Kepler-70 while also protecting them from the immense pressure.  They would be able to swim, if you will, freely in the now molten surface of what used to be a gigantic Jovian planet.  As the planet emerged, the drop in both pressure and temperature allowed these organisms to drop their protective shells and float along the surface of the iron core freely.  If only such life could exist, one could argue that it would be more evolutionarily successful than any species on Earth.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, for Kepler-70b, there are too many factors standing in the way of life.  At least, life as we know it could not exist there.  If its complete lack of liquid water and location far outside of the star’s habitable zone was not enough, then the scorching temperatures and five hour day surely prevent life from evolving there.  Not to mention that the planet was literally inside a star.  Any life that could have possibly arisen there was immediately stopping in its evolutionary track, and any change of life appearing again are very slim.  Kepler-70b can hold the record for hottest temperature, shortest orbital period, and smallest mass, but it will not hold the record for being the first exoplanet to be home to life.  That is a guarantee.

Bibliography

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Planetary_transit.svg

“Kepler Discoveries.” <i>NASA</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. &lt;http://kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/discoveries/&gt;.

Anderson, Paul Scott. “Two More Earth-Sized Planets Discovered by Kepler, Orbiting Former Red Giant Star.” <i>Universe Today</i>. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. &lt;http://www.universetoday.com/92127/two-more-earth-sized-planets-discovered-by-kepler-orbiting-former-red-giant-star/&gt;.

“Planet KOI-55 b.” The Extrasolar Planet Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. <http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/koi-55_b/&gt;.

Talcott, Richard. “Top 10 Exoplanets.” Astronomy 1 Oct. 2013: 22-27. Print.

A Final Essay in our First Year Experience course at CC: Life in the Universe

Research and speculation on an Earth-like exoplanet: Kepler-62e

Click the link, below:

—> Kepler 62 e Final Paper <—

Credit: NASA

The Search for Habitability Outside the Solar System

            People have been concerned with the heavens for millennia. Only recently have we been able to satisfy our curiosity through careful observation and exploration. In the past 100 years, gigantic leaps have been made in space technology. Starting with the space race, explorative and satellite machinery has been developed that allow enhanced access to the stars, telescopes have become more powerful and better equipped to study the sky, and our inquisitiveness has only increased.

            With our increasing knowledge of the cosmos, increased interest has been sparked in the search for extraterrestrial life. The 1950’s saw the rise of the science fiction novel. Stories of UFOs have become part of popular culture. It is only natural that we wonder, “Are we alone out there?”

            The search has now been expanded to a whole branch of astronomy. Within the solar system, probes and landers and other spacecraft have been sent to study our nearest neighbors. We now have much information not only about the seven other planets in our solar system, but also about their satellites, comets, asteroids, the sun, and other objects close to us. This has turned up some promising results. We still are not sure if these worlds harbor life but we certainly know much more about their habitability.

            Looking beyond our own solar neighborhood, the cosmos reveals itself in astonishing fashion. We start to wonder, if our star can harbor life, what about the billions of others in our galaxy, in other galaxies? This is where the search for extrasolar planets comes in. This is the search for bodies of mass (namely planets) orbiting the stars around us. The first discovery of these so-called “exoplanets” was in 1995. Since, hundreds more have been found and possibly thousands have been detected (Schneider). When you break it down, if planets are really so common, could not life be as well?

            The thing is, not every star system is like our own. There are many different types of stars. In the main sequence, or long-lived, hydrogen-fusing portion of a star’s life, there are types OBAFGKM. O and B stars are too short-lived to have stable planets form, nevertheless life. Types A and F might live long enough to see very simple life evolve, but nothing more. Our star is a G star, and seems to work perfectly for us! K and M stars live the longest, but they are also much smaller and thus have only small habitable zones (Bennett and Shostak).

            Speaking of habitable zones, what exactly are they? A habitable zone is a region around a star where a planet could exist that would be similar to Earth in atmosphere, temperature, etc. An important (and exciting) part of extrasolar planetary searches is finding our how similar an exoplanet is to our own. Many types of planets have been found. Very few are Earth-like in size and position around a star. Others range from “hot Jupiters,” or gas giants orbiting close to a star, to frozen wastelands to planets orbiting binary star systems (Bennett and Shostak)! It is easy to see how one could quickly become enthralled with the search.

            Now then, how exactly does one find these planets? There are actually a variety of methods used that fall under two categories: direct and indirect detection. Direct detection is discovering planets by directly imaging them. This is preferable because you can discover a wider range of properties about the planet, but it is much harder to do. What are the chances that you will point your telescope at a star and happen to catch a planet in the viewfinder? Not likely, I will tell you. Nearly all discoveries of exoplanets up until now have been via indirect detection.

Indirect detection is finding an exoplanet not by seeing it, but by seeing its effects on the things around it. This is because although one thinks of a star as having an overpowering gravitational force in a start system (which it does, for the most part), planets still exert small gravitational tugs on the star. These effects, if observed carefully, can indicate the presence of a planet.

There are a few ways of detecting these effects: The star and all its planets orbit a center of mass that is usually very close to the substantial star. This means that the star actually “wobbles” a bit. The astrometric technique requires studying the position of stars over long periods of time to look for changes in its movement. Similarly, the Doppler technique utilizes the Doppler Effect to observe redshifts and blueshifts in a star’s spectrum, which indicates the slight pulling a planet exerts on its star. You can also measure a star’s brightness and look for dips in the measurements. This can indicate a planet that it “in transit” or passing in front of its star. Other indirect detection techniques include gravitational lensing, pulsar timing, etc. (Bennett and Shostak).

Figure 1. The Doppler Effect. Redshift and Blueshifts of Celestial Bodies. Palmer.

So far, 1010 exoplanets have been confirmed to exist (as of October 2013). All these have been found within the last 20 years, giving credence to the extent of innovation that has occurred in the last century (Schnieder). Of these, our closest neighbor is the planet Alpha Centauri Bb: a rather hellish world rather close to home. Because of its proximity, it will be the focus of the rest of this paper.

Alpha Centauri Bb: Lucifer’s Version of Earth?

To say this world is made up of fire and brimstone would not be an exaggeration. Located only 4.27 light years away, Alpha Centauri Bb is the closest exoplanet to Earth, and quite a hostile one at that. It exists in a multiple star system (3 stars, actually!). It orbits about Alpha Centauri B, a star of K1 spectral type. Alpha Centauri A is a G2 star (like our Sun). The two orbit in a binary system with the third star, Alpha Centauri C or Proxima Centauri (because it is the closest start to Earth), gravitational bound to the system and orbiting around Alpha Centauri AB at a distance of 13,000 AU. Together, Alpha Centauri A and B make up the third brightest star visible in the night sky (Rigel Kent in the constellation Centaurus) (“Alpha Centauri”).  

Firgure 2. Rigel Kent. The 3^rd brightest star in the sky. ESO. Palmer.

Stable orbits have been proved to be possible around binary systems. With Alpha Centauri A and B’s distance from each other changing from about Saturn to Pluto’s orbital distances, Alpha Centauri A is not supposed to affect the planet. This is most likely because of Alpha Cenaturi Bb’s proximity to its host star. It orbits at a distance of only 0.042 AU!!! No wonder this place is so hot! In fact, temperature estimations show its surface to maintain a temperature of a whopping 1500K (Torres)!

The surface temperature of an exoplanet can be found by using the equilibrium temperature equation

           4πσTeq^4 = [(1-A)L] / (4d^2)          [1]

where T_eq is the equilibrium temperature, σ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, A is the albedo of the planet, L_* is the luminosity of the star, and d is the orbital distance of the planet from the star. The luminosity of Alpha Centauri Bb is 44.5% of the luminosity of the Sun (it is, after all, only a K star). 

Figure 3. Alpha Centaury Bb. Torres.

Habitability on a Lava World:

            Being so hot, we can assume the place is hostile to life. No water would be able to exist there. The only liquid would be lava! It would actually quite resemble the planet of Mustafar from Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith. But just to be sure, let us check to see if its orbit falls within the habitable zone for its star. The equations are

      D(inner) = 0.95 (L^(1/2))                [2]

          D(outer) = 1.4 (L^(1/2))               [3]

where D_inner and D_outer are the distances (in AU) of the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone and L is the luminosity of the star. By inserting .445 for the luminosity, we find that the habitable zone falls between 0.634 AU and 0.934 AU. Unfortunately for Alpha Centauri Bb, it definitely does not fall in the habitable zone.

Figure 4. Habitability in the Alpha Centauri System. Torres.

            This is too bad. If only it were a little farther out, it might be considered a potentially habitable Earth-like planet. It is a terrestrial planet (made up of rock) that is only 1.13 Earth masses! The Rigel Kent star system was also only formed 1.5 billion years before our own, which is not too large of an age distance (astronomically speaking) (Overbye).

            If the temperature and position relevant to habitability zone and star (far too hot and close to support organic compounds) weren’t nails in coffin for life on Alpha Centauri Bb, consider the fact that the wavelength most emitted from Alpha Centauri B (which is so close, it would look 300 times brighter than the Sun from the surface of the planet) is in the harmful X-ray spectrum. Due to its position, it also is most likely tidally locked, leading it to have a permanent dark and light side (one side much hotter with all the sunlight). This also implies that it would not have a fast enough rotation to produce a protective magnetic field and, accompanied by frequent solar flaring from Alpha Centauri B, would make it impossible for the planet to retain an atmosphere (Wall).

            Well, stars change over time, do they not? Could Alpha Centauri Bb be potentially habitable in the future? Alas, it cannot. Since its star (both its stars, actually) is in its main sequence, its next stage in stellar evolution is becoming a red giant. This means as the star’s hydrogen fuel is slowly consumed, it will expand and cool to reach hydrogen on the surface, most likely engulfing the planet rather quickly. This is similar to Earth’s future with our star, though we were lucky enough to be placed far enough outside the star that we still have half of a billion years before we need to worry (Bennett and Shostak).

Life on Alpha Centauri Bb?

So, though it is highly unlikely life could arise on this planet, if it did, what would it be like? Sadly, the case is so desperate for Alpha Centauri Bb, trying to imagine life arising on it with our current understanding of biology is impossible. Instead of life arising on it, however, one could imagine life visiting the planet instead. Long have people traveled to exotic locations to exploit natural resources. From colonial America to the movie Avatar, harvesting materials that are potentially useful has always been a part of the human endeavor. Even now, people would like to venture into the outer solar system to harvest compounds from the Jovian planets that would be valuable on Earth.

Figure 5. Mustafar. Star Wars: Episode 3- Revenge of the Sith. Lucas Films.

            Why, then, could an alien race not do the same for Alpha Centauri Bb? When imagining life there, I imagine an advanced civilizations traveling the stars and landing a fleet of ships at the planet. There they would descend to the surface (or at least lower machinery) and mine elements there. Their endeavor would return valuable materials, perhaps silicon, to them above where they would then process it and return to their home planet, colony, etc.

            If one were to imagine human travel there, I would see this mining company, let us call it Galactic Mining, Inc. advertising jobs there. These mining jobs would probably only be taken by the lowest people in modern society and may be forced and penile labor for criminals. It would be extremely dangerous and fatalities would most likely be common. Not to mention, daily life would be cramped in a space ship (unless the alien race somehow managed to make a ship bigger on the inside than it is on the outside). Only the truly desperate would go to work in this star system.

So you are Telling Me, All this Could be Made Up?

            The problem with detecting exoplanets is that it is a fickle business. Alpha Centauri Bb was found using the radial velocity method, or detecting small shifts in the star’s spectrum due to the gravitational pull of the planet. After four years of careful observation, its discovery was announced in October 2012. However, many scientists still debate its existence! It is possible that some of the data was actually caused by extra “noise” from other stars and the telescopic instruments themselves. The planet has never been observed to transit its host star, leading many to argue against its existence (Palmer).

Firgure 6. Alpha Centauri Bb about to transit Alpha Centauri B. L. Calcada/European Southern Observatory, via Associated Press. Overbye.

            However, assuming it does exist, how did astronomers infer all this information from a slight wobble in a star? To find the data, they used a variety of equations to come up with information about the planet. The first is Newton’s Version of Kepler’s 3^rd Law:

 p^2 = [4(π^2)(a^3)] / [G(M1)(M2)]                      [4]

where by taking the period of the planet (p), or how often is completes one orbit around its star (which, in this case is 4.23 Earth days) and plugging in the distance of the planet from the star (0.042 AU) and the mass of the star (0.934 Solar Masses), you can determine the mass of the planet (which, as mention earlier, comes out to be 1.13 Earth masses).

            You can then find the velocity (speed) of the planet around the star by using the orbital velocity equation as follows:

Vp = 2πAp / P                 [5]

where a_p is the orbital distance (0.042 AU) and P is the orbital period (4.23 days). This answer (140680 m/s) and the answer for the mass should equate to each other using the following conservation of momentum equation:

M(star) x V(star) = m(planet) x v(planet)                        [6]

Where V is velocity and M is mass. Using this, you can tell that the star was is only moving at a rate of 0.51 m/s.

Figure 7. Radial Velocity Effects of Alpha Centauri Bb on Alpha Centauri B. Dumusque, Pepe, Lovis.

The Verdict?

What a testament to modern technology that we are able to detect such a small change from so far away when there are so may moving parts to space! But this also adds to the arguments of those who disagree with the discovery. The exoplanet Alpha Centauri Bb, our closest exoplanet neighbor, may in fact just be a figment of the imagination (or of faulty data at least)…

Figure 8. Gravitational Pulling on Alpha Centauri B. Torres.

Citations:

“Alpha Centauri.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Palmer, Jason. “Exoplanet around Alpha Centauri Is Nearest-ever.” BBC News. BBC, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Bennett, Jeffrey O., G. Seth. Shostak, and Bruce M. Jakosky. Life in the Universe. San Francisco, CA: Addison Wesley, 2003. Print.

Dumusque, Xavier, Francesco Pepe, and Christoph Lovis. “An Earth-mass Planet Orbiting α Centauri B.” Nature 207-211 491 (2012): n. pag. Nature.com. Nature, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Overbye, Dennis. “New Planet in Neighborhood, Astronomically Speaking.” The New York Times, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Schneider, Jean. “The Extrasolar Planet Catalog.” Chart. The Extrasolar Planet Encyclopedia. Comp. Ivan Zolotukhin. L’Observitoire De Paris, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Torres, Abel M. “A Planetary System Around Our Nearest Star Is Emerging.” Planetary Habitability Laboratory. University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Wall, Mike. “Discovery! Earth-Size Alien Planet at Alpha Centauri Is Closest Ever Seen.” Space.com. N.p., 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.