{"id":12071,"date":"2016-01-16T01:07:38","date_gmt":"2016-01-16T06:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12071"},"modified":"2016-01-16T01:07:38","modified_gmt":"2016-01-16T06:07:38","slug":"eso-public-invited-to-watch-the-search-for-a-planet-around-proxima-centauri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12071","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Public invited to watch the search for a planet around Proxima Centauri"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESO<\/a>\u00a0opens a new outreach program that allows the general public to follow closely the hunt for an earth-like exoplanet around the nearest star Proxima Centauri<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Follow a Live Planet Hunt!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A unique outreach campaign has been launched that will allow the general public to follow scientists from around the globe as they search for an Earth-like exoplanet around the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri. The observing campaign will run from January to April 2016 and will be accompanied by blog posts<\/a> and social media updates. No one knows what the outcome will be. In the months following the observations, the scientists will analyse the data and submit the results to a peer-reviewed journal.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Pale<\/a>
Pale Red Dot is an international search for an Earth-like exoplanet around the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri. It will use HARPS, attached to ESO\u2019s 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory, as well as the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) and the Burst Optical Observer and Transient Exploring System (BOOTES). It will be one of the few outreach campaigns allowing the general public to witness the scientific process of data acquisition in modern observatories. The public will see how teams of astronomers with different specialities work together to collect, analyse \u00a0and interpret data, which may or may not be able to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest neighbour . The outreach campaign consists of blog posts and social media updates on the Pale Red Dot Twitter account and using the hashtag #PaleRedDot. For more information visit the Pale Red Dot website: http:\/\/www.palereddot.org<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a distance of just 4.2 light-years from the Sun, and located in the constellation of Centaurus<\/a>, Proxima Centauri<\/a> is the closest known star to the Sun. Previous observations have provided tantalising, but weak hints of a small companion orbiting this red dwarf star, but this new campaign will make a more sensitive search for the telltale wobbles in the dwarf star\u2019s orbital motion that might reveal the presence of an Earth-like orbiting planet.<\/p>\n

Observations will be made with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS<\/a>), attached to ESO\u2019s 3.6-metre telescope<\/a> at La Silla<\/a> Observatory. The HARPS data will be complemented by images from an assortment of robotic telescopes located across the world [1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The telescopes that comprise the Burst Optical Observer and Transient Exploring System (BOOTES<\/a>) and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT<\/a>) will support the search by measuring the brightness of Proxima Centauri every night during the two and a half month long project. These observations will help astronomers determine whether any detected wobbles in the star\u2019s motion are caused by features on its turbulent surface or by an orbiting planet.<\/p>\n

Once the data have been collected by the various telescopes, astronomers can start their analysis. In the following months, their research methods and conclusions will be described in a paper submitted to a peer-reviewed scientific journal. When the scientific community has validated the research, the results will be published, concluding a long and substantial programme of scientific research.<\/p>\n

Apart from following the scientific observations as they arrive, the Pale Red Dot outreach campaign [2]<\/a> gives the public the opportunity to see how science is done in modern observatories, and how teams of astronomers with different specialities work together to collect, analyse and interpret data, which may or may not be able to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest neighbour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are taking a risk to involve the public before we even know what the observations will be telling us \u00a0\u2014 we cannot analyse the data and draw conclusions in real time. Once we publish the paper summarising the findings it\u2019s entirely possible that we will have to say that we have not been able to find evidence for the presence of an Earth-like exoplanet around Proxima Centauri. But the fact that we can search for such small objects with such extreme precision is simply mind-boggling,<\/em>\u201d said Guillem Anglada-Escude, the Project Coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to share the excitement of the search with people and show them how science works behind the scenes, the trial and error process and the continued efforts that are necessary for the discoveries that people normally hear about in the news. By doing so, we hope to encourage more people towards STEM <\/em>[3]<\/a> subjects and science in general<\/em>,\u201d adds Guillem.<\/p>\n

The Pale Red Dot outreach campaign will illuminate the often unseen side of planet hunting with background articles and through social media. A bustling array of blog posts<\/a><\/strong> on many topics \u2014 including planet-hunting techniques, ESO\u2019s\u00a0European Extremely Large Telescope<\/a> (E-ELT), and the lives of stars \u2014 are planned, written by the astronomers, scientists and engineers from the observatories involved, as well as science writers, observers and other experts in the field.<\/p>\n

There will be daily social media updates, briefing the public on how the observations are going and any events taking place at the three observatories involved. To receive updates, people are invited to follow the Pale Red Dot Twitter account<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and the hashtag #PaleRedDot<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The name of the campaign was inspired by the famous \u201cpale blue dot\u201d image of the Earth, taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 on its way to interstellar space. The phrase was later used by Carl Sagan for his essay, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space<\/em>. As Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star, astronomers expect that an exoplanet orbiting it will appear reddish. At the same time, just as Voyager\u2019s image of Earth was a remarkable achievement for humanity, finding an Earth-like exoplanet around the closest star to us would be a another step towards answering humanity\u2019s biggest question: Are we alone?<\/p>\n

The Pale Red Dot campaign will begin in earnest on 15 January 2016 with observations commencing just three days later from ESO\u2019s La Silla Observatory, situated at the edge of the Chilean Atacama Desert, and continuing until the first week of April. All of the scientific data obtained as part of the project are expected to become publicly available for all to exploit in late 2016.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>[1] The team of astronomers leading the observations and outreach campaign are: Guillem Anglada-Escude, Gavin Coleman, John Strachan (Queen Mary University of London, UK), James Jenkins \u00a0(Universidad de Chile, Chile), Cristina Rodriguez-Lopez, Zaira M. Berdinas, Pedro J. Amado (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia\/CSIC), Julien Morin (Universite de Montpellier, France), Mikko Tuomi (Centre for Astrophysics Research\/University of Hertfordshire, UK), Yiannis Tsapras (Heidelberg\/LCOGT, Astronomisches Rechen-Institut \u2013 Heidelberg & LCOGT) and Christopher J. Marvin (University of Goettingen).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[2] The outreach campaign is coordinated by the project team with support from the outreach departments of ESO, Queen Mary University of London, Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia\/CSIC, Universite de Montpellier, University of Goettingen, Universidad de Chile and Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[3] STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESO\u00a0opens a new outreach program that allows the general public to follow closely the hunt for an earth-like exoplanet around the nearest star Proxima Centauri: Follow a Live Planet Hunt! A unique outreach campaign has been launched that will allow the general public to follow scientists from around the globe as they search for an … Continue reading ESO: Public invited to watch the search for a planet around Proxima Centauri<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,46,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-exoplanets","category-space-participation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-38H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13077,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13077","url_meta":{"origin":12071,"position":0},"title":"ESO: Earth scale planet found in habitable zone of our nearest star, Proxima Centauri","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This ESO (European Southern Observatory) report\u00a0has had\u00a0probably the\u00a0most violated embargo of any ESO news. Great to see the full report finally made available to everyone: Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star Pale Red Dot campaign reveals Earth-mass world in orbit around Proxima Centauri Astronomers using ESO telescopes and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"This artist\u2019s impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image. Proxima b is a little more massive than the Earth and orbits in the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri, where the temperature is suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/eso1629j1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24864,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=24864","url_meta":{"origin":12071,"position":1},"title":"ESO: Third planet found at Proxima Centauri, the star nearest our Sun","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO): New planet detected around star closest to the Sun A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (ESO\u2019s VLT) in Chile have found evidence of another planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/eso1629f1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/eso1629f1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/eso1629f1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/eso1629f1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14083,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14083","url_meta":{"origin":12071,"position":2},"title":"Video: “A Journey to Alpha Centauri” – SETI institute seminar by Christian Marois","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr.\u00a0Christian Marois of the University of Victoria gave\u00a0a talk about the observation of an earth-sized planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest known star to earth:\u00a0A Journey to Alpha Centauri | SETI Institute The Alpha Centauri star system is ideal to search for habitable planets by various observing techniques due to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/b5rInKFFdUs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13175,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13175","url_meta":{"origin":12071,"position":3},"title":"Video: Discussion of the earth-scale planet found orbiting Proxima Centauri","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The discovery of an\u00a0Earth scale planet in the habitable zone of our nearest star, Proxima Centauri\u00a0was recent big news. Here is a video of a\u00a0SETI Institute panel discussion of the finding:\u00a0A Terrestrial Exoplanet at Proxima Centauri | SETI Institute. The video starts with Guillem Anglada, who led the group that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/_6eCF2FVcfo\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17069,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17069","url_meta":{"origin":12071,"position":4},"title":"ESO: Evidence found for super-earth orbiting Barnard’s Star","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest ESO (European Southern Observatory) report: Super-Earth Orbiting Barnard\u2019s Star Red Dots campaign uncovers compelling evidence of exoplanet around closest single star to Sun The nearest single star to the Sun hosts an exoplanet at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth \u2014 a so-called super-Earth. One\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/eso1837a1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13329,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13329","url_meta":{"origin":12071,"position":5},"title":"Project Blue: Crowd-funded space telescope aims to image exoplanet","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Project Blue\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0BoldlyGo Institute\u00a0 is a new science initiative to capture the first photograph of a potential Earth-like planet orbiting another Sun-like star. The mission aims to launch a lightweight space telescope to directly image exoplanets around Earth\u2019s nearest star system, Alpha Centauri A and B. With a budget the fraction\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ClxA85v5QI8\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12073,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12071\/revisions\/12073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}