Sophie Kohlhoff 10.31.13
Earth Science Current Events
“Astronomers Find
Earthlike Planet, but it’s Infernally Hot”
Recently, a new planet was
discovered, Kepler 78b. Kepler 78b is
actually an exoplanet, which is planet outside our solar system. This newly
discovered planet is roughly the size of Earth and has the same density, 0.2
pounds per cubic inch. This leads astronomers to believe that Kepler 78b and
Earth have the same. infrastructure, an iron core with rocky outer layers.
Kepler 78b however is entirely inhabitable. It orbits around the star Kepler 78
at incredibly close distance, less than 1 million miles, causing the surface
temperature to vary from 3,500 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A year on Earth in
365.3 days, whereas a year on this exoplanet is only 8 and a half hours. This
is only of the many odd planets discovered in our galaxy. NASA’s Kepler
Spacecraft discovered this planet, along with many of the others. The question
left by Kepler 78b is how it got to where it is. Various possibilities have
been thought up, all unlikely, but most likely it was a gas planet to start and
as it got closer to the star the gas was burned off.
The
constant discovery of new planets is very important to the world. If another planet
were discovered that has viable conditions to support life, finding it would be
a monumental discovery. Or a planet could be discovered that not has the
necessary conditions for life, but actually is inhabited by life forms. Finding
another suitable planet for life would be important because we would then know
if we can live there.
Overall,
this article was very informative. Before reading I didn’t know anything about
the new discovery of this exoplanet and I did not even know exoplanets existed.
Planets besides the ones in our solar system are not something people usually
are thinking about, but reading about how many diverse planets are out there,
just very distant from our own was very interesting. Although this article was
very interesting, it was very difficult to relate to life. Also, there were
some undefined terms making the article slightly more difficult to comprehend.
Citation:
Chang, Kenneth. "Astronomers Find Earthlike Planet, but It’s Infernally
Hot."Nytimes.com. N.p., 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/science/space/astronomers-find-earthlike-planet-but-its-infernally-hot.html?ref=science&_r=0>.
Hot."Nytimes.com. N.p., 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/science/space/astronomers-find-earthlike-planet-but-its-infernally-hot.html?ref=science&_r=0>.
I thought that this review was very well written. It was short and easy to understand. This made the review easy to understand. The review was short and to the point but still teaches alot about the subject. There were alot of facts included in the article that allowed me to learn more about the solar system. Alot of statistics and facts copied from the article allows the reader to get the full idea of the article. It really conveyed the real idea of the article without having to read the whole thing. I also thought that the beginning of the review included a hook which made the rest of the article interesting. I learned that another planet is very similar to Earth. I think it is interesting that both the density and make up of the planet are so similar to Earth. I wonder if this planet was made the same way as Earth. This invites many questions about the formation and makeup of planets in our solar system. It is a shame that it is too hot to support life. I also learned that there are many planets that are yet to be discovered. I did not know that there are many planets still being discovered. I had thought that most of the planets had been discovered by now. The fact that this planet is in the same solar system as Earth is also interesting. I'm sure that many astronomers are beginning to study the formation and makeup of this planet in order to find more similarities with Earth. Even though this review was good it would be better if it were a bit longer.
ReplyDeleteThis article review was fantastic! It taught me so much about the planet. One of my favorite things about this review was how it provided the reader with various theories that may provide an explanation as to how Kepler 78b got to where it is today. Another thing that I thought was well done in this review is how the author provided many great reasons as to why this article is relevant to the reader. I liked the way that she incorporated the possibility of extraterrestrial lifeforms. Finally, the last thing that I thought was well presented in this article is the way that Sophie introduced Kepler 78b, providing various background information on it. This really caught my attention! In my opinion, the most amazing thing in this article was how it opens up one's mind to the possibility of finally encountering extraterrestrial lifeforms, since we can see that there are Earth-like planets. Another thing that I thought was very interesting was how scientists are able to find the density of the planet's material. This is just extremely impressive to me; these scientists took an exoplanet, very far away, and found out some information on its composition. To me, this just seems like an insurmountable task. Overall, I thought that this article review was amazing. However, it could have easily been improved by providing comparisons to the very abstract statistical facts that were given.
ReplyDeleteI article review was great! It was very interesting and I wanted to keep reading. I liked how you compared different characteristics of Earth to Kepler 78b, such as the distance from the star and the time of one year. There were a lot of facts, for example that Kepler 78b is 3,500 and 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The title of the article really caught my attention and I like that in the article had quotes from more than one person. You could have added a quote into you review, but other than that your review was well written and very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThis review is very well presented. Specifically, i think that you did a good job in explaining how odd it is that Kepler 78b is about the same size of Earth, and has the same density. Also, the fact that the discovery of planets is constantly increasing was well presented, in which many unique planets have been discovered in the universe, in the past. Finally, i thought that you did a magnificent job in explaining how the direction that we are going in as far as discovery, hopefully and might result in a planet with ideal living conditions(contrasts Kepler 78b's hot conditions). I would love to see an exoplanet be discovered with great conditions in my lifetime. It would receive a lot of recognition worldwide, and be a very significant event. Overall, I was very interested in how the features of Kepler 78b are linked to Earth's characteristics, but the flaming temperature of Kepler 78b would create very poor living conditions, while on Earth, the living conditions as far as temperature are very acceptable. Another interesting aspect that i found from reading the review and article, is that Kepler 78b's orbit lasts 8 and a half hours, in contrast to Earth's orbit which lasts 365 days. I think that you did a nice job organizing facts on Kepler 78b. However, I felt like you lacked a little summary. I think that you should have incorporated quotes from the article to include some insight from professors, on this event. When I read this review though, I really liked how you distributed information and ideas throughout your current event. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThis article review was very informative. I thought that it was very well presented, only the necessary information was included as well as explained. I liked how the information didn't go off on other topics but stuck to Kepler 78b. I thought the information given was relative as well as very well explained. I thought that Sophie did a very good job making the information and numbers easy to understand. Finally, I thought that this discovery was connected well to Earth and how this discovery effects us. I thought it helped to know what this means for us, as well as makes it more interesting to read. I found it interesting how she talked about what this monumental discovery would mean, and how we could move forward by possibly trying to live on one of these planets. One thing I think that could have been expanded on was that the planet is infernally hot. I thought that this could have been explained better and then tied into the review, because it was a little difficult to understand how this applied. I also thought there should have been a little bit more information on why scientists don't know how it got there. I also thought more reasons as to how scientists think it could have gotten to where it is could have been talked about. There were many interesting facts within this article, but the fact I found most interesting is that a planet could be inhabited with life forms even if it doesn't have the necessary conditions for human life. I find this interesting because it doesn't usually occur to me how a different race besides humans could exist in conditions that don't support human life. Overall I thought that this was a very good review, and I found it very interesting.
ReplyDeleteSophie,
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting. I thought that your representation of the article was very informative and concise. One aspect of this review that I considered well presented was how you stated all of the important facts and made it easier for the reader to understand, through your clear summary of the article. Another thing I thought was well presented was the connection between this exoplanet and earth. I thought this was a nice touch and made it seem very relevant. The final thing that I thought was well presented was, is your suggestions paragraph, I read the article as well and found it slightly confusing due to the fact they did not define some of the key terms. One thing that I learned from reading your review was what an exoplanet actually was, prior to reading the review. Another thing that I was informed by reading this article was about this exoplanet Kebler 78b. I also found it interesting that it orbited around a star. I think my one suggestion for you would to define some of the key vocabulary words that you were struggling with, just to help the reader understand what the article was about but overall you did a great job summarizing the article, relating it to home and giving helpful suggestions!
This review was very well written and informative. I thought that your review was well organized, making the abundance of information you provided easy to read and understand. For example, your piece is divided into three cohesive paragraphs, each with one uniform idea. The paragraphs also are well organized, as the sentences are laid out in a very linear thought process, making it easy to read. Also, I felt that you did a good job explaining everything, making it very easy to understand your review. For example, you gave lots of background information, making it easy to understand and interpret all of the information. You also had many interesting facts. For example, I found it very interesting that there is another planet that can have a density that is the same as ours, even though it is so close to its star. Also, I found it amazing that a planet so similar to ours could have been a gassy planet in the past. Lastly, I also liked that you compared all this information to the Earth. One thing you could have improved on is defining some terms, such as exoplanet. However, you did a great job and made a very interesting review!
ReplyDelete