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An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. There are billions of stars in our galaxy and a significant percentage of these stars are likely to have planets orbiting them. There are also planets orbiting brown dwarfs and free floating planets orbiting the galaxy directly. As of 19 March 2010, 443 extrasolar planets have been confirmed. The vast majority have been detected through radial velocity observations and other indirect methods rather than actual imaging. Most are giant planets thought to resemble Jupiter; however, substantial sampling bias exists since more massive planets are much easier to detect with current technology. A few relatively lightweight exoplanets, only a few times more massive than Earth, have now been detected and projections suggest that planets of roughly Earth-like mass will eventually be found to outnumber extrasolar gas giants. Extrasolar planets became a subject of scientific investigation in the mid-19th century. Many astronomers supposed that such planets existed, but they had no way of knowing how common they were or how similar they might be to the planets of our solar system. The first confirmed radial velocity detection was made in 1995, revealing a gas giant planet in a four-day orbit around the nearby G-type star 51 Pegasi. The frequency of detections has tended to increase on an annual basis since then. It is estimated that at least 10% of sun-like stars have planets, and the true proportion may be much higher. The discovery of extrasolar planets sharpens the question of whether some might support extraterrestrial life. Currently, Gliese 581 d, the fourth planet of the red dwarf star Gliese 581 (approximately 20 light years from Earth), appears to be the best example yet discovered of a possible terrestrial exoplanet that orbits within the habitable zone surrounding its star. Although initial measurements suggested that Gliese 581 d resided outside the so-called "Goldilocks Zone", additional measurements place it within. From Wikipedia under the
GNU Free Documentation License Why don't we have pictures of extrasolar planets? Q. I think its because the stars that the extrasolar planets are orbiting outshine the extrasolar planets, so we can ony view them as a dark circle, can someone confirm this? im not sure, but I think that might be why. Oh so we can't see them simply because they're too far away? thats a shame, i hope we develope technology to prove otherwise soon Ah, Zah it makes some more sense now, so say if i put a 100 watt light next to a 50 watt light, the light being emitted looks of the light from the 100 watt light only, since the 50 watt light is inferior, its like its not there, and since stars produce much much more light than that which is reflected off the planets, it is as if the planet is not there, when u go to look for it. Makes a lot of… [cont.] Asked by Some Dude - Tue Apr 15 01:09:28 2008 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments A. Planets themselves (and Moons) do not provide any illumination (give off light of their own). They only reflect light coming from a source such as their Star (or their Sun). When you look up at a distant star, the strongest light hits your eyes and that is the light coming directly from the star. Remember that reflected light is much weaker and more scattered than direct light rays, so it blinds you and keeps you from being able to detect other weaker light that might have bounced off of planets and moons in distant space. All the light you see on the Moon, for example, is light hitting it from our Sun. When the Moon goes behind the Earth it is invisible from the Earth observers (no longer lit up by the Sun). The same is true when we use… [cont.] Answered by zahbudar - Tue Apr 15 01:29:59 2008 Is there any other planet that has life like our own, like any extrasolar planets? Q. is it true that a new plent was discovered beyond pluto or in another solar system? Also some websites say plutos a planet, otehrs say its a moon or crater. I know longer know who 2 believe in this case Asked by SkylonTowerXxXx - Thu May 31 10:24:10 2007 - - 12 Answers - 0 Comments A. PLUTO Pluto is most definitely NOT a crater. It was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet at an International Astronomical Union (IAU) congress in Prague on August 24th 2006, and joining it in that new category are the asteroid Ceres and the Scattered Disk Object Eris (previously known as Xena or 2003 UB 313). It most definitely does NOT come down to individual definitions of a planet. It is the IAU's job as the international body, to name celestial objects, pass definitions of what is a planet and what isn't and award planetary status (and indeed dwarf planet status) to objects that meet the criteria. What kind of chaos would ensue if different names existed for the same object and different definitions were used and applied by… [cont.] Answered by crabapples - Thu May 31 10:41:41 2007 Has any extrasolar planets beeeeeen discovered?
Q. Has any extrasolar planets beeen discovered? Asked by SkylonTowerXxXx - Mon Oct 15 04:34:40 2007 - - 7 Answers - 0 Comments A. 33 the list: ok so i counted only confirmed planets whos mass we can estimate. Answered by AlCapone - Mon Oct 15 04:43:39 2007 From Yahoo Answer Search: "Extrasolar Planets"
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 news.google.com Daily Camera A handy pulsar also gets credit for revealing extrasolar planets to astronomers for the first time. While astronomers were clocking the tick-tock of this ... news.google.com Discovery News The odds are all stacked in favor of this kind of planet being the first place we look for extrasolar life. Skeptics with a Rare Earth Hypothesis ... news.google.com grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.de (Blog) Deming ist Chefwissenschaftler der Mission des Projekts " Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization" (EPOCh). Nach der Erfuellung ihrer ... From Google News Search: "Extrasolar Planets"  ncac.torun.pl 473px x 787px | 7.80kB [source page] Data Magellan MIKE radial velocities and the best fit radial velocity curve GIF PS From Yahoo Image Search: "Extrasolar Planets"  infidelguy.com Posted by BornAgainAthiest hu, 07 Jan 2010 13:53:52 GM represent 0.8% of the total number in the Milky Way galaxy, the fact that there is evidence of . planet. formation around these big, hot, short-lived stars, is still good news. Astronomers have now detected . planets. or evidence thereof i.  religionsetspolitics.blogspot.com Joshua Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:00:00 GM This article discussed . extrasolar planets. and how astronomers have recently discovered smaller . extrasolar planets. which are closer to what life-sustaining . planets. would look like. From the article: "The first . extrasolar planets. were ...  americareads.blogspot.com Marshal Zeringue Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:23:00 GM A fourth examines discoveries made within our own galaxy, from interstellar nebulae and supernovae to Cepheid variable stars and . extrasolar planets. . Next Murdin turns to discoveries made within the deepest recesses of the universe, ... From Google Blog Search: "Extrasolar Planets" |
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