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U.S. astronomers find young planets stay hotter, longer
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Hot, young planets may be easier to spot because they stay that way longer than astronomers have thought, according to new work by scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For a few million years after their initial formation, planets like Earth may maintain a hot surface of molten rock that would glow brightly enough to make them stand out as they orbit neighboring stars.
A view of the earth's solar system is shown on a giant screen at the all-digital planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California Sept. 18, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
MIT scientist Linda Elkins-Tanton says the "magma ocean" stage for Earth-sized planets may last a few million years, much longer than previously estimated. "That means we may actually see them elsewhere, as detection systems get better," she said.
The findings were presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences.
The research shows that even after the surface magma solidifies, within about 5 million years, it could stay hot enough to glow brightly in infrared light for tens of millions of years, providing a relatively long window for detectability.
The big problem for astronomers hoping to detect planets around other stars is the vast difference in brightness between the star and the planet, which shines only by reflecting light from its parent star. But the difference in brightness in infrared wavelengths for a glowing, molten planetary surface would be much less, making the detection more feasible.
Source: Xinhua
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