SlothBot is a slow-moving, solar-powered robot built by robotics engineers to take advantage of the low-energy lifestyle of real sloths. It moves along a cable strung between two large trees, as it monitors temperature, weather, carbon dioxide levels, and other information.
For the next several months, SlothBot will be hanging out in the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s 30-acre (12-hectare) midtown forest. That’s where the new high-tech tool is being tested for use in the battle to save some of the world’s most endangered species.
SlothBot demonstrates how being slow can be ideal for certain applications. Georgia Institute of Technology roboticist Magnus Egerstedt led the team. He said in a statement:
SlothBot embraces slowness as a design principle. That’s not how robots are typically designed today, but being slow and hyper-energy efficient will allow SlothBot to linger in the environment to observe things we can only see by being present continuously for months, or even years.
SlothBot research team at Atlanta Botanical Garden. Image via Georgia Tech.
SlothBot is about 3 feet (1 meter) long, with a whimsical 3D-printed shell that protects its motors, gearing, batteries, and sensing equipment from the weather. The robot is programmed to move only when necessary, and will locate sunlight when its batteries need recharging. At the Atlanta Botanical Garden, SlothBot will operate on a single 100-foot cable, but in larger environmental applications, it will be able to switch from cable to cable to cover more territory.
SlothBot could help scientists better understand the non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment, providing a new tool to better understand how to protect rare species and endangered ecosystems. Emily Coffey is vice president for conservation and research at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. She said in a statement:
SlothBot could do some of our research remotely and help us understand what’s happening with pollinators, interactions between plants and animals, and other phenomena that are difficult to observe otherwise.
Egerstedt said inspiration for the robot came from a visit he made to a vineyard in Costa Rica where he saw two-toed sloths creeping along overhead wires in their search for food in the tree canopy.
It turns out that they were strategically slow, which is what we need if we want to deploy robots for long periods of time.
A few other robotic systems have already demonstrated the value of slowness. Among the best known are the Mars Exploration Rovers that gathered information on the red planet for more than a dozen years. Egerstedt said:
Speed wasn’t really all that important to the Mars Rovers. But they learned a lot during their leisurely exploration of the planet.
After testing in the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the researchers hope to move SlothBot to South America to observe orchid pollination or the lives of endangered frogs. Egerstedt said:
It’s really fascinating to think about robots becoming part of the environment, a member of an ecosystem. While we’re not building an anatomical replica of the living sloth, we believe our robot can be integrated to be part of the ecosystem it’s observing like a real sloth.
SlothBot is a slow-moving, solar-powered robot built by robotics engineers to take advantage of the low-energy lifestyle of real sloths. It moves along a cable strung between two large trees, as it monitors temperature, weather, carbon dioxide levels, and other information.
For the next several months, SlothBot will be hanging out in the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s 30-acre (12-hectare) midtown forest. That’s where the new high-tech tool is being tested for use in the battle to save some of the world’s most endangered species.
SlothBot demonstrates how being slow can be ideal for certain applications. Georgia Institute of Technology roboticist Magnus Egerstedt led the team. He said in a statement:
SlothBot embraces slowness as a design principle. That’s not how robots are typically designed today, but being slow and hyper-energy efficient will allow SlothBot to linger in the environment to observe things we can only see by being present continuously for months, or even years.
SlothBot research team at Atlanta Botanical Garden. Image via Georgia Tech.
SlothBot is about 3 feet (1 meter) long, with a whimsical 3D-printed shell that protects its motors, gearing, batteries, and sensing equipment from the weather. The robot is programmed to move only when necessary, and will locate sunlight when its batteries need recharging. At the Atlanta Botanical Garden, SlothBot will operate on a single 100-foot cable, but in larger environmental applications, it will be able to switch from cable to cable to cover more territory.
SlothBot could help scientists better understand the non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment, providing a new tool to better understand how to protect rare species and endangered ecosystems. Emily Coffey is vice president for conservation and research at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. She said in a statement:
SlothBot could do some of our research remotely and help us understand what’s happening with pollinators, interactions between plants and animals, and other phenomena that are difficult to observe otherwise.
Egerstedt said inspiration for the robot came from a visit he made to a vineyard in Costa Rica where he saw two-toed sloths creeping along overhead wires in their search for food in the tree canopy.
It turns out that they were strategically slow, which is what we need if we want to deploy robots for long periods of time.
A few other robotic systems have already demonstrated the value of slowness. Among the best known are the Mars Exploration Rovers that gathered information on the red planet for more than a dozen years. Egerstedt said:
Speed wasn’t really all that important to the Mars Rovers. But they learned a lot during their leisurely exploration of the planet.
After testing in the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the researchers hope to move SlothBot to South America to observe orchid pollination or the lives of endangered frogs. Egerstedt said:
It’s really fascinating to think about robots becoming part of the environment, a member of an ecosystem. While we’re not building an anatomical replica of the living sloth, we believe our robot can be integrated to be part of the ecosystem it’s observing like a real sloth.
Even with the best of viewing conditions, the globular star cluster Messier 5 – aka M5 – is barely detectable to the unaided eye as a faint star. In binoculars, it appears as a faint, fuzzy star. Ah, but point a small telescope its way! Some amateur observers swear that M5 is the finest globular cluster north of the celestial equator for small telescopes – even better than the celebrated M13, the Great Hercules cluster.
M5, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. This photo was an Astronomy Picture of the Day in June 2015. Via HST/ NASA/ ESA/ APOD.
What is M5? Many of the brighter and larger clusters visible from Earth are open star clusters. For example, the Pleiades and the Hyades clusters are open star clusters. Open star clusters are born, and live out their lives, within the galactic disk. They are loose collections of several hundred stars. The ones we know best are relatively nearby, a few hundred light-years away.
In contrast, M5 is a globular star cluster. Globular clusters reside within the galactic halo – a sphere-shaped region of the Milky Way that extends above and below the galactic disk. If we liken the disk to a hamburger, then the bun would be the galactic halo. Globular star clusters contain hundreds of thousands of stars, tightly packed in a symmetrical ball. These clusters are our galaxy’s oldest inhabitants. In other words, they formed first, as the galaxy was forming. Spanning 165 light-years in diameter, M5 is one of the largest globular clusters known. It contains more than 100,000 stars, or as many as 500,000 according to some estimates.
The relatively young stars of open clusters disperse after hundreds of millions of years. The stars in globular clusters still remain intact after many billions of years.
As you gaze at M5, you’re looking at an object that’s around 13 billion years old, more than twice the age of our solar system, and almost as ancient as the universe itself. Considering that M5 lies some 25,000 light-years distant, we can only imagine what this stellar city would look like if it were at the Pleiades’ distance of 430 light-years!
Messier finder chart for M5. Under very good viewing conditions, M5 can be just about glimpsed with the naked eye as a faint point of light. With binoculars, it’s easily visible as small fuzzy patch. A small 80mm (3.1-inch) telescope reveals a bright glowing core wrapped inside a much fainter halo of nebulosity. Image via FreeStarCharts.com.
How to find M5. M5 is located in the constellation Serpens Caput (the Serpent’s Head). It is highest up in the south at about 10 p.m (11 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-June. Because the stars (and star clusters) return to the same place in the sky some two hours earlier with each passing month, it’s highest in the sky around 8 p.m. (9 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-July.
Using a fist at arm’s length for a guide, M5 resides a good two fist-widths to the southeast of yellow-orange Arcturus, summertime’s brightest star. M5 is also three fist-widths to the east of blue-white Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.
Plus, M5 is about one fist-width to the north (above) Zubeneschamali. These stars give you at least a rough idea of M5’s whereabouts in the heavens.
Practiced skygazers star-hop to M5 by way of two faint yet visible Virgo stars: 109 Virginis and 110 Virginis. They draw an imaginary line from 109 Virginis through 110 Virginis, and go twice the distance to land on the star 5 Serpentis. M5 is only 1/3 degree to the northwest (upper right) of this star. The distance from 109 Virginis to M5 spans about 8 degrees of sky. For reference, the width of four fingers at arm’s length away approximates 8 degrees.
Some practiced sky gazers star-hop to Messier 5 from the constellation Virgo.
Bottom line: M5, or Messier 5, is a beautiful globular star cluster. How to find M5 in your sky.
Even with the best of viewing conditions, the globular star cluster Messier 5 – aka M5 – is barely detectable to the unaided eye as a faint star. In binoculars, it appears as a faint, fuzzy star. Ah, but point a small telescope its way! Some amateur observers swear that M5 is the finest globular cluster north of the celestial equator for small telescopes – even better than the celebrated M13, the Great Hercules cluster.
M5, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. This photo was an Astronomy Picture of the Day in June 2015. Via HST/ NASA/ ESA/ APOD.
What is M5? Many of the brighter and larger clusters visible from Earth are open star clusters. For example, the Pleiades and the Hyades clusters are open star clusters. Open star clusters are born, and live out their lives, within the galactic disk. They are loose collections of several hundred stars. The ones we know best are relatively nearby, a few hundred light-years away.
In contrast, M5 is a globular star cluster. Globular clusters reside within the galactic halo – a sphere-shaped region of the Milky Way that extends above and below the galactic disk. If we liken the disk to a hamburger, then the bun would be the galactic halo. Globular star clusters contain hundreds of thousands of stars, tightly packed in a symmetrical ball. These clusters are our galaxy’s oldest inhabitants. In other words, they formed first, as the galaxy was forming. Spanning 165 light-years in diameter, M5 is one of the largest globular clusters known. It contains more than 100,000 stars, or as many as 500,000 according to some estimates.
The relatively young stars of open clusters disperse after hundreds of millions of years. The stars in globular clusters still remain intact after many billions of years.
As you gaze at M5, you’re looking at an object that’s around 13 billion years old, more than twice the age of our solar system, and almost as ancient as the universe itself. Considering that M5 lies some 25,000 light-years distant, we can only imagine what this stellar city would look like if it were at the Pleiades’ distance of 430 light-years!
Messier finder chart for M5. Under very good viewing conditions, M5 can be just about glimpsed with the naked eye as a faint point of light. With binoculars, it’s easily visible as small fuzzy patch. A small 80mm (3.1-inch) telescope reveals a bright glowing core wrapped inside a much fainter halo of nebulosity. Image via FreeStarCharts.com.
How to find M5. M5 is located in the constellation Serpens Caput (the Serpent’s Head). It is highest up in the south at about 10 p.m (11 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-June. Because the stars (and star clusters) return to the same place in the sky some two hours earlier with each passing month, it’s highest in the sky around 8 p.m. (9 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-July.
Using a fist at arm’s length for a guide, M5 resides a good two fist-widths to the southeast of yellow-orange Arcturus, summertime’s brightest star. M5 is also three fist-widths to the east of blue-white Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.
Plus, M5 is about one fist-width to the north (above) Zubeneschamali. These stars give you at least a rough idea of M5’s whereabouts in the heavens.
Practiced skygazers star-hop to M5 by way of two faint yet visible Virgo stars: 109 Virginis and 110 Virginis. They draw an imaginary line from 109 Virginis through 110 Virginis, and go twice the distance to land on the star 5 Serpentis. M5 is only 1/3 degree to the northwest (upper right) of this star. The distance from 109 Virginis to M5 spans about 8 degrees of sky. For reference, the width of four fingers at arm’s length away approximates 8 degrees.
Some practiced sky gazers star-hop to Messier 5 from the constellation Virgo.
Bottom line: M5, or Messier 5, is a beautiful globular star cluster. How to find M5 in your sky.
A full moon is opposite the sun. We see all of its dayside. Illustration via Bob King.
The moon appears full to the eye for two to three nights. However, astronomers regard the moon as full at a precisely defined instant, when the moon is exactly 180 degrees opposite the sun in ecliptic longitude. This month, the instant of full moon happens Sunday, July 5, at 04:44 UTC (Saturday, July 4, 11:44 p.m. CDT). Translate UTC to your time.
It’s that feature of a full moon – the fact that it’s opposite the sun as viewed from Earth – that causes a full moon to look full.
A kiss under the full moon of November 3, 2017, via our friend Steven Sweet of Lunar 101-Moon Book. He was at Port Credit, a neighborhood in the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada … at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Why does a full moon look full? Remember that half the moon is always illuminated by the sun. That lighted half is the moon’s day side. In order to appear full to us on Earth, we have to see the entire day side of the moon. That happens only when the moon is opposite the sun in our sky. So a full moon looks full because it’s opposite the sun.
That’s also why every full moon rises in the east around sunset – climbs highest up for the night midway between sunset and sunrise (around midnight) – and sets around sunrise. Stand outside tonight around sunset and look for the moon. Sun going down while the moon is coming up? That’s a full moon, or close to one.
Just be aware that the moon will look full for at least a couple of night around the instant of full moon.
Often, you’ll find two different dates on calendars for the date of full moon. That’s because some calendars list moon phases in Coordinated Universal Time, also called Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). And other calendars list moon phases in local time, a clock time of a specific place, usually the place that made and distributed the calendars. Translate UTC to your local time.
Want to know the instant of full moon in your part of the world, as well as the moonrise and moonset times? Visit Sunrise Sunset Calendars, remembering to check the moon phases plus moonrise and moonset boxes.
If a full moon is opposite the sun, why doesn’t Earth’s shadow fall on the moon at every full moon? The reason is that the moon’s orbit is tilted by 5.1 degrees with respect to Earth’s orbit around the sun. At every full moon, Earth’s shadow sweeps near the moon. But, in most months, there’s no eclipse.
A full moon normally passes above or below Earth’s shadow, with no eclipse. Illustration by Bob King.
As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.
Bottom line: A full moon looks full because it’s opposite the sun. Its lighted face is turned entirely in Earth’s direction. The next full moon is Sunday, July 5, at 04:44 UTC.
A full moon is opposite the sun. We see all of its dayside. Illustration via Bob King.
The moon appears full to the eye for two to three nights. However, astronomers regard the moon as full at a precisely defined instant, when the moon is exactly 180 degrees opposite the sun in ecliptic longitude. This month, the instant of full moon happens Sunday, July 5, at 04:44 UTC (Saturday, July 4, 11:44 p.m. CDT). Translate UTC to your time.
It’s that feature of a full moon – the fact that it’s opposite the sun as viewed from Earth – that causes a full moon to look full.
A kiss under the full moon of November 3, 2017, via our friend Steven Sweet of Lunar 101-Moon Book. He was at Port Credit, a neighborhood in the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada … at the mouth of the Credit River on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Why does a full moon look full? Remember that half the moon is always illuminated by the sun. That lighted half is the moon’s day side. In order to appear full to us on Earth, we have to see the entire day side of the moon. That happens only when the moon is opposite the sun in our sky. So a full moon looks full because it’s opposite the sun.
That’s also why every full moon rises in the east around sunset – climbs highest up for the night midway between sunset and sunrise (around midnight) – and sets around sunrise. Stand outside tonight around sunset and look for the moon. Sun going down while the moon is coming up? That’s a full moon, or close to one.
Just be aware that the moon will look full for at least a couple of night around the instant of full moon.
Often, you’ll find two different dates on calendars for the date of full moon. That’s because some calendars list moon phases in Coordinated Universal Time, also called Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). And other calendars list moon phases in local time, a clock time of a specific place, usually the place that made and distributed the calendars. Translate UTC to your local time.
Want to know the instant of full moon in your part of the world, as well as the moonrise and moonset times? Visit Sunrise Sunset Calendars, remembering to check the moon phases plus moonrise and moonset boxes.
If a full moon is opposite the sun, why doesn’t Earth’s shadow fall on the moon at every full moon? The reason is that the moon’s orbit is tilted by 5.1 degrees with respect to Earth’s orbit around the sun. At every full moon, Earth’s shadow sweeps near the moon. But, in most months, there’s no eclipse.
A full moon normally passes above or below Earth’s shadow, with no eclipse. Illustration by Bob King.
As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.
Bottom line: A full moon looks full because it’s opposite the sun. Its lighted face is turned entirely in Earth’s direction. The next full moon is Sunday, July 5, at 04:44 UTC.
Image at top via Sara Zimmerman at Unearthed Comics. Thanks, Sara!
Planet Earth reaches a milestone on July 4, 2020, as it swings out to aphelion, its most distant point from the sun. It happens at 11:35 UTC. That’s 6:35 a.m. Central Daylight Time in the U.S. Translate UTC to your time. Is it hot outside for you on your part of Earth right now? Or cold out? Earth’s aphelion comes in the midst of Northern Hemisphere summer and Southern Hemisphere winter. That should tell you that our distance from the sun doesn’t cause the seasons. More about that below.
The fact is, Earth’s orbit is almost, but not quite, circular. So our distance from the sun doesn’t change much. Today, we’re about 3 million miles (5 million km) farther from the sun than we will be six months from now. That’s in contrast to our average distance from the sun of about 93 million miles (150 million km).
The word aphelion, by the way, comes from the Greek words apo meaning away, off, apart and helios, for the Greek god of the sun. Apart from the sun. That’s us, today.
Looking for Earth’s exact distance from the sun at aphelion? It’s 94,507,635 miles (152,095,295 km) . Last year, on July 4, 2019, the Earth at aphelion was a tiny bit farther, at 94,513,221 miles (152,104,285 km).
The sun at aphelion appears smaller in our sky, as shown in this composite image. This image consists of 2 photos, taken just days away from a perihelion (Earth’s closest point to sun) in January, 2016, and an aphelion (Earth’s farthest point from sun) in July, 2017. The gray rim around the sun (actually the perihelion photo) illustrates that, as seen in our sky, the sun is about 3.6% bigger at perihelion than aphelion. This difference is, of course, too small to detect with the eye. Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe – who captured the photos and created the composite – wrote: “Although taken 18 months apart, and a few days from the events due to adverse weather conditions, they show that there is an unmistakable size difference of the sun as viewed from Earth when it is closest at perihelion and furthest away at aphelion.”
This animation shows what’s also in the image above … the size difference of the sun between Earth’s perihelion (closest point) and aphelion (farthest point).
Here’s what does cause the seasons. The seasons aren’t due to Earth’s changing distance from the sun. We’re always farthest from the sun in early July during northern summer and closest in January during northern winter.
Instead, the seasons result from Earth’s tilt on its axis. Right now, it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere because the northern part of Earth is tilted most toward the sun.
Meanwhile, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere because the southern part of Earth is tilted most away from the sun.
Earth’s varying distance from the sun does affect the length of the seasons. That’s because, at our farthest from the sun, like now, Earth is traveling most slowly in its orbit. That makes summer the longest season in the Northern Hemisphere and winter the longest season on the southern half of the globe.
Conversely, winter is the shortest season in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer is the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere, in each instance by nearly five days.
Bottom line: Planet Earth reaches its most distant point from the sun for 2020 on July 4. Astronomers call this yearly point in Earth’s orbit our aphelion.
Image at top via Sara Zimmerman at Unearthed Comics. Thanks, Sara!
Planet Earth reaches a milestone on July 4, 2020, as it swings out to aphelion, its most distant point from the sun. It happens at 11:35 UTC. That’s 6:35 a.m. Central Daylight Time in the U.S. Translate UTC to your time. Is it hot outside for you on your part of Earth right now? Or cold out? Earth’s aphelion comes in the midst of Northern Hemisphere summer and Southern Hemisphere winter. That should tell you that our distance from the sun doesn’t cause the seasons. More about that below.
The fact is, Earth’s orbit is almost, but not quite, circular. So our distance from the sun doesn’t change much. Today, we’re about 3 million miles (5 million km) farther from the sun than we will be six months from now. That’s in contrast to our average distance from the sun of about 93 million miles (150 million km).
The word aphelion, by the way, comes from the Greek words apo meaning away, off, apart and helios, for the Greek god of the sun. Apart from the sun. That’s us, today.
Looking for Earth’s exact distance from the sun at aphelion? It’s 94,507,635 miles (152,095,295 km) . Last year, on July 4, 2019, the Earth at aphelion was a tiny bit farther, at 94,513,221 miles (152,104,285 km).
The sun at aphelion appears smaller in our sky, as shown in this composite image. This image consists of 2 photos, taken just days away from a perihelion (Earth’s closest point to sun) in January, 2016, and an aphelion (Earth’s farthest point from sun) in July, 2017. The gray rim around the sun (actually the perihelion photo) illustrates that, as seen in our sky, the sun is about 3.6% bigger at perihelion than aphelion. This difference is, of course, too small to detect with the eye. Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe – who captured the photos and created the composite – wrote: “Although taken 18 months apart, and a few days from the events due to adverse weather conditions, they show that there is an unmistakable size difference of the sun as viewed from Earth when it is closest at perihelion and furthest away at aphelion.”
This animation shows what’s also in the image above … the size difference of the sun between Earth’s perihelion (closest point) and aphelion (farthest point).
Here’s what does cause the seasons. The seasons aren’t due to Earth’s changing distance from the sun. We’re always farthest from the sun in early July during northern summer and closest in January during northern winter.
Instead, the seasons result from Earth’s tilt on its axis. Right now, it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere because the northern part of Earth is tilted most toward the sun.
Meanwhile, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere because the southern part of Earth is tilted most away from the sun.
Earth’s varying distance from the sun does affect the length of the seasons. That’s because, at our farthest from the sun, like now, Earth is traveling most slowly in its orbit. That makes summer the longest season in the Northern Hemisphere and winter the longest season on the southern half of the globe.
Conversely, winter is the shortest season in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer is the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere, in each instance by nearly five days.
Bottom line: Planet Earth reaches its most distant point from the sun for 2020 on July 4. Astronomers call this yearly point in Earth’s orbit our aphelion.
View larger | Mihail Minkov captured this photo, which is titled Star Catcher. The photo is from the Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria. It’s the 1st-place winner in 2020’s IDA photo contest, in the Connecting to the Dark category.
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) held its first annual Capture the Dark photography competition during May 2020. The goal was to portray the meaning of the night for people around the world. Participants were invited to submit images in five categories: Connecting to the Dark, International Dark Sky Places, Impact of Light Pollution, Bright Side of Lighting, and Youth. In two weeks, IDA received nearly 450 submissions from people around the world. An international panel of judges made the final selections. The winning entries in each category are on this page.
Experiencing a natural night provides perspective, inspiration, and leads us to reflect on our humanity and place in the universe.
The winning entry in this category is Star Catcher, shown at the top of this post. Photographer Mihail Minkov said:
I have a 4-year-old daughter, who is really in love with the night sky … She is always asking to come with me when I go to shoot the Milky Way. So I decided to make her part of the process and try to show her what it’s like to be out under the dark sky, and see the beauty of the night sky. I hope that one day, she will remember that, and this memory will make her a good and decent person, who really takes care of the planet and the night sky.
View larger. | Jean-Francois Graffand captured this image at the Pic du Midi International Dark Sky Reserve in France. It’s the winner in the International Dark Sky Places category. The photo is titled Dark Night in Pyrénées Mountains.
Category 2: International Dark Sky Places.
IDA explained:
Over 130 protected lands and municipalities have been certified by IDA as an International Dark Sky Place creating havens for astrophotographers around the world.
A typical landscape of French Pyrénées mountains, taken inside the Pic du Midi Dark Sky Reserve, during a summer night. At 1,400-meters [4,600 feet] of altitude, the mountain torrent descends into the valley where absolutely no source of light is visible at night.
View larger. | Petr Horálek captured this image at the Great Wall of China. It’s the winner in the Impact of Light Pollution category. The photo is titled Remembering the Old Times.
Category 3: Impact of Light Pollution.
IDA explained:
Light pollution can have significant impacts on the environment, human health, and our access to the universe.
Stargazing on one of the most legendary ancient human creations, the Chinese Great Wall, makes you deeply think. A piece of deepest history meets current civilization, unfortunately producing the light pollution. Think about how wonderful skies looked for ancient Chinese people walking the wall.
View larger. | Jean-Francois Graffand captured this photo at the Pyrénées National Parc in France. It’s the winner in the Bright Side of Lighting category. It’s titled The Celestial River.
Panoramic view of the Pont d’Espagne site, in the heart of the Pic du Midi Dark Sky Reserve … Surrounded by the mountains at 1500m [5,000 ft] of altitude, all the city lights in the valley are hidden. During the summer tourist season, the little restaurant hosts some employees, which can generate the only light source. Here only a faint warm bedside lamp is turned on in a room, but amplified by the long exposure and high iso, it seems to light up the place like a beacon and reveals the landscape.
View larger.| Nayana Rajesh, age 16, captured the winning entry in the Youth category. The photo is set in Ennis, Texas. It’s titled “The Barn.”
One of my favorite things about living in Texas is the blooming of the bluebonnets each year. I went out to Ennis, Texas, to shoot the bluebonnets under the stars at a ranch owned by our friend Jim. It’s important to me to always be learning something new every time I shoot, so I spent the night learning how to focus stack manually and think through different compositions.
View larger | Mihail Minkov captured this photo, which is titled Star Catcher. The photo is from the Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria. It’s the 1st-place winner in 2020’s IDA photo contest, in the Connecting to the Dark category.
The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) held its first annual Capture the Dark photography competition during May 2020. The goal was to portray the meaning of the night for people around the world. Participants were invited to submit images in five categories: Connecting to the Dark, International Dark Sky Places, Impact of Light Pollution, Bright Side of Lighting, and Youth. In two weeks, IDA received nearly 450 submissions from people around the world. An international panel of judges made the final selections. The winning entries in each category are on this page.
Experiencing a natural night provides perspective, inspiration, and leads us to reflect on our humanity and place in the universe.
The winning entry in this category is Star Catcher, shown at the top of this post. Photographer Mihail Minkov said:
I have a 4-year-old daughter, who is really in love with the night sky … She is always asking to come with me when I go to shoot the Milky Way. So I decided to make her part of the process and try to show her what it’s like to be out under the dark sky, and see the beauty of the night sky. I hope that one day, she will remember that, and this memory will make her a good and decent person, who really takes care of the planet and the night sky.
View larger. | Jean-Francois Graffand captured this image at the Pic du Midi International Dark Sky Reserve in France. It’s the winner in the International Dark Sky Places category. The photo is titled Dark Night in Pyrénées Mountains.
Category 2: International Dark Sky Places.
IDA explained:
Over 130 protected lands and municipalities have been certified by IDA as an International Dark Sky Place creating havens for astrophotographers around the world.
A typical landscape of French Pyrénées mountains, taken inside the Pic du Midi Dark Sky Reserve, during a summer night. At 1,400-meters [4,600 feet] of altitude, the mountain torrent descends into the valley where absolutely no source of light is visible at night.
View larger. | Petr Horálek captured this image at the Great Wall of China. It’s the winner in the Impact of Light Pollution category. The photo is titled Remembering the Old Times.
Category 3: Impact of Light Pollution.
IDA explained:
Light pollution can have significant impacts on the environment, human health, and our access to the universe.
Stargazing on one of the most legendary ancient human creations, the Chinese Great Wall, makes you deeply think. A piece of deepest history meets current civilization, unfortunately producing the light pollution. Think about how wonderful skies looked for ancient Chinese people walking the wall.
View larger. | Jean-Francois Graffand captured this photo at the Pyrénées National Parc in France. It’s the winner in the Bright Side of Lighting category. It’s titled The Celestial River.
Panoramic view of the Pont d’Espagne site, in the heart of the Pic du Midi Dark Sky Reserve … Surrounded by the mountains at 1500m [5,000 ft] of altitude, all the city lights in the valley are hidden. During the summer tourist season, the little restaurant hosts some employees, which can generate the only light source. Here only a faint warm bedside lamp is turned on in a room, but amplified by the long exposure and high iso, it seems to light up the place like a beacon and reveals the landscape.
View larger.| Nayana Rajesh, age 16, captured the winning entry in the Youth category. The photo is set in Ennis, Texas. It’s titled “The Barn.”
One of my favorite things about living in Texas is the blooming of the bluebonnets each year. I went out to Ennis, Texas, to shoot the bluebonnets under the stars at a ranch owned by our friend Jim. It’s important to me to always be learning something new every time I shoot, so I spent the night learning how to focus stack manually and think through different compositions.
Artist’s concept of a habitable exomoon orbiting a distant exoplanet similar to Saturn. Astronomers have now discovered what may be 6 more exomoons orbiting exoplanets ranging from 200 to 3,000 light-years away. There are hundreds of moons in our own solar system, and some of them have subsurface water oceans. How many similar ocean moons may be out there? Image via SpaceRef/ Astrobiology Web.
Our solar system is filled with hundreds of moons, many more moons than planets. But what about distant solar systems? We now know of well over 4,000 confirmed exoplanets – or planets orbiting distant stars – 4,171 right now, to be exact. Yet there’ve been, so far, still only a few possible detections of exomoons. It makes sense, given that moons of planets tend to be smaller and thus more difficult to find than planets themselves. But now scientists at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, have announced that they might have spotted six more exomoons!
The potentially exciting findings have been submitted in a new paper to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, with a preprint version posted on arXiv on June 23, 2020.
The possible moons are not confirmed yet, but the results seem promising. As Paul Wiegert, co-author of the study, noted in a statement:
We know of thousands of exoplanets throughout our Milky Way galaxy, but we know of only a handful of exomoon candidates.
From the paper:
Here we explore eight systems from the Kepler data set to examine the exomoon hypothesis as an explanation for their transit timing variations, which we compare with the alternate hypothesis that the TTVs are caused by an non-transiting planet in the system. We find that the TTVs of six of these systems could be plausibly explained by an exomoon, the size of which would not be nominally detectable by Kepler. Though we also find that the TTVs could be equally well reproduced by the presence of a non-transiting planet in the system, the observations are nevertheless completely consistent with a existence of a dynamically stable moon small enough to fall below Kepler’s photometric threshold for transit detection, and these systems warrant further observation and analysis.
So where are these moons and how were they potentially found?
The moons are in data from the Kepler Space Telescope mission, which ended in 2018. The host planets range from about 200 to 3,000 light-years away, and were discovered by the transits that the planets made in front of their stars, which caused the star’s brightness to dim slightly and briefly. Most exoplanets are found using the transit method. But the moons are much smaller and dimmer, so they are very difficult to detect by any method. Wiegert said:
These exomoon candidates are so small that they can’t be seen from their own transits. Rather, their presence is given away by their gravitational influence on their parent planet.
The six moon candidates are (KOI) 268.01, Kepler 517b (KOI-303.01), Kepler 1000b (KOI-1888.01), Kepler 409b (KOI-1925.01), Kepler 1326b (KOI-2728.01) and Kepler 1442b (KOI-3220.01). KOI refers to Kepler Object of Interest.
So how might these moons reveal themselves?
Usually, the transit of a planet occurs precisely at regular timed intervals, the same as how planets orbit our own sun. But sometimes, that precise timing is actually variable. This means that the gravity of some other body, another planet or a moon, must be affecting it. These variations are called transit timing variations (TTVs). The results fit with what would be expected of exomoons, but could still possibly be explained by other planets in these systems instead. As Fox explained:
Because exoplanets are more massive than exomoons, most TTVs observed to date have been linked to the influence of other exoplanets. But now we’ve uncovered six Kepler exoplanet systems whose TTVs are equally well explained by exomoons as by exoplanets. That’s why we’re calling them exomoon ‘candidates’ at this point as they still need follow-up confirmation.
TTVs were also found for two other exoplanets, KOI-1503.01 and KOI-1980.01, but those are thought to be caused by other planets in the systems instead of moons and were ruled out.
Artist’s concept of the possible huge exomoon orbiting the exoplanet Kepler-1625b, found by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018. Image via HubbleSite.
That confirmation may have to wait a while, however, since current telescopes can’t do it; it will require telescopes that are being planned and designed, but not built yet. Fox said:
We can say these six new systems are completely consistent with exomoons: their masses and orbits are such that they would be stable; they would be small enough that their own transits wouldn’t be seen; and they reproduce the pattern of TTVs seen throughout the entire Kepler data set. But we don’t have the technology to confirm them by imaging them directly. That will have to wait for further advancements.
It is exciting to contemplate what kinds of alien exomoons are out there. Just in our own solar system, there is a huge variety of these smaller worlds, from gray, cratered and moon-like, to Io, which kind of looks like a pizza and has the most active volcanoes of any object in the solar system, to ocean worlds like Europa, Enceladus and others. The icy moons with subsurface oceans are especially appealing, since they could be habitable by earthly standards. There are several of them in our solar system alone, so how many more might be out there? What kind of life might exist on such worlds? Chris Fox, who made the discoveries, said:
Our own solar system contains hundreds of moons. If moons are prolific around other stars, too, it greatly increases the potential places where life might be supported, and where humankind might one day venture.
Chris Fox at Western University, who discovered the possible new exomoons. Image via CBC.
Fox makes a very good point. Since our own solar system has hundreds of moons orbiting six out of the eight planets, is it not reasonable that many of the planets in other solar systems would also have their own moons? And as we are now discovering, a good number of the moons in our solar system are indeed potentially habitable, with their subsurface water oceans.
In 2018, Fox also discoveredKepler-159d, an exoplanet about the size of Saturn, which orbits its star in only 88 days.
In 2014, another possible exomoon, dubbed MOA-2011-BLG-262 exoplanet-exomoon system, was discovered, where the moon would be less massive than Earth and the planet would be more massive than Jupiter. In 2018, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) found what may be a huge exomoon orbiting the gas giant planet Kepler-1625b. It’s also still not confirmed yet, but if real, is about the size of Neptune! If the new findings from Western University are any indication – and confirmed – then there may many more exomoon discoveries to look forward to.
Bottom line: Astronomers examining data from the Kepler Space Telescope appear to have discovered six more exomoons. Although the result awaits confirmation, it has the potential to be a big step forward in understanding distant solar systems.
Artist’s concept of a habitable exomoon orbiting a distant exoplanet similar to Saturn. Astronomers have now discovered what may be 6 more exomoons orbiting exoplanets ranging from 200 to 3,000 light-years away. There are hundreds of moons in our own solar system, and some of them have subsurface water oceans. How many similar ocean moons may be out there? Image via SpaceRef/ Astrobiology Web.
Our solar system is filled with hundreds of moons, many more moons than planets. But what about distant solar systems? We now know of well over 4,000 confirmed exoplanets – or planets orbiting distant stars – 4,171 right now, to be exact. Yet there’ve been, so far, still only a few possible detections of exomoons. It makes sense, given that moons of planets tend to be smaller and thus more difficult to find than planets themselves. But now scientists at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, have announced that they might have spotted six more exomoons!
The potentially exciting findings have been submitted in a new paper to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, with a preprint version posted on arXiv on June 23, 2020.
The possible moons are not confirmed yet, but the results seem promising. As Paul Wiegert, co-author of the study, noted in a statement:
We know of thousands of exoplanets throughout our Milky Way galaxy, but we know of only a handful of exomoon candidates.
From the paper:
Here we explore eight systems from the Kepler data set to examine the exomoon hypothesis as an explanation for their transit timing variations, which we compare with the alternate hypothesis that the TTVs are caused by an non-transiting planet in the system. We find that the TTVs of six of these systems could be plausibly explained by an exomoon, the size of which would not be nominally detectable by Kepler. Though we also find that the TTVs could be equally well reproduced by the presence of a non-transiting planet in the system, the observations are nevertheless completely consistent with a existence of a dynamically stable moon small enough to fall below Kepler’s photometric threshold for transit detection, and these systems warrant further observation and analysis.
So where are these moons and how were they potentially found?
The moons are in data from the Kepler Space Telescope mission, which ended in 2018. The host planets range from about 200 to 3,000 light-years away, and were discovered by the transits that the planets made in front of their stars, which caused the star’s brightness to dim slightly and briefly. Most exoplanets are found using the transit method. But the moons are much smaller and dimmer, so they are very difficult to detect by any method. Wiegert said:
These exomoon candidates are so small that they can’t be seen from their own transits. Rather, their presence is given away by their gravitational influence on their parent planet.
The six moon candidates are (KOI) 268.01, Kepler 517b (KOI-303.01), Kepler 1000b (KOI-1888.01), Kepler 409b (KOI-1925.01), Kepler 1326b (KOI-2728.01) and Kepler 1442b (KOI-3220.01). KOI refers to Kepler Object of Interest.
So how might these moons reveal themselves?
Usually, the transit of a planet occurs precisely at regular timed intervals, the same as how planets orbit our own sun. But sometimes, that precise timing is actually variable. This means that the gravity of some other body, another planet or a moon, must be affecting it. These variations are called transit timing variations (TTVs). The results fit with what would be expected of exomoons, but could still possibly be explained by other planets in these systems instead. As Fox explained:
Because exoplanets are more massive than exomoons, most TTVs observed to date have been linked to the influence of other exoplanets. But now we’ve uncovered six Kepler exoplanet systems whose TTVs are equally well explained by exomoons as by exoplanets. That’s why we’re calling them exomoon ‘candidates’ at this point as they still need follow-up confirmation.
TTVs were also found for two other exoplanets, KOI-1503.01 and KOI-1980.01, but those are thought to be caused by other planets in the systems instead of moons and were ruled out.
Artist’s concept of the possible huge exomoon orbiting the exoplanet Kepler-1625b, found by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018. Image via HubbleSite.
That confirmation may have to wait a while, however, since current telescopes can’t do it; it will require telescopes that are being planned and designed, but not built yet. Fox said:
We can say these six new systems are completely consistent with exomoons: their masses and orbits are such that they would be stable; they would be small enough that their own transits wouldn’t be seen; and they reproduce the pattern of TTVs seen throughout the entire Kepler data set. But we don’t have the technology to confirm them by imaging them directly. That will have to wait for further advancements.
It is exciting to contemplate what kinds of alien exomoons are out there. Just in our own solar system, there is a huge variety of these smaller worlds, from gray, cratered and moon-like, to Io, which kind of looks like a pizza and has the most active volcanoes of any object in the solar system, to ocean worlds like Europa, Enceladus and others. The icy moons with subsurface oceans are especially appealing, since they could be habitable by earthly standards. There are several of them in our solar system alone, so how many more might be out there? What kind of life might exist on such worlds? Chris Fox, who made the discoveries, said:
Our own solar system contains hundreds of moons. If moons are prolific around other stars, too, it greatly increases the potential places where life might be supported, and where humankind might one day venture.
Chris Fox at Western University, who discovered the possible new exomoons. Image via CBC.
Fox makes a very good point. Since our own solar system has hundreds of moons orbiting six out of the eight planets, is it not reasonable that many of the planets in other solar systems would also have their own moons? And as we are now discovering, a good number of the moons in our solar system are indeed potentially habitable, with their subsurface water oceans.
In 2018, Fox also discoveredKepler-159d, an exoplanet about the size of Saturn, which orbits its star in only 88 days.
In 2014, another possible exomoon, dubbed MOA-2011-BLG-262 exoplanet-exomoon system, was discovered, where the moon would be less massive than Earth and the planet would be more massive than Jupiter. In 2018, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) found what may be a huge exomoon orbiting the gas giant planet Kepler-1625b. It’s also still not confirmed yet, but if real, is about the size of Neptune! If the new findings from Western University are any indication – and confirmed – then there may many more exomoon discoveries to look forward to.
Bottom line: Astronomers examining data from the Kepler Space Telescope appear to have discovered six more exomoons. Although the result awaits confirmation, it has the potential to be a big step forward in understanding distant solar systems.
Artist’s concept of Gliese 887b and Gliese 887c orbiting their red dwarf star. Image via Mark Garlick/ University of Göttingen.
Among the various types of exoplanets discovered so far, those larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune are among the most common. Astronomers call these worlds super-Earths. The nearby TRAPPIST-1 planetary system actually has seven known super-Earths orbiting its star! Now, RedDots researchers at the University of Göttingen in Germany have announced the discovery of another nearby planetary system with at least two super-Earths and possibly a third.
Details of the peer-reviewed findings have been published in the June 26, 2020, issue of the journal Science.
The two planets are orbiting the nearby red dwarf star called Gliese 887 (also known as GJ 887 or Lacaille 9352), which is only 11 light-years away. While not quite within the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist on the surface of rocky worlds, the planets are close to the inner edge of the zone. According to the abstract of the new paper:
The closest exoplanets to the sun provide opportunities for detailed characterization of planets outside the solar system. We report the discovery, using radial velocity measurements, of a compact multiplanet system of super-Earth exoplanets orbiting the nearby red dwarf star GJ 887. The two planets have orbital periods of 9.3 and 21.8 days. Assuming an Earth-like albedo, the equilibrium temperature of the 21.8-day planet is ~350 kelvin [-623 Celsius or -1,090 Fahrenheit]. The planets are interior to, but close to the inner edge of, the liquid-water habitable zone. We also detect an unconfirmed signal with a period of ~50 days, which could correspond to a third super-Earth in a more temperate orbit. Our observations show that GJ 887 has photometric variability below 500 parts per million, which is unusually quiet for a red dwarf.
Illustration depicting the size of a super-Earth called CoRoT-7b. Super-Earths are larger and more massive than Earth, but smaller and less massive than Neptune. Image via Aldaron/ Wikipedia.
Super-Earths are one of the most common types of planets in our galaxy. Some of them may be habitable for some kind of life to exist. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ R. Hurt (SSC-Caltech)/ Earth Magazine.
The temperature of Gliese 887c has been estimated at 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius). A bit hot, but perhaps not enough to render the planet uninhabitable. If the third planet does exist, it could have cooler temperatures since it is in a more temperate orbit within the habitable zone.
The planets were discovered using the “Doppler Wobble” technique, which enables the researchers to measure the tiny back and forth wobbles of the star caused by the gravitational pull of the planets. The researchers used the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.
Red dwarf stars, although smaller and dimmer than our sun, are known for typically being very active, emitting strong bursts of radiation that could strip close-in planets of their atmospheres and make conditions difficult or impossible for life to exist. But Gliese 887 has only a very few star spots and appears to be less active than most red dwarfs. That’s good news for the possibility of any of the planets retaining their atmospheres and perhaps being habitable.
In a related Perspective article, Melvyn Davies wrote:
If someone had to live around a red dwarf, they would want to choose a quieter star like GJ 887. If further observations confirm the presence of the third planet in the habitable zone, then GJ 887 could become one of the most studied planetary systems in the solar neighborhood.
Red dwarf stars are known for being very active, emitting powerful blasts of solar radiation, which can strip atmospheres off planets that are too close, as in this artist’s concept. But Gliese 887 is less active than most red dwarfs, increasing the chance that some of its planets might be potentially habitable. Image via NASA/ Ames/ JPL-Caltech/ HowStuffWorks.
The Gliese 887 worlds will also be ideal candidates for follow-up studies by the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), not only because they are close by, but also because the brightness of the star is almost constant, making it easier to detect any atmospheres. As Sandra Jeffers, from the University of Göttingen and lead author of the study, said in a statement:
These planets will provide the best possibilities for more detailed studies, including the search for life outside our solar system.
The discovery reinforces two previous findings about exoplanets: one, super-Earth worlds are common (as well as Earth-sized planets), even though there isn’t one in our solar system (unless the elusive Planet Nine turns out to be one, as some scientists think), and two, exoplanets are abundant around red dwarf stars, which are the most common stars in our galaxy. This is exciting, since many, if not most, super-Earths are thought to be rocky like our own planet. But we still don’t know how habitable these kinds of worlds could be. Scientists think that some super-Earths could have extensive or even global oceans. Others might be dry and barren.
Sandra Jeffers at the University of Göttingen in Germany, lead author of the new study. Image via University of Göttingen.
New upcoming telescopes like JWST will be able to take a closer look at some of these worlds, and provide a much better idea of what the actual conditions are like. If there are millions or billions of them in our galaxy, as seems likely – and scientists now say there are more exoplanets in total than stars, including an estimated six billion ‘Earth-like’ planets – then it seems reasonable that some of them should be potentially habitable.
Bottom line: Astronomers have discovered two, and possibly three, super-Earth exoplanets orbiting a nearby red dwarf star.
Artist’s concept of Gliese 887b and Gliese 887c orbiting their red dwarf star. Image via Mark Garlick/ University of Göttingen.
Among the various types of exoplanets discovered so far, those larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune are among the most common. Astronomers call these worlds super-Earths. The nearby TRAPPIST-1 planetary system actually has seven known super-Earths orbiting its star! Now, RedDots researchers at the University of Göttingen in Germany have announced the discovery of another nearby planetary system with at least two super-Earths and possibly a third.
Details of the peer-reviewed findings have been published in the June 26, 2020, issue of the journal Science.
The two planets are orbiting the nearby red dwarf star called Gliese 887 (also known as GJ 887 or Lacaille 9352), which is only 11 light-years away. While not quite within the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist on the surface of rocky worlds, the planets are close to the inner edge of the zone. According to the abstract of the new paper:
The closest exoplanets to the sun provide opportunities for detailed characterization of planets outside the solar system. We report the discovery, using radial velocity measurements, of a compact multiplanet system of super-Earth exoplanets orbiting the nearby red dwarf star GJ 887. The two planets have orbital periods of 9.3 and 21.8 days. Assuming an Earth-like albedo, the equilibrium temperature of the 21.8-day planet is ~350 kelvin [-623 Celsius or -1,090 Fahrenheit]. The planets are interior to, but close to the inner edge of, the liquid-water habitable zone. We also detect an unconfirmed signal with a period of ~50 days, which could correspond to a third super-Earth in a more temperate orbit. Our observations show that GJ 887 has photometric variability below 500 parts per million, which is unusually quiet for a red dwarf.
Illustration depicting the size of a super-Earth called CoRoT-7b. Super-Earths are larger and more massive than Earth, but smaller and less massive than Neptune. Image via Aldaron/ Wikipedia.
Super-Earths are one of the most common types of planets in our galaxy. Some of them may be habitable for some kind of life to exist. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ R. Hurt (SSC-Caltech)/ Earth Magazine.
The temperature of Gliese 887c has been estimated at 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius). A bit hot, but perhaps not enough to render the planet uninhabitable. If the third planet does exist, it could have cooler temperatures since it is in a more temperate orbit within the habitable zone.
The planets were discovered using the “Doppler Wobble” technique, which enables the researchers to measure the tiny back and forth wobbles of the star caused by the gravitational pull of the planets. The researchers used the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.
Red dwarf stars, although smaller and dimmer than our sun, are known for typically being very active, emitting strong bursts of radiation that could strip close-in planets of their atmospheres and make conditions difficult or impossible for life to exist. But Gliese 887 has only a very few star spots and appears to be less active than most red dwarfs. That’s good news for the possibility of any of the planets retaining their atmospheres and perhaps being habitable.
In a related Perspective article, Melvyn Davies wrote:
If someone had to live around a red dwarf, they would want to choose a quieter star like GJ 887. If further observations confirm the presence of the third planet in the habitable zone, then GJ 887 could become one of the most studied planetary systems in the solar neighborhood.
Red dwarf stars are known for being very active, emitting powerful blasts of solar radiation, which can strip atmospheres off planets that are too close, as in this artist’s concept. But Gliese 887 is less active than most red dwarfs, increasing the chance that some of its planets might be potentially habitable. Image via NASA/ Ames/ JPL-Caltech/ HowStuffWorks.
The Gliese 887 worlds will also be ideal candidates for follow-up studies by the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), not only because they are close by, but also because the brightness of the star is almost constant, making it easier to detect any atmospheres. As Sandra Jeffers, from the University of Göttingen and lead author of the study, said in a statement:
These planets will provide the best possibilities for more detailed studies, including the search for life outside our solar system.
The discovery reinforces two previous findings about exoplanets: one, super-Earth worlds are common (as well as Earth-sized planets), even though there isn’t one in our solar system (unless the elusive Planet Nine turns out to be one, as some scientists think), and two, exoplanets are abundant around red dwarf stars, which are the most common stars in our galaxy. This is exciting, since many, if not most, super-Earths are thought to be rocky like our own planet. But we still don’t know how habitable these kinds of worlds could be. Scientists think that some super-Earths could have extensive or even global oceans. Others might be dry and barren.
Sandra Jeffers at the University of Göttingen in Germany, lead author of the new study. Image via University of Göttingen.
New upcoming telescopes like JWST will be able to take a closer look at some of these worlds, and provide a much better idea of what the actual conditions are like. If there are millions or billions of them in our galaxy, as seems likely – and scientists now say there are more exoplanets in total than stars, including an estimated six billion ‘Earth-like’ planets – then it seems reasonable that some of them should be potentially habitable.
Bottom line: Astronomers have discovered two, and possibly three, super-Earth exoplanets orbiting a nearby red dwarf star.
