The Galaxy is a Crowded Place A Series
One of the things that mankinds search for exoplanets planets located outside our own solar system has shown us is that there are a lot more of them out there than we initially thought.
As of this morning, we've found 1,774 exoplanets, a good chunk of them (962) found by the Kepler mission! They have a backlog of about 3,845 planet candidates for it to work through. Way back in 1989, we found the first exoplanet HD114762 b (nicknamed Lathams Planet, after its discoverer) because of its great mass (10.98 Jupiter masses). That mass causes it to exert a small tug on its star due to its radial velocity, making the star wobble. HD114762 b is situated 128.7 light years from Earth, with a surface temperature of about 487K.
So, I thought it would be fascinating to explore our galactic neighborhood, beginning with those closest to us, working our way further into the galaxy.
Of course, as many of us know, that means well start with Alpha Centauri B b:
For long-time Star Trek fans, it probably wont come as a surprise that we found a planet around the closest star to us. They probably will be surprised by how recently that discovery happened two years ago in 2012! Alpha Centauri B b is interesting because its an Earth-mass planet (1.13 Earth masses) extremely close to its star (only .0400 AU) away. That means it whips around its star (1.227 solar masses), with a very short year (3.23 days)! It makes sense that we found this planet by the same radial velocity wobble indicator as referenced above. Alpha Centauri B b is 4.37 light years from Earth, and is, so far, the only planet in its system.
Well, thats it for this time! A huge part of my decision to keep the series going will be reader feedback. If its something you find useful, entertaining, or informative, please let me know here in the thread! If noones digging it but me, Ill get that message quickly.
One of the things that mankinds search for exoplanets planets located outside our own solar system has shown us is that there are a lot more of them out there than we initially thought.
As of this morning, we've found 1,774 exoplanets, a good chunk of them (962) found by the Kepler mission! They have a backlog of about 3,845 planet candidates for it to work through. Way back in 1989, we found the first exoplanet HD114762 b (nicknamed Lathams Planet, after its discoverer) because of its great mass (10.98 Jupiter masses). That mass causes it to exert a small tug on its star due to its radial velocity, making the star wobble. HD114762 b is situated 128.7 light years from Earth, with a surface temperature of about 487K.
So, I thought it would be fascinating to explore our galactic neighborhood, beginning with those closest to us, working our way further into the galaxy.
Of course, as many of us know, that means well start with Alpha Centauri B b:
For long-time Star Trek fans, it probably wont come as a surprise that we found a planet around the closest star to us. They probably will be surprised by how recently that discovery happened two years ago in 2012! Alpha Centauri B b is interesting because its an Earth-mass planet (1.13 Earth masses) extremely close to its star (only .0400 AU) away. That means it whips around its star (1.227 solar masses), with a very short year (3.23 days)! It makes sense that we found this planet by the same radial velocity wobble indicator as referenced above. Alpha Centauri B b is 4.37 light years from Earth, and is, so far, the only planet in its system.
Well, thats it for this time! A huge part of my decision to keep the series going will be reader feedback. If its something you find useful, entertaining, or informative, please let me know here in the thread! If noones digging it but me, Ill get that message quickly.