It's one of the basic rules of science: if you want more insight, get more data. But it's not working out so easily for astronomers trying to make sense of the hundreds of new planets they've discovered around other stars.
Once upon a time, scientists trying to understand the origin of our galaxy were stuck with a motley collection of just five other worlds visible to the naked eye. But since the mid-1990s, ground-based and orbiting observatories have found over 470 new planets around stars beyond the solar system. They range from cosmic rubble barely the size of the moon to vast "gas giants" 10 times more massive than Jupiter, which orbit their stars on anything from long, cigar-shaped paths to perfect circles.
Yet despite having almost a hundred times more examples to study than their forebears, today's astronomers don't feel they have a hundred times more insight. On the contrary, the more they find out, the more they realise they don't know.
One thing is for sure, though: the age-old view of planetary systems as some kind of beautiful celestial clockwork is light-years from reality. The picture now emerging is more akin to a cosmic pinball machine, with planets suddenly careening about and creating havoc.
Last week, a team of astronomers from the US and Germany announced their latest enigmatic discovery about alien worlds. It was made using an ingenious technique that allows planets to be detected around stars without seeing them directly.
One normally thinks of planets as orbiting around the exact centre of their parent stars. In reality, both the planets and their stars revolve around their common centre of gravity. And if the planets are massive enough, this can be some distance away from the centre of the star. As a result, the whole star appears to wobble about in space, and by analysing this motion astronomers can extract a host of information about the planets - despite not being able to see them.
Last week, the team revealed details of two pairs of planets they had found using this technique around two different stars, both over 200 light-years away. What makes these pairs of planets so unusual is that they are following orbits that are both relatively close to one another, and in precise mathematical relationships.
For example, the two planets orbiting the star code-named 24 Sextanis are just 113 million kilometres apart; by comparison, the two largest planets in our solar system always stay at least five times further apart. No less strange is the fact that they have orbital periods of 455 days and 910 days respectively, so that one of them completes an orbit in exactly half the time of the other.
The other pair of planets, orbiting the star HD 200964 are even closer together at just 53 million kilometres, and they too have oddly related orbital periods of 630 days and 830 days, ensuring that one completes four orbits in the time it takes the other to complete three.
The astronomers admit to being baffled as to how these planets came to occupy such bizarre orbits. It's unlikely they just happened to form there. Instead, the suspicion is that the planets were involved in some primordial game of pinball which only ceased once they found refuge in the orbits they now occupy.
Until recently, the very idea of planets wandering around would have been greeted with derision. But the more extra-solar planets astronomers study, the more it appears that this is the only way to explain what they're finding.
Many such planets are much larger than Jupiter, and yet complete their orbits in a matter of days rather than decades. That, in turn, means they are so close to their parent stars that they reach temperatures of over 1,000°C - raising the question of how such planets ever formed in the first place. While the idea that they wandered there from much further away might seem outlandish, it is a lot less problematic than the alternative.
If planets do wander around from time to time, presumably they can also collide. This would explain another perplexing discovery made over recent months by astronomers in the US and Europe. Using the orbiting European observatory named Corot, they have been able to compare the tilts of the orbits of many planets relative to the axis of their host stars. According to current theories, planets are formed from the dust and gas that accumulates in a disc surrounding the star. That, in turn, suggests that the orbits of planets should all be roughly aligned with the equator of their parent stars. That's certainly the case with our solar system, where all the major planets have orbits tilted only a few degrees relative to the sun's equator.
Yet observations of planets beyond the solar system have shown that many are following orbits tilted at over 30 degrees. One possible explanation is that they have been knocked out of their original orbits by past "fly-bys" or even direct collisions.
If many planets beyond our solar system have a violent past, what about our own? Although the orbits of the major planets are relatively stable, some of them seem to bear the scars of past upheaval. For example, Uranus spins on its side, suggesting it was knocked over by some primordial collision, while Venus is actually orbiting upside down. Closer to home, the rocks brought back by the Apollo missions 40 years ago suggest that our moon was smashed out of the Earth around 4,500 million years ago by the impact of an object around the size of Mars.
In the 1950s, a Russian psychiatrist named Immanuel Velikovsky published a best-selling book entitled Worlds in Collision. Much of it was pretty nonsensical, but the scientific world was particularly incensed by the claim that Venus and Mars had once come perilously close to the Earth. At the time, a leading astronomer at Harvard University declared: "If Dr Velikovsky is right, the rest of us are crazy."
It was a put-down that got a few laughs at the time, but no one is laughing now.
Robert Matthews is a visiting reader in Science at Aston University, Birmingham, England
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
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Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
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- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
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- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Directed: Smeep Kang
Produced: Soham Rockstar Entertainment; SKE Production
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Jimmy Sheirgill, Sunny Singh, Omkar Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma
Rating: Two out of five stars
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Tips to avoid getting scammed
1) Beware of cheques presented late on Thursday
2) Visit an RTA centre to change registration only after receiving payment
3) Be aware of people asking to test drive the car alone
4) Try not to close the sale at night
5) Don't be rushed into a sale
6) Call 901 if you see any suspicious behaviour
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The biog
Name: Sari Al Zubaidi
Occupation: co-founder of Cafe di Rosati
Age: 42
Marital status: single
Favourite drink: drip coffee V60
Favourite destination: Bali, Indonesia
Favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Tips from the expert
Dobromir Radichkov, chief data officer at dubizzle and Bayut, offers a few tips for UAE residents looking to earn some cash from pre-loved items.
- Sellers should focus on providing high-quality used goods at attractive prices to buyers.
- It’s important to use clear and appealing photos, with catchy titles and detailed descriptions to capture the attention of prospective buyers.
- Try to advertise a realistic price to attract buyers looking for good deals, especially in the current environment where consumers are significantly more price-sensitive.
- Be creative and look around your home for valuable items that you no longer need but might be useful to others.
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
