Vol. 38, No. 18

2-19-2008
By: Jeff McCallister

A splashy new discovery puts Ohio State and its team of researchers at the forefront of the planet-finding game

The news of the discovery of a new planetary system that resembles our own was reported all over the world last week.

Newspapers from China and New Zealand to Israel and the United Kingdom ran with the story, as did just about every news outlet in the United States. Astronomy-loving bloggers had a field day as well.

And it all centered around Ohio State.

“Basically, if you wanted to say, ‘Where is the center of this type of planet search?’  the answer is,  ‘right here,’” said Scott Gaudi, an assistant professor of astronomy and the leader of the international collaboration that made the discovery and published it in the journal Science.

“We have Andy Gould, the person who came up with this pioneering method in the first place, we have a graduate student whose thesis may include even more exciting discoveries like this one, we have myself and several others who are contributing to the effort,” Gaudi said.

“We hope this discovery focuses some attention on Ohio State for the exciting work in planet searching that goes on here.”

Brad Peterson, chair of Ohio State’s Department of Astronomy, said such attention would be well deserved.

“This is a unique way of looking for planets, using the Theory of Relativity and the bending of light and space. It’s a very cool application and very elegant compared with other techniques that are much more brute-force,” Peterson said.

“I think we’re going to be recognized as a major player in the planet-finding game.”

Gould has been working to develop the technique, called gravitational microlensing, for the past 15 years.

“I think people here at Ohio State should be excited about this for the same reasons people around the world should be,” Gould said. “In the first place, finding a system that is a lot like our own is a big deal. We’ve been finding planets and systems for about 10 years now but never one like this.

“But beyond that, the level of collaboration, from amateur and professional astronomers on every corner of the globe working on a major discovery, is exciting too. It’s neat even to be a part of it, but to be in the lead of the effort, that takes it to another level.”

Counting these latest two planets, the Ohio State University-based Microlensing Follow Up Network has discovered four of the six planets found using the technique, just in the last four years.

Gaudi expects the number of planet discoveries to double over the next year as other teams publish new findings.

“We’re just getting better at what we do,” Gaudi said. “We’ve hit our stride with this technique. We really know what we’re doing.”

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