Physics Professor Explores
Space For Clues to How Planets are Formed
Professor of
physics searches for signs of possible birth of new planets
By Pamela McLaren
February 17, 2005
When most of us look up at the evening
sky, we see the moon, stars, sometimes clouds and an occasional
airplane.
When Patricia Cheng peers upwards, she sees
possibilities. The professor of physics is searching for the
signs of the possible birth of new planets.
“The solar system has nine planets and only
Earth appears to be hospitable,” says the researcher, who
has been delving into how planets are formed for more than
a decade. “We astronomers are always looking for other planets
that can sustain life.”
Cheng recently returned from McDonald Observatory
in Texas where she spent her time in search of planetary “building
blocks.” Cheng's research is being funded with nearly $80,000
in recent grants from NASA and the Space Telescope Science
Institute.
“My goal is to identify stars with the type
of gases and dust that show potential for the creation of
a planet. I want to see how dust and gases are forming into
planets for clues as to how the Earth was created. If we can
find a very young planet, we can track it and learn how planets
develop,” says Cheng.
She hopes to discover clues to planet formation
through studying the dust and gas around other stars – testing
a theory that this is how a planet is born. “The further away
from a star, gases condense differently. Closer to a star,
such as the sun, things are more solid.”
For her research Cheng needs to have access
to powerful telescopes in space – like those on the Hubble
spaceship and the FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer)
– as well as to ground-based telescopes located throughout
the world, including McDonald. Getting time on a telescope
is very competitive, she notes, and when your time comes,
you hope that the skies are clear.
Fortunately, the weather was good during Cheng's
visit to the McDonald Observatory. She is currently processing
and testing the data she gathered.
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