Saturday, April 29, 2023

3976 - FAST RADIO BURSTS - what can they tell us?

 

-   3976 -   FAST  RADIO  BURSTS  -  what can they tell us?    Recent observations from the “Very Large Array” (VLA) radio telescopes in New Mexico revealed evidence of a magnetic field on the rocky exoplanet “YZ Ceti b”, which orbits a star about 12 light-years away from Earth.


------------  3976  -  FAST  RADIO  BURSTS  -  what can they tell us?

-    On Earth, we often take our planet’s magnetic field for granted. It protects living creatures from the sun’s rays, draws compass needles north and even creates beautiful auroras.

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-   Other worlds in our solar system have magnetic fields too, but what about Earth-like planets around other stars?

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-    This is the first possible detection of a magnetic field on a planet beyond our solar system.  This research shows not only that this particular rocky exoplanet likely has a magnetic field but provides a promising method to find more.

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-    Magnetic fields are particularly interesting to astronomers because they’re an important part of making a planet habitable. Without a magnetic field, energetic particles from a star can erode a planet’s atmosphere, stripping away the blanket of gas that can support life.

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-    The search for potentially habitable or life-bearing worlds in other solar systems depends in part on being able to determine if rocky, Earth-like exoplanets actually have magnetic fields.

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-  “YZ Ceti b” is not a habitable planet. To detect the radio waves from a small, far-away exoplanet’s magnetic field, astronomers had to look towards a particularly extreme example. YZ Ceti b is quite close to its star, far too close to be a pleasant temperature for life, and orbiting at such a pace  that one of its years is only two Earth days long.

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-    This is so close in that the planet “plows” through material sloughing off of the star. The planet’s magnetic field pushes electrically charged plasma back toward the star, which then interacts with the star’s own magnetic field, emitting bright flashes of energy. These were an aurora on the star, likely created by the interactions with the planet.

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-     There should also be an aurora on the planet if it has its own atmosphere. They arn’t 100% certain whether the stellar aurora is entirely caused by YZ Ceti b, though. Further observations are needed to confirm this is actually due to a rocky planet’s magnetic field, and not just a feature of the star itself.

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                   April 29, 2023                 3976                                                                                                                          

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--------------------- ---  Saturday, April 29, 2023  ---------------------------

 

 

 

 

         

 

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