Mar 30 2016

From The Space Library

RELEASE 16-040 NASA’s Spitzer Maps Climate Patterns on a Super-Earth

Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have led to the first temperature map of a super-Earth planet -- a rocky planet nearly two times as big as ours. The map reveals extreme temperature swings from one side of the planet to the other, and hints that a possible reason for this is the presence of lava flows.

"Our view of this planet keeps evolving," said Brice Olivier Demory of the University of Cambridge, England, lead author of a new report appearing in the March 30 issue of the journal Nature. "The latest findings tell us the planet has hot nights and significantly hotter days. This indicates the planet inefficiently transports heat around the planet. We propose this could be explained by an atmosphere that would exist only on the day side of the planet, or by lava flows at the planet surface."

The toasty super-Earth 55 Cancri e is relatively close to Earth at 40 light-years away. It orbits very close to its star, whipping around it every 18 hours. Because of the planet's proximity to the star, it is tidally locked by gravity just as our moon is to Earth. That means one side of 55 Cancri, referred to as the day side, is always cooking under the intense heat of its star, while the night side remains in the dark and is much cooler.

"Spitzer observed the phases of 55 Cancri e, similar to the phases of the moon as seen from the Earth. We were able to observe the first, last quarters, new and full phases of this small exoplanet," said Demory. "In return, these observations helped us build a map of the planet. This map informs us which regions are hot on the planet."

Spitzer stared at the planet with its infrared vision for a total of 80 hours, watching it orbit all the way around its star multiple times. These data allowed scientists to map temperature changes across the entire planet. To their surprise, they found a dramatic temperature difference of 2,340 degrees Fahrenheit (1,300 Kelvin) from one side of the planet to the other. The hottest side is nearly 4,400 degrees Fahrenheit (2,700 Kelvin), and the coolest is 2,060 degrees Fahrenheit (1,400 Kelvin).

The fact Spitzer found the night side to be significantly colder than the day side means heat is not being distributed around the planet very well. The data argues against the notion that a thick atmosphere and winds are moving heat around the planet as previously thought. Instead, the findings suggest a planet devoid of a massive atmosphere, and possibly hint at a lava world where the lava would become hardened on the night side and unable to transport heat.

"The day side could possibly have rivers of lava and big pools of extremely hot magma, but we think the night side would have solidified lava flows like those found in Hawaii," said Michael Gillon, University of Liège, Belgium.

The Spitzer data also revealed the hottest spot on the planet has shifted over a bit from where it was expected to be: directly under the blazing star. This shift either indicates some degree of heat recirculation confined to the day side, or points to surface features with extremely high temperatures, such as lava flows.

Additional observations, including from NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, will help to confirm the true nature of 55 Cancri e.

The new Spitzer observations of 55 Cancri are more detailed thanks to the telescope’s increased sensitivity to exoplanets. Over the past several years, scientists and engineers have figured out new ways to enhance Spitzer’s ability to measure changes in the brightness of exoplanet systems. One method involves precisely characterizing Spitzer’s detectors, specifically measuring “the sweet spot” -- a single pixel on the detector -- which was determined to be optimal for exoplanet studies.

“By understanding the characteristics of the instrument -- and using novel calibration techniques of a small region of a single pixel -- we are attempting to eke out every bit of science possible from a detector that was not designed for this type of high-precision observation,” said Jessica Krick of NASA’s Spitzer Space Science Center, at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Space Enthusiasts Invited to Learn about Ames Space Biology Experiments, View Televised SpaceX Launch

The Ames Office of Education and Public Outreach will host a public event to view the televised launch of the eighth SpaceX mission to resupply the International Space Station on Friday, April 8, 2016. Members of the public are invited to attend and learn about Ames’ research launching on the mission from NASA engineers and scientists! The event will occur in Ames’ Conference Center, Building 3, from 11 a.m. – 2:15 p.m. PDT.

You can register to attend the Ames event by sending an email to arcevents@mail.nasa.gov with the number of people in your party (including yourself). The seating is limited to 350, so please register as soon as possible to reserve your space. You will receive a confirmation email, which you should print and bring to the event. Your confirmation email will include directions and parking information.

The mission to the International Space Station will be carrying five science experiments related to NASA’s Ames Research Center. The launch event will feature a live NASA TV broadcast of the launch on a large projection screen, an overview of the center’s research on the International Space Station, presentations from Ames scientists and engineers and information booths about Ames’ space biology research.

Schedule:

   11:00 a.m. - Doors open
   11:00 to 12:15 - Information booths available for viewing/interaction
   12:15 to 12:30 - Event program opens 
   12:30 to 1:25 - Ames science experiment speakers
   1:25 to 2:15 - NASA TV launch coverage
   2:15 p.m. - Event ends

Ames’ life science experiments include:

• Micro-9, a study of specific mechanisms of yeast cell signaling and response to microgravity.
• Micro-10, a study of the effects of spaceflight on the growth, gene expression and physiological responses of fungal cells.
• Microbial Tracking-1C, the third in a series of studies that investigates the airborne and surface-bound populations of microorganisms aboard the space station.
• Rodent Research-3, a commercial investigation that evaluates a countermeasure against muscle weakening during spaceflight.
• The validation flight of Wetlab-2, a new system for conducting quantitative, real-time gene expression analysis aboard the International Space Station.

Data from some of the life science investigations that will launch aboard SpaceX-8 will be shared with the scientific community via NASA’s open-access GeneLab data system.

This launch is the eighth contracted mission by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. The flight will carry science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of the space station astronaut crews. The Dragon capsule is targeted for launch at 1:43 p.m. PDT on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.