ASTRONOMY
FEBRUARY 2015
Astronomers use a variety of methods to locate exoplanets. One method is called the "transit method" and to use it, scientists look directly at stars to see if there are any constant changes in the output of light. If the amount of light that a star gave off were to change constantly over a period of time, then this would mean that a sizeable planet is out there rotating around it blocking out that light. Nasa's Kepler spacecraft, known to Nasa scientists as the planet hunter, has also been able to find batches of earth like planets around our solar system. It has recently discovered 8 new exoplanets, 2 of them being announced as the most Earth-like yet! Exoplanetary discoveries are only increasing day by day, so stay tuned to more discoveries in the future!
Why is the search so important?
Have you seen the movie Interstellar yet? The story takes place in the far future where the Earth has been nearly exhausted of natural resources and the continuation of human existence is put at risk. In the movie, the actors find that the only way to save the human race is to locate a new exoplanet that is capable of housing life so that humanity could inhabit it and continue to thrive. The movie does a great job at illustrating the devastating effects that human habitation has, and will eventually have, on Earth over time. Although the problems that the actors in the movie face are so distant and nonexistent in our current lives, we must look to the future and see that these problems could in fact be those of our great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren. The search for exoplanets is the only thing that will help to sustain our species; we have to do our best right now to start worrying about these implications so that future generations will not have to.
Sources:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150106-kepler-goldilocks-exoplanets-universe-space-science/
http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/counts_detail.html
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/MEarth/Science.html
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