Mysteries of the Universe | News | |  Automatic translation | | |  | | What is the size of the universe?
Behind this simple question hides extremely complex concepts, and perhaps even... | | | | |  | | 2015, the International Year of the Light. 2015 will reveal our history, still mysterious, but more and more luminous because ... | | | | |  | | The primitive soup made of inert organic molecules has led to the emergence of life on Earth. The first chemist to try this cuisine is Stanley Miller ... | | | | |  | | Hell of the Hadean: the Hadean is in the first million years of Earth history, at that time the primitive nebula, ie the solar system formation is hell ... | | | | |  | | Magnetism and magnetic moment: how works this invisible force, is the rotation of the electrons around the nucleus that creates the magnetic field in matter ... | | | | |  | | Modern cathedrals: the largest telescope is to come, E-ELT will be located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, its first light are planned ... | | | | |  | | Online simulator.
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"It's better to see once than hear a hundred times." | | | | |  | | November 12, 2014: For ten years, Rosetta and Philae traveled together to reach their destination. Since August 6, 2014, Rosetta rotates ... | | | | |  | | October 24, 2014: MOM is the first Martian spacecraft developed by India, a real feat of ISRO (Indian Space Agency)... |
| | Astronomy - The curiosity that characterizes humanity, has enabled man to understand the major astronomical phenomena and it now gives a dramatic sense stronger what is happening before our eyes.
| | « It is entirely possible that behind the perception of our senses, worlds are hidden of which we are unaware. »
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his interpretation of the photoelectric effect. | | |
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Exoplanets
Exoplanets are by definition located outside our solar system. The search for extrasolar planets is a real challenge for humanity, the underlying question that scientists are trying to answer is "are we alone in the Universe?".
Since the first discovery of extrasolar planets in 1995 (51 Pegasi b), a large number of space projects such as HARPS (2003), CoRoT (2006), Kepler (2009), JWST (2018) to Darwin (2020) have obtained funding.
Until 2020, the methods used to find exoplanets, are indirect methods (effect of transit effect on the radial velocity, microlens effect ...), that is to say that exoplanets are detected only by the effects that it induces on their star. But from 2020, with the DARWIN space project, all humanity will see an extrasolar planet directly and perhaps a exoterre.
How to detect exoplanets?
Transit (periodic micro-eclipse) occurs every time the planet passes between the star and the observer. At that time, the planet obscures some of the light from the star, producing a detectable periodic dimming. This remarkable idea is used to detect the planet and directly determine its size and its orbit. The diameter of Jupiter is 10 times smaller than the Sun, Jupiter mask so 1% of the luminosity of the Sun as it passes in front of a distant observer. Earth it is 100 times smaller than the Sun, so do mask 1/10000th of its brightness.
How to see exoplanets?
With Darwin, we'll see the planet or rather its atmosphere that reflects light from its star. Any light that is perfectly aligned with the telescopes (that of the star) will be extinguished and so the planet can be seen without being dazzled by the nearby star.
What are the biosignatures that will reveal the presence of life on distant exoplanets?
By analyzing the spectrum of light from the atmosphere of a planet, it is possible to detect the presence of chemical compounds such as carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), ozone (O3), oxygen (O2) or other ionic assembly, and therefore no organic compounds based on a carbon skeleton. CO2 in large quantities and the water would be the signature of photosynthetic activity.
Oxygen has a specific feature. This aggressive atom may not remain in a gaseous envelope around a planet because it binds very easily with metals and rocks, to make oxides. If there is oxygen in quantity around a planet that means biotic phenomena exist. |
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