This mission is almost impossible, to find planets in the impossible place. But Johny Setiawan, an astrophysicist from Indonesia, managed to find it. In fact, he discovered two planets orbiting a yellow star in the Cetus constellation, or the sea monster in Greek mythology.
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| An artist's rendering of the oldest known planets orbiting their star. (Picture from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/) |
Since August 2009, Johny Setiawan became leader of research in planet search projects in the metal-poor stars. Isolated from the Atacama Desert on the edge of the Andes Mountains, Chile, he led a team of scientists using the 2.2 meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory's to follow the rotation of the sky, looking for planets in the Cetus constellation.
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| A Jupiter-like extrasolar planet: One planet is the size of Jupiter, the other three times bigger. Both are thought to be three times as old as Earth, and were formed 12.8 billion years ago. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/) |
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The new planets were detected by the European Southern Observatory at La Silla Paranal, Chile, South America. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)
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Star HIP 11952 has a metal content of 100 times smaller than the sun. Despite the size 1.6 times larger than the sun, the weight of the star is 17 percent lighter.
Of our earth, the star is 376 light years so far. The distance is arguably still in the "backyard" of the sun when compared to the size of the Milky Way Galaxy, which reached 120 thousand light years.
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| Johny Setiawan. (Picture from: http://www.asianscientist.com/) |
Researchers identify galaxies are metal-poor stars as old stars, which formed about 13 billion years ago, when the universe was a "young age". This is what makes star HIP 11925 and the metal poor stars to be very interesting.
To find out the existence of planets around the star, Johny saw dancing star pattern. He put on a tool called the starlight breaker FEROS (Fiber-fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph) mounted on the back of the telescope.
Spectrograph can see the wobble in stars caused by the pull of nearby planets. Although the location has been known star, Johny must monitor the HIP 11952 for one and a half years, until January 2011. Once enough data, then compare the photos of stars astronomy using MIDAS software. The star was making jerking motion every 290 days and 7 days. "It's harmonic movement," he said. Johny finds evidence that is sought by the two planets star disruption.
The two of planets were named HIP 11952 b and HIP 11952 c. As the discovery of planets outside our solar system (extra-solar), the planet named for its parent star and the alphabet followed by pinning the start b and so on, are sorted by time of discovery.
The planets are sized extra-solar giant, each of which has a mass of at least 3 and 0.8 times the mass of Jupiter (the largest planet in our solar system). Both planets were as far apart as 121 million kilometers and 10 million kilometers from its parent star. Orbital analysis does indicate the two planets are circulating in a stable orbit.
Estimated age of the planet is as old as the parent star. Therefore, the theory of solar system formation solar system formed states almost simultaneously with the formation of planets. Earth, for example, 4.5 billion years old, while the sun formed 300 million years earlier. No doubt the solar system in the HIP 11952 was 13 billion-year-old and will be the oldest in the universe. The findings are a blow to the theory of solar system formation that has previously been widely accepted.
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| New Planet data. (Picture from: KORAN TEMPO 3836) |
Alternative theories that could explain the process of planet formation around metal poor star, Johny said, mentioning the planets formed from material around stars driven by the push toward inside and out. Thrust out away of material caused by congestion due to the disk of stars. This movement is then intercepted by the star's gravitational pull so that the material retained on a particular point and agglomerate to form a candidate planet. That is why, planets are formed in metal poor stars tend not to have a solid center.
Ikbal offering alternatives. The two of planets could have been born not of star HIP 11952. Recent studies indicate the existence of the planet who ventured into no man's land around the galaxy. Nomadic planet like this, he said, could have been captured by the star to form a new solar system. *** [ANTON WILLIAM | KORAN TEMPO 3836]
Old Stars-Poor Metal
For the astrophysicist, the star is not just a single point of light in the sky, but rather a complex organism. Research to the point of light that can reveal the composition of stars and of which the stars originated.
For the astrophysicist, the star is not just a single point of light in the sky, but rather a complex organism. Research to the point of light that can reveal the composition of stars and of which the stars originated.
Stars are generally prepared oteh two main elements, hydrogen and helium. These two elements of the fuel that makes stars shine. Every second 4 million hydrogen and helium is converted into energy.
But there are elements other than helium and hydrogen in small quantities. The additional elements heavier than helium and referred to as the metal element.
According to the professor of Astronomy Studies Program on Bandung Institute of Technology (Institut Teknologi Bandung/ITB), Muhammad Ikbal Arifyanto, metal elements play an important role in the development of the star. The more the content of metal elements, the faster the stars burn hydrogen and helium. Stars, like the sun, has a metal content of about 2 percent of the overall material.
"The element of metal to make more stars get old," he said. If two stars have equal mass, stars with higher metal content will evolve quicker. When age, metal content in stars increase. When dead, the star will explode, spreading the content of metal in his body, and contaminate the gases that exist in interstellar space.
Observations show that stars have planets generally have a high metal content. This is consistent with the theory of solar system formation, which states the solar system formed from interstellar clouds are gathering.
Collection of the cloud is then shrink while rotating faster and faster. Due to the rotation, the cloud becomes flattened to form a disc with its head turned into a star. Outside the center of the disc, where planets orbiting at this time, the material will tug. Metal elements into an appealing protagonist lighter elements like hydrogen and helium. Over time this matter clumps together and form a planet.
"Without the element of metal, the planet can not be formed," he said. Stars are born when a new universe is formed relatively clean of metal elements. HIP 11952, which was 13 billion years old, for example, has a heavy element content of only 0.2 percent. The low metal content make the young stars that still survive today.
The discovery of planets around metal poor star makes puzzled astrophysicists. Dough should be minimal with no heavy elements can trigger the birth of a new planet. That is, current theories of planet formation must be updated again. *** [ANTON WILLIAM | KORAN TEMPO 3836]
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