Glimpses Of The Universe

The New Planets
The Artwork of John Whatmough This is the artist's conception of Gliese 229B, a brown dwarf. A small companion to the red star Gliese 229. The brown dwarf is estimated to be twenty to fifty times the size of Jupiter.

So what's the scoop with these new planets? Are they indeed planets or are they something else? To be precise in astronomer's terms these new planets are conservatively called 'exo bodies'. Astronomers think the difference between a planet and let's say a Brown Dwarf is not the size or the orbit, but the way they are formed. Simply put, planets are formed from dust particles and other solid matter. Stars and brown dwarfs are formed from collapsed gases.
Extra solar planets surely exist. Our technology is getting better all the time. Extra Solar Planet Detection with the AFOE , Advanced Fiber Optic Echelle, is one of several methods used to find these new bodies. The Doppler Effect is used to find shifting light from a candidate star. The shift (i.e. wobble) is caused by the gravitational pull from another body. From the strength and type of pulling the size and distance of the new body can be estimated. With the AFOE capable of measuring velocity variations smaller than 10 meters per second (about 22 miles per hour), the scientists found that the speed of Rho Coronae Borealis varied back and forth by about 67 meters per second, or 150 miles per hour, over a 40-day period. This led the team to conclude that the star has a companion in a 40-day orbit and, from the size of the velocity variation and the mass of the star (almost identical to the Sun), they calculated that the companion must be slightly more massive than the planet Jupiter.

The Extra Solar Encyclopedia gives a good analysis of these new bodies. Please note that this site uses VRML, virtual reality markup language. I had played with VRML a few years before and thought it was interesting, but with the longer downloads and really still in it's infancy, I didn't think it was worth the time and effort. But, just like all computer technology it has really advanced. VRML can have excellent graphics and now incorporates sound as well. It is not a stand alone program, but it's plug in works well with either browser. You can download it here.

VRML Links And Exploration
Learning to use VRML is fairly easy. But it takes a little practice. Here is a good learning site.
Here are some other Vrml sites dealing with astronomy .

Virtual Astronomy contains 3D views of the planets in our solar system.

Other Worlds, Distant Suns

Newest Information on Extra Solar Discoveries A very comprehensive site.

Even though some of these new planets have a low mass, under 10JUP mass, some of these 'planets' may be reclassified. May live exist on these new worlds? The Astrobiology Web has the latest developments and speculations within and outside our solar system.
Here is the best link I've found on the Extra Solar Planets. Extra Solar Visions. This page contains imaginative artwork from the author at the top of the page. It has all of the extra planets with precise information on each one that's easy to access. John has updated this link recently. Please take a glimpse of his site.

Some Closing Thoughts.... When the scholar Copernicus discovered in the 16th century that Earth orbited the Sun, Western thinking gradually began to change: Earth might not be the center of the universe. Real changes in thought were very slow. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 for, among other things, the heresy of speculating about other inhabited worlds. Marcy and Butler have some great thoughts on this as well.
The theme of this whole web site has developed along this train of thought. In time more and more bodies and perhaps life will be discovered. The discoveries of new planets is another step in our growth as humankind. We must again be ready to change our thinking in regards to our place in the universe. In my lifetime I've seen humankind getting closer together. Some of this is due to having a more global economy. Some of it is due to our growing maturity as mankind. It is my hope that when other Intelligent life is discovered we will finally be united as mankind, not by necessity, but by choice.
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome...
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