From Dust to Dust

A look into the Orion Nebula reveals the beginning of new stars and planets. Stars have life cycles; they are born, develope through different phases, and eventually die. Earth's sun was born about 4.6 billion years ago and will remain much as it is for another 5 billion years. How these massive bodies come to be, is feat that astonishes astronomers all over the world. What begins as a cloud of dust, through gravity and pressure, transforms into heavenly bodies circling their motherly star. The process--as shown on the video--that changes dust and gas into solar systems is believed to be the exact process that formed the solar system in which humanity thrives. Once stars become 5 times or more massive than earth's Sun, reaching the red giant phase, their core temperature increases as carbon atoms are formed from the fusion of helium atoms. As the cosmic process continues, the star begins growing, and consumes its adjacent planets and stars. The star continues eating until it begins secreting gases and dust, feeding the next generation of heavenly bodies.

source: nasa http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/index.html

Worlds a Way

There are over 300 known extra solar planets circling a number of nearby stars. Scientists, using multiple methods, have recently discovered a new earth like planet. A group of European astronomers discovered a planet estimated to be only twice the mass of Earth. It is by far the smallest world yet discovered orbiting a faraway star. Their data was presented in an article submitted to the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. "The holy grail of current exoplanet research is the detection of a rocky, Earth-like planet in the 'habitable zone,'” said lead author Michel Mayor of the Geneva Observatory. Though this planet does not meet such requirements, it does give astronomers confidence that their techniques will soon pay off.
The newest planet, Gliese 581e, to be discovered is the fourth one found circling its parent star. A member of the discovery team, Xavier Bonfils of the Grenoble Observatory, believes that with a minimum mass of 1.9 Earths the planet is most likely a rocky world like our own. But as the innermost planet in the system it is extremely close to its star, completing each orbit in just over 3 days. Its surface is therefore far too hot to sustain liquid water or life as we know it. The red dwarf star, Gliese 581, has been a star of interest for astronomers for some time now. This particular star has a planet that is with in the habitual zone.

The astronomers used the European Southern Observatory's 3.6 meter telescope at La Silla, Chile. The two planets, Gliese 581d and Gliese 581e, were studied using HARPS spectrograph. Built specifically to search for exoplanets HARPS, through the radial velocity method, can detect the miniscule shifts in a star's spectrum as it rocks back and forth to the tug of an orbiting planet. HARPS is so sensitive, in fact, that it can register a star's motion towards the Earth or away from it, even if it is as slow as 1 meter per second -- about the speed of a leisurely stroll. It is thanks to this remarkable sensitivity that the spectrograph was able to discover a planet as small as Gliese 581e.

Click to enlarge > Credit: ESO

Gliese 581e’s larger neighbor, the planet Gliese 581d, whose minimum mass is seven times that of the Earth, is believed to be a good candidate for sustaining life. Since it is located in the habitable zone, a member of the team said, it "could even be covered by a large and deep ocean – it is the first serious 'water world' candidate."

Scientists discover Flabbergasting Gas Giant.

Having discovered all the planets in our own solar system astronomers are now interested in discovering planets in other systems. Georgi Mandushev, an astronomer from Lowell Observatory, is one of the leading astronomers on the prowl. He is part of a team working on the Transatlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES).
Mandushev has always been interested in the mid-night sky. “When I was child, astronomy was hobby of mine,” Mandushev said, “as I grew up I realized I was also good at math and science so I decide to combine my passion with my knowhow, and an astronomer is what I became.
In 2003, scientists found their first transient planet.”It’s hard to find transient planets because in order for us to see them our line of site has to view the planet revolve horizontally around its host star,” Mandushev said. “If the planet revolves vertically our instruments will never detect it.” planetary transits are only observable for planets whose orbits happen to be perfectly aligned from astronomers' field of view. This leaves only about ten percent of all transits able to be detected.
For the last five years, Mandushev and other scientists have been pointing their equipment at far off stars in hopes of finding planets like the ones in Earth’s solar system. “It’s hard to find rocky planets because they’re too small, so all we have yet to find are gas giants,” Mandushev said. Through the use of a network of three 10cm telescopes in Arizona, California and the Canary Islands, scientists are charting far off galaxies in hopes of discovering new planets.
“TrES—4 is one of 20 transiting planets that have been discovered using the transiting method,” Mandushev said. “A transiting planet passes directly between the Earth and the star, blocking some of the star's light and causing a slight drop in its brightness.” The average drop in brightness is usually 2 percent. Once the transiting method is used to detect light differentials of the host star, scientists then use the radial-velocity method to determine the velocity of the planet. As the planet revolves around the star it slightly pulls the star, which can be detected on Earth through the Doppler Effect. An observed red shift due to the Doppler effect occurs whenever a light source moves away from the observer where as a blue shift happens when the light source moves towards the observer. Knowing how big a star is and how long it takes to revolve around the star gives scientist clues as to how fast the star moves.
TrES—4 is a gas giant that resembles Jupiter, but is 70 percent larger then Jupiter. The planet was discovered when astronomers pointed their equipment into the constellation of Hercules on Aug. 2, 2007. “Our equipment examines over 50 thousand stars in one view,” Mandushev said. “Of all those stars only about 150 of them are candidates, and most turn out to be duds.” Scientists determine if a star has a transiting planet by the fluctuation in light as the planet crosses in front of the star and the telescopes’ field of view. When astronomers are reviewing the data, they are looking at thousands of dots and zeroing in on a slight differense in brightness.
“TrES—4 is the biggest planet that we have found so far,” Mandushev said. “In fact its discovery may lead to new gas giant models.” The mostly hydrogen planet has the largest radius and lowest density of any of the known transiting planets. Mandushev has written in the Astrophysics Journal, Oct. 1, 2007, that some scientists propose that the planet is able to be big with a low density because it may be composed of different heat sources, or that the planet has an extended outer atmosphere caused by blow off of atmospheric material.
It is theorized that the planet leaves a comet like residue as it revolves around its host star once every 3.55 days. The composition and size of the planet leaves more questions than answers. Scientists hope that as long as they keep surveying the night skies that they will keep being astonished and amazed. After all, is that not what all great discoverers hope for?

The Origin and Evolution of Life throughout the Cosmos

Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary science that hopes to answer the age old question, where does life originate. Through the integration of astronomy, biology, geology and planetary science, Astrobiology Professor David Koerner, hopes to unravel that very mystery.
Koerner began his education early in the 1970s. He enrolled at California State University-Long Beach as geology major, but graduated with a degree in physics and minors in math and geology. Koerner chose his field of study so he could better understand when and where life originated.
In 1993, Koerner, along with fellow scientists, were the first to demonstrate that a gas disk was in a stable orbit around a young star named GM Aurigae, indicating that the disk could give rise to a new set of planets. The discovery of planets being born within an interstellar medium reaffirmed early theories that planet formation is one step in the evolution of life. His findings, along with countless others, have been published in The Astrophysical Journal.
To understand how long Earth has been circling its star, scientists must first investigate geological records. As geological records show, the Earth has been a stable planet for about 4.6 billion years. Earliest fossil cells date back to 3.5 billion years ago, and “circumstantial evidence dates life’s beginnings at 3.9 billion years ago.’ The question that astrobiologists hope to answer is what caused inorganic molecules like water and salt to suddenly change into amino acids, the building blocks of all organic life.
A gas disk around a protostar, or a solar nebula, is a precursor to a solar system. Koerner believes that through intense study of a solar system’s formation, scientists will one day have a better understanding of the mechanics of life. “What I really care about is not just the steps that lead to making the planets, but the habitability of the cosmos,” Koerner said.
Arguments in favor of life on other planets have become more viable in the last 10 years. Solar nebulas are full of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are interstellar molecules that formed through a complicated network of chemical reactions inside the solar nebula. Koerner explains, “That’s like the goo on your grill after you do a hamburger.” More technically they are what scientists consider pre cursers to amino acids. The discoveries of these molecules, in conjunction with comet and meteorite studies, have made the speculation of extraterrestrial life more attractive to scientists around the world.
Koerner is now part of a research group that uses the Spitzer Space Telescope to identify how planets form, the frequency in which they form and what are the prospects for life on these planets. They use the telescope to investigate nearby stars in hopes of unraveling the cosmos’ mysteries. The Spitzer Space Telescope is a space-based infrared observatory, which is part of NASA's Great Observatories program.
Through NASA's scientific endeavor, Koerner’s research group have already identified close to four dozen solar nebulas within the Milky Way Galaxy. The group’s findings are incorporated with other researchers’ data from around the world, in order to compile a likely theory that will explain the creation of organic life throughout the cosmos. Koerner is a professor a Northern Arizona University. His articles and other scientific data can be accessed at http://www.astrobio.nau.edu/~koerner.

Kepler Mission Destined to Discover New Earth-like planets.

After the success of the TrES program, Edward Dunham, Lowell Observatory instrument scientist and a founding co-investigator of the TrES network, is pleased to be part of an endeavor that will build on the success of the Transatlantic Exoplanet Survey, which is a team that finds and categorizes planets on other solar systems.
Kepler Telescope was successfully launched on March, 6, 2009, at 10:49 pm EST. After blasting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II, and entering space, The Kepler observation platform is the newest telescope surveying the expansive sky. The telescope is able to find Earth-like exoplanets. Although scientists have had lots of success finding huge Jupiter-like planets, their Earth-based telescopes aren’t capable of finding smaller planets. All this will change once the Kepler mission begins streaming in data. Like the TrES network, the Kepler probe will use a radio-velocity telescope to examine far away stars. Unlike TrES, the Kepler telescope will be satellite-based, which will allow it to see smaller fluctuations in light as small earth-like planets cross the star’s horizon. Dunham is a co-investigator on the Kepler mission, a NASA Discovery mission designed to detect Earth-size planets orbiting sun like stars. He has been working on the Kepler Mission in one way or another for the last 15 years. His responsibilities for Kepler center on focal plane development, optics and the system test program. The planet TrES-2 was co-discovered by Dunham and is noteworthy for being the first transiting planet in an area of the sky where the Kepler will focus on. Kepler will survey four classes of stars – F stars that are bigger and brighter than Earth's sun, G stars that are similar to our sun in brightness and size, and K and M stars, which are smaller and less bright than our sun. As a planet crosses the path of the Kepler telescope and its host star, the light of the host star is dimineshed.

Through the observation of the fluctuation in light of the stars it is surveying, The Kepler telescope is likely to yield the discovery of new planets the size of the Earth.“All of the exoplanets detected so far are gas giants, approximately 150 as of 2005,” said Dunham. Once the satellite begins sending data, scientists will receive stellar information deep within the Hercules consolation. From its view point, the telescope monitors 100,000 main-sequence stars for planets. The mission’s lifetime of 3.5 years could be extended to at least six years depending on funding and other variables.

Transits by terrestrial planets produce a small change in a star's brightness of about 100 parts per million (ppm), lasting for 2 to 16 hours. This change must be absolutely periodic if it is caused by a planet. “Kepler will find lots of objects like TrES-2 in its quest to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars. However, I imagine that TrES-2 will be one of Kepler's first targets, and will be an old friend by the end of the mission,” Dunham said. He, along with fellow astronomer Georgi Mandushev, has found four planets using the transient method. Their findings will be used to calibrate the telescope. Knowing the mass and radius of TrES--4 and characteristics of its host star allows scientists to fine-tune the new space based telescope. NASA officials released a YouTube update for the Kepler mission. The video gives its audience an idea about the revolutionary perspective this new satellite will give humanity. Mandushev, being a life long astronomy enthusiast and astronomer at Lowell observatory, believes

the Kepler Telescope will provide data that will change humanity’s perception of its place in the cosmos.

The Expansion of the Cosmos

The night sky’s plethora of heavenly bodies has become a little more discernible as two astronomers from the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory discover a binary black hole. The two scientists, Todd Boroson and Tod Lauer, both from Tucson Arizona, published their findings in the journal Nature.
Their discovery of a double black hole system is in line with the theory of the growth of galaxies, which postulates that each galaxy houses a black hole at its centre. It is believed that as these two black holes begin to merge they will form a bigger galaxy.
Because matter entering a black hole gives off electromagnetic waves that can be recorded here on earth, astronomers use the Doppler Effect to determine which direction the black holes are moving, and how fast they’re moving. Formerly revealed by the Austrian physicist and mathematician, Christian Doppler, the Doppler Effect is best demonstrated by listening to an ambulance’s siren becoming louder as the vehicle gets closer and quitter as it passes. The sound waves emitted from the ambulance, the light waves, and electromagnetic waves emitted from the black hole, communicate how fast the bodies producing the waves are moving. When the waves move toward the listener they are squeezed together producing a blue shift, and when they are in retreat they fan out and produce a red shift, which are both detected by sophisticated instruments. These shifts allow scientists to determine how fast the bodies are moving.
It is estimated that less than a third of a light-year separates these two behemoth heavenly bodies. The distance separating these two quasars is believed to be closer than the binary system found by the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2003. Because of the distance they are from one another, and the massiveness of each black hole, which is estimated to be between 20 million to 1 billion times bigger than earth’s sun, it takes them one hundred years to circle one another.
Unlike the 2003 discovery of a binary black hole system, this discovery is more revolutionary because the evidence is much stronger and the pairing is tighter. The first discovery of a binary black hole, at a distance of about 400 million light-years, was NGC 6240. Though the discovery of the two black holes, which are about 3,000 light-years apart, was breath taking in 2003, the recent discovery is hoped to produce even better data. The data compiled is expected to help astronomers postulate how the cosmos are expanding.

New Horizon Heads for new Frontiers

As of March 23, 2009, the New Horizon space craft has traveled one-third the distance it needs to go in order to explore Pluto. The craft left earth’s atmosphere 38 months ago and has traveled almost two billion kilometers of flight. The craft left Jupiter’s orbit last year. It was there that astronomers from Lowell Observatory tested the vital instruments needed to explore Pluto.
The New Horizon began its first set of test Feb. 28, 2007, as it came within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter. As the craft was utilizing Jupiter’s gravity, in order to trim three years off its trip, it began taking pictures and conducting other observations. Using a range of viewing angles the craft captured the clearest images ever taken of Jupiter’s ring system. Scientists, having pre programmed the craft to do just that, were not surprised when data began streaming in later that day. However, once the clarity and vivacity of the pictures were realized, there was enough surprise to go around for everyone.
Astronomer Will Grundy, from Lowell Observatory, was one of the amazed scientists to view the new pictures of the gas giant. “Part of the reason for doing so many complicated observations at Jupiter was to flush out bugs,” Grundy said. “Lots of interesting science is coming from that encounter, which also provided a valuable rehearsal for the real objective: the Pluto system.”
On Jan. 16, 2006, the New Horizon space craft was launched into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. As part of NASA’s New Frontiers program, The New Horizon project has scientists from all around the United States contributing their expertise. The craft is expected to reach Pluto April 12, 2015. Its mission is to record and send data to scientists who are interested in how and when the dwarf planet formed.
The craft has already captured some of the most spectacular pictures ever photographed. The New Horizon can view objects as small as 0.6 miles in diameter, which enabled the craft to produce close-up scans of the Little Red Spot, Jupiter's second-largest storm. The spot is about 70 percent of Earth’s diameter. Through the images, scientists are continuing the search for clues about how these massive storm systems form.
Observations made of Jupiter were scientifically significant to the exploration of Pluto because it gave scientists a chance to test vital systems. “Things like electronics, thrusters, radio transmitters, computers, and star tracker cameras all come in pairs, so if one fails or behaves unexpectedly, we can switch to a backup one,” Grundy said. “It's because a system this complex will inevitably have unexpected behaviors.” As with most technically advanced systems bugs are always common. Grundy believes knowing about the glitches now gives them eight years to fix them or learn to work around them before the Pluto encounter. Although Grundy said, “nothing so far has been a show-stopper.”
After being slung around Jupiter and gaining speed through the planets gravity, the craft is now on trajectory with Pluto. “We've explored the rocky planets and we've explored the gas giants, but we have never yet visited any of the small icy objects like Pluto, Eris, Quaoar, Sedna,” said Grundy. “Once we get down to work and use the data from the New Horizon we’ll understand how the Pluto system really works, and what it can tell us of the early history of the solar system.” Grundy began working for Lowell Observatory in 1997. Besides working on the New Horizon mission he is also on the science definition team for a possible future comet surface sample return mission, and is involved in a large number of different observing projects using Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and a variety of ground-based telescopes. Grundy said he also does laboratory studies of cryogenic outer solar system materials, which are materials that have been exposed to temperatures below –238 F. Grundy has extensive knowledge about the Pluto system, the Kuiper belt, and remote-sensing techniques for outer solar system surfaces, which are all needed as the New Horizon rendezvous with Pluto. “Everything we do is remote-sensing,” Grundy said. Through remote-sensing scientists are conducting research via ultraviolet, visible, infrared and radio wave observations from a distance. The interest in studying Pluto predates the celestial body’s down grade from the ninth planet to a dwarf planet, but the funds and political will needed to make it a reality were never in strong demand. “The first ideas for a Pluto mission were floated around 1989,” Grundy said. “Following that, there were many different incarnations and cancellations.” The New Horizons mission is funded through 2017, which is long enough for scientists to fly through the Pluto system, record and return the data, and analyze it. Unlike most spacecrafts that eventually return to earth, the New Horizon is on a one-way trip to the outer most regions of the solar system. Grundy is confident that the craft will perform exceptionally well once it arrives at Pluto.
This New Horizon mission is the first in a series of New Frontier projects, which is NASA's new program for medium sized missions. Grundy said, “NASA hopes to launch New Frontier missions at a rate of two or three a decade.” One such mission that is in the works is a launching of a probe to Jupiter in August 2011. Interested astronomy enthusiasts are able to track the New Horizon craft and research its capabilities at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/.

Close-up of diagram