Other solar systems and milky way perseus arm

[Adamchiv]

Hi fellow astronomers!

Question 1.

I was wondering if there are any observable stars that we know of that have known solar systems?  This would make looking at just a star even more interesting for me than it already is, even though I wouldnt be able to see any of its orbiting planets

Question 2.

My plan is to find a dark sky site and observe the milky way (like my profile picture). I was told that the core of the galaxy is more observable in the southern hemosphere. But im more interested in the spiral arm. So is what we in the northern hemisphere observe actually the other spiral arm named the perseus arm? Ive found no conclusive information on this other than the band we see is the galactic core of the galaxy. This is confusing because I have also seen on some labelled images that its the perseus arm, or some of it. I guess I hope that its the next spiral arm over from our own that we can see. Which if true in my opinion would be the most incredible thing to observe in human history

 

Thanks if you can help

Adam 

 

 

[brantuk]

Looking towards Sagittarius in the south is peering towards the center of our galaxy - north is looking outwards. There are other solar systems out there but I don't think we can see planetary systems in our scopes. These are mostly estimated by dips in brightness of a star when an orbiting  planet passes in front of it. Plenty have been reported in recent times. Hth

[D4N]

The closest star system to us is Alpha Centauri which is in fact a triple star system but is believed to have at least one planet.

You can't directly observe the planet but you can observe the three stars there although two of them are very close together at the moment.

[Adamchiv]

1 minute ago, D4N said:

The closest star system to us is Alpha Centauri which is in fact a triple star system but is believed to have at least one planet.

You can't directly observe the planet but you can observe the three stars there although two of them are very close together at the moment.

Only trouble is im in the northern hemisphere, and A bit too far north. I think I should have stated more clearly in the original post where I would be observing from. Im in the uk for anyone reading this. Thats interesting though that our closest star system has planets. 

[Adamchiv]

22 minutes ago, brantuk said:

Looking towards Sagittarius in the south is peering towards the center of our galaxy - north is looking outwards. There are other solar systems out there but I don't think we can see planetary systems in our scopes. These are mostly estimated by dips in brightness of a star when an orbiting  planet passes in front of it. Plenty have been reported in recent times. Hth

Thanks for responding, so when we are looking north (outwards) is that the next spiral arm to the one we are in? Yeah I have read about how exoplanets are discovered which is very interesting and hopeful, I just wanted to observe a star knowing it has a solar system. Which may sound wierd or geeky but hey ho

[brantuk]

Doesn't sound geeky at all - sounds very inquisitive and interesting (I guess others might call it geeky lol). I'm not too sure on the spiral arms - I always thought that was evident from the big elongated "Y" shape in the sky described by the milky way. But looking outwards (N) towards intergalactic space the stars are fewer and more sparse and I've never seen evidence of the arms that direction. Someone will come along soon and clarify it I'm sure.

[Adamchiv]

11 minutes ago, brantuk said:

Doesn't sound geeky at all - sounds very inquisitive and interesting (I guess others might call it geeky lol). I'm not too sure on the spiral arms - I always thought that was evident from the big elongated "Y" shape in the sky described by the milky way. But looking outwards (N) towards intergalactic space the stars are fewer and more sparse and I've never seen evidence of the arms that direction. Someone will come along soon and clarify it I'm sure.

I will look into that Y shape, thats interesting, the thought of looking across to the next section of our spiral (barred spiral) galaxy is very intreguing. Its like looking out of a window and seeing the other side of your house (if its and L shape for instance) but on a galactic scale. Its almost like if you observed andromeda for example, you could see our own galaxy move the longer you watch against andromedas position (if the galaxy does move in such a way). A bit like how when the stars move in the sky we are experiencing a very physical movement of the earths rotation. It kind of allows us to feel we are part of a huge moving mass of stars and dust more than if we couldnt see any of it at all. I guess you could call me enthusiastic ?

[D4N]

51 minutes ago, Adamchiv said:

Only trouble is im in the northern hemisphere, and A bit too far north. I think I should have stated more clearly in the original post where I would be observing from. Im in the uk for anyone reading this. Thats interesting though that our closest star system has planets. 

Ah ok, Pollux is known to have a planet orbiting it and is a lot easier to see from the UK.

 

You need to remember that our galaxy is quite a lot flatter than it is wide, if you look North from the UK you are looking over the top of the the galaxy and not through it.  The Milky Way is a pretty much continuous band, you just get to see a bit at a time.

[Adamchiv]

3 minutes ago, D4N said:

Ah ok, Pollux is known to have a planet orbiting it and is a lot easier to see from the UK.

 

You need to remember that our galaxy is quite a lot flatter than it is wide, if you look North from the UK you are looking over the top of the the galaxy and not through it.  The Milky Way is a pretty much continuous band, you just get to see a bit at a time.

Thanks thats really good info, I will enjoy looking at pollux, just makes it that bit more interesting.

[Messier 104]

I just searched a map of the milky way on Google images. it shows the spiral arms with their names and the location of the sun within the Orion spur. I can confirm from the north we look out of the galaxy and from the south we see into the centre. it can be hard to say which direction you are looking as the time of year will mean we look in different directions (oww how I wish I knew the location of earth to the galactic plane during its orbit around the sun).

now about the stars with planets. just Google 'stars with known planets' I found a list on Wikipedia (you would be able to find it else where if you don't think wiki has reliable answers) of stars with known planets. the list I found shows the stars name, constellation. knowing the constellation will help you know if and when the star will be visible to you.

hope this helps I too would like to know where I'm looking in relation to the galaxy but after a bit of thought I found it to be very hard to figure out.

clear skys

 

[Adamchiv]

21 minutes ago, Messier 104 said:

I just searched a map of the milky way on Google images. it shows the spiral arms with their names and the location of the sun within the Orion spur. I can confirm from the north we look out of the galaxy and from the south we see into the centre. it can be hard to say which direction you are looking as the time of year will mean we look in different directions (oww how I wish I knew the location of earth to the galactic plane during its orbit around the sun).

now about the stars with planets. just Google 'stars with known planets' I found a list on Wikipedia (you would be able to find it else where if you don't think wiki has reliable answers) of stars with known planets. the list I found shows the stars name, constellation. knowing the constellation will help you know if and when the star will be visible to you.

hope this helps I too would like to know where I'm looking in relation to the galaxy but after a bit of thought I found it to be very hard to figure out.

clear skys

 

Thankyou thats very informative, I will look at that wikipedia page, I would trust wiki enough for that. My interpretation of what we are seeing in the night sky (which is probably incorrect) is that the stars we see are inside our own orion spiral arm, we see andromeda which is outside of our galaxy (also many many other messier objects outside too but with a telescope) and the long streak of the milky way we see as a faint purple fuzz in the sky is outside of our own spiral arm, mainly looking at the galactic core and some of the next spiral arm which is the perseus arm. Im not sure what is inbetween the 2 spiral arms, surely some rogue stars and dark matter? So that is my own take on it so far, if im wrong please tell me, and also my idea that the stars we see are within our own local orion arm is my own speculation. As I say I am struggling to find the correct map that informs me of the layout of our observable (naked eye) night sky mapped in the galaxy

[ollypenrice]

From mid northern latitudes you can, in summer, easily see the galactic centre (Sagittarius A* pronounced Sagittarius A star ). You don't need to be in the southern hemisphere. While I'm observing in this direction from my site in SE France I can have the fun of thinking that, just below my southern horizon (and the galactic centre!) is the Observatoire de Haute Provence where the first exoplanet was discovered around 51 Pegasi. http://www.obs-hp.fr/welcome.shtml It's only an hour's drive away.

Olly

[Adamchiv]

32 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

From mid northern latitudes you can, in summer, easily see the galactic centre (Sagittarius A* pronounced Sagittarius A star ). You don't need to be in the southern hemisphere. While I'm observing in this direction from my site in SE France I can have the fun of thinking that, just below my southern horizon (and the galactic centre!) is the Observatoire de Haute Provence where the first exoplanet was discovered around 51 Pegasi. http://www.obs-hp.fr/welcome.shtml It's only an hour's drive away.

Olly

Wow the 193cm telescope looks epic!! youve got to go check that out, imagine the views!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I really like this thread. It opens the mind.

Yes, there are thousands/millions of stars in the night sky which may support orbiting planets. Can us mere backyard astronomers observe them?......

Yes, and NO. We may not be able to observe them directly with our little scopes from here on Earth, BUT, as you sweep around the night sky you can be assured that they have been in your FOV even if not visible to the eye. They are still out there in the direction you were/are looking.

P.S.~~lets not get stars which have planets orbiting them confused with planets that may support life. 

Plenty of exo-planets discovered.

 

[Adamchiv]

1 hour ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I really like this thread. It opens the mind.

Yes, there are thousands/millions of stars in the night sky which may support orbiting planets. Can us mere backyard astronomers observe them?......

Yes, and NO. We may not be able to observe them directly with our little scopes from here on Earth, BUT, as you sweep around the night sky you can be assured that they have been in your FOV even if not visible to the eye. They are still out there in the direction you were/are looking.

P.S.~~lets not get stars which have planets orbiting them confused with planets that may support life. 

Plenty of exo-planets discovered.

 

Thats exactly what I love to think, the fact that these planets are out there orbiting some of these stars we observe is awesome! Man if I found out one of those stars did host an exoplanet like alpha centauri may do, I would really enjoy looking at it. I think its because a star is a star to a lot of non astronomers but some stars are more fascinating than others

[omits]

Referring to looking into the Perseus arm, is that not some 10,000 Ly away. Another thing that's bothering me is about the shape of our galaxy - is it the assumption that it is flat because of spinning matter will collect centrifugally around the axis of spin and therefore take up that shape like our Solar System? And is our SS aligned to the main Galaxy in any way? Thanks. New here.

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 28/11/2016 at 17:10, D4N said:

Ah ok, Pollux is known to have a planet orbiting it and is a lot easier to see from the UK.

 

You need to remember that our galaxy is quite a lot flatter than it is wide, if you look North from the UK you are looking over the top of the the galaxy and not through it.  The Milky Way is a pretty much continuous band, you just get to see a bit at a time.

Pollux, as in Gemini?. I never knew it had a planet orbiting it. Learn something new every day. 

[cletrac1922]

Interesting question

Come down under, and have totally light free environment

Google Stargazer Live, TV program held recently down under co-compared by Prof Brain Cox

During the program, image taken from Hubble Telescope was analysed,  and a star was discovered with 5 planets

Each planet takes different time periods to circle the star

One planet actually circles equivalent to our day, in 6 hours

Happy planet hunting

 

  

 

[Waddensky]

Question 1: the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas (ISDA) indicates stars with known exoplanets (as known in 2013). The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopeadia maintained by the Observatoire de Paris has quite a comprehensive listing, as has NASA in its Exoplanet Archive. Bright stars like Aldebaran, Fomalhaut, Pollux, Algieba and Hamal are all known (or suspected) to have at least one exoplanet.

Question 2: the Wikipedia article on the Orion Arm or Orion Spur contains some nice visualisations of the Milky Way structure, including our location as well as some well-known deep-sky objects and the spiral arm they're located in. Knowing where objects are located always gives me a nice sense of perspective when observing.

[refractordude]

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