Gliese 581g

[Sky Captain]

I'm wondering how large telescope would be needed to directly image that planet to get spectroscopical data from atmosphere?

 

[RisingFury]

I'm wondering how large telescope would be needed to directly image that planet to get spectroscopical data from atmosphere?

One trick is to measure the spectrum of the system and then again when the planet is behind the star. That way you get a spectrum of star + planet and star, you subtract them and you get the spectrum of the planet. If the alignment is right and if you're clever enough, it works

 

[Sky Captain]

IMHO it would be highly unlikely that orbital plane of any random planet would be aligned perfectly edge on toward us.

 

[T.Neo]

Yeah... the planets in the Gliese 581 g system don't transit the star, unfortunately, so the transit method is completely useless here.

 

[Cairan]

Even though they do not transit, they do exhibit phases toward Earth. It should be theoretically possible, over the course of several observations spanning several orbital cycles, to measure the components of Gliese 581 and it's planets which should vary over time in respect to the phases they exhibit toward us even if they don't transit...

 

[Hielor]

Looks like it's been named Zarmina: http://io9.com/5653433/the-astrophysicist-who-discovered-zarmina-describes-life-on-second-earth

 

[Spike Spiegel]

I realize that we've only got our own solar system's worlds as really good examples, and many of the larger bodies have atmospheres, but does a large world necessarily have to have an atmosphere? Is it possible that a large "Earth-sized" world might be just barren, with no atmosphere at all, even in the star's habitable zone?

 

[donatelo200]

I realize that we've only got our own solar system's worlds as really good examples, and many of the larger bodies have atmospheres, but does a large world necessarily have to have an atmosphere? Is it possible that a large "Earth-sized" world might be just barren, with no atmosphere at all, even in the star's habitable zone?

Yes but planets of that size normally will accumulate an atmosphere during accreation and/or from techtonic activities.

 

[Cairan]

So, Donatelo200, any project to upgrade with G581 g and f?

I don't know if it's an error, but I have seen that the Wikipedia article on Gliese 581 now shows all planets with 0 eccentricity, which is quite different from the previous model. I guess that Gliese 581 g/f being discovered "cleaned up" the orbital dynamics quite a bit...

 

[donatelo200]

Yea i will be updating everything in the system. I'm even retexturing planet b c and d. The new planets discovered had proved the old model wrong. And speeking of g and f here are some screenes of g.

The day side of Gliese 581 g.

The night-side of Gliese 581 g.

I have Gliese 581 g with an atmosphere 5 times the thickness as ours and strong vortexes in the upper atmosphere keeping both sides of the planet at relativly the same tempurature.

 

[T.Neo]

Hm... I better get to work on my upgrade, lest my addon fall into obscurity. :dry:

I realize that we've only got our own solar system's worlds as really good examples, and many of the larger bodies have atmospheres, but does a large world necessarily have to have an atmosphere? Is it possible that a large "Earth-sized" world might be just barren, with no atmosphere at all, even in the star's habitable zone?

No- if the planet were barren, it would most likely have a toxic, or a thick, venusian atmosphere. At that distance from the parent star and with that amount of geological activity, it is bound to have an atmosphere of some sort.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

NASA TV Video: First "Goldilocks" Exoplanet Discovered by NASA-funded Researchers.​

 

[donatelo200]

Hm... I better get to work on my upgrade, lest my addon fall into obscurity. :dry:

I can't wait to see your version. It's always good to have two speculatians. Will Gliese 581 g have a terminator line and an anti-sunward ice cap in your version?

 

[RisingFury]

So much for May 2011...
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=18226&highlight=Earth+planet+2011

 

[Lucy]

Being found by May 2011, not being found in May 2011. The prediction holds, provided the planet really checks out.

 

[T.Neo]

I can't wait to see your version. It's always good to have two speculatians. Will Gliese 581 g have a terminator line and an anti-sunward ice cap in your version?

Yes, it will be tidally locked, and the nightside will be barren ice.

Whether the habitable portions of the planet will be limited to the terminator or whether they would stretch a little closer to the sunward pole.

Whether we will see it or not is another matter... currently I am having trouble getting my .cfg files to work, because I did the names wrong the first time, and I'm a bit rust when it comes to doing planetary addons...

 

[donatelo200]

Nice and currently i've started work on redoing Gliese 581 d. Giving it deeper oceans and larger ice caps. (will post screenes soon)

 

[T.Neo]

I'm also thinking of redoing Gliese 581 d... I think I'm going to make it gassier, cloudier, maybe obscure the oceans a bit more.

Like a Neptune with a good deal of the atmosphere removed, so that the ocean mantle can be observed.

 

[donatelo200]

Alright this is a little out of place but here is the new Gliese 581 d texture.

It now has a chokingly thick atmospheric pressure of 27.1 earth atmos. The only reason there is even land showing is because alot of the ocean is locked in the polar ice caps. The lack of a global cloud cover is due to the friged tempuratures of this planet. It also rotates freely now with a rotation period of 96 hours.

 

[N_Molson]

A blue planet with ring belts, that looks like an alien world ! :thumbup: