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A COUPLE OF weeks ago the announcement was made that “Earth’s Cousin” had been discovered by the Kepler spacecraft during its planet-hunting mission that has run since 2009. The planet, known as Kepler-186f, is the first Earth-sized planet discovered in its parent star’s habitable zone. Planets outside our own Solar System are known as extra-solar planets, or exoplanets for short.
The existence of such objects moved from speculation to reality in 1992, when the first confirmed exoplanet was discovered orbiting a type of dead star known as a pulsar. Since then, in the space of about 22 years, we have discovered a total of almost 1,800 confirmed exoplanets. The Kepler mission itself found 962 of these confirmed planets, and it has a further 2,900 or so planet candidates yet to be confirmed.
That’s a lot of planets out there, considering Kepler looked at only a quarter of a percent of the sky.
But what does it all mean? What types of exoplanets are there? What is the habitable zone? What’s actually meant by “Earth’s Cousin”?
Most life on Earth is dependent on the existence of liquid water, and we know that Earth has liquid water because it’s neither too hot nor too cold; it’s just the right distance from the Sun for water to exist in this phase. This is the habitable zone, which has, for obvious reasons, been nicknamed the Goldilocks zone.
Objects in the habitable zone of a star are the best bet for looking for life, but a planet in the habitable zone does not automatically mean there could be liquid water on it. There are a number of other parameters to consider when looking for life-harbouring exoplanets, for example:
What size is the planet? Its size affects its gravity, which in turn can affect development of life;
How old is its parent star? If the star is very young, it’s a lot less likely that life would have had time to arise on the planet;
Does water exist around the star in the planetary system? Liquid water can’t pop out of nowhere, and it must be present in some form near the exoplanet before it can arrive on the planet;
What is the planet made of? Earth’s iron core gives it a magnetic field which prevents harmful radiation reaching to the surface. Mars, however, is in the habitable zone but has no magnetic field, and also no life that we know of.
As you can see, there are lots of things to take into account. The exoplanet Kepler-186f has been called “Earth’s Cousin” rather than “Earth’s Twin” because, while it’s in the habitable zone of the parent star just like Earth, other conditions of the planet and its environment make it quite different to Earth.
Hunting for life-harbouring planets isn’t the only thing the Kepler mission does. Astronomers have found a whole host of planets that are mind-blowingly different to what we might be used to in our own Solar System. Take, for example, hot Jupiters. These planets are massive gas planets like Jupiter that orbit their stars extremely closely – even as close as about 2 million km (Earth is about 150 million km from the Sun, for comparison). The planet Bellerophon, discovered in 1995, is just under 8 million km from its parent star 51 Pegasi and is believed to have a surface temperature of about 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Things get even more mind-melting. There is a type of hot Jupiter known as “ultra-short-period Jupiters”. These planets orbit their stars in less that one day. That is, a year on such a planet lasts less than our 24 hours. The exoplanet SWEEPS-10 resides about 1.2 million km from the star, and zips around it in only 10 hours. There are even exoplanets that orbit stars very quickly, but rotate quite slowly, meaning a day there can last longer than a year!
There are a number of different methods used to detect planets around other stars. As it’s very difficult to point a telescope and just see a new planet, astronomers have to use clever tricks and accurate measurements to find exoplanets. The “easiest” way to find a planet is by the transit method: when a planet passes in front of a star, the star’s brightness will dip slightly. When astronomers see this happen at regular intervals, they’ve probably found a new planet.
When we do find a planet like Earth, definitely capable of allowing life to survive, it’s likely to be very, very far away. It would be nigh on impossible to get there now, but as science and technology advances over the decades and centuries we will eventually begin to develop starships, and humanity and civilisation will be able to spread throughout the galaxy as we find new homes.
Conor Farrell is an avid science enthusiast and studied physics with astronomy at Dublin City University. He has worked at Astronomy Ireland and Dunsink Observatory in the past, and loves to promote all things space-related to a wider audience. In his spare time he writes about science and current affairs, and can be followed on Twitter at @conorsthoughts.
Read more articles by Conor Farrell.
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Is this a non story ?
@Hector Son: very much so. Spent 3 million on flights, probably got paid 10 million for flights
Example number 9007 of the FFG policy of putting taxpayers money in the hands of private companies.
@Mogh Roith: while the Air Corps does need better transport aircraft, a single airliner of sufficient size to carry a batallion rotation of a few hundred troops with all the gear would cost €150-200 million. That doesn’t include fuel or maintenance or storage or depreciation or the additional pilot officers needed to be attested and trained on the type. The cost of charter aircraft may go into commercial operations, yes, but €3 million over 5 years is a damn sight better value to the taxpayer than a white elephant airliner. And make no mistake, given that it might be filled 4 to 6 times a year, a white elephant is exactly what it would be.
@Mogh Roith: Of course purchasing, maintaining and flying aircraft costs nothing if the state does it?
@Eoin Roche: This logic doesn’t suit, better to have a nonsense FFG rant!
@Mogh Roith: Cheap or would you rather spend more money buying a plane? Sinn Fein Economics
@Mogh Roith: Where does the taxpayers money come from in the first place?
@Eoin Roche: I wonder who they charter from now. It used to be Aer Lingus and they flew 747s to the Lebanon. I think if we were going to invest then sea rescue helicopters and a medical jet might be options and both could be used to supplement the ambulance services when needed. We don’t really need a Galaxy C5 and Hercules might have to make a few runs sometimes. I do appreciate that the Air Corps may not have all the latest up to date jet fighters and interceptors and transporters but I think we have better things to spend our tax payers money on.
@Mogh Roith: 3 millions over 5 years. How much do you think it would cost buy and maintain an aircraft big enough to travel to all these countries?
@Eoin Roche: Also, 2.7m is not 3m. That’s some heavy-handed rounding up there for no particular reason.
@Dylan Cotter: and over 5 years… so average of 540K a year…. this is very much something the Dept of Defence did right. That’s a pretty good deal overall.
@Eoin Roche: Yeah but they need to justify all the Officer jobs
Is it cheaper than purchasing and maintenance on an aircraft?
@Peter: vastly.
@Peter: very much so, especially if it will only be used a few times a year. When not in use or maintenance, it will just sit there losing value and storage of aircraft in this country is usually not good for the airframe leading to issues further down rhe line.
This works out at €50k a month. That’s considered a lot less than owning and maintaining its own aircraft. This is actually a good thing.
Shocker, transport costs money. Who would’ve thought
@Sean McCarthy: Irish’s Air Corps already spending the same money & more on legal fees & WRC settlements
Here’s an open letter I wrote to Dr Berry last year seeking his help reducing suffering and saving lives of #IrishAirCorps personnel injured by unprotected exposure to toxic workplace chemicals. I have recorded the untimely deaths of 96 colleagues average age of death 52 years.
Actually below is an open letter from 2021 asking why he didn’t even bother to respond to my 2020 letter.
Dr Berry has already announced his intention to resign at the next election and scurry back to the Defence Forces medical corps with yet another pension. I cannot see what he achieved since he left the defence forces except skip the vaccine queue. Empty slow vacuous waffle is all he delivered.
@Gavin Tobin: Any chance you’d stop hijacking every article on defence matters with this? We’ve read it a hundred times, nobody here can do anything about it and it really has nothing to do with the matter at hand. If you believe you have a case, take a sample, get some legal Counsel and sue the State.
@Gavin Tobin: pension abatement act Gavin prevents more than one state pension been paid . Been like this since 2004 . But don’t let the facts get in the way . :-)
@Eoin Roche: If you read my link it is very relevant to the individual in the article. I’ve sued all the way to the Supreme Court and won. State ignored the win…do keeping up.
@Philip Grant:Are you saying if Berry does do a full Dail term he won’t get an additional TD pension when he reaches 65 in addition to his DF pension?
€3 million isn’t bad! People don’t know the true costs of operating an A330 for example would be a lot lot more , which they’d then complain about as it would sit there half the time unused! I’m surprised it’s only €3 mil tbh
Why do tax payers pay for an army at all? We don’t have the capacity to defend ourselves against the English, French, German, polish, Russian, Ukrainian armies invasion( which they won’t) Close it all down, use the money for purposeful important requirements. Don’t but more useless equipment that will never be used.
@Radioska: We need an defense army to protect the government if we ever have a revolution. That’s about it.
@brendan o connell: I think you will find that the Irish army are there to support the gardai when required and thereby defend the state, that is you and I and every other person living in this island. They have also provided military support at the border and perform various roles in defending our maritime economic zone and enforcing fishing patrols as well as preventing smuggling by sea. The Irish army also performs an important international role as we are seen as being neutral and fair to both sides in our peace keeping roles. This is just a taster of the various rolls performed by our defence forces on top or protecting our democracy in the event of a revolution.
3 million is sounds like good value, compared with buying a military plane.
3 million over 5 years is way cheaper than running a military transport aircraft.
The most telling part of this story was that it “was released to Cathal Berry on behalf of Simon Coveney”.
“Independent” TD as in independent FG TD
MÍCHEÁL is in election mode
I would think that the bill would go to the UN eventually…..
Since when is 5 years a benchmark for measuring data? 600k per annum sounds a reasonable amount for flying troops to and from the places they are needed. The Journal trying to make something out of nothing again . Petty alarmist journalism
The likes of the US Milatary also use commercial airlines like OMNI Air etc to transport large amount of troops, I’m not sure on what the operating costs these days are for a wide body aircraft but 20 yrs ago it cost my aul crowd $100k a day for an MD11 operation.
The Aer Corp could do with something like the A400M,Its the exact aircraft the ARW got a lift on to KBL, The aircraft can be configured for 160 troops or medivac or carry a payload if 37000 kgs and air ro air refueling capability.
@Dave Byrne: so are they also to buy an air to air refueler?
@Gavin Minihane: The aircraft has the capability of being refueled in the air or can be used to refuel other aircraft just one of its capabilities.
@Dave Byrne: Can fuel and be fuelled mid-air. Implying it could refuel itself mid-air. Might be onto something there with the fuel version of perpetual motion. Similar to the Nelson Muntz solution to world hunger.
@Chris Linehan: A few years ago the USAF based at one of their UK bases,Was tasked to cover a medivac in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean the range was to long for the coast gaurd SAR helicopter.
They used 2 black hawk choppers and a KC-130 for the mission, The KC-130 would fuel both the choppers and if need be could be refuelled by another aircraft midair.
Seems reasonable value.
€200 million for a C17. 3 million over 5 years seems like good business to me.
Cost of buying them firstly,Then there is the maintenance cost. There are Irish troops in Mali. Why? Mali is a French created mess.
Going by Creditsafe Seraph Aviation Group was established in 2016, doesn’t appear to have any listed directors, doesn’t have any assets nor credit rating? WTF?
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