EXTRATERRESTRIALS RND UFOS 137
To find them astronomers are forced to analyze tiny wobblings in
the mother star, assuming that a large Jupiter-sized planet is capable
of altering the orbit of the star. (Imagine a dog chasing its tail. In the
same way, the mother star and its Jupiter-size planet "chase" each
other by revolving around each other. A telescope cannot see the
Jupiter-sized planet, which is dark, but the mother star is clearly visible and appears to wobble back and forth.)
The first true extrasolar planet was found in 1994 by Dr. Alexandr
Wolszczan of Pennsylvania State University, who observed planets revolving around a dead star, a rotating pulsar. Because the mother star
had probably exploded as a supernova, it seemed likely that these
planets were dead, scorched planets. The following year two Swiss astronomers, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Geneva, announced
that they had found a more promising planet with a mass similar to
Jupiter orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. Soon after that the floodgates were
opened.
In the last ten years there has been a spectacular acceleration in
the number of extrasolar planets being found. Geologist Bruce Jakosky
of the University of Colorado at Boulder says, "This is a special time in
the history of humanity. We're the first generation that has a realistic
chance of discovering life on another planet."
None of the solar systems found so far resemble our own. In fact,
they are all quite dissimilar to our solar system. Once, astronomers
thought that our solar system was typical of others throughout the universe, with circular orbits and three rings of planets surrounding the
mother star: a rocky belt of planets closest to the star, next a belt of gas
giants, and finally a comet belt of frozen icebergs.
Much to their surprise, astronomers found that none of the planets
in other solar systems followed that simple rule. In particular, Jupitersized planets were expected to be found far from the mother star, but
instead many of them orbited either extremely close to the mother star
(even closer than the orbit of Mercury) or in extremely elliptical orbits.
Either way the existence of a small, Earth-like planet orbiting in the
Goldilocks zone would be impossible in either condition. If the Jupitersized planet orbited too close to the mother star, it meant that the
To find them astronomers are forced to analyze tiny wobblings in
the mother star, assuming that a large Jupiter-sized planet is capable
of altering the orbit of the star. (Imagine a dog chasing its tail. In the
same way, the mother star and its Jupiter-size planet "chase" each
other by revolving around each other. A telescope cannot see the
Jupiter-sized planet, which is dark, but the mother star is clearly visible and appears to wobble back and forth.)
The first true extrasolar planet was found in 1994 by Dr. Alexandr
Wolszczan of Pennsylvania State University, who observed planets revolving around a dead star, a rotating pulsar. Because the mother star
had probably exploded as a supernova, it seemed likely that these
planets were dead, scorched planets. The following year two Swiss astronomers, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Geneva, announced
that they had found a more promising planet with a mass similar to
Jupiter orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. Soon after that the floodgates were
opened.
In the last ten years there has been a spectacular acceleration in
the number of extrasolar planets being found. Geologist Bruce Jakosky
of the University of Colorado at Boulder says, "This is a special time in
the history of humanity. We're the first generation that has a realistic
chance of discovering life on another planet."
None of the solar systems found so far resemble our own. In fact,
they are all quite dissimilar to our solar system. Once, astronomers
thought that our solar system was typical of others throughout the universe, with circular orbits and three rings of planets surrounding the
mother star: a rocky belt of planets closest to the star, next a belt of gas
giants, and finally a comet belt of frozen icebergs.
Much to their surprise, astronomers found that none of the planets
in other solar systems followed that simple rule. In particular, Jupitersized planets were expected to be found far from the mother star, but
instead many of them orbited either extremely close to the mother star
(even closer than the orbit of Mercury) or in extremely elliptical orbits.
Either way the existence of a small, Earth-like planet orbiting in the
Goldilocks zone would be impossible in either condition. If the Jupitersized planet orbited too close to the mother star, it meant that the