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Spitzer Telescope Discovers Planets Via Infrared
DirtyJ writes "Astronomers using the Spitzer
Space Telescope have for the first time discovered
two extrasoloar planets by directly detecting light from the planets themselves.
Usually planets are discovered by indirectly inferring their presence from
the wobble of star they orbit, but Spitzer has been able to directly detect these objects at Infrared wavelengths. Nifty conceptual images and videos
are available."
He busts corporate thieves AND stargazes!
Awesome. Space is an amazing subject. I hope in my lifetime I get to travel to the moon, Mars, or farther! Good job, guys..!
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
the proper term for a planet outside of the Sol solar system is "extrasolar"
Robert Bindler
A Computer Science student's views on technology.
Now the world has gone to bed,
Darkness won't engulf my head,
I can see by infrared,
How I hate the night.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
We'll strip mine the other planets later?
If it weren't for the 2-minute delay between posts...
Just don't feed the trolls (tt)
Take the 90-Day Challenge! http://rwmurker.bodybyvi.com/
Not only did they discover them using infrared, but one really interesting thing about this is that it's the first time that they've directly seen light from one of the planets they discovered, as opposed to previous discoveries which have only seen the light of the star being occluded as the planet passes in front of it. Really nice.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
... Indictments for securities fraud to follow. ;)
the planets are not newly discovered. they were previously known, but not directly imaged before.
If I were providing the conceptual images I would DEFINITELY have included more orbiting alien Death-Stars. Honestly, these conceptual artists have no imaginations!
The gift of death metal does not smile on the good looking.
Is anyone else interested in the techical specifications of the Spitzer? I hadn't heard of it till today...
from About Spitzer
The Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) was launched into space by a Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 25 August 2003. During its 2.5-year mission, Spitzer will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space between wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns (1 micron is one-millionth of a meter). Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground. Consisting of a 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically-cooled science instruments, Spitzer is the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space
Robert Bindler
A Computer Science student's views on technology.
My, that's an awfully high /. UID for such a sophisticated troll.
I just sensed a disturbance in the force. Anyways, why can't we start doing this more often. I'm sure plenty of planets will popup by the end of the decade.
In America, you spam computers In Soviet Russia, computers spam you!
While they did discover them using IR, the technique was looking at eclipse intensity depth rather than direct observation. Good stuff though!
I never thought my state's Attorney General had a penchant for stargazing. Or naming telescopes after himself.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
If and when the Hubble is updated, could this type of gear be added, or orbited in tandem, to allow both visual and infared examination of space? (IANA astronaut, so if this sounds stupid...)
On second thought, maybe we should start with planet Earth.
My digital rights don't need management.
...the ACTUAL infrared picture, instead of just an artist's rendition. They took at least one IR pic, let's see it.
but where is the technology to take us to the stars? we need a breakthrough in Physics to take us to the stars...something like discovering what gravity really is, how to control it, and how to use it to make space warps.
In an age when scientists attempt to prove what they already believe, it's nice to know that there are still some who practice science for the sake of discovery:
"We're back to square one," said Dr. Sara Seager, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, co-author of the Deming paper. "For us theorists, that's fun."
Ah, if we could all enter into an investigation with a blank slate free of preconceived notions, there's no telling what we'll find.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
I wonder, what would be the reading someone would get from outside our atmosphere by looking at overcast sitting in the sunlight?
Clouds are pretty good reflectors of visible as well as infrared light, afaik, so they should appear to be pretty hot...
Regards, Ulli
Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible.
Dibs on being the guy who steps on them first!
Yes Spitzer has been in science operations for over a year now. These detections were made with the two imagers- IRAC and MIPS. IRAC is the shorter wavelength camera (the observations were done at 8 microns) and MIPS the longer wavelength camera (observations done at 24 microns). Both planets are approximate 1000 degrees Kelvin and are Jupiter class with respect to mass.HD 209458b is 0.68 times the mass of Jupiter and has a radius about 1.35 times Jupiter's. The second planet- TrES1 has a mass equal to 0.76 Jupiter masses and is 1.04 times the radius of Jupiter. (and I do work for Spitzer and knew about these discoveries about 2 months ago when they first came into our Helpdesk which i run)
good beaches?
First sentence of TFA:
"NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has for the first time captured the light from two known planets orbiting stars other than our Sun."
And later TFA talks about two previous techniques:
"So far, all confirmed extrasolar planets, including the two recently observed by Spitzer, have been discovered indirectly, mainly by the "wobble" technique and more recently, the "transit" technique."
Although there is certainly no debate about these two objects being extrasolar planets, it is not the case that they were DISCOVERED using infrared. They were known extrasolar planets that were imaged in the IR using the spitzer telescope. Incidentally, they are not even the first pictures of extrasolar planets, as there is a nice one here from September of last year, that was reported on slashdot.
don't look entirely convincing, espcially in the second case
s c2 005-09/ssc2005-09a.shtml
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/s
did anyone see how they discount things like solar flares
From the site: There are two basic methods of detecting a planet's gravitational influence on its star:
* Astrometric Detection
* Radial Velocity Detection
The first method - Astrometry - was hinted at in the previous paragraph. We observe a star and measure its position relative to distant background stars (hence the word "metric" in the name). As an orbiting body tugs at its companion star, we observe a change in position of the star. Measurements of a periodic change in position, back and forth, can indicate that something is possibly orbiting the star. Careful analysis of these measurements can tell us about the orbiting object.
The second method - Radial Velocity - is a completely different kind of measurement, but relies upon the same principle. That is, gravity. As an orbiting body tugs on its companion star, the light from the star will experience a Doppler shift. If the planet pulls the star slightly away from us on Earth, the starlight will be shifted towards longer wavelengths and appear more red; pulled slightly towards Earth, the starlight is shifted towards shorter wavelengths to appear more blue. To accurately measure this Doppler shift, we chose a known spectral line and observe its shift from red to blue and back.
I agree with the technology being there already. I think NASA was feeling the heat from amateur astonomers pointing their webcams at the stars so they decided to capture the headlines first. ;)
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I don't think that extrasolar planets are detected by occlusion of starlight. I think they are detected by the planet's gravity wobbling the star as the planet orbitx the star and exerts its gravitational pull.
They actually use both techniques. This new one now constitutes a third technique.
Admit nothing, deny everything and make counter-accusations.
Photometry hasn't, AFAIK, been used to detect a planet, but it can tell us about a planet once we've found it.
It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. Then it's fun and games without depth perception.
The inhabitants of a distant galaxy are complaining that their TVs keep changing channel for no apparent reason.
Couldn't a similar method be applied to detect unnatural light? Say... an alien NYC? It could greatly increase our efforts in finding intellegent life outside of our own. At least smart enough to make a lightbulb.
You talk better than you fool!
Has anybody started arguing over what/how to name these extrasolar planets? They probably have cryptic alphanumerical designations like other celestial bodies, but I wonder if anyone has proposed any planet names?
Are they trying to saying they found Las Vegas on these planets? Las Vegas is wierd enough, try to imagine an extrasolar Las Vegas...
do i know you?
Yeah, I realized that one after I'd posted. Most extrasolar planets have been detected by the gravity effects rather than occlusion, but at least one of the articles did refer to a small number being detected by occlusion as well.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
While the achievement of the Spitzer IR space telescope is impressive, a project now in development called the Terrestrial Planet Finder will sport many times the resolution of Spitzer and could become the first telescope to see an Earth-sized planet orbiting around another star.
Essentially four telescopes with 3.5-meter mirrors operating in space in a synchronized fashion, TPF is designed to look for Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars circa 50-100 light years from Earth. If TPF finds a Earth-like planet that has an atmosphere rich in water vapor and oxygen, then we know chances are pretty good that life in some form exists there.
IR is at a disadvantage for actual imaging compared to visible light, due to the longer wavelength making diffraction worse. IR's advantage is that the planets are radiating (or reflecting) more in IR than visible.
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I expected that everybody on /. would know of DNA already. Citing is unnecessary when you're talking about the greats. ;)
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.