Questions tagged [exoplanet]
Questions regarding planets that lie outside the Solar System.
511
questions
2
votes
2
answers
191
views
What are opinions of most planetary scientists on this study (link below), were there already some complex reviews in scientific journals?
I remember this two year old article from Universe Today about this study, "Stepwise Earth oxygenation is an inherent property of global biogeochemical cycling", by Lewis J. Alcott, Benjamin ...
- 121
3
votes
1
answer
101
views
Shortest and longest wavelengths at which exoplanets have been resolved from their primaries?
Phys.org's Radio signals from distant stars suggest hidden planets summarizes the Nature Astronomy paper The population of M dwarfs observed at low radio frequencies (also in arXiv) but this is an ...
- 31.3k
4
votes
1
answer
321
views
Why was there a gap in exoplanet detection in 2015?
The question How has the number of known TNOs evolved over time? contains a link to this image:
Number of extrasolar planet discoveries per year through April 2018, with colors indicating method of ...
- 1,732
8
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What precisely leads to planets like COCONUTS-2b to orbit so far away from their host stars, 6000 AU in its case?
Taking our Solar System as an example, most gas giants formed relatively close by (a few AU) and drifted away to reasons I don't know, from an explanation I recall reading. Simply orbiting a few AU ...
- 503
1
vote
1
answer
73
views
Maximum distance at which planetary atmospheres can be analyzed during transits?
Is there a limit for how far away you could make a spectroscopic analysis of a planet when it transits its star, to detect bio markers and industry markers?
What would the limit be with current ...
- 197
1
vote
1
answer
139
views
Incorrect best period fit over phase-folded data
I am using the astropy Lomb-Scargle periodogram here, https://docs.astropy.org/en/stable/timeseries/lombscargle.html to get the best period fit using its model() method for simulated data given in ...
- 41
3
votes
0
answers
59
views
Precision of orbital period of exoplanets vs solar system planets (Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia)
I noticed that the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia lists the orbital period of L 98-59 b in days to 7 decimal places. Can astronomers really measure orbital period of exoplanets to greater precision ...
- 920
1
vote
1
answer
124
views
Can a terrestrial planet orbit an icy planet (or vice versa)?
I know that the composition of planets is dependant on the equilibrium temperature at its orbit - for example, if below a certain temperature, water and other volatiles become solid, allowing them to ...
- 11
5
votes
2
answers
296
views
Where to find data on orbits of exoplanetary systems?
I hope this is the correct place to ask this question which entails asking if there is a database much like the JPL NASA one for the solar system, but for exoplanetary systems? I am conducting an n ...
- 53
0
votes
0
answers
47
views
What portion of all exo-planets can't be observed? [duplicate]
Exo-planets are usually observed by small decreases of the outgoing power of the stars accompanying them, when the planet passes between us and the star.
The orbits of the exo-planets lay in one plane....
1
vote
1
answer
183
views
When is an exoplanet called a Super-Jupiter? or Super-Earth?
Is there a recognized definition of what size an exoplanet gas planet has to be to be classed as a SuperEarth or SuperJupiter? Is it based on radius or mass? i.e. All gaseous exoplanets > 1 ...
- 1,301
2
votes
0
answers
55
views
Would Atlas Pro's prediction about the color of plant in Kepler-186F work as a biosignature to search for life?
The Atlas Pro video that prompted this question is this.
Tl;dr: it is argued that due to the different spectrum of radiation emitted by Kepler-186 and what is known about the evolution of ...
- 21
2
votes
1
answer
430
views
Calculate the habitable zone of a star based on NASA Exoplanet Archive
I am completely new to this! I am trying to find if an exoplanet in the Exoplanet Archive is the habitable zone of its host star. My intention is to create a new boolean column in a Pandas Dataframe ...
8
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Could rogue planets harbor life?
On July 21 at 10 am, Seti Talks will be discussing the topic of "Could Rogue Planets Harbor Life". Supposedly there are 50 billion such planets in the Milky Way. I would think that the ...
- 1,599
5
votes
1
answer
226
views
From Proxima b, could any planets around Sol be imaged directly by a strong telescope? If so, which ones would be easiest to spot?
How strong would a telescope (and what kind of telescope) on Proxima Centauri b have to magnify to discern any planets around Sol, and which planets would be easiest to spot? One might think the ...
- 1,548
2
votes
1
answer
119
views
Special case of rotation period
Rotation period is either prograde, like the Earth, or retrograde, like Venus. How likely is it for a body orbiting its parent object (either a planet around a star or a moon around a planet) to have ...
- 463
0
votes
0
answers
69
views
.fits Files for Exoplanets
I am learning to use AstroImageJ software. And using this software to plot transit graph for Exoplanet orbiting the star. I want to know from where can we find the .fits file of target star ? I tried ...
1
vote
1
answer
106
views
What is the most grazing exoplanet transit that has been reported with high confidence?
The abstract of Past, present and future stars that can see Earth as a transiting exoplanet reads:
In the search for life in the cosmos, transiting exoplanets are currently our best targets. With ...
- 31.3k
0
votes
0
answers
77
views
Planets around O-type stars [duplicate]
The paper https://arxiv.org/abs/0707.2895 says that solid planets up to thousands of Earth masses may be able to form around massive stars (B-type and O-type stars; 5–120 solar masses), where the ...
- 920
4
votes
1
answer
153
views
Axial tilt of exoplanets
Some directly imaged exoplanets have had their rotation measured but has the axial tilt of any exoplanet been measured? If not, when might we get the first measurement of axial tilt of an exoplanet?
- 920
4
votes
2
answers
576
views
Will we ever be able to see the surface of exoplanets directly?
When exoplanets are depicted, artist's impressions are used. The presence of exoplanets is observed by a dip in the emitted power of a star when a planet moves between us and the star (a kind of star ...
2
votes
1
answer
202
views
Star brightness data to study exoplanets with the transit method?
Can someone tell me how I can find the star brightness data to study exoplanet using transit method? The file should be in comma separated value (CSV) format or any other formats that can be latter ...
5
votes
1
answer
228
views
Is the transition between ice giants and Jupiter-like gas giants somewhat fluid?
The ice giants Uranus and Neptune are often being distinguished from Saturn and Jupiter who consist mostly of hydrogen and helium, while the ice giants have more of heavier elements than hydrogen and ...
- 1,548
2
votes
1
answer
112
views
Retrograde orbits of exoplanets
Some Hot Jupiters have retrograde orbits. What causes this? Are there any other common factors amongst the planets with these orbits and have any other types of exoplanet been found with retrograde ...
- 920
3
votes
2
answers
132
views
Spin-down of gas-giants during formation
In the paper https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.00457 about rotation rates of gas giants it says:
"owing to accumulation of angular
momentum stored in the source material, a planetary mass object should ...
- 920
1
vote
1
answer
148
views
Why does one presume that there is at least one Earth-like exoplanet around one in five stars?
When reading the question about the first use of the term exoplanet (about which Giordano Bruno and Isaac Newton already speculated but they didn't use that term for them, I think), I searched a ...
4
votes
3
answers
220
views
2
votes
1
answer
303
views
What does it mean for a planet to have an "icy" core?
My understanding of the physics of planets leans heavily on my understanding of the physics of stars - of course there are important differences.
One important difference that I've found is the nature ...
- 4,439
2
votes
0
answers
85
views
Why did Gemini Planet Imager hardly detect anything?
GPI was originally thought able to directly image tens of planets but so far has only discovered one new planet?
Why is this?
From Gemini Observatory; Adaptive optics
Source
- 920
4
votes
1
answer
128
views
Could a heavy exoplanet squeeze water into being liquid and 4° warm?
Let's say there is an exoplanet orbiting its host star well outside its habitable zone. Suppose further that it has a lot of water, being perhaps comparable to earth when it comes to the volume ratio ...
1
vote
0
answers
76
views
Super-puff exoplanets
Super-puffs are gas giant sized planets with masses only a few earth masses.
What causes planets to form with such low density and why are they so rare?
- 920
2
votes
1
answer
287
views
Were K2-141b and WASP-63b selected as the first two exoplanet atmospheres for JWST to look at during its first year of observations? If so, why?
In The Observatory @Donald.McLean linked to Scientists will peer at first galaxies with James Webb telescope which says in part:
The new telescope will augment science performed by Hubble, not ...
- 31.3k
2
votes
2
answers
263
views
How close to a host star can a tidally locked planet be and its dark side still maintain a moderate temperature?
So, imagine an atmosphere-less planet, tidally locked to a sun-like star. How close to the star can the planet be before its dark side becomes too hot?
I imagine that at some point the rocks on its ...
- 1,255
3
votes
1
answer
87
views
Planetary tails: How many have we observed yet?
Just recently I learned that Mercury has a sodium tail and it is actually well studied since long:
As a result, the planet has the appearance of a comet, with a tail that's been observed streaming ...
- 5,526
1
vote
2
answers
137
views
Crust thick enough to prevent volcanos
Could you have an Earth-like planet with a crust thick enough to prevent volcanos from forming?
- 920
14
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is the measurement of distance and position of remote celestial bodies accurate?
Considering that light is affected by gravity, how accurate are measurements of distant stars and galaxies?
When light passes through objects with great mass, such as Jupiter size planets, stars, or ...
- 263
2
votes
0
answers
20
views
Is the measurement of distance and position of far away objects accurate? [duplicate]
Considering that light is affected by gravity, how accurate are our measurements of distant stars and galaxies?
When light passes through objects with great mass, such as Jupiter size planets, or ...
- 263
2
votes
1
answer
84
views
Are accretion disks the only way stellar planetary systems form?
The accepted theory for the formation of our Solar System is from an accretion disk. A molecular cloud is thought to have collapsed under its own gravity and formed a disk. Most of the matter in the ...
- 16.2k
7
votes
1
answer
162
views
Is the discovery of a "mass gap" black hole by this tiny telescope just plain luck/serendipity or could it be the first of many similar discoveries?
The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope is a pair of modest lenses with high quality medium format CCDs attached sitting on oversized mounts in Arizona and Sutherland.
These very modest instruments ...
- 31.3k
3
votes
0
answers
135
views
If all the Trappist-1 planets are tidally locked, which ones may have temperate zones?
Since all the Trappist-1 planets have circular orbits, it is entirely likely that all them are tidally locked.
If so, which ones of the planets may have temperate zones either on the bright or dark ...
- 1,255
1
vote
1
answer
231
views
IAU 2018 Exoplanet definition
In 2018 the IAU produced a definition of an exoplanet:
The current official wokring definition of an exoplanet as amended by IAU Comission F2: Exoplanets and the Solar System in August 2018, reads as ...
- 920
3
votes
1
answer
145
views
Lightkurve nan values after bin light curve
I am using lightkurve 2.0.2 library with Python 3.8.5 and astropy 4.2 for processing exoplanet transits. However when I want to bin light curve to fixed number of points, all values in ...
- 313
7
votes
1
answer
565
views
Why was Neptune rather than Uranus chosen as an archetype?
The largest exoplanets are typically called Jupiter-like planets, or hot/cold Jupiters. Since Jupiter is the largest most massive planet in our Solar system, it makes sense that it would be chosen as ...
- 17.4k
2
votes
2
answers
267
views
Would it be possible to detect a magnetic field around an exoplanet?
Of course, we can't fly a magnetometer next to an exoplanet to measure the magnetic field, but might it be possible to find indirect evidence (e.g. polar auroras) of a magnetic field generated by an ...
- 17.4k
1
vote
0
answers
80
views
Strange matter objects other than neutron stars?
This question is about celestrial objects which are composed by exotic matter, and exotic matter I define as
states of matter that are not commonly encountered such as Bose–Einstein condensates, ...
- 5,526
4
votes
2
answers
969
views
When examining an exoplanet's atmosphere is the star's emission spectra or planet's light used?
My understanding of the main method we use to figure out an exoplanet atmosphere composition is that when a exoplanet transits their sun, visible light passes through the planet's atmosphere, and ...
- 503
1
vote
1
answer
73
views
How to track orbit of an exoplanet?
I was wondering if there is an established method to keep track of the orbit of an exoplanet assuming we know a - the semi-major axis of the orbit, e - the eccentricity of the orbit, and i - the ...
- 113
19
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Exoplanet dip in transit light curve when the planet passes behind the star
In the animation below, I don't understand why the brightness slightly decreases when the planet is behind the star.
Where does this effect come from?
user16492
4
votes
1
answer
98
views
Eccentricity of Exoplanets
The field of astrobiology specifically discovering other planets that revolve around the sun-like star (also known as Exoplanets) has risen since 1990, but certain orbits of exoplanets are observed to ...
- 311
3
votes
0
answers
82
views
New method for exoplanet detection based on iridescence?
Could it be possible to detect exoplanets that have an abundance of iridescent minerals by analyzing their star's spectra over time as the angle in observation would lead to changes in absorbed ...
