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Related Concept Videos

Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion01:10

Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion

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In the early 17th century, German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler postulated three laws for the motion of planets in the solar system. He formulated his first two laws based on the observations of his forebears, Nikolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe.
Polish astronomer Nikolaus Copernicus put forth a theory that stated a heliocentric model for the solar system. According to this heliocentric theory, all the planets, including Earth, orbit the Sun in circular orbits.
On the other hand,...
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Acceleration due to Gravity on Other Planets01:24

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The gravitational acceleration of an object near the Earth's surface is called the acceleration due to gravity. It can be measured by conducting simple experiments on Earth. However, such an experiment is impossible to conduct on the surface of other planets.
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Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion01:18

Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion

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In the early 17th century, German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler postulated three laws for the motion of planets in the solar system. In 1909, he formulated his first two laws based on the observations of his forebears, Nikolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe. However, in 1918, he published his third law of planetary motion, which gives a precise mathematical relationship between a planet's average distance from the Sun and the amount of time it takes to revolve around the Sun. It...
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Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion01:29

Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion

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In the early 17th century, German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler postulated three laws for the motion of planets in the solar system. His first law states that all planets orbit the Sun in an elliptical orbit, with the Sun at one of the ellipse's foci. Therefore, the distance of a planet from the Sun varies throughout its revolution around the Sun.
While in an elliptical orbit, the total energy of the planet is conserved. Therefore, the planet slows down when it is at apogee and...
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States of Water01:23

States of Water

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Water exists in any one of the three classical states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (steam or water vapor). The state of water depends on i) the intermolecular forces that draw molecules together and ii) the kinetic energy that leads to movements that pull them apart.
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Conditions on Early Earth02:06

Conditions on Early Earth

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Around 4 billion years ago, oceans began to condense on earth while volcanic eruptions released nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen into the primordial atmosphere. However, organisms with the characteristics of life were not initially present on earth. Scientists have used experimentation to determine how organisms evolved that could grow, reproduce, and maintain an internal environment.
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Surface Mapping of Earth-like Exoplanets using Single Point Light Curves
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The exoplanet perspective on future ice giant exploration.

H R Wakeford1, P A Dalba2

  • 1School of Physics, University of Bristol, HH Wills Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK.

Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences
|November 9, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Mini-Neptunes and super-Earths are the most common exoplanets, unlike our solar system. Understanding these planets requires further study, potentially through missions to our own ice giants.

Keywords:
characterizationexoplanetsice giants

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Area of Science:

  • Exoplanetary science
  • Planetary science
  • Atmospheric physics

Background:

  • Thousands of exoplanets have been discovered, with a surprising prevalence of mini-Neptunes and super-Earths.
  • These exoplanet sizes are not represented in our solar system, posing challenges for atmospheric interpretation.
  • Current research has begun probing the atmospheres of Neptune-sized exoplanets, revealing molecular absorption and cloud properties.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To discuss the measurable characteristics of exoplanets.
  • To highlight the need for ground truth in interpreting exoplanet atmosphere data.
  • To propose that a mission to the solar system's ice giants is crucial for understanding exoplanets.

Main Methods:

  • Review of current exoplanet survey data and instrumentation.
  • Analysis of atmospheric data from Neptune and mini-Neptune-sized exoplanets.
  • Comparative analysis between exoplanets and solar system planets.

Main Results:

  • Mini-Neptunes and super-Earths are the most typical exoplanet sizes, four times more common than giant planets.
  • Atmospheric studies reveal molecular absorption, scattering, and cloud opacity in smaller exoplanets.
  • A lack of ground truth hinders the interpretation of data for these smaller giant worlds.

Conclusions:

  • Understanding the formation, evolution, and internal composition of mini-Neptunes and super-Earths is critical.
  • Further investigation into the energy budgets of these exoplanets is needed.
  • Missions to the ice giants in our solar system are proposed as the next logical step for advancing exoplanet science.