Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: chris on 22/04/2017 10:15:57

Title: Are there planets around distant stars?
Post by: chris on 22/04/2017 10:15:57

Olivia says:

I have a theory if the stars rotate up and down they must rotate around something; i think the stars are suns and planets are orbiting around them and we think they are meteors or moons but they may be a planet with life.

We don't know what's up there and they probably think the same thing; this is just a theory i thought, and i have done my research, plus i am only in 7th grade. Please respond As Soon As Possible Please Thanks!

What does everyone think?

Title: Re: Are there planets around distant stars?
Post by: chris on 22/04/2017 15:38:31

You might find this news item about a recently-discovered exoplanet with an atmosphere (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/science-news/earth-sized-exoplanet-atmosphere-detected).

Title: Re: Are there planets around distant stars?
Post by: evan_au on 23/04/2017 22:30:52

Quote from: Olivia

stars rotate up and down they must rotate around something

It is believed that most stars spin on their axis, just as most planets spin on their axis.

It is possible to measure the rotation of stars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_rotation) by attaching a device called a "spectroscope" to a large telescope. This produces a very detailed rainbow; tiny black lines in this rainbow can be used to measure the rotation speed of stars.

In turn, these stars orbit the center of our Milky Way galaxy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way), bobbing up and down in the disk of our galaxy. Our galaxy is shaped a bit like a fried egg.

Quote

i think the stars are suns and planets are orbiting around them

Over the course of your life, many "exoplanets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanet)" have been found - most of them from the Kepler space telescope.

Astronomers are trying many methods to see if planets around other stars have life. The main problem at the moment is that it is very hard to even take a photo of a planet around another star - the very dim planet is lost in the glare of the much brighter star.

This will probably need to wait until there is a a new kind of telescope in space, which can blot out the light of the star and take a picture of the planet - the planet will appear as just a tiny dot. However, with a spectroscope, we should be able to tell more about the planet.

Title: Re: Are there planets around distant stars?
Post by: PmbPhy on 24/04/2017 02:29:49

A planet  was recently discovered orbiting Proxima Centauri which is the closest star to our solar system.

Title: Re: Are there planets around distant stars?
Post by: chris on 18/12/2017 08:45:10

There is also this potential "home from home", which is orbiting Ross-128:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/science-news/earth-exoplanet-discovered