The Proper Blog about Stargazing LIVE part 3 ^_^

Ok, so tonight was the last instalment of Stargazing :((((

They talked about some of the other planets in our Solar System
& the search for New ones . . . (Hell Yeah)

Uranus is the only giant planet whose equator

is nearly at right angles to its orbit. 

A collision with an Earth-sized object 

may explain Uranus' unique tilt. 

Nearly a twin in size to Neptune, 

Uranus has more methane in its mainly hydrogen and helium atmosphere than Jupiter or Saturn. 

Methane gives Uranus its blue tint,

& I think it's beautiful, don't you?

Dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds, 

Neptune is the last of the hydrogen and helium 

gas giants in our solar system. 

More than 30 times as far from the sun as Earth, 

the planet takes almost 165 Earth years to orbit our sun. In 2011 Neptune completed its first orbit since its discovery in 1846

Venus is a dim world of intense heat 
and volcanic activity. Similar in structure 
and size to Earth, Venus' thick, toxic 
atmosphere traps heat in a runaway
"greenhouse effect." The scorched world 
has temperatures hot enough to melt lead. 
Glimpses below the clouds reveal volcanoes
and deformed mountains. Venus spins slowly
in the opposite direction of most planets.

So, that's the common planets known to us, 

but there are also planets that astrologers have found, 

through what's called 'a pulsar'

Pulsars are rotating neutron stars, and are the collapsed cores of supergiant stars that have exploded as supernovae. They are extremely dense, typically 20 km across but with masses a million times greater than the Earth. As a pulsar rotates, it sends beams of radio waves from its magnetic poles out across space, like a lighthouse. Radio telescopes receive a signature pulse as the beams sweep over the Earth. 

The world of astronomy changed forever on 6 October 1995, when Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of the Geneva Observatory announced the first discovery of a planet around a star similar to the Sun. As well as celebration, there was surprise because 51 Pegasi b, as the planet became known, was half the mass of Jupiter and orbiting much closer to its parent star than expected. Whereas Mercury orbits the Sun at 57.9 million kilometres in 88 days, 51 Pegasi b shoots around its orbit in just 4.23 days. This indicated that the planet was just 7.8 million kilometres from its star.

They also covered Proxima Centauri

As the nearest star from our Solar System, Proxima Centauri is a prime candidate for future interstellar travel and space colonization missions. In the meantime, scientists are trying to determine whether this star has super Earths orbiting within its habitable zone. Habitable zones are regions around a star where planets are believed to receive just the right amount of heat. 

For instance, Earth is within the Sun’s habitable zone.

If we were slightly nearer, say on Venus’ orbit, the heat would have evaporated all our oceans. On the other hand, if we were slightly farther, the temperature would have been too cold to support life.

So far, searches in the neighbourhood of Proxima Centauri have revealed nothing. Even companion stars or supermassive planets that may be accompanying the star have not yet been discovered (if they are ever there at all). Although the search continues, some scientists believe Proxima Centauri’s flares can be a big obstacle for life even inside the star’s habitable zone.

I don't know about you guys, but the thought that there could be (well in my eyes, there IS) life out there, is just soooo exciting, it's just a shame that, it's probably too far away for us to ever see in out lifetime.But don't be disheartened, the search is still going on.

SuperWASP is the UK's leading extra-solar planet detection program comprising of a consortium of eight academic institutions which include Cambridge University, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes, Keele University, Leicester University, the Open University, Queen's University Belfast and St. Andrew's University.
SuperWASP consists of two robotic observatories that operate continuously all year around, allowing us to cover both hemispheres of the sky. The first, SuperWASP-North is located on the island of La Palma amongst the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes (ING). The second, SuperWASP-South is located at the site of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), just outside Sutherland, South Africa. The observatories each consist of eight wide-angle cameras that simultaneously monitor the sky for planetary transit events. A transit occurs when a planet passes in front of its parent star temporarily blocking some of the light from it. The eight wide-angle cameras allow us to monitor millions of stars simultaneously enabling us to detect the rare transit events.

That wraps it up for me now guys, bedtime. If I think of anything else i'll stick it up, until then, eyes to the skies peeps, check it out, it really is a totally awesome, mind blowing & beautiful sight ^_^