Kepler 16b, Orion Nebula, Andromeda

Observatory / Course Archives / ASTR 110 Fall 2019 / Kim

Kepler-16 b

The Kepler-16b is an exoplanet that is circumbinary which means that it orbits around 2 stars. Of the two stars, one of them is thought to be a K-type star and the other is thought to be an M-type star. The exoplanet that orbits the 2 stars is known to be a cold gaseous planet that is made up of half gas and half rocks. The planet is also known to be approximately the size of Saturn and is about 33.3% mass of Jupiter. The exoplanet orbits the stars approximately every 229 days. A fun fact about the exoplanet is that it is given the nickname "Tatooine" which is a reference from Starwars, because "Tatooine" also orbits around two stars in the film. The surface temperature of the exoplanet varies from -73 to -103C depending on where the exoplanet is located. Kepler-16b is located 200 lightyears away from earth. This discovery is an interesting discovery as it is the only known exoplanet that orbits around 2 different stars in the same orbit and it broadens the perspective when searching and discovering more stars and exoplanets.

The exoplanet was discovered by using the transit method which means that the planet was too small to be seen so we do not have an actual image of the actual exoplanet. However, we can approximate what the planet would look like through models and diagrams with the informations collected such as the image above. One of the stars is estimated to be 69% of the mass of our sun and the other star is estimated to be about 20% of the mass of our sun. This indicates that Kepler-16b is pretty small compared to our sun. As observed in the picture above, it is thought that the function of Kepler-16b allows there to be an eclipse about every 3 weeks.

Image was taken from: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler-16b.html

Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula is often known as the middle star in the Orion's sword. It is one of the brightest nebula that can be seen with the naked eye. The Orion Nebula is located within the Milky Way however, the nebula is located 1,500 light years away which is very far. However, it is the closest "star forming" region from the earth. The nebula is mostly made up of Hydrogen which makes sense as it is a star forming region. The nebula is estimated to weight about 300 solar masses. On the bottom of the nebula are these "brown dwarfs" which are also called "failed stars." These dwarfs are generally cool and are hard to detect. These brown dwarfs were found through the Hubble telescope. This exoplanet was discovered on November 26, 1610 by an astronomer named, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc. He discovered it by looking through a refracting telescope.

In the image above shows the Orion Nebula in both visual and infared image which is interesting to note because this means that the nebula gives off two different frequencies. If you look in the center of the image, there are four, young and bright, stars that hold the nebula together. They emit this ultraviolet light that creates a cavity in the nebula. This causes a disruption in the growth of hundreds of smaller stars. These four young stars are called "Trapezium" because they are arranged in a shape of a trapezoid. The nebula gives off this dominant red glow because the nebula is mostly made up of ionized Hydrogen. On the right side of the image, there is a noticable greenish tint. The people that study this nebula does not know where this greenish tint comes from.

Image was taken from: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/1814/kepler-16b/

Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is one of the biggest galaxies in the general area where our Milky Way galaxy is located. It is thought to have about twice as much stars that the Milky Way has. The Andromeda galaxy is thought to have formed 10 billion years ago from a collision and merging with another galaxy. This also explains the massive size of the galaxy itself because the galaxy is thought to be an accumilation of merging with smaller galaxies. In the Andromeda galaxy, researches have found the most number of black holes of the galaxies that they have observed. The Andromeda galaxy is thought to be about 2.5 million light years away from the earth. The Andromeda galaxy is one of those galaxies that are blue shifting which means that the galaxy is moving in the direction of the Milky Way. This means that the Andromeda and the Milky Way will collide with each other in 7 billion years from now.

The image show some empty spots because the picture is an accumilation of 10 different image of the galaxy put together. In the image, the center of the galaxy gives off this yellowish/orangish color and the spiral arms give off this bright blue color. This indicates that the center of the Andromeda galaxy are made up of older stars and the spirial arms are made up of younger and bright stars. The Andromeda galaxy is detectable with the naked eye and is best seen during Autumn between sunset and midnight. An interesting fact about the Andromeda galaxy is that the Andromeda galaxy is the furthest thing that is detectable with the naked eye.

Image was taken from:https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA04921