Extra Solar Planets Lab
There are two types of planets in the solar system,
terrestrial planets (like the Earth) and gas giants (like Jupiter).
How do the mass, radius, and densities of these planetary types
differ
Let’s say you discover a planet that’s 50 times the mass of
the Earth.Even without visiting the planet, what might you presume
about the planet (what will its general characteristics be)
How do the distances from the Sun differ for terrestrial and
Jovian planets
Go to the Web site for the Extrasolar Planet
https://allaplusessays.com/order Look through the page. How many
planets have been discovered to date
Click on the “Catalog” icon. Choose Candidates detected by
Radial Velocity from the pull down Planet menu. Look through many
of the discoveries. Are these planets similar in mass or are they
all very different (Note that masses are given in Jupiter Masses,
thus a 1 value is equal to Jupiter’s mass.)
The masses of the planets detected by radial velocity seem to
flucuatte greatly. They are not all similar.
Why do we mainly see only mass values (Think about the Radial
Velocity detection method and what information it gives us about a
planet.)
Choose Candidates detected by “Transiting Planets”. Do these
planets seem to be any different from the “radial velocity” planets
Why do we see both mass and radius on many of these (Talk
about the detection method.)
Click on the Diagrams button from the very top nav bar. You
will see scatter plots or histograms of the properties of the
candidates (for example, the numbers of objects in given ranges of
mass).Select the Histogram Plot mode (near top right). Select
various properties to plot from the pull down menu and observe the
results (e.g. orbital period, planet radius, planet mass, etc.).
You don’t need to change any other settings.
Answer the following questions:
1. Are most of the planets found using this method more
massive or less massive than Jupiter Note again that the unit “MJ”
means “Jupiter masses”.
2. Do most of these planets have orbital periods that are
shorter or longer than a year
3. Are most of the planets closer to or farther from their
stars than the Earth is to the Sun
4. Now select the Scatter plot mode (top right). Here you can
look at the relationship between different planetary and stellar
parameters for ALL planets that have been found.Inspect (see
question below) the plot for PLOT 1: “Semi-Major Axis” versus
“Planetary Mass,”; using a linear scale for both axes (change the
range of the x-axis to better see the data in certain areas of the
plot, like min= 0, max = 10, and then max = 5, max = 2, and so on).
PLOT 2: “Semi-Major Axis” versus “Orbital Eccentricity,”
choose x-axis min= 0, max = 10;
PLOT 3a: “Planetary Mass” versus “Planetary Radius” choose
x-axis min= 0, max = 5, notice that our Jupiter would be found at
(1,1) on the plot. How are these planets different from our Jupiter
PLOT 3b: keeping the variables the same, change the x-axis
min= 0, max = 1, these are all the planets equal to or smaller than
Jupiter. How do these planets compare to the ones in our Solar
System
PLOT 3c: keeping the variables the same, change the x-axis
min= 0, max = .1, these are all the planets similar to Earth-size,
Earth would be at the point (.003,.09), very near the bottom left
corner. How do these planets compare to the terrestrial planets in
our Solar System
5. Do you notice any patterns or clumps What does this tell
us about the planets we’ve found Describe patterns for each plot
listed above, be sure to label your answer to each plot.
6. Research what the “Habitable Zone” is for a star and
define it in your own words(provide your reference).
a. Where is the Habitable Zone in our own Solary System
b. What kind of life would we expect to be in this “Habitable Zone” around other stars
c. What would it take for life to survive outside of a planet’s Habitable Zone Explain. (What physical processes might be going on )
d. Are there places in our own Solar System outside the
Habitable Zone where we theorize life might exist Explain, try to
be specific in your locations.
Write a summary that includes a short comparison between the
properties of the planets in our Solar System that you studied
above to the properties of the extrasolar planets you studied here.
What conclusions can you draw about Earth-sized planets, are they
rare or numerous
Make sure to include all references.
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