The Search For Other Worlds Extrasolar Planets
Earths Beyond Earth: The Search for Other Worlds In early 1990, the first extrasolar planet was detected, surprising everyone by its strangeness. More planets have now been discovered outside our solar system than in it. These planets present many great mysteries to the astronomical world. Extrasolar planets are planets that exist outside our solar system; they are orbiting a star other than our Sun. So far, eighteen have been found, all of them defying well-established theories about planets and how they operate (Winters, 46). As Stephen Maran said, "The new discoveries remind us that ignorance is not just bliss, it is also a lack of imagination. The newfound planets show us not only that a solar system is not a rare commodity, but that ours may be plain vanilla." (73) Finding extrasolar planets is both difficult and complicated. The average star, for instance, is one hundred million times brighter than any planet orbiting it (De Grasse Tyson, 87). "Picking out a planet against the glare of a star is like trying to spot a 100-watt light bulb next to a 100-billion-watt searchlight," says Michael Lemonick (54). Also, earth-size planets are too small to have any significant effect on their star, so they are almost impossib
Also, they are gas giants, almost all of them being larger than Jupiter, and have temperatures up to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit (Maran, 74). Scientists believe that these moons may have conditions which would be conducive to support life (Maran, 74). One instance is the theory of a star's formation; when a star is being made, strong winds blow away all debris orbiting near it. In general, most extrasolar planets are alike in that they are all very odd compared to what humans are accustomed. The extrasolar planets that have been found raise more questions, rather than giving answers. The presence of large planets with tight orbits contradict this theory. One hope for the possibility of life is if the large gas planets have moons like that of Jupiter. Second, Pulsars, stars that are most likely to host Earth-like planets, give off too much deadly radiation. Brown Dwarfs are stars in elliptical orbits around other stars that do not have enough mass for nuclear reactions in their cores (Winters, 47). Though the chances of there being life on one of these planets is extremely slim, we may someday detect one that is suitable. In contrast, 55 Cancri B is an example of a tight-orbiting planet, circling the sun closer than mercury is to our sun (Maran, 74).
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