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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- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)