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NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

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Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#31

Post by privong »

colordrops wrote: post #12
jfoutz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oxygen i think is the missing piece. If that's the announcement, that's freaking huge. Oxygen is reactive, it does not exist in any sort of quantity without something regularly replenishing it. It wouldn't be unquestionable proof, but very very strong evidence for photosynthesis, so, you know. Life.

I believe expolanets with oxygen have already been discovered: https://phys.org/news/2016-08-venus-like-exoplanet-oxygen-at...

> I believe expolanets with oxygen have already been discovered:

@greeneggs is correct[0], that article is talking about modeling of a hypothetical atmosphere for a given planet. There was not an actual detection of oxygen in the atmosphere.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13700744

Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#32

Post by flippyhead »

binalpatel wrote: post #10

It still blows my mind that we can detect planets orbiting an entirely different stars. And more so - that these tiny pixels that we can just barely detect, are full-fledged planets that may have atmospheres, water cycles, and who knows what else.

Gravitational lensing is another mind blowing thing we do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lens

Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#34

Post by dsp1234 »

colordrops wrote: post #12
jfoutz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oxygen i think is the missing piece. If that's the announcement, that's freaking huge. Oxygen is reactive, it does not exist in any sort of quantity without something regularly replenishing it. It wouldn't be unquestionable proof, but very very strong evidence for photosynthesis, so, you know. Life.

I believe expolanets with oxygen have already been discovered: https://phys.org/news/2016-08-venus-like-exoplanet-oxygen-at...

We do not know if GJ 1132b has oxygen in it's atmosphere, or even if actually has an atmosphere. Just that it's possible, and that if it does, we'll be able to detect in the future.

From the abstract of the Nature paper:

"Receiving 19 times more stellar radiation than the Earth, the planet is too hot to be habitable but is cool enough to support a substantial atmosphere, one that has probably been considerably depleted of hydrogen. Because the host star is nearby and only 21 per cent the radius of the Sun, existing and upcoming telescopes will be able to observe the composition and dynamics of the planetary atmosphere."

Emphasis on "cool enough to support" (not supports) and "probably been" (not has), and "will be able to observe" (not has observed).

http://news.mit.edu/2015/new-earth-sized-exoplanet-1111

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_1132_b

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v527/n7577/full/nature1...

Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#35

Post by tgb »

bjd2385 wrote: post #25

This is really cool. One day I'm going to build my own observatory and observe star light curves and survey for supernovae.

I read one blog post about detecting an (already known) exoplanet just using a telephoto lens and a DSLR. So it's definitely affordable!

Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#36

Post by nneonneo »

ellisv wrote: post #18
nneonneo wrote: post #6

NASA press release about the upcoming press conference: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-news-confere... I find it surprising that the details are embargoed by the journal Nature until tomorrow. I haven't heard of such an embargo before - anyone know why this might be? Maybe it's related to Nature publication timing, or waiting until Nature's own press release is ready?

It's not uncommon for research to be embargoed (there is a whole wikipedia page on it), that said it's not super common either. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embargo_(academic_publishing)

Hmm, that page refers to an embargo on the entire paper, not to the publication or dissemination of crucial findings. I'm not sure it completely applies.

Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#37

Post by [deleted] »

ellisv wrote: post #18
nneonneo wrote: post #6

NASA press release about the upcoming press conference: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-news-confere... I find it surprising that the details are embargoed by the journal Nature until tomorrow. I haven't heard of such an embargo before - anyone know why this might be? Maybe it's related to Nature publication timing, or waiting until Nature's own press release is ready?

It's not uncommon for research to be embargoed (there is a whole wikipedia page on it), that said it's not super common either. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embargo_(academic_publishing)

[deleted]

Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#38

Post by [deleted] »

ellisv wrote: post #18
nneonneo wrote: post #6

NASA press release about the upcoming press conference: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-news-confere... I find it surprising that the details are embargoed by the journal Nature until tomorrow. I haven't heard of such an embargo before - anyone know why this might be? Maybe it's related to Nature publication timing, or waiting until Nature's own press release is ready?

It's not uncommon for research to be embargoed (there is a whole wikipedia page on it), that said it's not super common either. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embargo_(academic_publishing)

[deleted]

Re: NASA to Unveil New Exoplanet Discovery Tomorrow

#40

Post by wflynny »

nneonneo wrote: post #6

NASA press release about the upcoming press conference: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-news-confere... I find it surprising that the details are embargoed by the journal Nature until tomorrow. I haven't heard of such an embargo before - anyone know why this might be? Maybe it's related to Nature publication timing, or waiting until Nature's own press release is ready?

Here is Nature's policy on embargo: http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/policy/embargo.html

They argue that

> [the] embargo serves scientists, journalists and the public. Our policy is to release information about our content in a way that provides fair and equal access to the media, allowing them to provide informed comment based on the paper that is to be published. Authors and their institutions' press offices are able then to interact with the media in a well-ordered fashion ahead of publication, and benefit from the subsequent coverage.

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