"Major" exoplanet presser Nov. 13

[Dr Mordrid]

I'm betting on a solar dust disc with a 'gap', indicating a proto-planet, or proto-planets.

NASA link....

J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4514
villard@stsci.edu


Nov. 07, 2008


MEDIA ADVISORY : M08-227

Hubble Announces A Major Extrasolar Planet Discovery

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a Science Update to report on a significant discovery about planets orbiting other stars at 2:30 p.m. EST, Thursday, Nov. 13, in NASA's James E. Webb auditorium. This unique discovery, made by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advance Camera for Surveys instrument, also will be featured in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal Science.

The briefing participants are:
-- Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington
-- Sara Seager, associate professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
-- Paul Kalas, assistant adjunct professor, Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California at Berkeley.
-- Mark Clampin, James Webb Space Telescope Observatory project scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
-- Marc Kuchner, exoplanet scientist, Astrophysics Science Division, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Reporters attending the event will have an opportunity to ask questions. News media representatives not attending will be able to ask questions via teleconference. To participate in the teleconference, reporters must email a request for dial-in information that includes their media affiliation and telephone number to J.D. Harrington at j.d.harrington@nasa.gov by 1 p.m. EST, Nov. 13.

[Nowhere]

Is Hubble capable of analyzing atmosphere of exoplanets?

Discovering a planet with a free oxygen in the atmosphere...that would be something...

[Marshmallowman]

Well they might be able to examine the spectrum of light recieved and look for the absorption pattern of oxygen, however I think most planets are no actually seen. They look for wobbles in orbits of larger stuff and lensing effects.

So I would say probably not directly, but think they have other ways of guessing the composition of the atomsphere.

[Nowhere]

Well, examining the spectrum is as direct as you get in astronomy (and actually...also here, on Earth, when you use spectrograph on the sample)

More specifically, I wonder if Hubble is technically capable of detecting not only wobble (that it can do fairly easily) but also, when planet is in front of the star, detecting absorption lines of that planets atmosphere.

[Jammrock]

That big new monster they are building for moon orbit might be able to pull of something like that. Beyond that I don't think anything in orbit can get that detailed.

[Dr Mordrid]

That big new monster they are building for moon orbit might be able to pull of something like that. Beyond that I don't think anything in orbit can get that detailed.

A "monster" in Moon orbit?

Are you thinking of the James Webb Space Telescope? If so it's not to be in lunar orbit but at L2, the second Lagrangian point, a gravitationally stable point in space about 1.5 million km out in solar orbit opposite the sun from Earth's perspective.

LOTS of science will be done there, including manned missions. Might even be a more important destination than the Moon itself.

Also: JWST's main focus is infrared astronomy, which will allow it to peer back to the cosmic "dark ages" looking for "first light" - that time when stars and galaxies were first forming out of the primordial matter. Other missions do indeed include the search for solar systems, exo-planets and the chemistry of life.

JWST home....

JWST deployment video (52mb mpg - space origami at its best)....

JWST mirror vs. Hubble



JWST (top)



JWST (bottom)



JWST mockup (people for scale)



L2

[Jammrock]

That's what I was thinking of. So even farther out than the moon, nice. It will be nice to see the space agencies of the world start to do manned missions past the moon orbit. One more small step.

Now that I think about that...are thye putting up a relay satellite too? Otherwise I would think the moon would end up blocking the signals too much if I understand the positioning correctly.

[Nowhere]

Blocking of signals would be extremely rare - not only the objects are actually in a orbit around Lagrangian points, not precisely in them, but also - the plane of moon orbit is different than the plane of ecliptic.

(that said - I wouldn't be surprised if the communications do go through some relay satellites, but rarely because of the moon)

BTW, Herschel (essentially JWST mini) launches in half a year (one of the mission is to analyze composition of surfaces in the Solar System...I wonder what it can really do (though probably there won;t be much time for that... :/ ))

[Dr Mordrid]

The ESA's Herschel Space Observatory will also be at L2 and smaller than JWST. Its focus is far infrared and submillimeter observations, though its evaporative helium cooling system will limit its lifetime vs. JWST.

IIRC the HSO's lifetime will be 2 years vs. JWST which is expected to last 5-10 years without service (and there is some talk of servicing it with the Orion spacecraft docked to a separately launched cargo "tug" to carry supplies & parts).

[KRSESQ]

First Photo of a planet around another star. One more for Hubble.

Kevin

[Nowhere]

Another photo...and it's a multi planet system:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081113152007.htm

http://www.gemini.edu/node/11150

(seems like they waited for Hubble announcement, discovery of which was first, not to take their spotlight?)