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Earth-sized planet implies ancient solar system life

This Sun-like star system was formed 11.2 billion years ago making it two and a half times older than Earth, according to the University of Birmingham’s report in The Astrophysical Journal.

Two aspects of this striking discovery are themselves striking.

First Striking Aspect: Implications

Participating in NASA’s Kepler Mission to explore our Galaxy, one striking aspect is that researchers from Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy conclude, as stated by Tiago Campante, “There are far-reaching implications for this discovery.”

It is first implied by this discovery that Earth-sized, Earth-like planets, once thought to be only an elusive possibility at best, have formed throughout the 13.8 billion year existence of the universe.

At the beginning of the quest for Earth-like exoplanets, which would be potentially habitable planets, the exoplanets found were such as gaseous giants, similar to Jupiter, and gaseous “moons” that turned the same side to their star at all times, burning on one side but freezing on the other. Thus Birmingham’s breakthrough discovery implies many “Earths” since the beginning of time in many Sun-like star systems.

It is also implied that the possibility of ancient life in the Galaxy has gained credible scope. As lead researcher Tiago Campante puts it:

We now know that Earth-sized planets have formed throughout most of the Universe’s 13.8 billion year history, which could provide scope for the existence of ancient life in the Galaxy.

Second Striking Aspect: Listening to Stars

The second striking aspect of this discovery is that Bill Chaplin’s team of star searchers listened to the quaking of Sun-like star Kepler-444 to determine its diameter and mass in order to then calculate the size of objects transiting its surface disc as captured by the Kepler photometer instrument (which does not take pictures but registers brightness, or luminosity). Chaplin, the lead researcher in studying Sun-type stars for the Kepler Mission, used asteroseismology to listen to the oscillating pulsations of the trapped eruptions in the nuclear bowels of Kepler-444.

Asteroseismology

Asteroseismology is, as asteroseismology.org states, “the study of the internal structure of stars through the interpretation of their pulsation periods.” Pulsations are the vibrations following activity in the nuclear fusion chamber that is the core of the star. “Asteroseismology” is the combination of two loan words. “Aster-” is Latin combining form meaning “star.” “Seismo” is a combining form taken from the Greek “seismos” meaning “shaking” or “quaking.” Combined, asteroseismology means the study of the quaking of stars, and this quaking reveals the internal structure and size of stars being studied.

Listening to Quaking Stars — Listen!

This mode of star research is striking because Chaplin and his team are studying the vibrations the quaking stars make. The team is listening to the pulsation oscillations (movements to and fro) of the star’s quaking as sound bounces, trapped, to and fro within the star. An example from NASA of our own Solar System’s Sun’s sounds may help illustrate asteroseismology. From asteroseimological analysis, Chaplin and team measured Kepler-444’s diameter, mass and age. Since each variant — diameter, mass, age — affects the pulsations generated in specific ways, measurements for each can be made.

Transiting Planet – Dimming Star

The brightness, or luminosity, of light from any star dims when something — like a planet — crosses between it and the observational instrument, in this case, the Kepler Mission photometer. By tracking the dimming of Kepler-444, the asteroseismology team was able to identify five planets transiting the star’s visible stellar disc. Dimming luminosity allows calculations that yield the size of the planets relative to the size of their star because duration of change in luminosity corresponds to size of a transiting object.

Kepler Mission Photometer

The Kepler photometer, a modified Schmidt telescope, records brightness/luminosity. It is sensitive enough for brightness integration up to 6.5 hours and to detect during that time a transiting body that is Earth-sized: the longer the data integration, the bigger the size of the transiting object.

Putting It Together

In summary, the discovery of five Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like Kepler-444 was made by listening to the star-quake oscillations that pulsate, trapped, in the interior of the erupting gaseous Kepler-444 star, then by attaining size-relative measurements of five transiting objects captured by the Kepler photometer housed in a satellite. This discovery opens out a vision of Earh-like planets existing throughout the billions of years of our cosmological existence. This discovery, perhaps most strikingly, expands the scope of inquiry into the existence of “ancient life in the Galaxy.”

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