The Search for Extra-Solar Terrestrial Planets: Techniques and Technology: Proceedings of a Conference held in Boulder, Colorado, May 14–17, 1995 - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 079234474X ISBN 13: 9780792344742

Publisher: Springer, 1997

Synopsis

J 2 J. MICHAEL SHl:LL , HARLEY A. THRO:\SOX, JR. , A:'>D S. ALAN STER:\3 I University of Colorado, Dept. of Astrophysical. Planetary, &. Atmospheric Sciences 2 University of Wyoming and KASA Headquarters, Code SR 3 Southwest Research Institute, Boulder Office On May 15-17. 1995, three Rocky Motultain research institutions hosted a confererJce to dis­ cuss the scientific basis, teclmological options, and programmatic implications of a large-scale effort to find and study Earth-like planets outside the Solar System. Our workshop attracted scientists, erJgineers, space agency administrators, and the public media to discuss and debate the most promising teclmological options and opportunities. Major programs and proposals to search for and study exo-planets were preserJted and discussed. In addition, our meeting - incided ·with NASA's "roadmap" study for the Exploration of Neighboring Planetary Systems (~"'\PS). Our meeting was the first international confererJce on this subject, affording an op­ portunity for several members of this study to participate in the debates over new technologies. Our meeting proyed to be timely. Shortly thereafter, in late 199·5 and early 1996, two groups of astronomers annotulced the first discoveries of planetary companions to nearby stars. using high-precision radial velocity measuremerJts to detect the gravitational reflex motion of the star. The first three detections include a Jupiter-mass companion to the solar-like star. 51 Pegasi, and two remarkable objects of mass at least 2. 3 and 6.

About this title

Synopsis

This book contains the invited talks from the 1995 Boulder conference on the search for extra-solar planets. It describes the scientific basis, technological options, and programmatic implications of large-scale efforts to find and study Earth-like planets outside the Solar System, and is targeted at astronomers, planetary scientists, engineers, and graduate students. These are among the first papers in this rapidly expanding field, driven by the first discoveries of planetary companions to nearby stars and providing the current status of the search for extra-solar planets. What sort of objects are we looking for in planetary atmospheres and planetary-system architectures? What techniques are currently feasible, both from the ground and in space? How can interferometers be optimized to discern faint planets in the glare of their parent stars? The detection and study of Earth-like planets outside our Solar System will be one of the great scientific, technological, and philosophical events of our time, affecting our understanding of the Universe and the place of life within it.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 079234474X
• ISBN 13: 9780792344742
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 159
• Editor: Shull J.M., Thronson Jr. Harley A., Stern S. Alan