Sunday, January 11, 2015

So Many Earth-Like Planets, So Few Telescopes

So Many Earth-Like Planets, So Few Telescopes

On Tuesday, astronomers announced that they found eight new planets orbiting stars at suited distances with liquid water bringing the amount of habitable planets in the “Goldilocks” zone (New York times states) to a dozen or two depending on how habitable the zone of a star is. Nasa’s kepler Spacecraft still on the lookout of new planets, has found about eight that are orbiting around stars and that seem very close to earth’s characteristics. They are just a little bit larger than Earth. As the number of these planet’s grow, astronomers are planning the next step which is to “end cosmic loneliness”. On Monday, Astronomers said that they were able to measure some small planets and found that their Densities almost matched the one of Earth’s. Kepler has so far discovered 4,175 potential planets and 1,004 of them have been confirmed as real. Many of them are about hundreds of light years away which is too far for studies to confirm anything. Finding planets closer to the Earth will be the job of the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite which is said to be launched in 2017. The astronomer’s missions are now to form instruments that can be used in order to depict what type of weather is occurring on the planets, if there is life and if there is water. They are trying to create a new spy telescope to look at the planets more closely and this will be completed in 2020. It has been said that these planets are rocky just like earth.
This could be the next step in our studies of the solar system. Scientific studies are always important to our world today and every time there is a new planet being discovered it is an extra step in our future. Knowing that there are more planets that are very similar to the characteristics of earth, it could mean that there might be new forms of life somewhere out there. Someday, the earth is going to end and maybe people could move to another planet somewhere that has the same characteristics as earth but before this has any chances, there are still a lot studies to be done. This could be a new part of our future. This will really help society because it could open new ideas and it will show that there may be life somewhere else with water.
This article was pretty well written. I think that the author used good quotes and spent time doing a lot of research. Quotes can really help show opinions of other scientists and it really helps understand the situation better. The first paragraph of the article was a little confusing. I couldn’t understand what some of it meant and the wording was a little strange but after a while I was able to comprehend what he was talking about. I think that this was a very interesting subject to write about and i think that it will be an important step into our future.
Overbye, Dennis. "As Ranks of Goldilocks Planets Grow, Astronomers Consider What’s Next." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Jan. 2015. Web. 06 Jan. 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/science/space/as-ranks-of-goldilocks-planets-grow-astronomers-consider-whats-next.html?ref=science&_r=0

3 comments:

  1. Margaux did a very good job reviewing the article, “So Many Earth-Like Planets, So Few Telescopes.” One aspect that Margaux did a good job reviewing was using detail . Another thing she did well was explain the background of this issue about. A third thing she did well was choosing and article that was involved in our lifestyle.
    One aspect she could have included was a quote from an outsider. A second aspect she could have included was better grammar and punctuation. One thing i found surprising was that scientists found eight new planets orbiting stars at suited distances.

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  2. Margaux Frohlich’s review on the article “So Many Earth-Like Planets, So Few Telescopes” successfully informed readers about the topics addressed by the article. Margaux presented three aspects particularly well including, background information, key facts, and shared how researching further could benefit the future. Margaux informed readers that these newly discovered planets are fairly similar to Earth and share related characteristics including stars that orbit around each planet. Facts about the number of potentially discovered planets and a direct number of those planets that were confirmed to exist. Margaux also discussed how researching deeper into these planets could potentially turn into places to live if Earth ended. Although these aspects were helpful, Margaux struggled to organize her information and background knowledge mentioned was disorganized and randomly stated. Also, to include more quotes from the article would have improved the review because the ones she selected were not useful and too brief. Overall I was impressed by the detail and discussion in this review, and learned a lot about the future of the universe.

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  3. I am commenting on Margaux Frohlic’s review on the article “So Many Earth Like Planets, So Few Telescopes.” Margaux did a great job of clearly explaining the article and it was very well written. All the facts from the article was clearly stated and supported with the research. She also discussed how the new eight planets impact our society today.
    Although this review was well presented and written, Margaux could have improved one a couple of things. She could have used quotes from experts on the topic to better support her facts and have an opinion from someone related to the topic. She should also include quotes because she explained how there were exceptional quotes. Margaux could have additionally used more active and engaging vocabulary, instead of using words such as “good.”
    I thought the article Margaux reviewed seemed very interesting. It was fascinating how eight new planets were discovered have similar characteristics to Earth but larger size.

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