'Plato' mission: ESA to launch exoplanet-finding mission in 2026 | Indepth with ILA | Oneindia News
Hi... You are watching in-depth with me ILA. The European Space Agency is preparing to launch a new mission to find more exoplanets in the universe. The name of the scheduled mission is PLATO that will be launched in 2026. PLATO mission stands for Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, and it will scour for thousands of Earth-like planets, including some with favorable orbits around Sun-like stars. ESA's next-generation planet-hunting mission could be the most successful one ever built. PLATO will look for more than 2,45,000 F, G, and K-type stars. A recent study has pointed out that the mission, depending on several parameters, could identify a minimum of 500 Earth-sized planets. Of these, at least a dozen could orbit G-type or Sun-like stars.
#Platomission #Europeanspaceagency #Platoeexoplanetmission
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#Platomission #Europeanspaceagency #Platoeexoplanetmission
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00:00 Hi, you are watching InDeath with me Ila.
00:03 The European Space Agency is preparing to launch a new mission to find more exoplanets
00:07 in the universe.
00:09 The name of the scheduled mission is PLATO that will be launched in 2026.
00:14 PLATO mission stands for Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars, and it will scour
00:19 for thousands of Earth-like planets, including some with favorable orbits around sun-like
00:23 stars.
00:24 ESA's Next Generation Planet Hunting mission could be the most successful one ever built.
00:30 PLATO will look for more than 2,45,000 F, G, and K-type stars.
00:36 A recent study has pointed out that the mission, depending on several parameters, could identify
00:41 a minimum of 500 Earth-sized planets.
00:44 Of these, at least a dozen could orbit G-type or sun-like stars.
00:49 Let's understand exoplanets first.
00:52 These are planets that orbit other stars and are beyond our solar system.
00:56 The first confirmation of detection of exoplanets occurred in 1992.
01:01 According to NASA, to date, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered.
01:07 Scientists believe that there are more planets than stars as each star have at least one
01:11 planet orbiting it.
01:13 Exoplanets come in a host of different sizes.
01:16 They can be gas giants bigger than Jupiter or as small and rocky as Earth.
01:22 Exoplanets are very hard to see directly with telescopes.
01:25 They are hidden by the bright glare of the stars they orbit.
01:28 So, astronomers use other ways to detect and study exoplanets such as looking at the effects
01:33 these planets have on the stars they orbit.
01:36 They also rely on indirect methods, such as the transit method, which is measuring the
01:41 dimming of a star that happens to have a planet pass in front of it.
01:45 Other detection methods include gravitational microlensing.
01:48 In microlensing, light from a distant star is bent and focused by gravity as a planet
01:53 passes between the star and Earth.
01:56 Out of these two prevalent methods, PLATO will specifically use the transit method to
02:00 characterize potential Earth-like planets.
02:03 When the planet is in front of the star, it obscures an area on the stellar surface proportional
02:08 to the ratio of its size compared to that of the star.
02:11 In other words, once the star's size is known, scientists can directly measure the
02:16 exoplanet's size as well.
02:19 Water is among the many clues that astronomers will be looking out for.
02:23 It is essential for life on Earth and finding exoplanets with water will help narrow the
02:27 search for worlds that could be potentially habitable.
02:30 The discovery of exoplanets has played an integral role in shaping our current planetary
02:35 models.
02:36 That understanding could be enhanced further as we find more alien worlds.
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