<p></p><ul class="ee-ul"> </ul><p></p><li>confirmed exoplanets</li> <p></p><li>exoplanet candidates observed by <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html" target="_blank">NASA’s Kepler spacecraft</a></li> <p></p><li>planetary bodies in our own solar system</li> <p></p> <p></p><p>The PHL is in a great location for this kind of thing, being near one of the world’s most important celestial observatories, the <a href="http://outreach.naic.edu/ao/">Arecibo Telescope</a>.</p> <p></p><div class="video-callout-placeholder" data-slug="the-signs-from-space-were-looking-for" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="A3bZ3S1s" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="3bcdfe49b4001c06bc43b5806dae629f">
<div id="botr_A3bZ3S1s_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/A3bZ3S1s-FvQKszTI.js">
<img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/A3bZ3S1s-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview">
</div>
<script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/A3bZ3S1s-FvQKszTI.js"></script>
</div>
</div> <p></p><p>The exoplanets are far away, of course, and so we know little about them other than their sizes and distances from their stars. It’s with these two attributes that PHL is able to sort the exoplanets.</p> <p></p><p>Each table’s column, or Y axis, contains the exoplanets of a particular size, going from the smallest — miniterrans — at the left, to the largest — Jovians — at the right.</p> <p></p><ul class="ee-ul"> </ul><p></p><li>Miniterrans — are probably spherical and with low mass and no atmospoheres, like Mercury and our own moon.</li> <p></p><li>Subterrans — are roughly the size of Mars.</li> <p></p><li>Terrans — are about the size of Earth and Venus.</li> <p></p><li>Superterrans — are bigger than us but not quite Neptunian.</li> <p></p><li>Neptunians — are equivalent to Neptune and Uranus.</li> <p></p><li>Jovians — are as big as Jupiter and Saturn or bigger.</li> <p></p> <p></p><p>Here's an overview of how many exoplanets of each type there are so far:</p> <p></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODM0MTM4Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2ODA2NDk1OX0.fW5br0bqCc_DKL9W1KLhgg8N6kKq8HzFSyI6y6QaRXM/img.jpg?width=980" id="adc98" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6de6f72055b850b1a01663f2092e9d03" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p> <p></p><p><span style="color: #737d83; font-size: 13px;">Simple summary of exoplanets by size (PHL)</span></p> <p></p><p>There’s also the issue of an exoplanet’s distance from its sun, which is shown along the X axis at the left edge of each table:</p> <p></p><ul class="ee-ul"> </ul><p></p><li>Hot Zone exoplanets — are too close to their suns and too hot to have liquid water.</li> <p></p><li>Warm “Habitable” Zone exoplanets — are in the sweet spot for life as we know it, with a capacity for liquid water.</li> <p></p><li>Cold Zone exoplanets — are too far from their suns, and too cold, for anything but frozen ice.</li> <p></p> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: 1.5em;">Confirmed Exoplanets</span></p> <p></p><p>There are 3,700 of these as of November 15, 2017.</p> <p></p><p><a href="http://www.hpcf.upr.edu/~abel/phl/PT_Confirmed.jpg" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODM0MTM4Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDI1MDQ0OH0.kdolK_u4PX0rLyu3-8V5-kuUym8JU_x8oTWVCxoLaLI/img.jpg?width=980" id="b7237" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aac0564d05fd68fffbd90bbe1f0b55e1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><br></a><em><span style="color: #737d83; font-size: 13px;">Click image to expand. (PHL)</span></em></p> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: 1.5em;">Kelper Exoplanet Candidates</span></p> <p></p><p>NASA’s Kepler observatory has spotted <a href="http://outreach.naic.edu/ao/">4,303</a> possible exoplanets so far.</p> <p></p><p><a href="http://www.hpcf.upr.edu/~abel/phl/PT_Kepler.jpg" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODM0MTM4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjAxNDYyNX0.rUAv3VP-IN8NQqyXmXMFWPSYpAq0SkJA0EavUDMw7Qg/img.jpg?width=980" id="f6b8d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b8d8ea4524ca7f3e0e0bdf758fbbfee" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></a></p> <p></p><p><span style="color: #737d83; font-size: 13px;"><em><span>Click image to expand. </span></em>(PHL)</span></p> <p></p><p><span style="font-size: 1.5em;">Planetary Bodies in Our Own Solar System</span></p> <p></p><p><a href="http://www.hpcf.upr.edu/~abel/phl/PT_Solar_System.jpg" target="_blank"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODM0MTM4OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjc2ODQ2Mn0.YyTjYrZ-9agg0dHqFwO55Kav0Vch5dPnSiyYsM0GGKs/img.jpg?width=980" id="a75ba" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4bad7a45e7491f42ab9cd445de05b5f7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><br></a><em style="color: #737d83; font-size: 13px;">Click image to expand. </em><span style="color: #737d83; font-size: 13px;">(PHL)</span></p> <p></p><p>These counts are accurate as of November 15, 2017. Some of the candidates will probably be confirmed and others ruled out in time. Many more will no doubt be found eventually out there in this vast, vast universe that's probably teeming with life. At least these bodies are places that life <em>could</em> be.</p> <p></p><div class="video-full-card-placeholder" data-slug="big-impact-a-cosmic-collision" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="LYFMAnJC" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="a29b575bf91a958b22b3985810d78add">
<div id="botr_LYFMAnJC_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/LYFMAnJC-FvQKszTI.js">
<img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/LYFMAnJC-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview">
</div>
<script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/LYFMAnJC-FvQKszTI.js"></script>
</div>
</div> <p></p><p> </p>
Keep reading
Show less