Eyes on Exoplanets

One of the many exciting things that scientists at NASA and JPL are doing is searching for stars with exoplanets. Exoplanets are planets orbiting other stars in other solar systems. To find these planets they keep a close eye on the stars. If a star they are observing dims it may mean that a planet has passed in front of it. They have confirmed 1,690 exoplanets already and with 3,845 other possible candidates that means they have discovered 5,535 possible exoplanets. These were all discovered in only a small fraction of our galaxy. The is so much more that scientists haven't even begun to search.

Using NASA’s “Eyes on Exoplanets” program you can explore all of the exoplanets that have been discovered so far and their solar system. With the program you can measure the distance between the earth and other exoplanets, or even other exoplanets or stars to each other. You can also compare the size and orbits of other solar systems to are own side by side. There is also a feature that tells you how long it would take to get to a solar system by various modes of transportation like by car, jet, and bullet train, and light speed.

If you click on a planet in a solar system it will bring up an artist rendition of the planet and a description of what scientists know about it so far.

There is also a feature wear you click any spot on the earth and it will show you what stars with exoplanets you can see from that spot and which of those can be seen with the naked eye.

One planet of interest that scientist have discovered is Kepler-413b. Kepler-413b is a large, gas planet about 65 times the mass of earth. It orbits around two stars; an orange dwarf and a red dwarf. What scientists find peculiar about Kepler-413b is that it is wobbling as it orbits. The tilt of the planet keeps changing. This would cause the seasons on this world to be erratic and constantly changing. They have also observed that the planet's orbit tilted so they cannot always see when it has completed another orbit.

One of the coolest parts of the search for exoplanets is when they find planets similar to earth that could retain water in its liquid form and possibly sustain life. The idea that some of these worlds could have life on them or even other sentient beings is incredible to think about. 

All information in this post can be found at NASA's JPL website.