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From the University of Toronto:
"Cloudy for the morning, turning to clear with scorching heat in the afternoon." While this might describe a typical late-summer day in many places on Earth, it may also apply to planets outside our solar system, according to a new study by an international team of astrophysicists from the University of Toronto, York University and Queen's University Belfast.
Using sensitive observations from the Kepler space telescope, the researchers have uncovered evidence of daily weather cycles on six extra-solar planets seen to exhibit different phases. Such phase variations occur as different portions of these planets reflect light from their stars, similar to the way our own moon cycles though different phases.
Among the findings are indications of cloudy mornings on four of them and hot, clear afternoons on two others. "We determined the weather on these alien worlds by measuring changes as the planets circle their host stars, and identifying the day-night cycle," said Lisa Esteves, a PhD candidate in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, and lead author of the study published today in The Astrophysical Journal.
"We traced each of them going through a cycle of phases in which different portions of the planet are illuminated by its star, from fully lit to completely dark," said Esteves.
[Paper]: http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.2245
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2015, @09:46AM
Anybody going there any time soon?
It's nice for her that some egghead proved she's full of shit, piled higher and deeper. But really, who gives a fuck?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VortexCortex on Thursday May 14 2015, @10:42AM
Once we did not know whether ours were the only solar system with planets or not.
Now we're aware that countless stars bear planets and have observed some signs of their weather. This is yet another step towards discovering a planet that we might want to visit. Of course, we'll have to figure out how to survive in deep space and colonize planets, but the asteroid belt and Mars are both good training grounds. No, tourists will not be visiting these planets. They're uninhabitable. Yes, tourists will be visiting some other planets eventually, long after we've discovered, classified, and forecasted the planetary weather systems to be acceptable when the colonists arrive. If not, our species is doomed.
It's looking more and more hopeful that humanity (or some of our intelligent creations) may carry the torch of life to the stars before our sun explodes. It would be a shame to just let entropy win by limiting ourselves to this one planet and star. When would you say is the right time to begin doing this sort of research? If they had achieved our complexity levels the dinosaurs would have answered, "65 million years ago". I hope not to dream of new beginnings only after humans become extinct.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 14 2015, @11:01AM
Allah put the appearance of planets in the firmament to test your faith, and your faith is lacking! You cannot visit what is not really there!