Extreme Planets

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NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC) ENLARGE Image


EXTREME PLANETS
This artist's concept depicts the pulsar planet system discovered by Aleksander Wolszczan in 1992. Wolszczan used the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico to find three planets - the first of any kind ever found outside our solar system - circling a pulsar called PSR B1257+12. Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars, which are the collapsed cores of exploded massive stars. They spin and pulse with radiation, much like a lighthouse beacon. Here, the pulsar's twisted magnetic fields are highlighted by the blue glow.

All three pulsar planets are shown in this picture; the farthest two from the pulsar (closest in this view) are about the size of Earth. Radiation from charged pulsar particles would probably rain down on the planets, causing their night skies to light up with auroras similar to our Northern Lights. One such aurora is illustrated on the planet at the bottom of the picture.

Since this landmark discovery, more than 160 extrasolar planets have been observed around stars that are burning nuclear fuel. The planets spotted by Wolszczan are still the only ones around a dead star. They also might be part of a second generation of planets, the first having been destroyed when their star blew up. The Spitzer Space Telescope's discovery of a dusty disk around a pulsar might represent the beginnings of a similarly "reborn" planetary system.

Source sscws1.ipac.caltech.edu 5thApril 2006
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC) ENLARGE Image


Out of the Dust, A Planet is Born
In this artist's conception, a possible newfound planet spins through a clearing in a nearby star's dusty, planet-forming disc. This clearing was detected around the star CoKu Tau 4 by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers believe that an orbiting massive body, like a planet, may have swept away the star's disc material, leaving a central hole.

The possible planet is theorized to be at least as massive as Jupiter, and may have a similar appearance to what the giant planets in our own solar system looked like billions of years ago. A graceful ring, much like Saturn's, spins high above the planet's cloudy atmosphere. The ring is formed from countless small orbiting particles of dust and ice, leftovers from the initial gravitational collapse that formed the possible giant planet.

If we were to visit a planet like this, we would have a very different view of the universe. The sky, instead of being the familiar dark expanse lit by distant stars, would be dominated by the thick disc of dust that fills this young planetary system. The view looking toward CoKu Tau 4 would be relatively clear, as the dust in the interior of the disc has fallen into the accreting star. A bright band would seem to surround the central star, caused by light scattered back by the dust in the disc. Looking away from CoKu Tau 4, the dusty disc would appear dark, blotting out light from all the stars in the sky except those which lie well above the plane of the disc.

Source sscws1.ipac.caltech.edu 27th May 2004
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Famous Quotes
About the time we can make the ends meet,
somebody moves the ends. Herbert Hoover
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