Number of Habitable Exoplanets Found by NASA's Kepler May Not Be So High After All

Number of Habitable Exoplanets Found by NASA's Kepler May Not Be So High After All

Number of Habitable Exoplanets Found by NASA's Kepler May Not Be So High After All





Number of Habitable Exoplanets Found by NASA's Kepler May Not Be So High After All


		The count of potentially habitable alien planets should be revised a bit downward.

		To date, prolific from NASA. Kepler space telescope has discovered approximately 30 Earth-sized exoplanets in the "habitable zone" of its host stars, the range of orbital distances in which liquid water is likely to exist on the surface of a world.

		Or so the researchers had thought. The new observations made by the spacecraft Gaia of the European Space Agency (ESA) suggest that the real number is likely to be significantly lower, perhaps between two and 12, NASA officials said today (October 26).

The[[Photos: Gaia spacecraft to map the galaxy of the Milky Way]

		Gaia was launched in December 2013 to create an ultra-precise 3D map of the Milky Way. So far, this map includes information on the position of approximately 1,700 million stars and distance data of approximately 1,300 million stars, according to NASA officials.

		Gaia's observations suggest that some of Kepler's host stars are brighter and larger than previously believed, officials added. The planets that orbit such stars are, therefore, probably larger and hotter than previously thought.







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		The "hottest" problem is simple: a larger, brighter star pumps more heat. The "greater" correlation is derived from Kepler's planet-hunting strategy, which is called "transit method. " 

		Kepler notices the small drops of brightness caused when a planet crosses the face of its parent star from the perspective of the telescope. The estimates of the sizes of these planets are derived from the percentage of the stellar disk that they block during these "transits". So, if the diameter of the stars is checked upwards, so is the planet.

		"The whole thing has always been, how well do we understand the star?" Eric Mamajek, chief scientist of the attached program for the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program, he said in a statement. "This is just another chapter of that ongoing story."

		The new results should not discourage people who expect life on Earth not to be alone in the galaxy; There are still many potentially habitable real estate in the Milky Way, stressed NASA officials. But the Gaia data reinforce that astronomers, astrobiologists and planetary scientists still have much to learn about the habitability of exoplanets.

		"We're still trying to figure out how big a planet can be and still be rocky," said Jessie Dotson, an astrophysicist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, in the same statement. Dotson is the project scientist for Kepler's current and extended mission, which is known as K2.

		And then there is the concept of habitable zone. Basing habitability solely on orbital distance ignores important planetary features, such as mass, which influences a world's ability to maintain an atmosphere. Then there is the atmospheric composition, which greatly affects the temperature of a planet.

		Also, who says that life requires liquid water on the surface? A number of frozen moons outside the habitable zone of our own solar system, such as Europa of Jupiter and Enceladus of Saturn, have hidden oceans that may be able to sustain life as we know it. (And we have not even reached the possibility of life as we do not know, which may depend on something other than water as a solvent).

		The $ 600 million Kepler mission was launched in March 2009. During the four years of Kepler's main mission, the telescope looked at some 150,000 stars simultaneously, observing planetary transits. This work ended in May 2013, when the second of Kepler's four orientation maintenance reaction wheels failed. 

		In 2014, Kepler began with K2, during which the spacecraft observed a variety of objects and cosmic phenomena during the "campaigns" of 80 days. Some of these campaigns involve the hunting of planets; In fact, 354 of the 2,681 confirmed discoveries of the alien world from the spacecraft to date have occurred during K2.

		The total Kepler count represents approximately 70 percent of the approximately 3,800 known exoplanets. And Kepler's count will continue to grow; almost 3,000 "candidates" on the planet await confirmation through a follow-up analysis or observation, and history suggests that most of them will end up being the real deal.

		But Kepler's observation days are coming to an end. The spacecraft is extremely low in fuel and recently entered into a Suspension mode "without fuel".



	Mike Wall's book on the search for extraterrestrial life. "Out there, "will be published on November 13 by Grand Central Publishing. Follow it on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Originally published in Space.com.

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