Kepler-11 and Life on Other Planets

Great news, a new solar system has been discovered.

The Kepler science team at NASA's Ames Research Centre have named it Kepler-11, in honour of the space telescope that spotted it.

Kepler-11 consists of six planets made of a mix of rock and gases, orbiting a single sun-like star, just like us. It is located approximately 2,000 light years from Earth.

NASA claim: “Kepler-11 has the fullest, most compact planetary system yet discovered beyond our own.”

Yes, it sounds important, and it certainly is. But, in plain words, why is it significant?

The Fresh Outlook spoke exclusively to three Astronomy and Astrophysics scientists and NASA collaborators in order to “translate” the complicated scientific terms into simple language so that the general public will be able to understand the relevance and consequences of this discovery.

“This is an entirely new way of building a solar system,” says Dr Jonathan J. Fortney, a scientist at the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of California and Member of NASA's Kepler Mission Science Team: “The five inner planets are the most densely packed planetary system yet found. These planets all orbit within Mercury's orbit.”

For Dr Eric B. Ford, who is a scientist at the Department of Astronomy at the University of Florida and also a collaborator with NASA's Kepler mission, suggests that systems with multiple planets are not unusual. In his opinion: “Kepler-11 is the first of what will be many discoveries of planetary systems that provide the context for understanding whether our solar system is common or rare.” Basically, it will be able to discover whether or not there are more system like our own.

The theory is easier than it seems. The discovery of a another solar system gives us the possibility to analyse the formation and evolution of these systems, and the chance to learn even more from comparing them to ours: “We have learned much by comparing, for instance, Earth and Venus, which probably formed out of similar material, but have taken different evolutionary paths,” says Dr Fortney.

All experts agree that Kepler-11 will teach us about planet formation in general, which can be be applied to other fields of Astronomy:

“Just as planetary scientists study our solar system in great detail, with this data, we can now turn to developing detailed theories about the formation and evolution of this new system,” considers Dr Daniel Fabrycky, a Michelson Postdoctoral Fellow (a NASA post doctorate studying extrasolar planets) at Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Miami.

There is a universe out there, and we are just a tiny part of it. Dr Fortney sums up this idea: “This finding continues to show that there is tremendous diversity in terms of how to build solar systems. It is another crazy data point that we have in learning what our place is.”

We now we know why is it important; it gives us a wider perspective of our own planetary system. But as the scientists say, this is just the starting point for a further research. Therefore, the next question is: What other discoveries can Kepler-11 lead us to?

“What is most interesting about this system is that, since we have six planets all orbiting the same star, we can do comparative planetary science”, says Dr Fortney, “so this system will be a laboratory to study that affect,” he added.

According to Dr Fabrycky, the architecture of the system could lead to the detection of systems more like our own: “In the very long term, that could lead to a larger emphasis on space exploration - if we find habitable worlds, that will be somewhere to colonize; if we find inhabited worlds, I'm not sure what we should do or think, but it will obviously have profound implications for all of humanity.”

Kepler-11 is, then, a new source of knowledge and a promising foundation for further space exploration.

The water factor

As published on NASA's webstite, Kepler will continue conducting science operations until at least November 2012, searching for planets as small as Earth, including those that orbit stars in the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet.

The Fresh Outlook asked our experts whether the discovery of a planet with liquid water may raise the possibility of life in those places. Their answers were fascinating.

The first myth that we, non-scientific people, should forget is the idea that liquid water in other planets will automatically lead to life: “It certainly raises that possibility, says Dr Ford, "but scientists don't really know how likely it is for life to arise on a planet with liquid water.”

Again, Astronomy seems more like a game of observation and trial and error.

Just because Earth is the only planet that we know of which has liquid water, and also the only known having life, doesn't mean that we should directly link one thing to the other, but it is a logical suggestion: “We do know that life on Earth thrives almost everywhere there is liquid water, so it is natural to look for other places that might have liquid water on their surface,” states Dr Ford.

Dr Fabrycky is very clear on this matter: “In my opinion, life is not a 'just add water' kind of thing. We know very little about this.” He adds: “Don't trust astronomers who, from the existence of shower scum, infer that the spontaneous generation of life is possible given a little bit of liquid water.” It seems that life is not as simple as it seems.

For Dr Fortney, the discover of water in Kepler-11 is quite difficult: “The determination that a planet's surface temperature 'may be suitable' for water isn't terribly difficult, but detecting liquid water is something that I don't think we'll see this decade or the next.”

The saying “perseverance gets results” is especially true when it comes to science. Dr Fortney explains this by quoting Bill Borucki, who started the Kepler Mission: “He likens this hunt to building a cathedral over many generations. First you build the foundations, then the next generation builds the walls, then the next the roof, and the 4th generation gets to enjoy.”

Yet despite the metaphor and the discoveries ahead, the truth is that with the findings of Kepler-11, we are just at stage one: “It is extremely exciting that we know that planets in the habitable zone are common in our galaxy, but it is a long process from here on out,” claims Dr Fortney.

“We'd love to find several planets in the habitable zone and then conduct follow-up observations to look for signs of life,” says Dr Ford, “so we could turn such discussions from speculation and science fiction into scientific knowledge.”

With Kepler-11, a new chapter in the infinite book, which is the universe, is opened in front of us. Much more research still needs to be done. Scientists are the first ones to acknowledge our complete ignorance towards the universe as it is so vast, it is almost indescribable.

Returning to the idea of life on other planets, Dr Fortney is optimistic: “I certainly wouldn't call life on other planets only the realm of science fiction. We just need to be patient.”

By Eva Fernandez
[Image courtesy of Wikimedia]