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The Planet Hunt is on!
8.7.09 - The Planet hunt is on! Will our children's children still live on planet Earth? Or will they live on other planets in the green zone. This question that might have sounded like science fiction several decades ago does not seem very unrealistic anymore.
The discovery of the first planets outside of our Solar System was a major scientific sensation in 1992. Our Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by gravity, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. In 1995 Michel Mayor und Didier Queloz, for the first time, found a planet outside of our solar system. These planets are called extrasolar planets, or exoplanets. They are beyond our Solar System, orbiting a star other than our Sun. Meanwhile over 200 of exoplanets in more than 180 systems are known.

With today's telescopes it is very hard to observe exoplanets because the suns that they orbit shine so bright that it is hard to see the planets that are smaller and further away in their systems. Up until now telescopes were only able to discover huge gas giants. These are large planets that are not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. Usually they orbit very closely around a star. That's why astronomers constantly fine-tune the way they observe the universe. The most desired object that everyone wants to discover is a second earth - a planet that would allow humans to live on.

The telescope "Kepler" that was send to space in May of 2009 has the capabilities to discover a second Earth. The telescope just observed an exoplanet called HAT-P-7b very closely. The pictures that Kepler has sent back to Earth astonished many astronomers.

After just 10 days of observation the telescope Kepler was able to determine exact measurements that describe the planets atmosphere. According to Nasa Kepler is able to find earthlike planets.

The Nasa scientist William Borucki and his team just published an article in the science magazine "Science" about the results of their measurements.

According to the researchers the measurements of the Gas Giant HAT-P-7b are so precise that the various shades of light could be measured as the planet went through various phases similar to the moon.

"As NASA's first exoplanets mission, Kepler has made a dramatic entrance on the planet-hunting scene," said Jon Morse, director of the Science Mission Directorate's Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Detecting this planet's atmosphere in just the first 10 days of data is only a taste of things ..." The planet hunt is on!

"Kepler"-Telescope in preperation for launch

In the next three and a half years Kepler will search for earthlike planets. The telescope looks out for tiny changes in brightness that occurs when passing by the home star. It will constantly observe a field of 100,000 stars. The main goal is to find a planet that orbits in the so called green zone or life zone – these terms are used to describe the distance region around a star in which a planet would have a moderate enough temperature range to allow for life to flourish.

Talking about looking for a second earth - our planet might have already a little brother in our Solar System. The moon Titan of the planet Saturn shows quite exciting similarities to our planet earth back when first life was created. Is it possible that similar things are happening on this icy planet? This is something that two different studies at the Internationalen Astronomischen Union (IAU) in Rio de Janeiro presented.


Saturnmoon Titan

Even though the average temperature on Titan is -180 degree Celsius below 0 there are mountains and even lakes on the planet. Instead of water they hold Methane though that falls on the planet in form of rain.

"It is really surprising how closely Titan's surface resembles Earth's," says Rosaly Lopes, a planetary geologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, who presented the results on August 7, 2009. "In fact, Titan looks more like the Earth than any other body in the Solar System, despite the huge differences in temperature and other environmental conditions."

Titan has long fascinated astronomers as the only moon known to possess a thick atmosphere, and as the only celestial body other than Earth to have stable pools of liquid on its surface.


Saturnmoon Titan

Robert M. Nelson, a senior research scientist, also at JPL, says: "The images provide further evidence suggesting that cryovolcanism has deposited ammonia onto Titan's surface. It has not escaped our attention that ammonia, in association with methane and nitrogen, the principal species of Titan's atmosphere, closely replicates the environment at the time that life first emerged on Earth. One exciting question is whether Titan's chemical processes today support a prebiotic chemistry similar to that under which life evolved on Earth?"

With the huge number of planets out there in space it seems to be just a matter of time to find a planet in the green zone that has the same conditions as our mother Earth. The other exciting question then will be "Does anyone or anything live on the planet?"

To learn more about space take our science class on Space Exploration.

Space Exploration

Space Kit

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The Perfect Beginner Experiment Kit!

Stepping into Science

Begin a lifetime of scientific investigation and understanding. Stepping into Science is designed for children 5 & up. It teaches science fundamentals through 25 hands-on science experiments, while at the same time introducing children to the concept and process of experimentation.

The science kit covers five key areas:

  • Nature
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The first kit in the Little Labs line - Stepping into Science teaches science fundamentals with step-by-step, hands-on experiments. The kit also includes a booklet with easy to follow instructions.

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Space Exploration

Space Kit

Price: $34.95

Become a Space Explorer


To learn more about space take our science class on Space Exploration.
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