When can we go to Kepler 22b?
by Salman Hameed
Yes. Astronomers have the first confirmed detection of an earth-like planet located in the star's habitable zone - the distance from the star where water can exist in liquid form. It is also called the Goldilocks zone (The Red Riding Zone is where the planet gets eaten by a wolf pretending to be the planet's grandmother). The discovery is amazing, if not really surprising. There are just too many planets out there, and we are bound to find planets in places that match conditions of the Earth. And life is also likely to be quite common. Life that can build telescopes? Don't know.
So what do we know about this planet? It is called Kepler 22b. This is the sexiest name that astronomers could come up with (actually, it is because it is discovered by Kepler telescope). It is located about 600 light years away - just far enough that we can't start thinking about packing our bags for a trip. At least, not yet. It is about 2.4 times the radius of the Earth. We don't know its composition for sure, but there is a good chance that it is a rocky planet. And perhaps most importantly, your birthdays would come every 290 days (woo hoo!).
Is there life there? We don't know. This planet was detected when it passed in front of its star, dimming the light of the parent star a bit. We do not have an image of the planet. When we do - and it may take years - then we can potentially analyze the composition of its atmosphere. The presence of oxygen in the atmosphere will be a good indicator for life, as oxygen in our own atmosphere is a by-product of life itself.
We are getting closer to finding life.
If you are interested, I had a chance to talk about Kepler 22b as well as the idea that we may all be Martians on the Bill Newman show yesterday morning. The segment is called Musings on our insanely huge universe and you can download it here (the segment about Kepler 22b is the last 15 minutes of the show). We also had a discussion of dark matter the month before, and you can find that episode here (again the last 15 minutes of the show).
Yes. Astronomers have the first confirmed detection of an earth-like planet located in the star's habitable zone - the distance from the star where water can exist in liquid form. It is also called the Goldilocks zone (The Red Riding Zone is where the planet gets eaten by a wolf pretending to be the planet's grandmother). The discovery is amazing, if not really surprising. There are just too many planets out there, and we are bound to find planets in places that match conditions of the Earth. And life is also likely to be quite common. Life that can build telescopes? Don't know.
So what do we know about this planet? It is called Kepler 22b. This is the sexiest name that astronomers could come up with (actually, it is because it is discovered by Kepler telescope). It is located about 600 light years away - just far enough that we can't start thinking about packing our bags for a trip. At least, not yet. It is about 2.4 times the radius of the Earth. We don't know its composition for sure, but there is a good chance that it is a rocky planet. And perhaps most importantly, your birthdays would come every 290 days (woo hoo!).
Is there life there? We don't know. This planet was detected when it passed in front of its star, dimming the light of the parent star a bit. We do not have an image of the planet. When we do - and it may take years - then we can potentially analyze the composition of its atmosphere. The presence of oxygen in the atmosphere will be a good indicator for life, as oxygen in our own atmosphere is a by-product of life itself.
We are getting closer to finding life.
If you are interested, I had a chance to talk about Kepler 22b as well as the idea that we may all be Martians on the Bill Newman show yesterday morning. The segment is called Musings on our insanely huge universe and you can download it here (the segment about Kepler 22b is the last 15 minutes of the show). We also had a discussion of dark matter the month before, and you can find that episode here (again the last 15 minutes of the show).
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