University team reach for stars in NASA quest for new planets
ASCIENTIST from Birmingham is helping NASA to boldly go where space exploration teams have not been before.
Professor Bill Chaplin, from the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy, is heading a group of city physicists in a new international programme to study the brightest starts in the night sky.
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida last week.
TESS will survey the brightest stars in the sky to search for planets orbiting stars and also study the stars themselves.
The Birmingham physicists are playing a leading role in the asteroseismology programme of TESS – the study of stars by observing their resonant oscillations, which are caused by sound trapped inside the stars.
By measuring the tones of this ‘stellar music’, it is possible to determine the properties of individual stars in exquisite detail.
Professor Chaplin said: “Perhaps the most exciting results from TESS are going to be from the brightest stars in the sky, which we can observe at night with the naked eye. There will be stars with wellknown names around which TESS discovers planets – we will be able to study them in unprecedented detail.”
He added: “Previous space missions dedicated to these studies have not looked at anything like the amount of sky TESS will cover, nor have they observed stars as bright at this. On a clear night we will be able to point out these newly-discovered stellar systems directly by hand.
“Asteroseismology allows us to measure how rapidly the insides of the stars are spinning, and how the spin axes are oriented with respect to the orbital planes of the planets. This can help us better understand how planetary systems evolve over time, and whether the configuration of planets in our solar system (and our place within it) is likely to be common or atypical.
“We can also use asteroseismology to measure the amount of surface activity on the stars, and hence better understand the physical impact that the stars have on their local environments, which must be taken into account when considering if life might be possible.”
Birmingham has led the selection of the sun-like stars that will be observed.
“We focus on stars predicted to show solar-like oscillations because each will have a rich spectrum of resonant overtones, which provides huge diagnostic potential for our studies,” said Professor Chaplin. “The brightest stars are also amongst the most exciting targets: they will generally give the highest-quality data.
“The most exciting initial discoveries are likely to come on the brightest stars. We will be discovering new stellar systems in our own back-yard, planets orbiting the closest stars to the solar system.”