Astronomers develop new technique for detecting habitable planets around distant stars

Astronomers develop new technique for detecting habitable planets around distant stars
A team of
astronomers claimed to have developed a novel instrument to locate livable planets in other solar systems by measuring the surface gravity of the stars
that are too distant to be studied with predictable methods. Read Also How Researchers Have Developed Socks That Generate Electricity Using Urine.

Astronomers have already acknowledged at least a dozen
“Goldilocks” planets in other solar systems that are neither too hot nor too
cold, but just right to support life. But a planet’s likelihood to support life
depends on its star’s properties. Determining the star’s surface gravity can
suggest the size and other details of the planets in its system.

Conservative methods
can assist scientists to compute surface gravity of bright stars that are moderately
close by, but that leaves out nearly one billion trillion stars and their
planet systems
Jaymie Matthews, a professor of astronomy at the University of
British Columbia, said, “The size of an exoplanet is measured relative to the
size of its parent star. If you find a planet around a star that you think is
Sun-like but is actually a giant, you may have fooled yourself into thinking
you’ve found a habitable Earth-sized world.”
.therefore, Matthews
and study co-author Thomas Kallinger determined that using the restrained
variations in distant stars’ brightness caused by convection and surface
turbulence to estimate surface gravity. The researchers liken their new
technique to having a bathroom scale on a far-away star that is precise to
within a few per cent.
The details of the newly developed autocorrelation time scale technique
appeared in a recent edition of the journal Science Advances.
In a statement provided to BBC, the haul of gravity on a distant
star can now be measured more precisely, shedding light on other worlds, say
astronomers. The method makes it possible to study even the faintest of stars.
“Our technique can tell you how big and bright is the star,
and if a planet around it is the right size and temperature to have water
oceans, and maybe life,” said Prof Jaymie Matthews.
 According to BABW News
report which said, Researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria have
discovered a new method for determining a distant star’s gravitational pull,
which has thoughtful implications for studying its uniqueness. According to
study co-author Professor Jaymie Matthews, the innovative technique will allow
astronomers to know how full-size and bright a star is, as well as if there are
any planets orbiting within its habitable zone.
Using data collected by the Kepler space telescope, a team led
by Professor Thomas Kallinger showed that by examining the variations in
brightness of stars that are millions of light-years from the Earth,
measurements of surface gravity could be fine-tuned to a degree never achieved
before.
In a statement provided to TampaBayReview, if scientists are
able to measure the gravity on the surface of a star, they could find the
weights (from the Earth) of any matter on that star. Your weight will not be
same on every star, kindly envisage that those stars have a solid surface and
you stand on it. Do you know that your weigh will be  almost 20 times heavier on the surface of the
Sun than the Earth? Higher the gravitational pull, higher the weight of any
matter over there. A red giant star which has pathetic gravity can weigh you
lighter than the Earth, almost 50 times lighter.

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