back to article Gravitational lensing event could provide ideal conditions for planet hunting

A rare gravitational lensing event will give researchers a precious chance at hunting new planets in Alpha Centauri in 2028, astronomers have predicted. Research published [PDF] in Astronomy & Astrophysics shows that data taken from the European Southern Observatory’s telescopes has led researchers to predict a gravitational …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    That's one...

    big needle in a haystack attempt there. But with the right tools, it is doable. I'd not want to be the one holding the magnifying glass steady for that though. Oh, and how long a wait before they can confirm the observation with a second attempt, as it's not "science" unless they do. Right? Or will they wiggle out of that requirement? ;)

    1. asdf

      Re: That's one...

      >how long a wait before they can confirm the observation

      Well if they know what they are looking for and what it looks like, position, orbit, mass. albedo, etc it makes it easier to see with other methods and eventually we may well be able to see it without needing the lensing event with better technology. This is super super close in astronomical terms not half way back to the big bang like some other transient lensing events. Hell we may well go there in the next few thousand years and see for ourselves, who knows.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: That's one...

        Yep. Seems the joke went over at least 2 peoples heads. It may be a few years before [some?] stars pass each other again. But other methods could confirm the results. Scientific data is even better when you have multiple methods of confirming the same things. In this case such as dimming, wobble and whatever else we can think of.

        1. asdf

          Re: That's one...

          >Yep. Seems the joke went over at least 2 peoples heads.

          The main focus will still be on what's near Alpha Centari not so much what its lensing behind it though.

        2. IT Poser
          Pint

          Re: That's one...

          While the joke most certainly went over my head I don't mind at all. Thanks to the misunderstanding I spent far more time trying to understand the paper itself. After a reread the relation positions of αCen A/B don't matter much.

          Cheers for encouraging me to learn something I would have otherwise only glanced at.

    2. IT Poser

      Re: That's one...

      I am no astronomer but it appears that an additional star system comes into play in the 2038 event. This is probably a unique stellar alignment so an identical attempt would be impossible. The orbital period of αCen A/B is roughly 80 years so, assuming a useful background star is available, similar observations could be made, I am assuming, every 40 years. However once we know what might be there to find and roughly where it is other methods can be used to confirm the results. My hope is that by 2038 we will be able to see big stuff like planets anyway and we will be looking for things like asteroid belts and comets.

      "An exceptional

      event will take place in early May 2028, when αCen A will come within ρmin = 0.015 ± 0.135 arcsec of the mK = 7.8 star 2MASS

      14392160-6049528 (hereafter S5)"

      Astronomers please correct everything mistake I've made.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: That's one...

        > I am no astronomer but it appears that an additional star system comes into play in the 2038 event.

        But as any Unix sysadmin knows, the world ends in 2038 anyway.

        03:14:08 UTC on 19th January 2038, to be precise.

  2. asdf

    JWST ftw

    Wow with hopefully James Webb (telescope) online by then this could be very exciting indeed.

  3. DNTP

    Oh no the planets are too small to see directly

    So we'll just use stars as telescopes, unless management finds out that's not an intended use case for that hardware item.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Management has been very hands-off ever since the Big Bang

      Apparently if your design is intelligent enough at the outset then you don't need to run around tweaking it the whole time - just delegate the day-to-day to the inhabiting team and get on with signing off the paperwork for the next universe.

    2. xeroks

      Re: Oh no the planets are too small to see directly

      Don't worry: they're past their warranty period. We wouldn't get our money back even if we were simply looking up at them in wonder.

  4. Faux Science Slayer

    Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

    Earth has massive internal fission, replenishing oceans and constantly eroding atmosphere.

    Earth has a magnetosphere, blocking destructive UV rays and massive Moon lifting the crust

    and stirring the oceans. Required biosphere conditions are one in a million.

    1. Mark Exclamation

      Re: Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

      And with BEEELLIONS of galaxies, each containing BEEELLLIONS of planets, I'd say one in a million is pretty good odds.

      1. Lee D Silver badge

        Re: Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

        Did Terry Pratchett teach you guys nothing?

        Million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.

    2. Yesnomaybe

      Re: Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

      "Earth has massive internal fission, replenishing oceans and constantly eroding atmosphere.

      Earth has a magnetosphere, blocking destructive UV rays and massive Moon lifting the crust

      and stirring the oceans. Required biosphere conditions are one in a million."

      I find myself reluctantly agreeing with F.S.S. I think it's the first time, but I still feel a bit dirty...

      The Earth (and our solar system) evolved in such a wildly improbable way, I think million-to-one is incredibly optimistic. Take the different characteristics in isolation, and yes; That will happen regularly. Add them all together, and the odds become "astronomical".

      If we are talking about microbes and such, I think they are likely to happen elsewhere, but I think there is a reasonable chance we are the only self-aware species in the galaxy. (I deliberately didn't use "Intelligent" there, as it sets off the "Oh there is no intelligent life here either" comments, and they tend to irritate me.)

      1. Lee D Silver badge

        Re: Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

        And the problem with astronomical numbers? They appear quite ordinary when you compare them to other astronomical numbers.

        Even at millions to one, being the only one in the galaxy would be unlikely.

        Milky Way: 200-400bn stars, 100bn planets minimum.

        That's a hundred thousand planets with life at even a million to one. Even at a billion to one, that's 100 of them.

        Visible Universe: 2 TRILLION galaxies. Each with roughly the same as above.

        And that's just what we can see.

        Chances are that there's life in our galaxy and it's basically certain there's life in the universe. The problem is really when you run the number for "Would we ever meet them?" to which the answer is - probabilistically - a resounding no.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

      @FSS - Ahem. that's 'Goldilocks' distance. On top of your not understanding the sheer numbers involved, I'm afraid.

      1. Vic

        Re: Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

        On top of your not understanding the sheer numbers involved

        On top of his not understanding the sheer numbers involved anything.

        There, FTFY.

        Vic.

    4. Yesnomaybe

      Re: Cinderella orbit distance is a JOKE....

      https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160121110932.htm

  5. deconstructionist

    small point space ship "5th the speed of light"

    factor of 5 out 12th the speed of light and only 1 gram in size and it requires the power of 58 nuclear power stations to power the earth based death ray lasers to hit the sails which do not exist..

    of course we can make space ships that are useful at one gram with a myriad of instruments...needs to be special stuff though not to get vaporized from the power of those earth based death ray lasers that don't exist but still hey we sent a post card to the stars pity we had to turn an area the size of Scotland into a nuclear power plant.

    Again another class bit of science...we cant get to mars without failing half of the time

  6. Alien8n

    Helliconia

    If they do find a habitable planet they should call it Helliconia, send some observers and beam the observation results back to Earth as a kind of space opera :)

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like