In August 2006 a new planetary transit was discovered from data from the TrES network. The discovery was confirmed using radial velocity curves obtained with the Keck and characterised with light curves in different filters obtained using two telescopes at the Observatorio del Teide: "IAC80" and "TELAST" (the first result of scientific interest obtained from the latter). The planet discovered, TrES-2, is more massive and somewhat larger than its quasi-homonym TrES-1 (the first exoplanet discovered using the transit method), and follows the expected patterns for this type of object. Its main importance is that it is the first object discovered in the area of observation of the future Kepler satellite, which will be able to track it in a degree of detail never before achieved.
Advertised on
It may interest you
-
Stellar ages are key to several fields of astrophysics such as exoplanet research, galactic-archeology, and of course stellar physics. Obtaining the ages of stars is however not straightforward and requires stellar modeling. The most widely used technique only requires stellar colors or temperature and surface gravity, but the uncertainties are quite large. This technique is most efficient for stars belonging to clusters, as they were born from the same molecular cloud and share the same ages. In the last decades, based on the study of stellar acoustic waves, asteroseismology became the mostAdvertised on
-
Massive stars, those over ten times heavier than our Sun, are the conduits of most elements of the periodic table and drive the morphological and chemical makeup of their host galaxies. Yet the origin of the most luminous and hottest stars among them, called 'blue supergiants', has been debated for many decades. Blue supergiants are strange stars. First, they are observed in large numbers, despite conventional stellar physics expecting them to live only briefly. Second, they are typically found alone, despite most massive stars being born with companions. Third, the majority of them harbourAdvertised on
-
Asteroids are the remnants of the planetary formation in the Solar System and so, their study helps us to understand the conditions during the early stages of the formation of our planetary system. Among asteroids, those classified as primitives present similar spectra to that of carbonaceous chondrites, i.e., they are rich in carbon and organic compounds and silicates altered by the presence of liquid water (phyllosilicates). Primitive asteroids are well characterized in various wavelength regions, showing their most diagnostic feature at 3μm. However, there is a lack of information in theAdvertised on