{"id":4739,"date":"2017-03-23T09:49:19","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T13:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=4739"},"modified":"2025-08-13T19:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T23:00:11","slug":"have-a-planet-and-a-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2017\/03\/23\/have-a-planet-and-a-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"Have a planet and a beer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently a team of five Belgian scientists discovered a new planetary system.\u00a0 This was unusual for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 First, there were seven planets in this system; second, all of these planets were Earth sized; and third, three of these planets are in the habitable zone of the star and may be able to sustain life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The star these planets were found orbiting is a small dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1.\u00a0 TRAPPIST-1 is just 40 light-years away.\u00a0 In space distance, this is just around the corner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How were these planets discovered?\u00a0 The astronomers went to the Atacama Desert in Chile and built a telescope there.\u00a0 The site was chosen because the area\u2019s high altitude, clear skies and little light pollution make it a perfect site to do astronomical observations.\u00a0 It took a year to build the telescope.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once observing started, the team studied stars and watched for dips in the brightness of the stars being observed.\u00a0 The changes in brightness they were looking for were caused by the planets of the star system eclipsing the star as viewed from the Earth.\u00a0 This method works best for smaller stars because the planets theoretically would cover a larger percentage of the star.\u00a0 After five years of many positives, the first TRAPPIST exoplanet was discovered.\u00a0 The discovery of the entire system was announced in February of 2017.<\/p>\n

The astronomers who discovered these planets have unofficially named the planets after beers brewed by the Trappist Monastery.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t able to find out all seven names, but three of the names are Rochefort, Orval and Westvleteren.\u00a0 So, for now these astronomers have brought monastic brewing to a celestial level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information about this discovery go to<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/02\/22\/world\/new-exoplanets-discovery-nasa\/<\/a> or<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/02\/22\/science\/trappist-1-exoplanets-nasa.html?_r=0<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information about the 3,593 recognized exoplanets, go to http:\/\/exoplanet.eu\/catalog\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The International Space Station is visible as follows:<\/p>\n

ISS morning through March 24<\/p>\n

ISS evening March 26 to April 15<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the times of other events, go to www.calsky.com.\u00a0 You will need to register at this site and load your location to be able to get exact times.\u00a0 The University of Maine at Presque Isle is located at 68d00m7.8s West longitude and 46d40m45.6s North latitude.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To get a free sky chart go to www.skymaps.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sun and Planet Visibility<\/p>\n

03\/25\/17<\/p>\n

06:24 Sunrise<\/p>\n

18:51 Sunset<\/p>\n

19:06 \u2013 20:24 Mercury<\/p>\n

18:54 \u2013 19:00 Venus<\/p>\n

19:24 \u2013 22:00 Mars<\/p>\n

20:06 \u2013 06:12 Jupiter<\/p>\n

01:54 \u2013 05:54 Saturn<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

04\/05\/2017<\/p>\n

06:03 Sunrise<\/p>\n

19:06 Sunset<\/p>\n

19:36 \u2013 20:48 Mercury<\/p>\n

05:00 \u2013 06:06 Venus<\/p>\n

19:36 \u2013 22:00 Mars<\/p>\n

19:24 \u2013 05:48 Jupiter<\/p>\n

01:12 \u2013 05:30 Saturn<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Upcoming events<\/p>\n

03\/17 07:00 Equilux \u2013 Equal length of day and night for Presque Isle.<\/p>\n

03\/18 08:27 Mercury 8.5 degrees from Venus<\/p>\n

03\/18 23:22 Moon at Apogee \u2013 furthest from the Earth<\/p>\n

03\/20 06:06 Moon 2.4 degrees from Saturn<\/p>\n

03\/20 06:28 March Equinox \u2013 Spring begins<\/p>\n

03\/20 11:58 Last Quarter Moon<\/p>\n

03\/23 09:54 Mercury at Perihelion \u2013 closest to the Sun<\/p>\n

03\/25 06:18 Venus in Inferior Conjunction with the Sun \u2013 between the Earth and the Sun<\/p>\n

03\/26 11:06 Mercury 2.1 from Uranus<\/p>\n

03\/27 22:57 New Moon<\/p>\n

03\/28 20:00 Moon 9.5 degrees from Mercury<\/p>\n

03\/30 01:42 Mercury at half phase<\/p>\n

03\/30 19:30 Moon 6.9 degrees from Mars<\/p>\n

03\/31 23:24 Moon Immersion (eclipse begins) of Hyadum 1 (Gamma Taurus)<\/p>\n

04\/01 03:18 Mercury at greatest elongation east (19 degrees) \u2013 visible in the evening sky<\/p>\n

04\/03 14:39 First Quarter Moon<\/p>\n

04\/07 17:39 Jupiter at opposition \u2013 directly behind the Earth and closest to the Earth<\/p>\n

04\/10 1,180 anniversary of Halley\u2019s Comet\u2019s closest known approach to the Earth, only 3 million miles (837 AD)<\/p>\n

04\/11 02:08 Full Moon<\/p>\n

04\/14 Uranus in conjunction with the Sun, farthest from the Earth<\/p>\n

04\/15 05:57 Moon at apogee \u2013 farthest from the Earth<\/p>\n

04\/16 05:06 Moon 5.3 degrees from Saturn<\/p>\n

04\/19 05:59 Last Quarter Moon<\/p>\n

04\/20 01:54 Mercury in inferior conjunction with the Sun.\u00a0 Between the Earth and the Sun and closest to the Earth.<\/p>\n

04\/22 04:00 April Lyrids \u2013 7 meteors per hour<\/p>\n

04\/22 10:00 April Lyrids Maximum<\/p>\n

04\/23 04:00 April Lyrids \u2013 6 meteors per hour<\/p>\n

04\/23 05:30 Moon 8.5 degrees from Venus<\/p>\n

04\/24 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the first person to die on a space mission \u2013 Vladimir Komarov (1967)<\/p>\n

04\/26 08:16 New Moon<\/p>\n

04\/26 11:12 Venus reaches its brightest in the evening sky (mag -4.75)<\/p>\n

04\/27 12:08 Moon at perigee \u2013 closest to the Earth<\/p>\n

04\/27 21:18 Moon 8.4 degrees from Mars<\/p>\n

04\/28 10:49 Mercury 0.1 degrees from Uranus<\/p>\n

04\/29 Astronomy Day<\/p>\n

04\/30 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the first photo of the Earth from the surface of the Moon (1967)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently a team of five Belgian scientists discovered a new planetary system.\u00a0 This was unusual for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 First, there were seven planets in this system; second, all of these planets were Earth sized; and third, three of these planets are in the habitable zone of the star and may be able to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8865,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739\/revisions\/8865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}