Distant Worlds
June 4th 2011 06:30
Category: Cosmic Objects
Simulated view of Planet Kepler-b
NASA has confirmed the discovery of its first rocky exoplanet planet, named Kepler-10b.
Measuring 1.4 times the size of Earth. Kepler’s detecting instruments has given us the first solid evidence of a rocky planet orbiting a star other than our Sun. The star Kepler 10 is a particularly bright star located about 560 light-years from Earth.
Having a bright star is a great help because it allows us to monitor subtle changes in the star’s luminosity as a smaller object like a planet orbits the parent star system. Although Kepler 10 b is a relatively small planet is much denser than Earth.
Kepler-10 was the first star to have the potentially to harbour a small transiting planet. This star was a prime candidate that could have a substantial planet or planets obrbiting the star. This prime ranking placed Kepler 10 it at the top of the list for further study the W.M. Keck Observatory 10-meter telescope in Hawaii.
Using the ground based 10-meter Keck telescope proved helpful. Keck was able to measure tiny changes in the star’s Doppler shift, caused by the telltale “wobble” exerted by the orbiting planet on the star.
This planet is very close to it’s parent star the conditions on the planet would be less than habitable.
The temperature extreme on the day side of the planet would be hot enough to melt rock.
The promising thing about this particular find is that it is very possible to find many more denser planets using the same technique.
The tiny planet orbits the star at a break neck speed taking less than a day to complete a full orbit of it’s Sun.
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