By RYAN REVOCK Published February 27, 2013 at 2:43am Updated February 27, 2013 at 2:43am

The UA Astronomy Club is researching planets light years away, helping in the search for life on other planets and offering valuable research experience to undergraduates.

In January, the club had its first peer-reviewed article published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The article reported research from an extrasolar planet project that began in 2009 and is still ongoing, according to Jake Turner, co-founder of the project and a 2011 astronomy and physics graduate. Turner is a research technician at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

The extrasolar planet project articles had 26 student authors, with student researchers contributing from New York, Indiana and England.

The goal of the research was to use the transit method to detect the magnetic fields of a planet called TrES-3b, which is 1,300 light-years away from Earth, Turner said. The planet is known as a hot Jupiter because it is extremely close to its star and it is bigger than Jupiter, according to Turner.

The transit method involves measuring the light given off by the star and then studying the light curve when the planet TrES-3b crosses in front of the star. By studying the difference in light, researchers are also able to study the magnetic field of the planet, according to Turner.

Studying the magnetic field of TrES-3b allows researchers to learn about the internal structure of the planet and figure out if it has moons. These are the building blocks for finding life outside our solar system, Turner added.

The magnetic field of Earth protects us from the solar radiation or the high particle solar radiation, and so without our magnetic field, Earth wouldnt be habitable, Turner said. We have not been able to detect the magnetic field in any planet outside our solar system. And so if we can detect them on the biggest planets, then that can be the foundation to detect them on the smaller planets, and then eventually we can search for life outside our solar system.

Allison Towner, a senior studying physics and astronomy and a member of the Astronomy Club, became involved with the extrasolar planet project in fall of 2010.

Link:

UA Astronomy Club student research published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society