Angela Pecsi. April 2014. Entry #16.

Astronomers discover new rocky planet that may have liquid water
Date: April 17, 2014 Source:San Francisco State University Summary: Astronomers have announced the discovery of a rocky planet that could potentially have liquid water on its surface. The new planet, discovered using NASA's Kepler telescope, is the fifth and outermost planet found orbiting in the habitable zone around the dwarf star Kepler-186.

San Francisco State University astronomer Stephen Kane and an international team of researchers have announced the discovery of a new rocky planet that could potentially have liquid water on its surface. The new planet, dubbed Kepler-186f, was discovered using NASA's Kepler telescope, launched in March 2009 to search for habitable zone, Earth-sized planets in our corner of the Milky Way Galaxy. A habitable zone planet orbits its star at a distance where any water on the planet's surface is likely to stay liquid. Since liquid water is critical to life on Earth, many astronomers believe the search for extraterrestrial life should focus on planets where liquid water occurs. Some people call these habitable planets, which of course we have no idea if they are," said Kane, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy. "We simply know that they are in the habitable zone, and that is the best place to start looking for habitable planets."

Kepler-186f is the fifth and outermost planet discovered orbiting around the dwarf star Kepler-186. The planets were discovered by the transit method, which detects potential planets as their orbits cross in front of their star and cause a very tiny but periodic dimming of the star's brightness. After the astronomers were able to confirm that Kepler-186f was a planet, they used the transit information to calculate the planet's size. Kepler-186f is slightly bigger than Earth, measuring about 1.1 Earth radii. (An Earth radius is the distance from the Earth's center to its surface). The researchers don't know yet what the mass of the planet might be, but they can make an estimate based on other planets of similar radii, Kane noted Having the mass and radii of a planet allows the astronomers to calculate other features such as a planet's average density, "and once you know the average density of a planet, then you can start to say whether it's rocky or not," Kane explained. "What we've learned, just over the past few years, is that there is a definite transition which occurs around about 1.5 Earth radii," he continued. "What happens there is that for radii between 1.5 and 2 Earth radii, the planet becomes massive enough that it starts to accumulate a very thick hydrogen and helium atmosphere, so it starts to resemble the gas giants of our solar system rather than anything else that we see as terrestrial." The planet's size influences the strength of its gravitational pull, and its ability to pull in abundant gases like hydrogen and helium. At Kepler-186f's size, there is a small chance that it could have gathered up a thick hydrogen and helium envelope, "so there's a very excellent chance that it does have a rocky surface like the Earth," Kane said. Rocky planets like Earth, Mars and Venus gained their atmospheres as volcanic gasses like carbon dioxide and water vapor were released from the planets' interiors. Habitable zone planets like Earth orbit at a distance from a star where water vapor can stay liquid on the surface. Planets like Venus that orbit a little closer to the Sun lose their liquid water and are cloaked mostly in carbon dioxide. Planets like Mars that orbit further out from the Sun than Earth have their liquid water locked up as ice. Kepler-186f appears to be orbiting at the outer edge of the habitable zone around its star, which could mean that any liquid surface water would be in danger of freezing, Kane said. "However, it is also slightly larger than the Earth, and so the hope would be that this would result in a thicker atmosphere that would provide extra insulation" and make the surface warm enough to keep water liquid. Although Kepler-186f shows exciting signs of being Earth-like, Kane points out that its differences are also fascinating. "We're always trying to look for Earth analogs, and that is an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone around a star very much the same as our Sun," said Kane, who is the chair of Kepler's Habitable Zone Working Group. "This situation is a little bit different, because the star is quite different from our sun." Kepler-186 is an M-dwarf star, much smaller and cooler than the Sun. These stars are numerous in our galaxy, and have some features that make them promising places to look for life. "For example, small stars live a lot longer than larger stars," Kane explained, "and so that means there is a much longer period of time for biological evolution and biochemical reactions on the surface to take place."

On the other hand, small stars tend to be more active than stars the size of our Sun, sending out more solar flares and potentially more radiation toward a planet's surface. "The diversity of these exoplanets is one of the most exciting things about the field," Kane said. "We're trying to understand how common our solar system is, and the more diversity we see, the more it helps us to understand what the answer to that question really is." "An Earth-sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Cool Star" by Elisa V. Quintana, Thomas Barclay, Sean N. Raymond, Jason F. Rowe1, Emeline Bolmont, Douglas A. Caldwell, Steve B. Howell, Stephen R. Kane, Daniel Huber, Justin R. Crepp, Jack J. Lissauer, David R. Ciardi, Jeffrey L. Coughlin, Mark E. Everett, Christopher E. Henze, Elliott Horch, Howard Isaacson, Eric B. Ford, Fred C. Adams, Martin Still, Roger C. Hunter, Billy Quarles and Franck Selsis was published in the April 18 issue of Science. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by San Francisco State University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Elisa V. Quintana, Thomas Barclay, Sean N. Raymond, Jason F. Rowe, Emeline Bolmont, Douglas A. Caldwell, Steve B. Howell, Stephen R. Kane, Daniel Huber, Justin R. Crepp, Jack J. Lissauer, David R. Ciardi, Jeffrey L. Coughlin, Mark E. Everett, Christopher E. Henze, Elliott Horch, Howard Isaacson, Eric B. Ford, Fred C. Adams, Martin Still, Roger C. Hunter, Billy Quarles, Franck Selsis. An Earth-sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Cool Star. Science, 2014 DOI: 10.1126/science.1249403 Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140417141901.htm

My discussion and opinion. Some of the factors that astronomers look at when evaluating a planets habitability are energy source, mass, density, surface characteristics, orbit, rotation, and geochemistry. Respecting to energy source, normally, these are the stars or suns around which planets rotate. Regarding to mass, low mass planets have slight gravity to keep their atmosphere. They also do not have live volcanoes and other geologic activity, which helps temper the surface to support life because they lose energy as a result of a small diameter. The bigger the planet is, the stronger the gravity is, this in turn pulls in helium and hydrogen gases, making them more like mini-Neptunes than large Earths. Planets with low density are inferred to be composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, whereas planets of intermediate density are inferred to have water as a major constituent. A planet of high density is mostly determined to be rocky, like Earth and the other terrestrial planets of the Solar System. According to orbit, Kepler-186f is closer to its star than the Earth is to our main star, the Sun. Kepler-186, which is Kepler-186fs sun, is a red M-dwarf star much smaller in size, cooler in temperature, and fainter in luminosity than our Sun in the spectral type stellar

classification. The time it takes to complete one orbit is 130 days, compared to our Earth that takes 365 days. It is also at the outer edge of the habitable zone, receiving less warmth, perhaps more of its surface would freeze. Another essential concept to know is eccentricity, which is the irregularity of the orbit. Planets that possess a high orbital eccentricity would consequently have a greater fluctuation in surface temperatures because they are closer to the Sun at some points and much further away at other points in the orbit, which is the contrary in this particular case because it is an outermost planet. In order to be habitable, a planet must have a moderate rotation; in addition to, if there is no axial tilt, then there are no changes of seasons. Talking about geochemistry, the four elements most important for life are oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen. Researchers speculate that Kepler-186f is made of the same material as Earth iron, rock, ice, liquid water although the relative amounts could be very different. In this article, an exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The nearest exoplanet would be expected to be within 12 light-years distance from the Earth. A habitable zone planet orbits its star at a distance where any water on the planet's surface is. With its greater mass, Kepler-186f could conceivably have a thicker, insulating atmosphere. This makes the planet more efficient for absorbing energy from its star to avoid freezing, and this is the reason why this planet is still considered potentially habitable. Red dwarfs emit more light at longer infrared wavelengths, which as a consequence, would be more readily absorbed and trapped by ice and gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide. However, the gravity on Kepler-186f is likely to be roughly the same as Earths. The problem with Kepler-186f is that it is located too far from Earth to be able to get there. It is far away to determine its mass, much less whether it has an atmosphere and oceans, or if it has living creatures. We dont know for sure if its surface temperature is too hot or cold enough to sustain life. We don't even know with certainty the strength of its gravity. The Keplers telescope measurements indicated only the size of Kepler-186f. Speculation about the planet will remain for a long time. Nonetheless, since dwarfs are the most plentiful types of stars in the galaxy, astronomers are hopeful that Earth twins are in fact, plentiful as well, and that some will be found close by, allowing other telescopes to make temperature and mass measurements or to identify molecules in their atmospheres. To conclude my point of view from this research, the new planet Kepler-186f that the scientists have discovered, along with its sun have still many opportunities before being discarded from the puzzle, because the actual evidence is the good fact that M-dwarf stars are the most abundant celestial bodies in our neighborhood and are long-lived and stable. Therefore, there is an excellent chance of finding plenty more habitable zone planets and that some will be found close by, allowing, as stated before, other types of telescopes to make better or improved mensurations. As I believe, too, the diversity of these exoplanets is one of the most intriguing things in these kinds of exciting explorations. Astronomers cannot just throw the dice randomly in this game of space, they must apply their tools and their intelligence in order to pursue their goals and reach to the conclusions they want to achieve, but again, Universe is still an enigma, and so, further investigations are required to be continued. Research: http://www.universetoday.com/34731/habitable-planet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-Neptune http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-186f http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/science/space/scientists-find-an-earth-twin-ormaybe-a-cousin.html?_r=0