With the discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a dwarf star, we are on the right track to find another habitable system! What makes this discovery by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope special is that this is the first time that a series of Earth-sized planets have been found around a single star, hence setting a new record for seemingly habitable planets around a single star outside our solar system.
All seven planets may have water in the liquid state and be habitable in the future with the chances being higher in at least three of them, which are located in the habitable zone. At a distance of about 40 light-years (235 trillion miles) from Earth, the system of planets is comparatively close to us and is a part of the Aquarius constellation. However since they are located outside our solar system, they are known as in exoplanets in scientific circles.
In May 2016, using TRAPPIST, a Chile-based Telescope researchers had discovered three planets in this solar system. Then the scope of research was widened and Spitzer along with assistance from several ground-based telescopes validated the existence of two of these planets and additionally found five more, thus increasing the number to seven. The system has since been named as TRAPPIST-1.
The Spitzer data allowed researchers to accurately measure the size of these seven exoplanets and develop an estimate on masses and densities of them. It has been deemed that the exoplanets will likely be rocky in nature and further observations need to be done to determine the availability of water and of liquid water in general. However the details about the seventh exoplanet are yet to be figured about, while some scientists opining that it could be an icy, “snowball” world, but things can only be verified after proper research has been done.
Also what makes this discovery special is that this is the first time Earth-sized planets have been found orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf, TRAPPIST-1 star. The star is much different as compared to our Sun, with it being quite smaller than our Sun. Even though the planets are more or less similar in size compared to Earth, the TRAPPIST-1 star is much different with only about one-twelfth the mass of our Sun and is just about 8 percent in size as compared to our Sun. Also, the surface temperature of it is a cool 4150 degree Fahrenheit as compared to the 10,000 degree Fahrenheit that our Sun displays. This makes it possible for the planets to be closer to the star, much closer than Mercury is to our Sun. Also, the planets may be tidally locked to the star, meaning that the same side of the planet faces the star at all times, hence having permanent day on one side, and permanent night on the other. With the distance between the star and the planets less, another two interesting facts are that these planets can be seen if one was standing on the surface of other, and these planets complete revolution around the Star at much faster pace, with the fastest taking only 1.5 days and slowest taking 20 days only!
Photo Courtesy – NASA
What made Spitzer the perfect choice for the task was that Spitzer is an infrared telescope trailing Earth while orbiting the Sun and the TRAPPIST-1 star glows brightest in infrared light. TRAPPIST-1 was monitored for over 500 hours by Spitzer. Because of Spitzer’s position around the orbit, it is useful in observing transits of planets going around the host star to find out about the system. This technique is what was used to find out information about the TRAPPIST-1 system.
According to Sean Carey, who is the manager of NASA’s Spitzer Science Centre in California, “Spitzer will continue to follow up on the system to help refine our knowledge of the exoplanets so that other telescopes can follow up too in the bid to unravel more secrets”. He also added that mission is one of the most exciting results he had seen in the 14 years of Spitzer operations.
NASA has also put Hubble Telescope on the mission to find out more about the Earth-sized exoplanets within the habitable zone. Spitzer, Hubble, and Kepler will be used to ensure follow-up studies with help of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope that will be launching in 2018. With more integrated sensors, Webb will be able to provide us with a clearer picture.
It is also being speculated that the exoplanets may help the scientists in better understanding about planets that can harbour life even if these exoplanets turn out to be lifeless. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate said in a statement, “This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life.”He continued, saying, “Answering the question ‘are we alone?’ is a top science priority, and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.”
With the discovery, the space community seems quite abuzz, and with all the research going on to understand the system, a home away from Earth may not seem like a far-fetched dream in the future to come.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.