amra@ihuxj.UUCP (Steven L. Aldrich) (12/12/84)
*** I'M NOT AN EXPERT ON THIS SUBJECT SO PLEASE ***
*** FORGIVE ANY ERRORS ON MY PART. IF I'M WRONG ***
*** I'D LIKE TO KNOW. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ALL HELP ***
Has anyone got some "inside info" on the discovery of the first
planet outside our solar system? I'm sure there are many in this
news-group who'd be interested in this subject.
According to my info, the star VB-8 is 21 light years distant. It is
in the constellation "Ophiuchus". The planet has been designated as
VB-8B I believe. It is 30-80 times the mass of Jupiter with an estimated
temperature of 2000 degrees F. at the upper layers of its atmosphere. It
may be composed of "hot" gas primarily, according to the experts.
The discovery was jointly announced by the University of Arizonia, National
Optical Astronomy Observatories, and the National Science Foundation who
sponsored the work.
Any and all information is Greatly Appreciated, Thanks In Advance!
Peace & Best Wishes;
Steve Aldrich (ihnp4!ihuxj!amra)
===> New Home As Of 12-17-84: ihnp4!ihu1n!amra <===mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (12/14/84)
I was under the impression that a planet bigger than 2 or 3 times Jupiter
could not exist, because it would ignite and be a dwarf star if it were
any heavier. If this new object is a planet over 30 times Jupiter mass,
is the theory wrong, or is it a companion star rather than a planet?
The reported temperature suggests that it might have an internal source
of heat. Can a hydrogen-burning star exist at 1000-2000K?
--
Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt
{uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsrgv!dciem!mmtgts@dmcnh.UUCP (12/18/84)
+<Jupiter? Jupiter? Roll out the gin!>+
"Igniting" is a continuum. Jupiter radiates more energy than
it absorbs due to the fusion occuring in its core from the intense
pressure. Larger planets would radiate more and more energy from
more complete fusing until it could be considered a star (red-
dwarf status).
The fact that there are so many binary star systems
would indicate that the processes that occur to create a stellar
system leaves much mass in orbit around the major stellar mass.
It is my belief that almost every star has a "planetary" system
consisting of some amount of orbiting mass. It seems natural
that we discover the largest ones first.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------holmes@dalcs.UUCP (Ray Holmes) (12/22/84)
> > I was under the impression that a planet bigger than 2 or 3 times Jupiter > could not exist, because it would ignite and be a dwarf star if it were > any heavier. If this new object is a planet over 30 times Jupiter mass, > is the theory wrong, or is it a companion star rather than a planet? > The reported temperature suggests that it might have an internal source > of heat. Can a hydrogen-burning star exist at 1000-2000K? > -- > > Martin Taylor > {allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt > {uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsrgv!dciem!mmt And I was under the impression that anything even slightly larger than Jupiter could become a star. I believe that Jupiter does, in fact, have an internal heat source. Maybe I'm wrong, but a planet 30 times that size seems to be nearly impossible. Ray
josh@v1.UUCP (Josh Knight) (12/24/84)
> "Igniting" is a continuum. Jupiter radiates more energy than > it absorbs due to the fusion occuring in its core from the intense > pressure. Larger planets would radiate more and more energy from > more complete fusing until it could be considered a star (red- > dwarf status). Igniting isn't continuous if one means conversion of hydrogen nuclei to helium nuclei plus some energy (with or without catalysts like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen). If the central temperature and density get high enough, hydrogen "burning" starts and the star stays basically in the same condition while some fraction of the hydrogen is converted into helium...called the "main sequence". Jupiter hasn't ever "burned" hydogen (may have consumed it's primordial deuterium, but I'm not sure about the numbers). It does indeed radiate more energy than it receives from the sun, but that is because it is slowly contracting...converting gravitational potential energy to thermal energy and then radiating it away. This is what things that aren't big enough to become stars do. Below some mass, they don't burn hydrogen at their cores and so don't have a main sequence phase. See net.astro for more (better?) info. Josh Knight, IBM T.J. Watson Research josh at YKTVMX on BITNET, josh.yktvmx.ibm on CSnet, ...!philabs!v1!josh