If there is water, it can be, and life - Republic

source: press release

Source: SCIENCE / M. A. Garlick, space-art.co.uk, Univers. of Warwickand Univers. ofCambridge

class=”author”> Peter Ko?cielniak 11-10-2013

Observations distant planetary system is 170 light years give new hope to find in the universe globes habitable – says Piotr Ko?cielniak.

What might be interesting in watching your pieces of crushed rocks orbiting the degenerate star that collapsed under its own weight 200 million years ago? And what does this have to search for Earth-like planets and life

According to astrophysicists from the universities of Cambridge and Warwick followers of these objects by the Hubble and Keck telescopes in Hawaii where the discovery of huge amounts of water indicates that the solar system is not unique. That globes for Earth-like structure in the Universe is quite a lot. And now we have the technical means to find them. The white dwarf is marked GD 61 was once a star slightly larger than our Sun. Probably circled around the planet – at least some of them were rocky. When the star collapsed, its gravity tore one or more planets orbiting it. What we have been, now revolves around GD 61 And due to the fact that the remains are crushed, they give scientists the first opportunity to have a look inside the planet and determine what they consisted of. These seemingly insignificant observations, however, have produced sensational results.

dying dwarf

Chemical analysis

asteroids located at ? GD 61 (these are the remains of the planet – take scientists) indicates that there is a lot of water. Planet – when she was still a whole – have at least 90 km in diameter, although astrophysicists think that was much larger. It consisted of water in. .. 26 percent. For comparison – the water on Earth is 0.023 percent. mass. Compared with torn to pieces Earth asteroid is dry as a bone. This is obviously not the first time that astronomers detect traces of water on extrasolar planets. So far, however, it only recorded the atmospheres of gas giants – giant planets unfit to live.

now is different: for the first time, scientists have found traces of water and – simultaneously – the traces of a rocky planet where the water was 200 million years ago. She disappeared beaten into the dust when its parent star started to die, turning into a white dwarf.

– In this alien planetary system planets could be habitable – says Jay Farihi from the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University, whose team published the result of observation GD 61 in the prestigious journal “Science.” – The discovery of water on large asteroids means that there where all necessary components for the creation of planets suitable for life. Perhaps these conditions still exist there. And both in the GD 61, as well as hundreds of other stars around.

– The presence of water on a planet with a rocky surface is a key finding in the search globes habitable outside our solar system – adds Professor. Boris Gänsicke from the Department of Physics, University of Warwick. – We were able to discover the connection for the first time outside our planetary system.

system like ours

similarities between the solar system and watched the white dwarf system is, however, more. Crumbled asteroid reminded us probably building known dwarf planet Ceres. Ceres is hard, rocky core surrounded by a thick layer of ice. At the top is covered with a thin layer of dust and rock fragments. It is estimated that the water represents up to 27 percent. mass of Ceres. Thus there is the more than fresh water on Earth.

For this reason, astrophysicists believe that it is the large objects such as asteroids and dwarf planets (and comets) were a real source of water for our planet.

you like GD was around 61? It is not excluded – the researchers believe. First – the local star was accompanied by more globes. Perhaps, there was a reminder of our solar system – with smaller rocky planets that contain water and gas giants. Finally – argue – the gravity of an object have to work to destabilize the orbit of “water world” and help in crushing it into parts. This could be another object yet undiscovered planet.

– For the asteroid came close to the white dwarf close enough to be crushed and devoured, something needs to be brought out of the asteroid belt – in fact push. That something is the mass of another planet – explains Farihi. – These asteroids are telling us that GD 61 was, and perhaps still is, a rocky, Earth-like planets, and possibly gas giants. It credence to our view that there once existed a complete solar system closely resembles our own. To obtain highly accurate data on the chemical composition of the remains that are both 170 light-years away, the researchers used a device Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. It allows you to determine which substances observed on the basis of characteristic spectra corresponding to the presence of specific molecules (UV spectroscopy). The light of a star is “filtered” by the surrounding white dwarf remnants.

Behind super-Earths

It is this method can allow us to detect which of the observed exoplanets most similar to Earth. Björn think so Bennek, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He developed a special computer program for the analysis of light that reaches us from distant stars to judge what kind of planet revolves around them.

problem is substantial. Hunters discover extrasolar planets have standard globes. Kepler Space Telescope has discovered 134 extrasolar planets in 76 systems. To this he added more than 3,200 unconfirmed “candidates on the planet.” On this basis, the researchers estimated that in our galaxy could be 17 billion Earth-like globes.

The difficulty lies in the fact that it is not known whether the observed exoplanets are rocky or gaseous. The vast majority of extrasolar planets are bigger than Earth globes. Astronomers call them super-Earths – if we assume that these are the terrestrial planets. But it may well be minineptuny – gas bullets rather unfit to live in such form as we know it. You can distinguish them by checking the chemical composition of the atmosphere. If you see more of helium and hydrogen – are probably dealing with minineptunem. But if we find larger molecules – carbon monoxide and dioxide, methane and water vapor and nitrogen – that we can hope that we hit something of a rocky surface.

Bennek going in the first place to look at in 2009 discovered planet GJ 1214b. Today, it is considered that this is a super-Earth wrapped clouds of water vapor. It is three times higher and more than six times more massive than Earth.

next exoplanets in the list include 55 Cancri e – globe twice and eight times more massive than Earth orbiting a star in a short distance. The temperature at the surface reaches 2700 degrees Celsius. It may be composed mainly of carbon, and a portion thereof is in the form of diamond. Similar in size and weight is another super-Earth – HD 97658b discovered in 2010. Researchers want to compare the results with the characteristics of GJ 436 b (discovered in 2004), which is believed to be a neptunowego.