radial velocity method tagged posts

This is an artist’s conceptions of the probable planet orbiting a star called GJ 411. Credit: Courtesy of Ricardo Ramirez

An international team of astronomers released the largest-ever compilation of exoplanet-detecting observations made using a radial velocity method. They demonstrated how these observations can be used to hunt for planets by detecting more than 100 potential exoplanets, including one orbiting the 4th -closest star to our own Solar System, ~8.1 light years away from Earth. The radial velocity method is one of the most successful techniques for finding and confirming planets. It takes advantage of the fact that in addition to a planet being influenced by the gravity of the star it orbits, the planet’s gravity also affects the star...

This false-color image from a sub-millimeter interferometric telescope shows the circumstellar disk of gas and dust that surrounds star CI Tau. Credit: Stephane Guilloteau/University of Bordeaux

Jupiter-like ‘CI Tau b’ orbits 2 million-year-old star in constellation Taurus. In contradiction to the long-standing idea that larger planets take longer to form, US astronomers today announced the discovery of a giant planet in close orbit around a star so young that it still retains a disk of circumstellar gas and dust.

“For decades, conventional wisdom held that large Jupiter-mass planets take a minimum of 10 million years to form,” said Christopher Johns-Krull. “That’s been called into question over the past decade” CI Tau b is at least 8X larger than Jupiter, ~450 light years from Earth...

An artist’s conception of an exoplanet courtesy of NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech. Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Planet-hunting is an ongoing process that’s resulting in the discovery of more and more planets orbiting distant stars. New work reports on a technological upgrade for one method of finding planets or confirming other planetary detections. One of the most-popular and successful techniques for finding and confirming planets the radial velocity method. It takes advantage of the fact that the planet’s gravity also affects the star in return. As a result, astronomers are able to detect the tiny wobbles the planet induces as its gravity tugs on the star. Using this method, astronomers have detected hundreds of exoplanets.

For certain kinds of low-mass stars, however, there are limitations to ...