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Gaia Observations Could Reduce the Number of Exoplanets Considered Potentially Habitable

posted by chromas on Tuesday October 30 2018, @02:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the be-sure-before-leaving-home dept.

takyon writes:

Number of Habitable Exoplanets Found by NASA's Kepler May Not Be So High After All

The tally of potentially habitable alien planets may have to be revised downward a bit. To date, NASA's prolific Kepler space telescope has discovered about 30 roughly Earth-size exoplanets in their host stars' "habitable zone" — the range of orbital distances at which liquid water can likely exist on a world's surface.

Or so researchers had thought. New observations by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia spacecraft suggest that the actual number is probably significantly smaller — perhaps between two and 12, NASA officials said today (Oct. 26)

[...] Gaia's observations suggest that some of the Kepler host stars are brighter and bigger than previously believed, the officials added. Planets orbiting such stars are therefore likely larger and hotter than previously thought.

Also at NASA.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:12PM (1 child)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:12PM (#755712) Journal

    Consider me fully informed on the aerosol proposals. "what if we brought back acid rain?" is sure a take on climate change, though.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:30PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:30PM (#755717) Journal

    We currently emit the stuff near the ground. Switch to electric cars, solar, fusion, etc. and inject it into the stratosphere instead. FTA you were fully informed about:

    By 2070, he estimates, the program would need to be injecting a bit more than a million tons per year using a fleet of a hundred aircraft.

    One of the startling things about Keith’s proposal is just how little sulfur would be required. A few grams of it in the stratosphere will offset the warming caused by a ton of carbon dioxide, according to his estimate. And even the amount that would be needed by 2070 is dwarfed by the roughly 50 million metric tons of sulfur emitted by the burning of fossil fuels every year. Most of that pollution stays in the lower atmosphere, and the sulfur molecules are washed out in a matter of days. In contrast, sulfate particles remain in the stratosphere for a few years, making them more effective at reflecting sunlight.

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