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Kepler May Uncover Numerous Ring Worlds
astroengine writes "According to a new publication, NASA's Kepler exoplanet-hunting space telescope may soon start discovering Saturn-like ringed alien worlds. So far, none have been positively identified, as Kepler has only detected exoplanets orbiting close to their parent stars; if these exoplanets have rings, they are most likely to have rings facing edge-on to their orbits, making them nearly impossible to detect. As more distant-orbiting exoplanets are detected, there's more likelihood ringed worlds will be tilted, allowing Kepler to see them."
I was hoping it meant Niven-like ringworlds, not saturn-like. Still cool though.
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This reminds me that I need to re-read Ringworld
Kepler should keep its eye out for the planets that remove their rings and place them in their pockets. They show attraction, but part without saying goodbye the next morning.
Gently reply
On ringworld. Well that makes a lot more sense. I see I have some geekin to catch up on. How long before I become a full fledged geek? Any books other than the tolkien fairy tales? I got the nerd part covered, just need to geek up.
...if Kepler discovered Ringworlds.
I'm not sure why one would view this as surprising -- given our own Solar System it seems like a highly likely outcome.
That being said, it's great the the resolution has reached the levels where features like this can be distinguished for such faint objects.
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Cue sound of Larry Niven crying
This is great work, and was covered in a little more detail on Astrobites last week: Could Rings Exist Around Kepler “Warm Saturns”?
One of the most interesting possibilities is not just that Kepler could find rings around planets, but that observations of the rings' orientation could be used to learn more about the gravitational potentials of exoplanets (and therefore their internal structure).
*sonic the hedgehog special stage music plays*
If it hasn't done it yet then it's not news.
Might as well do a story on how it might discover a Dyson Sphere!
I wonder if a rocky planet like Earth with the right conditions for life or with life, could ever have significant rings. What a sight that would be living on that planet.
Ring systems like Saturn's are likely to last. I seem to recall reading some opinion that they might only persist for a few hundred million years as opposed to billions of years, meaning we might be quite lucky to see them. If Kepler is indeed able to detect enough of them to build up a statistical picture then we might get a better idea of how long-lived such systems tend to be in general. Some of Saturn's rings are quite obviously kept more stable by so called 'shepherd' moons that also maintain the little gaps or grooves between rings...
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Slashdot seems to have started putting numbers after the article titles, so I saw it as "Kepler May Uncover Numerous Ring Worlds 34", which is obviously a Rule 34 site for Ringworld fans. Imagine my disappointment when I found that it just mean there were 34 comments on the article, and it's now "Kepler May Uncover Numerous Ring Worlds 37"...
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Most (all?) exoplanets discovered so far are close to their stars. Saturns rings are ice. They'd evaporate in no time so if we do find any rings they'd have to be made of rock which is probably rather unlikely. Its one thing breaking up passing ice comets, its another to break up a rocky world via gravity and that close in most other planets would have been swallowed by the star, flung out or eaten by the gas giant.
As far as I understand the article, it's that
1) ring planets are likely to be further from their main sun, due to solar pressure driving away small particulates
2) we're seeing planets further from their sun, so it's more likely we'll see ringed planets.
Just seems that this isn't much of a piece of news - it's not really discussing a new technology or technique, it's just saying that our ability to see more means we'll be more statistically likely to see something rare.
-Styopa
As of the current moment, almost every single up-modded comment is making reference to a certain sci-author and his work.
If you have nothing relevant to say why say anything at all?
(Yes, yes, hoist with my own petard)
It's official. Most of you are morons.
the predators probably already know what planets the aliens are on. we shouldn't get involved.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
The term would be a ringed world would it not?
Okay, I am late to this story, so doubt I will get a good reply, but here goes anyway
Do we have any idea of the distribution of solar system plane angles relative to our own? We can only see planets using the transit method if they are close to the same plane as our own. The further away a plan from its star, the closer this relative angle must be. We could assume that the planes of rotation are equally distributed to make guesses about what we can't see. But is this a fair assumption? Do we have any clues on the distribution of these angles relative to our own? If so, where do we get this data?
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Not likely. There can't be that many 3-legged mule like species in the Universe. (If you understand the post, then understand that I know that I'm wrong, a bit of artistic license taken here.)