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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   
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.

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Original Submission

• Re:Are we really concerned with "habitable" (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:02PM

  by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:02PM (#755789) Journal

  Planned for Spring to Fall 2019:

  https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/keutschgroup/scopex [harvard.edu]

  What is the status for locating and timing of the experiment?
  We are exploring possible locations in the United States. We have not scheduled dates for engineering or science flights and we are engaged in a governance process including the appointment of an advisory committee to help us determine when and if it would be appropriate to conduct the experiment. The schedule and flight location also depends on a process that involves engineering development and balloon availability. We will update this page when we determine a definite schedule and location, which will be at least three months before flight. You can request notification by signing up to this email list [google.com].

  We had originally planned for flight operations to be managed by World View, a high-altitude flight services company based in Tucson, Arizona, but for engineering reasons we will likely use another flight operator.

  https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611682/how-one-climate-scientist-combats-threats-and-misinformation-from-chemtrail-conspiracists/ [technologyreview.com]

  Keith says initial flights to evaluate the systems are now likely to begin in the spring of 2019, with the actual experiments more likely to start that fall. The scientists are in negotiations with several balloon vendors, the results of which will ultimately determine the location of the experiments. The team is also in the process of setting up an independent advisory committee [harvard.edu] that will review proposals and provide feedback to the university and research team on potential environmental risks, the need for stakeholder engagement, and other issues.

  --
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