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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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.