Rabu, 17 Juni 2009

Similar Planet Earth in the Alpha Centauri B



Throughout the decade, more than 270 have been found extrasolar planet in the party environment. Earth-like planet that is in the zone habitasi still quite far from the threshold penemuannya. But it is not impossible. Planet rock is similar to Earth may be one of the stars mengorbit neighbors we can even detect using techniques that already have at this time. This is the latest research results from astronom at the University of California, Santa Cruz.



Stars neighbors? Which yah? The latest research conducted by Javiera Guedes at the USCS system of three stars Alpha Centauri, the stars the most popular destination for dijadkan space-exploration in science fiction. Simulation of the formation of the planet Javiera indicate if the planet might mean that stars form in the Alpha Centauri B and mengorbit in the zone habitasinya. Habitasi zone or zones is a reasonable habitation in the area around the stars that still allows the existence of liquid water in the planet's surface. And the planet when there are can be observed with the use of telescopes.

According to Gregory Laughlin, inventor ekstrasolar some systems the planet, there are several factors that make Alpha Centauri B a good candidate for the planet's mean. One factor is the use of the Doppler effect techniques Alpha Centauri B and the position where the Alpha Centauri B kecerlangan provide opportunities for the observation made in a long period of time each year from the southern sky. The effects Doppler method is a method of extrasolar planet pendeteksian have successfully reveal the existence of extrasolar planet 228. This method measures the shift in star light to detect the very small oscillation caused by the gravitation pull of the planet mengorbitnya.

To detect a small rocky planet Earth seukuran is a challenge, because the wobble in the stars he sebabkan mother is very small. Estimated to take 5 years to observe the existence of Earth-like planet around Alpha Centauri B. Observation akan led by Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University with the 15 meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile hope they will be able to find a planet such as the mean of the simulation.

To study the formation of the planet in the Alpha Centauri B, the team will be able to repeat the simulation to see the evolution of the system for every 200 million years old. Because there are differences in initial conditions, each simulation system will result in the formation of a different planet. From each of the cases tried, a system with multiple planet will have evolved with at least 1 Earth-sized planet. And from most of the experiments, have produced a planet in orbit zone habitasi stars.

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