31 Days of Planet: Fomalhaut b

Day 20

To be or not to be, that is the question! Or rather, to b or not to b! Because it's anybody's guess: does Fomalhaut b really exist?

Approximately 25 light years away, this exoplanet (in the constellation Piscis Austrinus) remains ... unconfirmed. The real question is: if we found it, why is it unconfirmed?

Scientists inferred the existence based on its influence on the Fomalhaut dust belt which was not centered on a star - thus implying that it must be centered on something else, like a planet. Then they took a picture of it with the Hubble space telescope. 

But something was wrong. It's orbit. Because of the dust disk, the planet's orbit would need to be elliptical, but if this were the case, the dust belt would be disrupted because of the estimated size of the planet. Could there be another planet in the mix?

Ray Jayawardhana argued that the misstep in the planet's orbit suggests that it might not be a planet at all and is pushing to have the exoplanet un-categorized as an exoplanet. 

At very least, we know that something is there. The not-yet-confirmed exoplanet would likely be a similar size to Jupiter, and surrounded by a belt of dust. From Formalhaut b, its star would look about like what the sun looks like from Saturn.

In conclusion, I think it's a planet, so that probably pretty much solves the whole issue.

The end.

Pictures from NASA and this article.

31 Days of Planets: Exoplanets

Day 19

As of this month, 842 extrasolar planets (exoplanets), or planets outside of our solar system, have been identified. The nearest exoplanet is in the Alpha Centauri system. The first published discovery - which was later confirmed - was by Bruce Campbell, G. A. H. Walker, and Stephenson Wang in 1988. 1988 was a fantastic year - an amazing and stupendous year!

Exoplanets might look like Jupiter. They might look like Earth. They might look like Venus. They might look like - well any kind of planet that we already know, then possibly something completely different! The universe is so big and there is so much possibility, that I mean, think of it - a pink planet? A polka-dotted planet? A planet with dinosaurs that can fly?!?!

One day we'll get there. Yes, yes we will. Or die trying. We better die trying. We better not die by destroying ourselves. That would be very frustrating.

In conclusion, space, here we come!


Pictures from Hawaii! and discoveryblog and liberalrev.