The vastness of space makes one wonder, is anybody (or anything) else out there? Scientists have been looking for years to find a planets like earth. The standard search technique, the Doppler method, measures the back-and-forth motion of a star caused by the gravity of its planet. And the alternative method, the transit method, measures the slight shadow created when a planet passes in front of its star as seen from Earth. Together with these techniques scientists have been able to find 5,400 exoplanets. However, these current techniques only give us information about the orbital periods and their sizes or masses. To find a planet like Earth we need to know about the planet's atmosphere and their surface composition. Finding this information is not easy since the earthlike exoplanet is about ten billion times fainter than its star. There are two new ideas to find these planets. The first method, from John Trauger, is to make a chronograph telescope. This telescope basically builds a light-blocking mask into the telescope so that it creates an artificial eclipse of the star. Chronographs have been used in the past, however Trauger needs to improve the contrast on the telescope by 1,000 to be able to see the planets. In the early 2020s they will be testing this telescope on NASA’s WFIRST space telescope and it should be able to distinguish exoplanets. The only problem would be that creating a chronograph inside a telescope would limit the field of view and light going into the telescope. The next method, from Jeremy Kasdin, is to limit the light of the star. This would be done by flying a petal-shaped disk about a 1,000 km in front of your telescope. Aligning it in front of your desired star you should be able to only see the planet. This plan is the most efficient way to collect the data. Unfortunately, you would need a rocket to move the starshade from star to star which would eventually run out of gas and money to fund it. Kasdin says that the ideal procedure would be to put this on the space telescope with the chronograph. This would allow the chronograph to look for specific candidates so the rocket would not collect the data from as many planets.
It is likely that in the next 20 years we are going to find a planet just like ours if there is one. There is a great possibility that there is other life out there. Finding other planets like ours is the first step into seeing if other life forms exist. Unfortunately, the discoveries from the telescopes will most likely not prove there are other life forms. However, they will gives us a better understanding of the galaxy around us and will lead to more discoveries.
I thought that this article did a very good job of summarizing about what the news is about our search for exoplanets. I also enjoyed that they were able to clearly give me a summary about everything but it was not too long and boring. I think that this article would have been better if they went into more detail on how the new methods worked. A way that they could have done this is by making a diagram of the telescope.
"How to Build the Machine That Will Find Another Living Earth - Out There." Out There. N.p., 07 Oct. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
This was a well written review and very easy to read. The hook was a very nice addition to the review. As soon as the reader glimpses as the top they are immediately drawn in to read more. The information is also presented in a way that makes sense. All the necessary information is given before new facts are included in the piece. There are important pieces of information left out that would prevent the reader from fully understanding the article. The language in this review is also very sophisticated and well thought out. Specific words are used to enhance the expression of this information. The only thing I would suggest would be to separate the first paragraph into smaller paragraphs for each method. This piece is relevant in today’s news because we have constantly been searching for other life beyond our own. This articles shows us how, even though we are restricted to the confines of our special area, scientists are able to learn about parts of our universe through various techniques. These techniques allow us to go beyond our means of transport and learn about the vastness of our solar system.
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ReplyDeleteMeagan,
I thought you did a fantastic job on this review, as it was really interesting read. From the start, I was drawn in by the question, and as you continued, you pieced the review very well together, telling only the facts that were needed. I really appreciated that you explained the Doppler method and the transmit method because it definitely would have been harder to understand if the definition had not been inserted. Also, I thought you did a great job explaining why it is so hard to find a planet like Earth; it’s not just because there are so many planets, but even with solutions that people, like John Trauger and Jeremy Kasdin, had thought of, there are still problems with these methods. I liked how all the information flowed smoothly, so the readers are never confused with what you are talking about, and I overall really liked your writing style.
There aren’t much I would fix; the only thing would be that some places need commas that you forgot to insert. Also, maybe you can separate the first paragraph into two paragraphs so that it would be easier for the reader to read, which may give them time to ponder the information they received. I think maybe giving an example of how the methods work, or the experiments they have done to test it out, or just the overall background of how the methods came to be would be nice.
I’m very fascinated in astrology and stuff like that and had always wondered how we are trying to find other planets because that is a big concern at the moment, and this review sheds a bit of light on it. Personally, I believe that there must be another planet which can sustain life, but I know the strict criterias that are needed for human activity. As you said, this would better our understanding of the galaxy around us and may lead to further discoveries. As previously say, I thought your review was one of the most interesting ones I’ve read so far, so great job!
Well done, this review gave a very in depth yet understandable explanation of a topic that could have easily gone in one ear and come out the other. You did a great job of explaining the types of telescopes and scientific topics such as the doppler effect in a very easy to understand fashion. Additionally, the information was presented in a great fashion; the ideas flowed very well from one to another and the two distinct topics flowed well into one comprehensive review. You also did a great Job of implementing your own opinions into the review while also keeping it factual and unbiased so the reader can have their own opinions. While this is true I would have liked to see a bit more of your opinion, this seemed more like a list of facts that a review. Lastly I would have like to hear more about the plans that NASA actually has for creating telescopes rather that hearing about speculation. The most interesting part of this article was the part where you mentions that planets that could sustain life could be discovered within the next twenty years. It always seems like scientific discoveries will just be made some day in the future and it's bizarre to think that many discoveries will happen during my own lifetime.
ReplyDelete"How to Build the Machine That Will Find Another Living Earth - Out There." Out There. N.p., 07 Oct. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Ford Neild November 9, 2015
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Dear Meagan,
I felt that, overall, you explained the article in very concise manner without skipping over any of the essential details, as many people often do when summarizing. First, You were able to support your claim by inserting statistics and facts from the article, something that many people struggle with in these current events. Prior to reading your summary I would have never guess that we would be able to find other planets using on technology today and your statics helped me consider this exciting possibility. Second, you described the opposing viewpoint in a very interesting way that held the reader's attention. Often people do not sound passionate when arguing other scientists opinions, but you did a fantastic job of that in this description. One reason you were able to do this is through the use of the quote,”This telescope basically builds a light-blocking mask into the telescope so that it creates an artificial eclipse of the star.” It helped add a scientist's description that further captured the reader and added a new perspective. Thirdly, your descriptive vocabulary showed real depth of understanding on your part and added additional detail that helped to create a clear image of this previously confusing article.
Though, overall this article was very well written, there is room for improvement yet. Previously, I had commented that your descriptive vocabulary was intelligent and descriptive, however, for many of these words, they were too complex. To fix this, I recommend putting in parentheses the definition of the word. For example, I was not familiar with the term,exoplanet. After doing personal research I found that An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun.The official definition of "planet" used by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) only covers the Solar System and thus does not apply to exoplanets. In your relevance paragraph, you consistently mention how there are promising planetary discoveries being made and I was disappointed that you did not include example of which exoplanets were so exciting and what them so exciting. If these were not mentioned in the article, I recommend doing independent research in order to fix this issue.
From your summary I learned a lot. Specifically, I was amazed by the pure genius of the methods. Personally, am fascinated with the concept of space exploration, so this article intrigued me deeply. As previously mentioned, prior to reading this article I would have never guessed that we would have the technology to currently view such distant planetary objects. More importantly this helped me realize a much broader truth: we are always expanding on science and no idea is too simple for one to assume that it has already be thought of.
"How to Build the Machine That Will Find Another Living Earth - Out There." Out There. N.p., 07 Oct. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.