 Understand how our view of the solar system has changed over time and how discoveries made have led to our changing our view of the solar system.  Learn planetary characteristics such as number of moons, size, composition, type of atmosphere, gravity, temperature and surface features.  Understand the movement of planetary bodies.  Understand which planetary characteristics are more important than others when it relates to our understanding of other worlds.  Understand how proximity to the sun influences planets.  Understand the methods and tools scientists use to learn about other planets and moons in our solar system.  Understand the conditions needed for a habitable world and determine if there are habitable worlds in our solar system or outside the solar system.  Understand how we look for and study solar systems other than our own. Grab Your Clickers! 1.Complex Knowledge: demonstrations of learning that go aboveand above and beyond what was explicitly taught. 2.Knowledge: meeting the learning goals and expectations. 3.Foundational knowledge: simpler procedures, isolated details, vocabulary. 4.Limited knowledge: know very little details but working toward a higher level.

Bell Work How far away is this planet from its star? How big is it?

9/365= (squareroot) =.1225 x 10 = times bigger than earth AU = (p 2 ) 1/3

Exoplanets Plotted 4 This figure plots exoplanet discoveries on a graph showing the size (radius) versus the orbital period. Kepler transit discoveries are shown as yellow dots. The pink dots represent transit discoveries by other means than Kepler. The light blue dots represent discoveries using the radial velocity method (measuring the toward-and-away wobbles of stars induced by the gravitational tugs of orbiting planets). The other colors account for direct imaging and other methods. Image credit: NASA Ames/Kepler Mission/N. Batalha.

Last week’s question: How can we use data to find and analyze exoplanets?

Habitability  Today’s Questions!  What does a planet require to be habitable?  What does it mean to be habitable?

Habitable Zone a.k.a, the Goldilocks Zone Credit ; NASA Ames/SETI Institute/D. Berry Habitable zones—the regions where liquid water could exist on planets orbiting there--vary in size and distance from the parent star depending on the star’s temperature.

First planets found!

Earth sized Planets in Habitable Zones This figure shows both currently confirmed and candidate exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zone of their respective stars. Their positions on the graph are determined according to the surface temperature of their parent star versus the energy received by the planet. The green bands represent the habitable zone—the region in which water on a rocky surface could exist in liquid form under the right conditions. The graph shows Venus, Earth and Mars for reference. Recently confirmed planets are labeled. 10 Image credit: NASA Ames/Kepler Mission/N. Batalha/W. Stenzel.

Earth Similarity Index: How similar is a plane to earth on a scale of 0-1

-How do these compare to Earth? -What type of planets would these probably be?

Kepler’s Planet Candidates In July 2015, the 7 th catalog of Kepler planets was released. Notice the large number of Earth-size planets in the new data release. = July 2015 = Earlier catalogs Credit: NASA Ames/W. Stenzel.

The Discoveries In January 2015, the Kepler Mission team announced its 1,000 th verified extrasolar planet (“exoplanet”) discovery—including three more that are both less than two Earth diameters in size, and orbit within the “habitable zone” of their parent stars. This brings the current total of habitable zone planets to (Only criteria is that the temp is between freezing point and boiling point of water) If you also narrow your search to planets closer to Earths size and temperature, the number goes down to Three of the 12 verified near-Earth-size planets orbiting in habitable zones are among the newly-validated. Two of these— Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b--are less than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth and are likely made of rock. They orbit stars smaller and cooler than the Sun, 475 and 1,100 light years away, respectively. Credit: NASA Ames/Kepler Mission/W. Stenzel.

The Big Picture 17 Prior to Kepler, the vast majority of known exoplanets were Neptune-size or larger. This was a selection bias due to the difficulty of detecting smaller exoplanets. Kepler can detect, and is detecting, smaller planets not detectable by other methods, and is increasing the odds of finding planets that resemble Earth. An important goal in the search for exoplanets is to find that “other Earth”— one of similar size, orbiting in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star, possessing an Earth-like atmosphere, possibly harboring life as we know it. Artist’s conception of Kepler-186f. Credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/Caltech. Kepler’s 1,000+ exoplanet discoveries— and counting—have demonstrated that planets are everywhere, and that smaller planets (Earth- to Neptune-size) are more common than large (Jupiter- size or bigger) ones.

The Big Picture 3 One of the key questions Kepler was created to answer was whether there were other planets like Earth. Most confirmed Earth-size planet discoveries orbit smaller and cooler stars than the sun and have short years—because these planets transit more often and are thus more readily confirmed. Credit: NASA/JPL-CalTech/R. Hurt Kepler-452b—which took just over three Earth-years to make three orbits of its star—is the first discovery of an Earth-size planet orbiting a sun-like star in a period similar to Earth.

What are the Implications? 4 Not only is Kepler-452b a close cousin to Earth in its size, orbit, and parent star; it also orbits within its star’s “habitable zone”—the region around the star where the temperature range could allow an orbiting planet to have liquid water, essential to life as we know it. The planet also has a good chance of being rocky, setting up conditions that could be similar to Earth. Comparison of the known stars with planets orbiting in their habitable zones: Kepler-186, Kepler-452, and our sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-CalTech/R. Hurt So far, Kepler-452b is the best candidate for being a close cousin to Earth, and is a planet that could possibly harbor life.

Kepler’s Earth-size Worlds Of the Earth-size worlds discovered by Kepler Mission, only Kepler-452b orbits a star like our Sun. The others orbit smaller and cooler stars. Artist’s conception. Credit: NASA Ames/Wendy Stenzl

Is Kepler-452b Habitable? Kepler-452b is both larger and older than Earth. 452b receives 10% more energy than Earth. If it were the same size as Earth, there would be a run-away greenhouse. Because is is 60% larger than Earth, its size may allow it to retain an atmosphere and surface water. Could we live there? Credit: NASA Ames/J. Jenkins.

Kepler’s Earth-size Planets Since launch in 2009, several exoplanets in or near the habitable zone have been discovered. Kepler- 452b is nearest in size and temperature to Earth. The exoplanets are shown relative to the temperature of their star and with respect to the amount of energy they receive from their star (energy at Earth = 1). Credit: NASA Ames/N. Batalha and W. Stenzel. discovers-bigger-older-cousin-to-earth

Homework! I will check this tomorrow!  On our website – under this week!

Record Your Data after doing the activity in your science journal

Tell me about your planet

Create a brochure for your planet  Here is information…take this and create a travel poster in your science journal