Dark Knight Transits–First Ever Live Exoplanet Transit

On June 27, in a very special broadcast Slooh and the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), home of the largest telescope on Earth, will present the first ever live observation of a planet outside of our Solar System as it passes across the face of its home star. Exo-planet TrES-2b, nicknamed Dark Knight, will traverse its star and Slooh will capture the moment using one of the largest infrared telescopes in the world,  IAC’s Carlos Sánchez Telescope in the Canary Islands.Dark Knight is the darkest exoplanet yet discovered, darker than coal or even black acrylic paint, reflecting just 1% of the light that falls on it. This innovative exoplanet extravaganza will be hosted by Slooh astronomers and exoplanet researchers including one of the world’s foremost experts on exo-planets, Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger, the newly appointed director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University. The special event is in honor of IAC’s 30th anniversary of their Mt.Teide Observatories, the ceremony for which will also be held on the 27th in the Canary Islands and be presided over by Felipe VI, the King of Spain, who will inaugurate Slooh’s telescopes. Mark your calendars to join us for this historic event.

TrES-2b is a little larger than Jupiter but a totally alien world. Whereas Jupiter is extremely cold, this exoplanet is hot: the outer layers of TrES-2b have a temperature of nearly a thousand degrees Celsius, hot enough to vaporize many metals and molecules. Just as intriguing is the fact that the TrES-2 system is a binary star system, which brings to life an example of the two rising Suns as seen on Tatooine in Star Wars.

During the live show on June 27, Slooh and IAC astronomers will use the Carlos Sánchez Telescope in the Canary Islands to measure the change in brightness of the star as the planet transits in real time. Join Slooh hosts Eric Edelman and Bob Berman on June 27, 2015 for this extraordinary view of an alien world passing across the face of its home star.

Te zien op:http://live.slooh.com/stadium/live/watch-an-exoplanet-cross-its-star-live

Bron: http://main.slooh.com/event/see-a-real-time-transit-of-an-inky-dark-exoplanet/ | Gewijzigd: 1 februari 2017, 13:30 uur, door Joyce.s