![]() ![]() The maximum dimming of the star occurs in the center of the transit just before the star becomes gradually brighter again," he explains. When a planet moves in front of a star, it therefore initially blocks less starlight than at the mid-time of the transit. "In reality, however, a stellar disk appears slightly darker at the edge than in the center. René Heller from MPS, first author of the current publications. "Standard search algorithms attempt to identify sudden drops in brightness," explains Dr. If a star happens to have a planet whose orbital plane is aligned with the line of sight from Earth, the planet occults a small fraction of the stellar light as it passes in front of the star once per orbit. In their search for distant worlds, scientists often use the so-called transit method to look for stars with periodically recurring drops in brightness. Common search algorithms were not sensitive enough. And they have another thing in common: all 18 planets could not be detected in the data from the Kepler Space Telescope so far. The smallest of them is only 69 percent of the size of the Earth the largest is barely more than twice the Earth's radius. The 18 newly discovered worlds fall into the category of Earth-sized planets. Moreover, small worlds are fascinating targets in the search for Earth-like, potentially habitable planets outside the solar system. This percentage likely does not reflect the real conditions in space, however, since small planets are much harder to track down than big ones. Of these so-called exoplanets, about 96 percent are significantly larger than our Earth, most of them more comparable with the dimensions of the gas giants Neptune or Jupiter. Somewhat more than 4000 planets orbiting stars outside our solar system are known so far. The scientists describe their results in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The team estimates that their new method has the potential of finding more than 100 additional exoplanets in the Kepler mission’s entire data set. The researchers re-analyzed a part of the data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope with a new and more sensitive method that they developed. One of them is one of the smallest known so far another one could offer conditions friendly to life. The worlds are so small that previous surveys had overlooked them. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), the Georg August University of Göttingen, and the Sonneberg Observatory have discovered 18 Earth-sized planets beyond the solar system. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. UTSA will be an exemplar for strategic growth & innovative excellence.UTSA will be a great public research university.UTSA will be a model for student success.We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered. To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world. The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service.
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