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Cozy Dark emerging technology began work in 2010 as a skunkworks-style engineering firm and is registered with CCR and NSPIRES.

Our early engineering & design efforts have focused on orbital debris solutions and electrodynamic tether technology.

Zach Urbina founded Cozy Dark with the cooperation of technical, research, and academic colleagues in the Southern California AeroAstro community.

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28 posts tagged exoplanets

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Putting the Squeeze On Planets Outside Our Solar System | Just as graphite can transform into diamond under high pressure, liquid magmas may similarly undergo major transformations at the pressures and temperatures that exist deep inside Earth-like planets. Using high-powered lasers, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and collaborators discovered that molten magnesium silicate undergoes a phase change in the liquid state, abruptly transforming to a more dense liquid with increasing pressure. The research provides insight into planet formation. “Phase changes between different types of melts have not been taken into account in planetary evolution models,” said lead scientist Dylan Spaulding, a University of California, Berkeley graduate student who conducted most of his thesis work at the Laboratory’s Jupiter Laser Facility. “But they could have played an important role during Earth’s formation and may indicate that extra-solar ‘Super-Earth’ planets are structured differently from Earth.” continue reading 

Putting the Squeeze On Planets Outside Our Solar System |

Just as graphite can transform into diamond under high pressure, liquid magmas may similarly undergo major transformations at the pressures and temperatures that exist deep inside Earth-like planets.

Using high-powered lasers, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and collaborators discovered that molten magnesium silicate undergoes a phase change in the liquid state, abruptly transforming to a more dense liquid with increasing pressure. The research provides insight into planet formation.

“Phase changes between different types of melts have not been taken into account in planetary evolution models,” said lead scientist Dylan Spaulding, a University of California, Berkeley graduate student who conducted most of his thesis work at the Laboratory’s Jupiter Laser Facility. “But they could have played an important role during Earth’s formation and may indicate that extra-solar ‘Super-Earth’ planets are structured differently from Earth.” continue reading 

Source llnl.gov
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NASA’s Kepler Announces 11 New Planetary Systems Hosting 26 Planets | NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form. The planets orbit close to their host stars and range in size from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter. Fifteen are between Earth and Neptune in size. Further observations will be required to determine which are rocky like Earth and which have thick gaseous atmospheres like Neptune. The planets orbit their host star once every six to 143 days. All are closer to their host star than Venus is to our sun. “Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky,” said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits.” continue reading

NASA’s Kepler Announces 11 New Planetary Systems Hosting 26 Planets |

NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form.

The planets orbit close to their host stars and range in size from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter. Fifteen are between Earth and Neptune in size. Further observations will be required to determine which are rocky like Earth and which have thick gaseous atmospheres like Neptune. The planets orbit their host star once every six to 143 days. All are closer to their host star than Venus is to our sun.

“Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky,” said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits.” continue reading

Source jpl.nasa.gov
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Planets With Double Suns Are Common | Astronomers using NASA’s Kepler mission have discovered two new circumbinary planet systems — planets that orbit two stars, like Tatooine in the movie Star Wars. Their find, which brings the number of known circumbinary planets to three, shows that planets with two suns must be common, with many millions existing in our Galaxy. “Once again, we’re seeing science fact catching up with science fiction,” said co-author Josh Carter of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The work was published online in the journal Nature and presented by lead author William Welsh (San Diego State University) at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The two new planets, named Kepler-34b and Kepler-35b, are both gaseous Saturn-size planets. Kepler-34b orbits its two Sun-like stars every 289 days, and the stars themselves orbit each other every 28 days. Kepler-35b revolves around a pair of smaller stars (80 and 89 percent of the Sun’s mass) every 131 days, and the stars orbit one another every 21 days. Both systems reside in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, with Kepler-34 located 4,900 light-years from Earth and Kepler-35 at a distance of 5,400 light-years. Circumbinary planets have two suns, not just one, and due to the orbital motion of the stars, the amount of energy the planet receives varies greatly. This changing energy flow could produce wildly varying climates. continue reading

Planets With Double Suns Are Common |

Astronomers using NASA’s Kepler mission have discovered two new circumbinary planet systems — planets that orbit two stars, like Tatooine in the movie Star Wars. Their find, which brings the number of known circumbinary planets to three, shows that planets with two suns must be common, with many millions existing in our Galaxy.

“Once again, we’re seeing science fact catching up with science fiction,” said co-author Josh Carter of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The work was published online in the journal Nature and presented by lead author William Welsh (San Diego State University) at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

The two new planets, named Kepler-34b and Kepler-35b, are both gaseous Saturn-size planets. Kepler-34b orbits its two Sun-like stars every 289 days, and the stars themselves orbit each other every 28 days. Kepler-35b revolves around a pair of smaller stars (80 and 89 percent of the Sun’s mass) every 131 days, and the stars orbit one another every 21 days. Both systems reside in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, with Kepler-34 located 4,900 light-years from Earth and Kepler-35 at a distance of 5,400 light-years.

Circumbinary planets have two suns, not just one, and due to the orbital motion of the stars, the amount of energy the planet receives varies greatly. This changing energy flow could produce wildly varying climates. continue reading

Source cfa.harvard.edu
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Planet Population Is Plentiful: Planets Around Stars Are the Rule Rather Than the Exception | An international team, including three astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), has used the technique of gravitational microlensing to measure how common planets are in the Milky Way. After a six-year search that surveyed millions of stars, the team concludes that planets around stars are the rule rather than the exception. Over the past 16 years, astronomers have detected more than 700 confirmed exoplanets [1] and have started to probe the spectra (eso1002) and atmospheres (eso1047) of these worlds. While studying the properties of individual exoplanets is undeniably valuable, a much more basic question remains: how commonplace are planets in the Milky Way? Most currently known exoplanets were found either by detecting the effect of the gravitational pull of the planet on its host star or by catching the planet as it passes in front of its star and slightly dims it. Both of these techniques are much more sensitive to planets that are either massive or close to their stars, or both, and many planets will be missed. An international team of astronomers has searched for exoplanets using a totally different method — gravitational microlensing — that can detect planets over a wide range of mass and those that lie much further from their stars. continue reading

Planet Population Is Plentiful: Planets Around Stars Are the Rule Rather Than the Exception |

An international team, including three astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), has used the technique of gravitational microlensing to measure how common planets are in the Milky Way. After a six-year search that surveyed millions of stars, the team concludes that planets around stars are the rule rather than the exception.

Over the past 16 years, astronomers have detected more than 700 confirmed exoplanets [1] and have started to probe the spectra (eso1002) and atmospheres (eso1047) of these worlds. While studying the properties of individual exoplanets is undeniably valuable, a much more basic question remains: how commonplace are planets in the Milky Way?

Most currently known exoplanets were found either by detecting the effect of the gravitational pull of the planet on its host star or by catching the planet as it passes in front of its star and slightly dims it. Both of these techniques are much more sensitive to planets that are either massive or close to their stars, or both, and many planets will be missed.

An international team of astronomers has searched for exoplanets using a totally different method — gravitational microlensing — that can detect planets over a wide range of mass and those that lie much further from their stars. continue reading

Source eso.org
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Daily chart: life beyond Earth. A new index scores planetary bodies on their suitability for life. Unsurprisingly, Earth tops the list, but Titan, a Saturnian moon, takes the second spot ahead of Mars. (via, theeconomist)

Daily chart: life beyond Earth. A new index scores planetary bodies on their suitability for life. Unsurprisingly, Earth tops the list, but Titan, a Saturnian moon, takes the second spot ahead of Mars.

(via, theeconomist)

Source economist.com

Kepler mission finds three smallest exoplanets |

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission have discovered the three smallest planets yet detected orbiting a star beyond our sun. The planets orbit a single star, called KOI-961, and are 0.78, 0.73 and 0.57 times the radius of Earth. The smallest is about the size of Mars.

All three planets are thought to be rocky like Earth but orbit close to their star, making them too hot to be in the habitable zone. Of the more than 700 planets confirmed to orbit other stars, called exoplanets, only a handful are known to be rocky. But finding one as small as Mars hints that there may be a bounty of rocky planets all around us.

The three planets (called KOI-961.01, KOI-961.02 and KOI-961.03) are very close to their star, taking less than two days to orbit around it. The KOI-961 star is a red dwarf with a diameter one-sixth that of our sun, making it just 70% bigger than Jupiter. This is the tiniest solar system found so far. It’s actually more similar to Jupiter and its moons in scale than any other planetary system.

The discovery is further proof of the diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy. Red dwarfs are the most common kind of star in our Milky Way galaxy. The discovery of three rocky planets around one red dwarf suggests that the galaxy could be teeming with similar rocky planets.

Above: (1) Artist’s concept of the KOI-961 system. (2) Comparison of the KOI-961 planetary system to Jupiter and the largest four of its many moons.

via unknownskywalker

Source jpl.nasa.gov
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Smallest Exoplanets Ever Confirmed Around a Star Like Our Sun | NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun. The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is slightly larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius. Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. Kepler-20e orbits its parent star every 6.1 days and Kepler-20f every 19.6 days. These short orbital periods mean very hot, inhospitable worlds. Kepler-20f, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius), is similar to an average day on the planet Mercury. The surface temperature of Kepler-20e, at more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit (760 degrees Celsius), would melt glass. continue reading

Smallest Exoplanets Ever Confirmed Around a Star Like Our Sun |

NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun.

The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is slightly larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius. Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

Kepler-20e orbits its parent star every 6.1 days and Kepler-20f every 19.6 days. These short orbital periods mean very hot, inhospitable worlds. Kepler-20f, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit (427 degrees Celsius), is similar to an average day on the planet Mercury. The surface temperature of Kepler-20e, at more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit (760 degrees Celsius), would melt glass. continue reading

Source jpl.nasa.gov

Kepler confirms its first planet in habitable zone |

The top diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first habitable zone planet discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth.

Kepler-22’s star is a bit smaller than our sun, so its habitable zone is slightly closer in. The top diagram shows an artist’s rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. Kepler-22b has a yearly orbit of 289 days. The planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest known to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a sun-like star. It’s about 2.4 times the size of Earth.

Scientists do not yet know if the planet has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition. It’s possible that the world would have clouds in its atmosphere, as depicted here in the artist’s interpretation.

via unknownskywalker

Source jpl.nasa.gov

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