planets (Page 9)

The idea that gravity might pull a planet into its parent star has been predicted by computer models, but now astronomers have found evidence that this has actually happened.

Astronomer Rory Barnes says, “When we look at the observed properties of extrasolar planets, we can see that this has already happened. Some extrasolar planets have already fallen into their stars.” How does he know this? Computer models show where planets should line up in a particular star system, but direct observations show that some systems are missing planets close to the stars where models say they should be.
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weekend reading – A recent survey of nearby stars shows that 30% of them have versions of earth orbiting around them. Many of these are as much as 10 times larger than our own home planet.

Many of the stars that were thought to have no planets in their orbits have planets so small that they were overlooked before, but these are unlikely to harbor life. In Scientific American, J.R. Minkel quotes astronomer Didier Queloz as saying, “It turns out that a large fraction of the stars that we had believed had no planets actually have planets, but of small mass.”
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Rocky planets with conditions suitable for life may be more common than previously thought, and they may be right here, in our own galaxy. More than half the Sun-like stars in the Milky Way could have planetary systems like ours. Are they calling us? Can we communicate with them? Are their inhabitants here on earth, interacting with us? In BBC News, Helen Briggs quotes US astronomer Michael Meyer as saying, “Our observations suggest that between 20% and 60% of Sun-like stars have evidence for the formation of rocky planets not unlike the processes we think led to planet Earth. That is very exciting.”

Art credit: gimp-savvy.com

They may not just be calling us, they may be here! And sometimes they bring us messages we need to hear.

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