What do Cockroaches and Planets Have in Common?

More than you think, according to John Johnson of the California Institute of Technology, who presented  findings on the three newly discovered planets dominating this week’s headlines.

I’m going to assume that most of you are suitable underwhelmed. While it may not make you laugh it is exactly how John Johnson of the California Institute of Technology described the three new rocky planets orbiting KOI-961.  They orbit close to their tiny star, meaning their period is about 2 days and their temperature is blistering hot.

Is there life there? Probably not. In fact other than their diminutive size there is nothing particularly special about these three little balls of rock. However, their mere existence is proof that the Kepler orbiting observatory is still providing plenty of fuel for astronomers and planet hunters.

While these planets fall far outside the habitable zone for life it shows us that our ability to detect and analyze planets so small is a boon. The smaller the planet we can detect the more planets we will find. The more planets we find, the more likely we are to find more that are similar to our own.

It’s pretty easy to assume that astronomy is for people who like staying up at night segregated in funny dome shaped buildings… And I’ll be honest–there’s a lot of truth in that stereotype. But now the most important tools we have are orbiting above our heads. By and large these systems have already shown they can produce amazing information about our universe and the majority of their cost has already been paid for.

While our presidential candidates are busy arguing about moon bases and trying to line contractor pockets for super-heavy lift vehicles I think we should be focusing on these little gold mines that are paying dividends now and only cost a fraction of their higher-profile sister programs.

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