Ingenious Study Appears to Show That Rocky Planets Are Common

[Recusant]

. . . And similar in composition to the rocky planets of our system. The study involves analysing the spectra of white dwarfs for evidence of what they've been eating.   

Given the basic idea that our surroundings are not particularly unusual (along the lines of the Copernican principle), this isn't a surprise: Half the planets in our solar system are rocky planets. Still, the concept behind the study is cool, and evidence is better than surmise.

While scientists have discovered over 4,000 exoplanets since the first one was observed in 1995 (Nobel Prize awarded recently), almost all of them are thought to be gas giants due to the high mass required to affect the motion of the host star.

"Ancient stars shed light on Earth's similarities to other planets" | ScienceDaily

Earth-like planets may be common in the universe, a new UCLA study implies. The team of astrophysicists and geochemists presents new evidence that the Earth is not unique. The study was published in the journal Science on Oct. 18.

"We have just raised the probability that many rocky planets are like the Earth, and there's a very large number of rocky planets in the universe," said co-author Edward Young, UCLA professor of geochemistry and cosmochemistry.

The scientists, led by Alexandra Doyle, a UCLA graduate student of geochemistry and astrochemistry, developed a new method to analyze in detail the geochemistry of planets outside of our solar system. Doyle did so by analyzing the elements in rocks from asteroids or rocky planet fragments that orbited six white dwarf stars.

"We're studying geochemistry in rocks from other stars, which is almost unheard of," Young said.

[. . .]

"By observing these white dwarfs and the elements present in their atmosphere, we are observing the elements that are in the body that orbited the white dwarf," Doyle said. The white dwarf's large gravitational pull shreds the asteroid or planet fragment that is orbiting it, and the material falls onto the white dwarf, she said. "Observing a white dwarf is like doing an autopsy on the contents of what it has gobbled in its solar system."

The data Doyle analyzed were collected by telescopes, mostly from the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, that space scientists had previously collected for other scientific purposes.

"If I were to just look at a white dwarf star, I would expect to see hydrogen and helium," Doyle said. "But in these data, I also see other materials, such as silicon, magnesium, carbon and oxygen -- material that accreted onto the white dwarfs from bodies that were orbiting them."

[Continues . . .]

[No one]

Given the enormousness of the universe, this seems like it's a given.

[Tank]

We are so fortunate and lucky to be alive now just at that point where humanity is making such discoveries about reality. Mind you it would be good to live in a future where we can travel to those planets in the blink of an eye.