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http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/overview22.swf. by Barbara Brown for ASTR 402 Spring, 2006. Kepler Mission test hypotheses: Most stars like our Sun have terrestrial planets in or near the habitable zone On an average two Earth-size planets form in the region between 0.5 and 1.5 AU. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/overview22.swf
by Barbara Brown
for ASTR 402Spring, 2006
Kepler Mission test hypotheses:
•Most stars like our Sun have terrestrial planets in or near the habitable zone
•On an average two Earth-size planets form in the region between 0.5 and 1.5 AU
What is a habitable planet?
•Liquid water on planet surface--determined by size and temperature of the star and orbit of the planet
•Size and mass of planet--small planets don’t have enough surface gravity to hold onto a life-sustaining atmosphere
•Amount and composition of atmosphere
•Affects of moons and giant planets in the system
http://kepler.nasa.gov/media/KEPLER.SWF
How are we going to do this?
Kepler Mission Scientific Objective:
The scientific objective of the Kepler Mission is to explore the structure and diversity of planetary systems. This is achieved by surveying a large sample of stars to:
1. Determine how many terrestrial and larger planets there are in or near the habitable zone of a wide variety of spectral types of stars;
2. Determine the range of sizes and shapes of the orbits of these planets;
3. Estimate the how many planets there are in multiple-star systems;
4. Determine the range of orbit size, brightness, size, mass and density of short-period giant planets;
5. Identify additional members of each discovered planetary system using other techniques; and
6. Determine the properties of those stars that harbor planetary systems.
Expected Results:
Based on the mission described above and assumption that planets are common around other stars like our Sun, then we expect to detect:
From transits of terrestrial planets:
•About 50 planets if most are the same size as Earth (R~1.0 Re),
•About 185 planets if most have a size of R~1.3 Re,
•About 640 planets if most have a size of R~2.2 Re,
•About 12% with two or more planets per system.
From modulation of the reflected light from giant inner planets:
•About 870 planets with periods less than one week.
From transits of giant planets:
•About 135 inner-orbit planet detections,
•Densities for 35 inner-orbit planets, and
•About 30 outer-orbit planet detections.
Characteristics of a planetary transit:
•Period of recurrence of the transit
•Duration of the transit
•Fractional change in brightness of the star
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/science/finding_planets.cfm
How can we detect a planetary transit?
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/transit/indexTransit.html
What would a transit look like
(on a graph)?
The Kepler instrument:
0.95-meter diameter photometer telescope
105 degrees2 field of view
Continuously and simultaneously monitor the brightnesses of more than 100,000 stars for the life of the mission—4 years
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/Kepler/kepler_index.cfm
Scientific Operations Center at NASA Ames:
William Borucki, Principal Investigator
Mission Operations Center at University of Colorado LASP
Data Management Center at Space Telescope Science Institute
Industrial partner: Ball Aerospace, Boulder, CO
Kepler Mission Team Members
Resources• http://kepler.nasa.gov• “Close-up on the Kepler Mission” by Jon Jenkins,
www.space.com• “Solar transits: Tools of discovery” by Edna DeVore,
www.space.com• http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/Kepler/kepler_index.cfm• http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/transit/indexTransit.html• http://www.ballaerospace.com/kepler.html• “Detecting other worlds:
The photometric transit or 'Wink' method” by Dr. Laurance Doyle, www.seti.org
• http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/universe