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Extra-Solar Habitable Zones
Jun 08, 2009
Could
there be Earth-like planets circling
other stars in our galaxy?
HD 189733b is not an Earth-like
planet. It is larger than Jupiter
and circles so close to its parent
star that the atmosphere reaches
more than 800 degrees Celsius. HD
189733b represents the majority of
worlds that have been discovered
revolving around other stars. Most
of them are located in close orbits,
and most of them are gas giants.
The primary reason for the large
number of planets in this group is
the detection methods used to find
them. Astronomers started out
looking for planets around other
stars by analyzing how the stars
were moving. It was thought that a
star with a planet swinging around
it would show minute changes in its
spectrum as it was pulled
side-to-side by gravitational
inertia. As the planet's mass pulled
on the star, it would create a
"wobble" in the spectrum. Based on
the size of that wobble, a
determination of the planet's mass
could be made.
Since the initial instrumentation
was not as sensitive as later
versions, it was the larger more
gravitationally influential planets
that were located first. Now, there
have been more than 300 planets
discovered, some with an Earth-like
mass.
The Kepler mission, a
one-meter-diameter NASA space
telescope that will launch March 5,
2009, will use a new technique to
count Earth-sized planets in the
habitable zones around other stars.
When a planet passes in front of a
star, the starlight should dim
slightly. Kepler will search for
that subtle flicker, with complete
data analysis available sometime in
2013. It is expected that Kepler
will more than double the catalog of
extra-solar planets.
According to the Electric Universe
theory, planets ought to be found
around other stars. There is a
mechanism that causes planetary
birth and subsequent electrical
interactions during close encounters
with other bodies. Stars "give
birth" electrically in a discharge
from their charged interiors. Since
stars are not powered by hydrogen
fusion but by incoming electric
currents, whatever fusion does take
place is most likely taking place
close to or on the surface. There is
no super-compressed, intensely hot
core, radiating energy from
thousands of kilometers deep inside.
Instead, heavy elements are
synthesized in the exterior plasma
discharges and then "precipitate"
into the star's interior like a rain
of metal atoms.
According to EU physicist
Wal Thornhill:
"External electrical or
gravitational stresses on a star may
cause some of its internal positive
charge to be offset from the center
of the star. And since like charges
repel, the offset charge will tend
to accelerate toward the surface. It
is a form of internal lightning.
This process may lead to the
expulsion of a substantial portion
of the positively charged interior
of the star. The visible result is a
nova, or star-wide lightning flash,
as electrons in the stellar
atmosphere rush toward the emerging
positively charged matter. The
ejected material constitutes a
powerful electric current, which
generates its own magnetic field.
That magnetic field constricts the
charged matter to form a jet. The
leading matter is neutralized and
stops accelerating, causing the
following charged matter to pile
into it. So is born a companion star
or gas giant planet. This explains
why so many stars have been found to
have extremely close-orbiting gas
giant planets."
As orbits adapt to a new stable
configuration, dust, stones and
boulders arriving from space or
blasted from distant parts of the
same body are deposited. Plasma
etching, combined with ionic
discharges, are responsible for
rounding the rocks, scattering them
uniformly across the landscape, and
leaving "flow streaks" from
electrical "winds." Blowing gases
and flowing liquids require action
over long spans of time. Electrical
erosion, caused by forces billions
of times stronger than mechanical
forces, can achieve observed effects
in short times.
Electric Universe advocates predict
that when it becomes possible to
send probes to other star systems
like our own, we will most likely
find similar planetary systems in
orbit around them. The electric
forces that formed and energize this
planet most likely formed the
exoplanets, so it is expected that
we will find Earth-like planets
sooner or later.
Stephen Smith
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