First, they used Spitzer to collect the total infrared
light from both the stars and planets .edu/Media

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit:

http://www. Only distant outer planets and an orbiting
icy outpost of comets would have survived.

sentient cataclysmic

As more are discovered, Spitzer will be able to collect their light,
a bonus for the observatory, considering it was not originally designed to see
extrasolar planets.

The Deming paper appears today in Nature's online publication; the
Charbonneau paper will be published in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical
Journal.caltech.

NASA's Spitzer Finds Possible Comet Dust Around Dead Star

The findings suggest the star, which most likely consumed its inner
planets, is still orbited by a ring of surviving comets and possibly outer
planets.

interstellar archaeoastronomy

In the first
method, a planet is detected by the gravitational tug it exerts on its parent
star, which makes the star wobble.
"Spitzer has provided us with a powerful new tool for learning about the
temperatures, atmospheres and orbits of planets hundreds of light-years from
Earth," said Dr.

spitzer.

collisions woolfson

NASA's Spitzer Marks Beginning of New Age of Planetary Science

Hot Jupiters are extrasolar gas giants that zip closely around their parent
stars.
If any planets orbited in these systems , the red giants would have
engulfed at least the inner ones.
For artists' concepts, other graphics and more information about Spitzer
on the Web, visit:

http:/ /www.

planetary anomalies

"We've been hunting for this light for almost 10 years,
ever since extrasolar planets were first discovered.nasa.

rummel sirius

WASHINGTON, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope
captured the light, for the first time, from two known planets orbiting stars
other than our sun.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , Pasadena, Calif.

zubrin microbes

"In visible light, the glare of the star completely overwhelms the glimmer
of light reflected by the planet," Charbonneau said. NASA's future Terrestrial Planet Finder coronagraph , set
to launch in 2016, will directly image extrasolar planets as small as Earth.
Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center, Pasadena,
Calif. This is the first observational evidence that comets can outlive
their suns.

darwinian zubrin

Both strategies use visible-light telescopes and reveal the mass and
size of planets.

catastrophe cataclysmic

WASHINGTON, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope spotted
what may be comet dust sprinkled around the white dwarf star G29-38, that died
approximately 500 million years ago .
"The size of these grains tells us they are probably from comets and not other
planetary bodies .

collisions rummel

The findings mark the beginning of a new age in planetary
science, in which extrasolar planets can be directly measured and compared."
In the new studies, Spitzer directly observed the warm infrared glows of
two previously detected "hot Jupiter" planets, designated HD 209458b and TrES-
1. Then , when the planets dipped behind
the stars as part of their regular orbit, the astronomers measured the
infrared light coming from just the stars. Of the
seven known transiting planets, only the two mentioned here meet those
criteria. Spitzer is helping us understand
how planetary systems evolve in tandem with their parent stars," said David
Leisawitz, NASA's Spitzer program scientist . One
possibility is a second wave of planets formed long after the death of the
star, leaving a dusty construction zone.
Kuchner presented his findings today at the 207th meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Washington. Science
operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech.

sunbirds cataclysmic

David Charbonneau of the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass .
Astronomers believe white dwarfs are shrunken skeletons of stars that were
once similar to Earth's sun."
In our own solar system, comets reside in the cold outer fringes in
regions known as the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Only when something disturbs
their orbits, such as another comet or an outer planet, do they begin periodic
journeys into the sun's warmer neighborhood.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.caltech.

copernican sentient

Drake Deming of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC),
Greenbelt, Md."
The Spitzer data told the astronomers both planets are at least a steaming
1,000 Kelvin (1340 Fahrenheit). JPL is a
division of Caltech.

impending periodically

Prior to the Spitzer findings, astronomers studying G29-38 noticed an
unusual and unknown source of infrared light. They also occasionally crash into
planets, as comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 did when it plunged into Jupiter .

sentient dogon

They were discovered mainly by the
"wobble" technique and more recently, the "transit" technique . Spitzer, with its powerful
infrared spectrometer, was able to break this light apart revealing its
molecular makeup.nasa.

sunbirds sentient

"The dust seen by Spitzer around G29-38 was probably generated relatively
recently when one such outlying comet may have been knocked into the inner
region of the system and ripped into dust shreds by the tidal forces of the
star," said astronomer William Reach of the Spitzer Science Center at the
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Calif.

zoh velikovsky

Deming is lead author of a new study on one of the planets., lead author of a separate study on
a different planet. From their toasty orbits, they soak up ample starlight and shine
brightly in infrared wavelengths . These findings confirm hot Jupiters are indeed
hot.

periodically rummel

copernican archaeoastronomy

This pinpointed exactly how much
infrared light belonged to the planets.

copernican periodically

To distinguish this planet glow from the fiery hot stars, the astronomers
used a simple trick. For artist's concepts and additional information about the Spitzer
Space Telescope on the Internet, visit:

http://www. These data told astronomers the light was coming from the
same types of dusty minerals found in comets in our solar system.

undiscovered periodically

In the second, a planet's presence is
inferred when it passes in front of its star, causing the star to dim, or
blink. "In infrared, the star-
planet contrast is more favorable because the planet emits its own light. Upcoming Spitzer observations, using a range of infrared wavelengths, are
expected to provide more information about the planets' winds and atmospheric
compositions.
Spitzer is ideally suited for studying extrasolar planets, known to
transit stars the size of our sun, out to distances of 500 light-years., manages the Spitzer
Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Millions of
years later, the red giants shed their outer atmospheres , leaving behind white
dwarfs., manages the Spitzer
Space Telescope mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

sentient darwinian

interstellar impending

All confirmed extrasolar planets, including the two recently observed by
Spitzer, have been indirectly discovered.
"It's fantastic," said Dr. Comets slowly disintegrate as they pass
close to the sun or they crash into it. The findings were published in the
December 20, 2005, issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

copernican velikovsky

TrES-1 was found via the transit method in 2004 as part of the NASA-funded
Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey, a ground-based telescope program established
in part by Charbonneau.gov

spitzer.

planetary zubrin

"Astronomers have known for decades that stars are born, have an extended
middle age, and then wither away or explode. As the stars aged over billions of years, they
grew brighter and eventually swelled in size to become red giants. However, these trips to the
tropics often end in destruction.
Though the dust seen by Spitzer around the white dwarf is most likely the
remains of such a torn-up comet, there may be other explanations.

anomalies velikovsky

"We detected a large quantity of very small, dirty silicate grains," said
astronomer Marc Kuchner of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.edu/spitzer

For more information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.gov/home /

rummel archaeoastronomy

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