Page 14 November 23, 2017 EL SEGUNDO HERALD Looking Up Closest Temperate World Orbiting a Quiet Star Is Discovered Based on a Press Release from European Southern Observatory (ESO), Provided by Bob Eklund A team working with the European Southern Observatory’s High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile has found that the red dwarf star Ross 128 is orbited by a low-mass exoplanet every 9.9 days. This Earth-sized world, just 11 light-years away, is expected to be temperate, with a surface temperature that may also be close to that of the Earth. Ross 128 is the “quietest” nearby star to host such a temperate exoplanet. “This discovery is based on more than a decade of HARPS intensive monitoring together with state-of-the-art data reduction and analysis techniques. Only HARPS has demonstrated such a precision and it remains the best planet hunter of its kind, 15 years after it began operations,” explains Nicola Astudillo-Defru (Geneva Observatory, University of Geneva, Switzerland), who co-authored the discovery paper. Red dwarfs are some of the coolest, faintest, and most common stars in the universe. This makes them very good targets in the search for exoplanets and so they are increasingly being studied. In fact, lead author Xavier Bonfils (Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble-Alpes/CNRS, Grenoble, France), named their HARPS program “The Shortcut to Happiness,” as it is easier to detect small cool siblings of Earth around these stars than around stars more similar to the Sun. Many red dwarf stars, including Proxima Centauri, are subject to flares that occasionally bathe their orbiting planets in deadly ultraviolet and X-ray radiation. However, it seems that Ross 128 is a much quieter star, without such flares, and so its planets may be the closest known comfortable abode for possible life. Although it is currently 11 light-years from Earth, Ross 128 is moving towards us and is expected to become our nearest stellar neighbor in just 79,000 years—a blink of the eye in cosmic terms. Ross 128 b will by then take the crown from Proxima b and become the closest exoplanet to Earth. With the data from HARPS, the team found that Ross 128 b orbits 20 times closer to its star than the Earth orbits the Sun. Despite this proximity, Ross 128 b receives only 1.38 times more irradiation than the Earth. As a result, Ross 128 b’s equilibrium temperature is estimated to lie between -60 and +20°C, thanks to the cool and faint nature of its small red dwarf host star, which has just over half the surface temperature of the Sun. While the scientists involved in this discovery consider Ross 128b to be a temperate planet, uncertainty remains as to whether the planet lies inside, outside, or on the cusp of the habitable zone, where liquid water may exist on a planet’s surface. A planet orbiting close to a low-mass red dwarf star has a larger gravitational effect on the star than a similar planet orbiting further out from a more massive star like the Sun. As a result, this “reflex motion” velocity is much easier to spot. However, the fact that red dwarfs are fainter makes it harder to collect enough light to make the very precise measurements that are needed. Astronomers are now detecting more and more temperate exoplanets, and the next stage will be to study their atmospheres, composition and chemistry in more detail. Vitally, the detection of biomarkers such as oxygen in the very closest exoplanet atmospheres will be a huge next step, which ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (https://www.eso.org/elt) (ELT) is in prime This artist’s impression shows the temperate planet Ross 128 b, with its red dwarf parent star in the background. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser. position to take. • C e r t i f i e d a n d L i c e n s e d P r o f e s s i o n a l s painting PAINTERS PLUS INTERIOR • EXTERIOR PLUS IMPROVEMENTS • REPAIRS FREE ESTIMATES LOWEST PRICES • GUARANTEED QUALITY 5 YEAR FREE MAINTENANCE SERVING THE BEACH CITIES FOR OVER 20 YEARS CALL DON 310-798-0450 LIC # 726089 handyman BILL’S HOME & APARTMENT MAINTENANCE CONTRACTOR QUALITY at Handyman Prices. We cover everything from A-Z. Bill Henrichon Cell: 310-890-7531 Office: 310-542-3470 billhenrichon@sbcglobal.net Henrichon & Associates Inc. 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