Sean Kittredge ESIH
C Even
Overbye, Dennis. “Two Earth-Size Planets Are Discovered ”The
New York Times Online. 20 December, 2011
http://ww.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/science.nasas-keple-spacecraft-discovers-2-earth-size-plantets.html
This
article reports on the discovery and confirmation of 2 planets, similar in size
to Earth, orbiting a star beyond our solar system. The two new planets,
identified as Kepler 30e and Kepeler 20f, orbit too close to their star to have
conditions, which could support life. The Kepler 20e has a temperature of 1,400
degrees and is a little smaller than Venus with a diameter of 6,900 miles.
Kepler 20f has a temperature of 800 degrees and is about the same size as
earth, at 8,200 miles across. Their star is about 950 light years from us and
now has five planets we know of around it. Three larger planets had been
already been identified. NASA’s
Kepler spacecraft which made the discovery was launched in 2009 to find new
planets in other solar systems. It finds planets by detecting blinks as planets
move across their stars. So far Kepler has found 2326 potential planets and 207
of these would be the size of earth if they were confirmed. Additional
observations are required to confirm a planet because gravitational pull of
small planets on their star is too small for spectrographs to measure. To
confirm Kepler 20e and Kepler 20f astronomers used a statistical method
developed by astronomers at the Harvard Smithsonian Center. Astronomers were
very excited because it shows that it is possible to detect smaller planets at
great distances from earth. The net goal of astronomers is to find another
planet similar in size to earth that supports life. Astronomers call the
livable zone of a star, where conditions are temperate enough to support life,
the Goldilocks zone.
This
article is important because it reports a discovery that expands the existing
knowledge of our galaxy; it shows the world that we can find planets outside
our solar system. It also tells us that there are other rocky planets similar
in size to the earth in other solar systems in our galaxy. I chose this because
I thought it was interesting and shows how we are making progress toward to our
goal of eventually finding other planets, like earth, that support life.
The
article was well written and had a lot of great facts about the discovery of
planets beyond our solar system. It was interesting and to the point which I
liked. All the facts were supported by evidence and were to the topic.
I read Sean Kittredge’s “Two Earth Sized-Planets Are Discovered,” and I learned many things. It was relevant and right to the point, and it was very well written. This is something that is very relevant to the topic of Earth Science, and I thought that this is something that made it particularly interesting. I also liked the fact that it was very well said the it got the point across in a very simple way, and this made it very easy to comprehend. I also really enjoyed reading his paragraph about why this article is vital to us. I also like that he included why he chose the article, and he explained why it pertained to him.
ReplyDeleteThere were many things that interested me in this article because it is something that I had no knowledge of before. It made me realize that Earth isn’t the only thing out there. Obviously I knew this before as well, but it made me remember that the planets and the sun is not the only thing that we have knowledge of today. Another thing that surprised me was that the planets that were found were the size of Earth. This is pretty amazing to me because there probably is so much more out there that we have not yet discovered. Another thing that truly baffles me is the fact that Kepler found 2326 potential planets. This is a very surprising number because if that is how many Kepler found alone, then there is probably so many more out there as well.
I thought this article was very well written, but I feel as though Sean could have picked a more recent article because this was written in December of 2011. There is so much more going on in the world, and Sean had a variety of choices. But nevertheless, the article was grasping and entertaining, and besides a few spelling errors, I though it was a very good response and article.
Comment by John George Brakatselos
ReplyDeleteSean wrote a very good review. The main thing that I liked about it was the fact that it was condensed. In the actual article it gave me all the facts but it was a very long passage to read. Sean was able to get all the main points and select them out from the sea of words in the article. This was also a major reason why it was much easier to read and stay with Sean’s review than the article. Another thing he did well was that he presented his information well. He ordered his information in a rational way with the information presented in the article. His information feeding was in sync with the article which was good because in order to appreciate some information you require some background.
In this article I learned that there are indeed other planets very similar to Earth. Although these planets are far too hot to support human life this could lead us to believe there are other similar sized planets that are cooler and could support human life. Another thing I found very interesting was that there are over 2,000 other nearby potential planets that were captured by Keplar. This is an amazing thought because generally we think of space as some planets and a huge dark void but there is so much more that people generally don’t think about.
I thought that maybe some more details could be included. The main thing I felt should be changed for next time would be to pick an article that is a little more recent then 1 year ago maybe something in the past couple of weeks.
I found Sean’s response to the article “Two Earth-Size Planets Are Discovered” very informative and easily understood. I liked that fact that his response was only a little longer than a paragraph and covered a great deal of information. I also liked the way that he expressed his opinion on the subject by going straight to the point on the article’s purpose. I believe the article was a good choice on his part because it was relative to the information we are learning in Earth Science and it was a very interesting article. Sean kept his response simple but went over many key facts and proved the importance of the article with supportive ideas and evidence which included the possibility of future discoveries. I learned that astronomers have discovered two new possible planets that are called Kepler 30e and Kepeler 20f. I also learned that the plants’ orbits too close to their star to have conditions which means that they cannot support life. To improve this response I would try to avoid heavily listing and focusing on facts and bring a little more attention to your opinion on the facts as well as the overall article. In conclusion, Sean’s response had well displayed information and was very fascinating.
ReplyDelete-Victoria Cummings
Sean wrote a very good review on “Two Earth-Size Planets Are Discovered” which i found to be very well written and informative. I appreciated the fact that is was was short and to the point, while still keeping it interesting. What made this particular review and article especially nice to read was the fact that is was relevant to what we are learning now in Earth Science, so i could stay in the same genre of information and apply my outside knowledge to what i was reading. I also enjoyed how he explained how this article related to him and why he chose it.
ReplyDeleteThere where a couple things about this article which sparked my interest, especially i had prier knowledge on the topic. What i liked most was the fact that there are so many similar planets to earth, something i did not realize before and this makes me wonder about the possibilities of life on other planets and how they would compare to our world. The fact that Kepler found 2326 potential planets is completely mind boggling, not only to think about all the space they take up but the differences, details and uniqueness of all of them. because no two seem to be exactly the same.
My one critic is that maybe he could have chosen something more recent and try to use less listing, but the flaws are minor compared to the rest of this fascinating and grasping review to an amazing article.
-Ariana Sher