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NASA's Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new planets. These worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system.
Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. Their discovery marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets.
This was the least objectionable article on the topic. Every other article I read made wildly exaggerated claims. Before this announcement there were 814 planetary systems, 179 of those were multiple planetary systems, for a grand total of 1,077 confirmed exoplanets. Kepler had discovered 205 of those 1,077 exoplanets.
With this announcement the number of exoplanets discovered by Kepler is increased to 920, with a new total of 1,792 confirmed exoplanets. There are still 3,446 Kepler exoplanets that have not yet been confirmed. So expect another announcement with a large number of confirmed exoplanets in the not too distant future.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what this new data tells us.
I wonder, and not to offend you Glitch, how much longer this "we found a new planet" stuff will hold the news? There's more planets than stars in the galaxy. 300 billion stars in the Milky Way alone, probably at least a trillion planets, but hey, now we found a few planets! I cant see this keeping headlines for long and how long people will care.
I wonder, and not to offend you Glitch, how much longer this "we found a new planet" stuff will hold the news? There's more planets than stars in the galaxy. 300 billion stars in the Milky Way alone, probably at least a trillion planets, but hey, now we found a few planets! I cant see this keeping headlines for long and how long people will care.
No offense taken, and I think that is why they released such a large number all at once, rather they dribble them out a few at a time. Oddly, the public's interest in exoplanets is beginning to wane.
We have already demonstrated that 22% ± 8% of the stars in the Milky Way have at least one planet. So it is not a big deal any more to locate more exoplanets. Considering that we discovered our very first exoplanet less than 20 years ago, it is amazing that we would become so use to that fact so quickly.
We are not likely to hear about new exoplanets being discovered in the future, unless there is something unusual about them. The goal now seems to be to find Earth-sized planets in the star's habitable zone in the hopes of finding life beyond our solar system.
Personally, I am interested in every exoplanet they find because each new exoplanet tells us something about planetary and solar system formation. We are finding stars and exoplanets in locations where we did not think they could form, and I find that exciting news. The more we find that defies our limited understanding of solar system formation, the more I want to know about them.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - Hamlet (1.5.167-8)
Then in 2018 NASA will be launching the James Webb Space Telescope and parking it in Earth's L2 region. With this telescope we will be able to see a lot more than just exoplanets.
Then in 2018 NASA will be launching the James Webb Space Telescope and parking it in Earth's L2 region. With this telescope we will be able to see a lot more than just exoplanets.
If this is the golden age now, when will it end? When will we have figured "it all out"? (Loaded question!!)
At some point our technology is going to have to peak. We have already reached the physical limit to the thickness of the layers on a silicon chip at a mere 0.5nm. However, we are not at the limit of other areas yet, so things will continue to get better and even more wondrous discoveries will be made in the future.
At some point all good things must come to an end. My best guess is that we will continue to expand out cosmological knowledge until the Holocene Interglacial Period comes to an end and another period of 100,000 years of glaciation begins. The last interglacial period 115,000 years ago was 16,000 years long and even warmer than the current interglacial period has been so far. The Holocene Interglacial Period began 15,000 years ago, so we are definitely approaching the end.
Every prior interglacial period, and there has been ~50 ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 years in duration in the last 2.58 million years since the ice age began, has shown a very abrupt change in the mean surface temperature of the planet, spanning only decades or a couple centuries at most before suddenly dropping 6°C. Our first clue that this is happening will be when the majority of the world's glaciers stop receding and start advancing. Thankfully, we are not at that point yet.
At that point I think we will be too concerned with adapting to the abrupt climate change, the loss of arable lands, the lack of fresh water, world-wide famine and disease, etc., etc., to concern ourselves with cosmological events, unless they effect us directly.
So we had better appreciate the current golden age of astronomy while we can, because tomorrow looks rather bleak.
PS: If that was not enough doom and gloom for you, I would like to remind you that the Yellowstone National Park super volcano is ~25,000 years overdue for another eruption.
The public interest in waning because it's not new and exciting anymore. In late 1969, people were starting to wonder why we were continuing to fund the Apollo program since we had beat the Russians to the moon. It just wasn't news anymore. Hell, Apollo 13 wasn't really getting any news time at all until the explosion happened.
This is a sad fact of a society that for the most part, doesn't really understand how science and exploration works.
I don't know that we've entered the "golden age" of astronomy yet. The moon is the farthest we've ever sent anyone which let's face it, is about the equivalent of stepping out on our front porch. There are many exciting things to look forward to in the future such as a mission to Mars, exploring Europa, and someday (if we make it this far), leaving the solar system.
Right now we have telescopes orbiting the Earth but could you imagine a powerful network of radio telescopes set up just outside the heliosphere? Immagine the things we could learn from that!
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(Loaded question!!)
