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A Mini-Neptune in the Habitable Zone in a Binary Star System
Sometimes, it seems like habitable worlds can pop up almost anywhere in the universe. A recent paper from a team of citizen scientists led by researchers at the Flatiron Institute might have found an excellent candidate to look for one – on a moon orbiting a mini-Neptune orbiting a star that is also orbited by another star.
That’s a lot of things orbiting each other, so let’s dive into some details of the star system known as TOI 4633. It has two potential planets. One has a relatively short 34-day orbit but whose existence was only found by radial velocity measurements, as it doesn’t cross between the Earth and its host star. It also has yet to be confirmed by exoplanet hunters.
Another planet, known for now at TOI 4633c, is much more intriguing. It falls into the size category of a “mini-Neptune,” meaning it is slightly smaller than the 8th planet in our solar system but is likely still a gas giant with a thick atmosphere. It orbits its host star once every 272 days – making it one of the 40 longest-orbiting planets out of the thousands discovered so far.
Binaries are just one of a class of multiple-star systems, as Fraser explains.That long orbit also puts it in the habitable zone of its host star – about .85 AU away from the G-type star it is orbiting. Being in the habitable zone would imply that liquid water could exist on its surface. However, the size of the planet and the likely density of its atmosphere would rule out the possibility of surface water on the planet itself.
However, there is a relatively good chance that TOI 4633c could have a moon. Planets with longer orbits tend to accrue them (hence why Venus and Mercury don’t have any in our own solar system). Such a small world wouldn’t have the same restrictive constraints as its gas-giant host planet, meaning it could potentially be habitable, such as the moons Pandora in the Avatar franchise or Endor in Star Wars.
But what makes this system even more unique is that the star TOI 4633c is orbiting is itself being orbited by another star. It wasn’t long ago that we weren’t even sure if planets could exist in these “binary” systems, and how strange life might be on one has become prominent recently with the popularity of The Three-Body Problem. But in theory, binary systems have habitable zones, and planets can survive in a stable orbit around at least one of the stars.
TESS’ primary mission is compete, but its data is still a treasure trove of new discoveries, as Fraser covers.The smaller star orbits around its larger binary companion only once every 230 years and gets close enough to the other star to be considered relatively close by interstellar standards. As of now, it’s unclear what, if any, effect this proximity to another star would have on TOI 4633c, but it’s doubtful that it would be a world like Tatooine.
However, the system lacks similarities to famous fictional examples, and it makes up for its potential to solve some long-standing problems in planetary formation theory. In addition to searching for a potential exomoon around TOI 4633c, scientists will continue to monitor the system closely to see if it remains stable. They can also see how the current known (and theorized) planets fit into existing models of planetary system formation.
This is another feather in the cap of the Planet Hunters TESS citizen science collaboration. There are undoubtedly more strange star systems out there for them to find. If you’re interested in helping them, you can sign up here.
Learn More:
NASA – Discovery Alert: Mini-Neptune in Double Star System is a Planetary Puzzle
Eisner et al. – Planet Hunters TESS. V. A Planetary System Around a Binary Star, Including a Mini-Neptune in the Habitable Zone
UT – Marvel at the Variety of Planets Found by TESS Already
UT – A New Venus-Sized World Found in the Habitable Zone of its Star
Lead Image:
Artist’s depiction of the binary system TOI 4633 and its potentially habitable planet.
Credit – Ed Bell for Simons Foundation
The post A Mini-Neptune in the Habitable Zone in a Binary Star System appeared first on Universe Today.
Historic Marker Celebrates NASA Kennedy’s Old Center Headquarters
A grass field and tile display of NASA’s iconic “meatball” is all that remains of the structure that stood for over 50 years during America’s most monumental launches to space. Now, a large bronze plaque at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida marks the location of this original headquarters building, commemorating the early days of space exploration.
Approved in April 2023 as part of the State of Florida’s Historical Markers program, the marker was unveiled Tuesday, May 28, 2024, by center leaders during a ceremony attended by former and current NASA employees as part of National Historic Preservation Month.
“As we surge into the future, it’s appropriate to take a moment and remember the past,” said Kennedy Space Center Director Janet Petro. “We wouldn’t be at the forefront of space exploration without those whose footsteps we followed and it’s important that their service be properly honored. But we also focus on the future of the spaceport so that it will always maintain our path to space.”
The new marker will be displayed permanently just west of the seven-story, 200,000 square foot Central Campus Headquarters Building on NASA Parkway, which replaced the old building in 2019. The more modern headquarters was built with the center’s master plan in mind, prioritizing efficiencies in cost, energy, and land usage to ensure NASA puts as much resources as possible toward its mission.
Various artifacts from the old building were removed before its demolition and are now displayed in the new headquarters, including its original sign and a bust of President John F. Kennedy, after whom the center is named.
Wall tiles from Kennedy Space Center’s former headquarters building are presented to Kennedy Director Janet Petro inside the Florida spaceport’s Central Campus Headquarters Building on May 3, 2022. The two 15-pound sections from the building were preserved by Maverick Constructors LLC, the construction company that completed demolition of the structure. The company’s presentation of the tiles is in honor of the many civil servants and contractors who dedicated their lives to working for and supporting NASA in this building.Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
Constructed in 1965, Kennedy’s original four-story headquarters building became the scientific, engineering, and administrative hub for three of NASA’s most iconic space programs: Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle. Designed in the International Style, the 440,000 square foot structure had an intimate view of some of NASA’s grandest moments, including the launch of the Apollo 11 mission that successfully landed the first humans on the moon in 1969, fulfilling the goal famously set by President Kennedy seven years earlier.
Other major NASA milestones accomplished during the building’s lifetime include the 1973 launch of Skylab, the first-ever space meeting of American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts in 1975, the 1990 launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, and the construction of the International Space Station in 1998.
Prior to its demolition, the old headquarters was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It is the first original NASA center headquarters building to be demolished.
The original headquarters ground becomes the seventh location within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore to have a marker approved by the Florida Historic Marker Council. It joins three others within Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and three more located on Kennedy Parkway. It is the only one of the seven inside Kennedy’s secure area.
Swarming for Success: Starling Completes Primary Mission
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The four CubeSate spacecraft that make up the Starling swarm have demonstrated success in autonomous operations, completing all key mission objectives.
After ten months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm successfully demonstrated its primary mission’s key objectives, representing significant achievements in the capability of swarm configurations.
Swarms of satellites may one day be used in deep space exploration. An autonomous network of spacecraft could self-navigate, manage scientific experiments, and execute maneuvers to respond to environmental changes without the burden of significant communications delays between the swarm and Earth.
“The success of Starling’s initial mission represents a landmark achievement in the development of autonomous networks of small spacecraft,” said Roger Hunter, program manager for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “The team has been very successful in achieving our objectives and adapting in the face of challenges.”
Sharing the WorkThe Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) experiment, flown onboard Starling, demonstrated the spacecraft swarm’s ability to optimize data collection across the swarm. The CubeSats analyzed Earth’s ionosphere by identifying interesting phenomena and reaching a consensus between each satellite on an approach for analysis.
By sharing observational work across a swarm, each spacecraft can “share the load” and observe different data or work together to provide deeper analysis, reducing human workload, and keeping the spacecraft working without the need for new commands sent from the ground.
The experiment’s success means Starling is the first swarm to autonomously distribute information and operations data between spacecraft to generate plans to work more efficiently, and the first demonstration of a fully distributed onboard reasoning system capable of reacting quickly to changes in scientific observations.
Communicating Across the SwarmA swarm of spacecraft needs a network to communicate between each other. The Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) experiment automatically established a network in space, allowing the swarm to relay commands and transfer data between one another and the ground, as well as share information about other experiments cooperatively.
The team successfully completed all the MANET experiment objectives, including demonstrating routing commands and data to one of the spacecraft having trouble with space to ground communications, a valuable benefit of a cooperative spacecraft swarm.
“The success of MANET demonstrates the robustness of a swarm,” said Howard Cannon, Starling project manager at NASA Ames. “For example, when the radio went down on one swarm spacecraft, we ‘side-loaded’ the spacecraft from another direction, sending commands, software updates, and other vital information to the spacecraft from another swarm member.”
Autonomous Swarm NavigationNavigating and operating in relation to one another and the planet is an important part of forming a swarm of spacecraft. Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment, or StarFOX, uses star trackers to recognize a fellow swarm member, other satellite, or space debris from the background field of stars, then estimate each spacecraft’s position and velocity.
The experiment is the first-ever published demonstration of this type of swarm navigation, including the ability to track multiple members of a swarm simultaneously and the ability to share observations between the spacecraft, improving accuracy when determining each swarm member’s orbit.
Near the end of mission operations, the swarm was maneuvered into a passive safety ellipse, and in this formation, the StarFOX team was able to achieve a groundbreaking milestone, demonstrating the ability to autonomously estimate the swarm’s orbits using only inter-satellite measurements from the spacecraft star trackers.
Managing Swarm ManeuversThe ability to plan and execute maneuvers with minimal human intervention is an important part of developing larger satellite swarms. Managing the trajectories and maneuvers of hundreds or thousands of spacecraft autonomously saves time and reduces complexity.
The Reconfiguration and Orbit Maintenance Experiments Onboard (ROMEO) system tests onboard maneuver planning and execution by estimating the spacecraft’s orbit and planning a maneuver to a new desired orbit.
The experiment team has successfully demonstrated the system’s ability to determine and plan a change in orbit and is working to refine the system to reduce propellant use and demonstrate executing the maneuvers. The team will continue to adapt and develop the system throughout Starling’s mission extension.
Swarming TogetherNow that Starling’s primary mission objectives are complete, the team will embark on a mission extension known as Starling 1.5, testing space traffic coordination in partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which also has autonomous maneuvering capabilities. The project will explore how constellations operated by different users can share information through a ground hub to avoid potential collisions.
“Starling’s partnership with SpaceX is the next step in operating large networks of spacecraft and understanding how two autonomously maneuvering systems can safely operate in proximity to each other. As the number of operational spacecraft increases each year, we must learn how to manage orbital traffic,” said Hunter.
NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, based at Ames and within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the Starling mission. Blue Canyon Technologies designed and manufactured the spacecraft buses and is providing mission operations support. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. provided launch and integration services. Partners supporting Starling’s payload experiments have included Stanford University’s Space Rendezvous Lab in Stanford, California, York Space Systems (formerly Emergent Space Technologies) of Denver, Colorado, CesiumAstro of Austin, Texas, L3Harris Technologies, Inc., of Melbourne, Florida. Funding support for the DSA experiment was provided by NASA’s Game Changing Development program within STMD. Partners supporting Starling’s mission extension include SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, NASA’s Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) program, and the Department of Commerce. SpaceX manages the Starlink satellite constellation and the Collision Avoidance ground system.
Share Details Last Updated May 29, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 2 min read Follow NASA’s Starling Swarm in Real Time Article 7 months ago 6 min read NASA’s Starling Mission Sending Swarm of Satellites into Orbit Article 11 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related TopicsAmes Research Center
Space Technology Mission Directorate
Starling
Game Changing Development