I know that the various methods of planet detection can be "mashed-up", such as how the transit method used in combination with radial velocity (if the plane of the extrasolar system is tilted enough to allow it) to gather more details about exoplanets. However, today is the first time i learned that the transit method can also be used in tandem with the gravitational microlensing method.

In an arXiv paper published today, Japanese scientists detail their observations regarding 'spikes' of the light curves "just before and after the transit, which is a peculiar feature of the gravitational lensing."

Basically, the gravitational lensing effect happens during transit, wherein the extrasolar planet plays the role of the lens. But the lensing effect becomes significant only when the orbital radius of the planet becomes larger than 10 AU. At such distances, they say that it is harder to obtain more information about the exoplanet because the orbital velocity and/or orbital period are difficult to measure.

But that difficulty is where the advantage of the observable lensing effect comes in. They claim that the rising spike, the sharp rise just before the ingress (or after the egress) of the transit, could be an excellent probe for finding planet parameters. They conclude that "it could be a novel observable for determining the physical parameters" of exoplanets.

Head on to this direct PDF link for more goodness and nice-looking geometric charts.

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Last year, astronomers discovered a link between a star's lithium content and the presence of planets around it. The amount of lithium in Sun-like stars depends on whether or not they have planets. This discovery has partly been fueled by the research to solve the mystery behind the low levels of Lithium in the Sun, as compared to other solar-like stars. To which Garik Israelian declares, "The Sun lacks lithium because it has planets".
Applying this finding to planet-hunting makes it easy for us to find out whether a solar-type star is likely to have planets around it based on the star's lithium content.

Now, another fact is uncovered: that the star temperature is linked to the tilt of the planet's orbit close to it. Giant planets with "wonky" orbits mostly circle blistering-hot stars. Some of the orbits of these "hot jupiters" is so tilted that they orbit backwards in relation to the spin of their host star (which reminds me of the Kozai Mechanism).

With this new finding, I will never look at an exoplanet database the same way again. Seeing the orbital eccentricity of an exoplanet would render me to glance at it’s host star’s temperature, because there is a relationship between the two. Finally, looking at a table of exoplanets and stars is not so boring anymore. Patterns exist between the host stars and their planets. And it is indeed very exciting to uncover hidden links within these ever-growing data on stars and exoplanets.

Links:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/e-ect110909.php
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/06/giant-tilted-exoplanets-like-it-hot/

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I came across The Interplanetary Transport Network (ITN) and wondered if there's an equivalent Exoplanetary Transport Network (ETN) to take interstellar probes to exoplanets. After a quick search on the internet, I came across a recent article over at Centauri Dreams about an interstellar context of the ITN. Paul Gilster makes reference to Karl Schroeder's essay about an idea called "Cyclers", a way to travel across the stars.
In my mind i was looking for some mapping of the motion of nearby stars and where they would be after a certain amount of time. Kind of similar to the "tubes" of the ITN pictured above, would there be equivalent interstellar pathways for probes that we'd like to send to Alpha Centauri, or Epsilon Eridani? This kind of planning and mapping spans hundreds, thousands, or perhaps millions of years into the future. Since stars are in constant motion as they bob their way up and down around the Milky Way (for example, see Barnard's Star), most of them will not be in the same spot that we know of within 500 years from now. Some of them may not be "close" enough to us after a thousand years. But some might eventually become good targets for interstellar probes thousands of years from now.
I wish someone, or some organization, would start and maintain an Interstellar Route Map (IRM) and update it according to the motion of the stars relative to our Sun. With this map one can propose new interstellar routes according to new findings, such as the potential discovery of nearby Brown Dwarfs by WISE, which might be nearer to us than Alpha Centauri. The IRM will also be updated in relation to the technological and economic capabilities of mankind at a projected time of sending probes to extrasolar planets.
The Interstellar Route Map, if ever conceived, would be maintained through generations and handed down to progeny spanning hundreds and thousands of years in the future.

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This truly is a wonderful post from Greg Laughlin of Systemic. These are the kinds of discoveries that make my heart jump and my jaw drop from the awesome nature of our universe. Greg starts by mentioning that "the Galilean satellites of Jupiter constitute the original exoplanetary system." As a matter of fact, Jupiter is like a "mini-solar system" which provides plenty of resonant insights even for Astronomers studying extrasolar systems. With that thought, I am hooked to read the rest of the article. It gives a Sensawunda with a glimpse on the Fractal Nature of our universe.

Links:
http://oklo.org/2010/06/23/a-second-laplace-resonance/

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So far, there are two known exoplanets with raging storms: HD
209458 b and HD 80606 b. But the former is making waves in the news
right now.
New observations show that this gas giant HD 209458 b has superstorms
with toxic winds of 5,000 to 10,000 km per hour.
But here's the scoop: HD 80606 b beats HD 209458 b's storm-windspeed
by a large factor. The raging storm on HD 80606 b is faster than the
speed of sound: 3 miles per second!
The excellent thing is that the storm on HD 209458 b has been observed
by an actual scientific instrument, VLT's spectrograph. While that on
HD 80606 b has simply been predicted by computer models, based on it's
highly eccentric orbit--where wild variations in its weather cause
"shock wave storms". Of course that can't be beaten by HD 209458 b,
except for one thing: It has a cool nickname. Osiris.

Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10393633.stm
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=extrasolar-doppler-winds
http://news.discovery.com/space/exoplanet-storm-winds.html
http://www.labspaces.net/104638/VLT_detects_first_superstorm_on_exoplanet

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For an update on the ongoing snafu regarding the public release of Kepler data, I'd like to report that the Kepler team released some data indeed. But not all of them.
So far, i can see that only the lightcurves are being released to the public, but not the actual CCD data.  For example, to grab the lightcurve of the candidate KIC 008394721, simply go to this URL: http://archive.stsci.edu/pub/kepler/lightcurves/0083/008394721/ and you can download the FITS file.
But if you head to the MAST website to search for the CCD data of the new candidates, the result would be empty.
For me, that is OK. I understand and I can wait. I have a feeling that the floodgates to the data will *only* be opened after the first earth-sized planet has been confirmed by the Kepler team. And yes, I would like them to be the one to find it, and announce it. The joy and the privilege of doing such a momentous task of discovering and announcing the first earth-twin belongs to the team that have worked so hard and dedicated their lives to a wonderful mission such as this.

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http://www.physorg.com/news195720221.html
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2010/100614.html

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Not long ago, I read an article that proposed a new type of exoplanet called Super-Io, based on one of Jupiter's moons, Io. Now comes a prediction of the possibility of life on Io itself.
Yes, the kind of life that might arise on Io--the "volcanic epicenter of our solar system"--would be extreme relative to the kind of life that we know of, but for the local extremophiles it would be their comfy oasis.
So, if there's a possibility of life on Io, one can't help but make the connection that perhaps it might also be possible on a type of exoplanet called a Super-Io.

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For me, this photo of the IKAROS solar sail is quite "Legendary". Why? Because it nicely depicts the wings of Icarus!
Icarus was a legend that had some bad news, so this image gives some nail-biting suspense to the unfurling of the thin membrane of the solar sail. It kinda looks like a broken-down wing, right? 
More moving parts mean more chances of errors, so I feared that IKAROS might encounter some problems, like some harness might get entangled, and so on. You know how wires have a strong tendency to tangle, right?
Here was my inspired post about the IKAROS. And the great news is that the unfurling of the silvery membrane worked out great! I'm glad IKAROS didn't end up with the same fate as Icarus. Today, JAXA confirmed that they successfully deployed the solar sail of IKAROS! Congratulations JAXA!

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For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the
motion of an exoplanet as it moves to the other side of its host star.
This is Beta Pictoris b, shown in the composite image that shows the
reflected light on the dust disc in the outer part, as observed in
1996, in 2003 and autumn 2009.
Of course, this is different from the captured motion of Fomalhaut b, where we captured direct images of it moving from one point to another. With Beta Pictoris b, we've actually captured an exoplanet move from one side of it's host star to the other side! Amazing isn't it!
And here's more info on Beta Pictoris: Only 12 million years old, or less
than three-thousandths of the age of the Sun, Beta Pictoris is 75%
more massive than our parent star. It is located about 60 light-years
away towards the constellation of Pictor (the Painter) and is one of
the best-known examples of a star surrounded by a dusty debris disc.

Source: http://www.physorg.com/news195395123.html

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I've decided to open an account here at Posterous so that I can post my longer-than-tweet thoughts quickly.
Onwards to Brave New Worlds!

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