Based on the Tony-award winning play, The Humans is heavy on dialogue and works to build complex, authentically flawed characters.It’s a dimly lit family drama that takes place on Thanksgiving night at the daughter’s lower Manhattan apartment. The synopsis reveals that “as darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare.” This leads you to think it’s a horror movie.
While The Humans is not without haunted house aspects – creaky floorboards, strange noises, light bulbs that suddenly burn out – there’s nothing gorey or hard to look at except for water damaged walls and a pretty awful bathroom.
The true horror that materializes is that which is inherent to family gatherings. All the insecurities and baggage. Drinking paired with underlying issues. The chaos of cooking. Stress and pressure of expectations. For the entirety of the film, the viewer is waiting for something terrible to happen, for the tensions to implode.
Certain scenes stayed with me long after the film ended, including the brightest part of the film which is what I want to leave you with. The pig smash.
After the dinner plates are cleared the family places a peppermint pig into a red velvet bag and sends it around the table with a small hammer. Each person shares something they are thankful for and takes a whack at it. Afterward, the broken pig pieces are shared in hopes of good fortune to come.
The film is dark and evocative overall, but it’s not without twinkles of optimism.
by Public Service Associate & Content Coordinator Hannah
As the air cools, leaves turn, and the light changes, there’s nothing better than curling up with a good book and a warm beverage. Whether you’re a devoted tea connoisseur or a coffee aficionado, grab your favorite mug—we’re celebrating the bond between brews and books!
Coffee Lovers’ Corner
Imagine this: you walk into a quaint shop, the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting through the air. You take a seat by the window, and as you sip your drink, the words transport you to another world. Or maybe you just picked up your usual at Kittie’s and popped into the library to browse, hot tumbler keeping you company in the stacks. I always appreciate when you stop by the desk to strike up a conversation about your latest read or ask for a suggestion. In fact, here are a few:
At the Coffee Shop of Curiositiesby Heather Webber (book | Libby) I love this one for its heartwarming exploration of everyday magic.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (book | Libby) In a cozy backstreet Tokyo cafe, a cup of coffee offers more than just a caffeine buzz.
Black Coffee: A Hercule Poirot Novel by Agatha Christie (book | Libby) A classic mystery that will keep you guessing and asking for a top off.
On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle (book | Libby) We can’t all own a quirky coffee house, but we can enjoy this blend of cozy mystery.
Fika: The Art of Swedish Coffee Breaksby Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall (book) Complete with sweet illustrations and even sweeter recipes, just flipping through this book is a delightful reminder to pause and smell the beans.
Black Coffeealbum by Peggy Lee (vinyl | hoopla) Recorded in 1953, Black Coffee was Peggy Lee’s first album. Bitterness and insomnia may not seem like enjoyable material, but you’ll quickly find the moody melody enduring and the lyrics universally relatable.
Teatime Treasures
There’s something undeniably comforting about a steaming cup of Constant Comment with just a splash of milk. This delightful blend was how my grandma first introduced me to the world of tea. While my serving style has evolved over the years, my affection for my collection of whimsical Red Rose figurines remains.
Whether you prefer slowly sipping from a giant mug while curled up on the couch, or you find joy in the lively atmosphere of BPL’s beloved Tea at Three concerts, we can all agree the drink invites a unique nostalgia and warmth. May each page-turn and every sip bring you joy this season.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See (book | Libby) A poignant story steeped in culture and family.
Murder in the Tea Leaves by Laura Childs (book) Fans of cozy mysteries will appreciate the intricate plot, relatable protagonist and the charming Charlston setting.
A History of the World in 6 Glassesby Tom Standage (book | Libby) Trace the story of six different drinks–beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola–to see their pervasive influence on world history.
A Literary Tea Party: Blends and Treats for Alice, Bilbo, Dorothy, Jo, and Book Lovers Everywhereby Alison Walsh (book) Everything you need to plan a tea party inspired by great works of literature. I’ll RSVP “Yes!”
Mr. Putter & Tabby Pour the Tea by Cynthia Rylant (book) With themes of friendship and enjoying the simple pleasures in life, Mr. Putter and Tabby should be pictured next to the word “endearing” in the dictionary.
“Come along inside… We’ll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place.”
~ The Wind in the Willowsby Kenneth Grahame. Illustration by Chris Dunn.
Earlier this year I took a course on engaging teens within libraries. As a lover and reader of young adult material and former middle school teacher, this task was right up my alley. A former student of mine encouraged me to write a blog post for the library and because of their encouragement I signed up!
The major assignment of the course was a reading project that involved reading, rating, and critiquing twenty-two young adult texts from various award-winning lists and differing criteria. Formats included physical books, audiobooks, graphic novels, and more. Our professor outlined certain criteria we had to meet, with some free choice aspects as well. The award-winning lists and criteria list from the assignment are listed at the end of this post.
While this assignment was lengthy and involved procrastination on my end, I loved it. It pushed me to read out of my comfort zone and explore new genres. I read my first ever graphic novel because of this assignment! It also gave me personal recommendations that I have suggested to teen patrons, teen volunteers, and some of my coworkers in the library. This project has sparked a lot of good (and fun) conversations. Instead of sharing my entire seventeen-page paper with you, I will share my top read from this assignment. This book ended up being one of my top favorite reads of 2024.
The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho, New York, Harper Teen, 2022, 448 pages | Book | Libby Audiobook
Personal rating: 5/5
Recommended age range of teen reader: 14+
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Literature Awards Young Adult category
Summary
This novel is rich in content and discusses mental health, suicide, racism, family, cultural expectations, personal narratives, stereotypes, high school, and more. May (Maybelline) is a Chinese Taiwanese American high school student. She faces many challenges in her life, especially after her brother dies by suicide. This is a story of owning your narrative and speaking your truth.
Critical Evaluation
This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. I am still in awe of this writing and this story months after reading it. I have recommended this book to so many people and have looked for other works by this author as well. The way the author portrays the heartbreak and emotions in this story is so raw. I felt like I lost Danny. I felt like I was in high school again and could hear myself at the train tracks with May. This award is meant to highlight the experiences and cultures of Asian and Pacific Americans and this book is the rightful recipient. This book has so many strengths, as I have mentioned. I think this book would appeal to teens for many reasons – content, relatability, and more. This book could also fit under the May is National Mental Health Awareness Month book list. This was the best book I read from this assignment!
Cover Art
This book cover is simply stunning. Teens would definitely be drawn to choose this book solely because of the cover. The use of color, light, text, and pictures leave the viewer with so many questions that need answering. Teens will be drawn to the beauty and curiosity that this cover displays.
Awards List
Michael L. Printz Award Winners
Margaret A. Edwards Award
YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
Banned Books
YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Indigenous Reads Rising
YALSA Excellence in Non-fiction
Manga
Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Literature Awards Young Adult category
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month
Historical Fiction
Buckeye Children & Teen Book Award
Classic Revisited
If you’ve made it to this point, thank you for reading along! I encourage you to diversify your reading list by checking out some of the above lists and the titles within them.
Many Octobers I have steeped myself in scary movies, but this year I feel driven to read something scary. There’s no better place to start than with a classic from horror queen, Shirley Jackson. When I searched the fiction stacks I found The Haunting of Hill House. Orange and black cover, inky, black-edged pages and the title in gothic font, I was immediately obsessed.
It occurred to me to recruit my husband to read it as well. We could make a spookfest of the season, read late into the evenings while bats flap above the school across the street, chat about our progress each morning over dark roast coffee. If he reads it too, at least he will understand why I’ve started asking him to leave the lights on.
Fear of the dark aside, I’ve begun to approach the horror genre with curiosity. While horror can often be gory and gratuitous, it’s rarely without some kind of overarching commentary. When it comes to horror, author Nat Cassidy says he’s made it his life’s work to defend it “specifically because of its unique ability to allow us to address larger issues under the cover of entertainment.” Horror can convey societal issues and anxieties in ways that create space for dialogue about difficult topics.
As a new fall tradition, invite someone to read with you and meet up for a pumpkin spice latte and bookish conversation. Here are a few novels to get you started: The Changeling by Victor LaVelle, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, or Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.
I love a good mystery novel, though I came to them much later than I should have. As a teen, when I had run out of my own books to read (for the week) and my family could not make it to the library, my grandfather gave me several Agatha Christie novels from his collection.1 But I didn’t read them that week. In fact, I didn’t read them until after I watched BBC’s wonderful adaptation, Poirot. But then, I was hooked: the twists and turns, the rooting out of each motive and link, fishing through all the red herrings, and perhaps most importantly, the satisfaction of knowing how all the pieces fit together in the end. It warms my order-loving soul.2 I immediately went back and read the Agatha Christie originals, then moved on to Arther Conan Doyle, Rex Stout, Stephen Spotswood and many more.
Sometimes though, I feel as though I have read every possible combination of who done it, why, how, with what, and how it affected the neighbors. For all the cleverness and brilliance of my favorite mystery writers, they are still bound by annoying practical restraints, like physics and the nature of the space time continuum. On occasion, I just need something a little out of the box. I still want the mystery, just a very non-traditional one. What better way than to find a mystery set in worlds not governed by our laws? If you’re like me and need an occasional fantasy kick to your mystery enjoyment, pursue these novels and be transported. I have read most of them, and several are completely off the wall.3 And if you’re only willing to try one, I highly recommend The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennet.
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennet Book | eBook
“Unless you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can’t go to Seattle and skip a platter of freshly shucked Pacific Northwest Oysters.”
— Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest
At the start of every travel journal, after flight details and a packing list, I create a checklist of things to do. Most recently, while planning a trip to Seattle, the list included Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Seattle Central Library, coffee, and oysters.
Seattle is an oyster mecca. Food writer Rowan Jacobsen says, “No city is as oyster-mad as Seattle.” A dozen oysters to share became a main priority on the trip’s to-do list. And this became a good reason to brush up on knowledge about bivalves.
Learning about oysters, like learning about wine, has always felt intimidating to me. Where does one start? With the scope narrowed to Washington State and the Seattle area it suddenly became approachable. I started with two books by Rowan Jacobsen, A Geography of Oysters and The Essential Oyster which were both easy texts to navigate based on specific appellations. I encouraged myself to go in with a beginner’s mindset, with the simple intention “to learn a little bit.”
It wasn’t about becoming an expert but rather deepening my experience. The thing is a dozen oysters are expensive and disappear quickly. By knowing just a little bit, I knew I could create space for more enjoyment, presence, engagement and authenticity. And maybe even be able to tell the difference of one oyster from another.
I selectively flipped through the books and familiarized myself with some of the local oyster varieties that thrive and are prolific in Seattle – varieties such as Hama Hama, Baywater Sweet, Kumamoto and Olympia are a few of the more common. These ones, the local ones, are what I wanted to try at an oyster bar.
On the pages that featured these varieties, I paid attention to individual shells in terms of size, shape and cup depth. Very basic details like big or small, deep or shallow.
After that I focused on taste and challenged myself to learn a little of what differentiates one variety’s flavor from another. I studied words commonly used to describe oysters and thus tried to teach my tastebuds what to look for. They might be sweet, metallic, coppery, briny or nutty, or might have a honeydew or cucumber finish or celery salt flavor. I wasn’t trying to be able to pass a blind taste test, but I wanted vocabulary to say something other than, “They taste like the ocean.”
On our trip, for the ultimate oyster experience, we drove out to Taylor Shellfish Farm’s Samish Bay location. Since 1890 they have supplied many restaurants in the city, and at this location they offer a true tide to table experience, a true meal-of-a-lifetime experience!
We gathered stools around a wooden high-top table at their waterfront picnic area and shared a charcuterie board and a mixed dozen oysters. The freshly shucked Pacific Northwest oysters I’d been waiting for. Paired with good company, gorgeous views, and local pale ales. Squeezed lemon juice on our fingers, sitting together in the sunshine, it was a living dream.
Of the three varieties on our tray, two were species I’d read about — Pacific and Kumamoto — both among the most popular of oysters. The third, called Fat Bastard, was new to me. Fat Bastards are big, approximately a 2.75 – 3.75-inch shell. I took a minute to observe and noticed aside from the larger shell size, they also have a notably deeper cup compared to the others.
The Kumamotos were much smaller, approximately a 1 – 2-inch shell. I remembered being surprised to learn that they grow very slowly, taking up to 4 years to cultivate vs 1 year for many larger oyster varieties. Because of this they are more expensive and also pack a lot of flavor.
The Pacifics on our tray had lovely, ruffled shells, approximately 2.5-inches. They are Taylor’s “#1 oyster, famous for its sweet-and-salty cucumber flavor.”
I tried each type and did so with only squeezed lemon, no cocktail sauce. This made it feel like maybe the first time I’d ever actually tasted an oyster rather than masking it beneath horseradish, ketchup and Tabasco. My taste buds were alive. Sweet and salty umami. Chewy, pudgy, weird and absolutely wonderful.
I won’t lie, that dozen oysters still vanished quickly, even after the studying I did. But this particular dozen has left a lasting, iridescent, shiny pearl of an impression on me, and I look forward to honing my tastes even more. Cheers to the next twelve!
by Public Service Associate & Content Coordinator Hannah
How would you describe your library persona?
Are you a social butterfly? Popping by once a week (or more), you know staff members’ names, and we know what day/time it is based on your arrival. Perhaps you leisurely read the newspaper before catching up on book recommendations, or you relish receiving the latest program guide and eagerly register for events. I see you wearing a beloved Summer Community Read or brand new Centennial t-shirt telling everyone how much you love BPL.
the library patron at leisure
Or are you an adventurous, free-roaming browser like me? Our only plan is to show up with a tote. After all, this lovely place has so many books, films, and board games to explore. We often take home a new genre alongside a work of art or ukulele. We may say things like, “This book found me when I needed it most.”
Perhaps you’re a make-a-list and stick-to-it kind of patron? You come in for what’s trending on #BookTok. You know exactly who and where your go-to authors are. Your curated monthly Personalized Pick bundle is waiting on the holds shelf. Sometimes, one of our displays manages to catch your eye or a waitlist is so long you need to grab something off the new shelf. But on most visits, you leave with what you researched and requested.
Or maybe you are the technologically frustrated type? You know our tech librarian by first name. You appreciate a home delivery. Once-in-a-blue-moon you come in to use the printers.
These personas do not begin to describe everyone who calls BPL their library. No matter your style, we love having you here.
Often, we come to the library looking for something specific – a book with a lot of buzz, something a friend recommended, one from our long TBR list, one we saw on #BookTok. What if we approached books in a different way? What if instead of a list of titles we browsed with a list of rules that encourage randomness? What if we weren’t attached to the outcome? What might we discover?
wan·der verb \ˈwän-dər\ to walk/explore/amble in an unplanned or aimless way with a complete openness to the unknown
I happened upon a few fun ways to browse books while reading The Wander Society by Keri Smith. This odd, refreshing little book is filled with information and activities related to wandering, walking, observing, and putting down your phone. Smith makes a case for things we often don’t allow for ourselves: daydreaming, randomness, and boredom. She presents possible assignments, research, and field work for the reader to embark on.
There is one assignment specifically dedicated to “Library Wandering.” In that section of the book, she offers, “Some Ways to Subvert Your Browsing.” Maybe I’m bookish and biased, but I found this very exciting. I opened the book to the page number listed and ventured out into the stacks with a tote bag, curious to see where her suggestions would lead me.
1. “Find a book that interests you, and leave it on the shelves. Count seven books down from that one. Read that book.”
This suggestion is a perfect example of how Smith encourages randomness and nonattachment. I located a psychological thriller that looked interesting in the fiction stacks, The Marsh King’s Daughter by Karen Dionne. Instead of taking that one from the shelf I counted, like Smith suggests, seven books away from it and landed on The Dragon Man: A Detective Inspector Hal Challis Murder Mystery by Garry Disher. I’ve never in my life read a police procedural novel which meant this browsing experiment was already working, guiding me to a genre I wouldn’t ordinarily gravitate toward. I like mystery thrillers in the form of tv shows and movies, why have I never read one? Now was my chance. I slid the book in my bag and moved on to the next list item.
2. “Locate the first five blue books you see. Take those to a reading chair.”
This task was surprisingly easy and fun and is something I will try in the future with different colors. With the blue stack specifically, I decided I would take the books I selected to a chair and read the synopses to decide which ones to take home. I thought about challenging myself to commit to reading all of them, but this way of browsing adds a lot of weight to your bag and your reading load, should you choose to take all five. But with five to choose from, you’re likely to select at least one that really appeals to you. I took home Lily and the Octopus.
3. “Find a favorite book of yours. Look in the bibliography. Pick a book listed there. Find that book and read it.”
This was probably the most challenging and time-consuming suggestion. Not all books have a bibliography, so you might have to pull a few off the shelf before finding one. Once I found one with a bibliography, I needed to check the library catalog for listed titles’ availability. Braiding Sweetgrass, a favorite book of mine, has a long list of sources in the back. From that list I chose Grandmothers of the Light, a book about goddess stories, ancient myths and spirituality.
4. “Ask the librarian what his or her favorite book is. Locate it and read it.”
If you are a frequent flyer here at Bexley Public Library, you know our librarians have great reading suggestions. On the particular day I was browsing, I asked our librarian Leah what her favorite book is. She gave me two recent favorites. The Lido, which she said is “a feel-good read about people coming together that would appeal to many different age groups.” And The Reading List which she loved and keeps thinking about having a book club for — the initial meeting would be for the actual book and the following meetings for the books mentioned in the book. How fun would that be!
5. “Find an author with the same last name as you. Read the book. (If you can’t find one, locate the closest name to it.)”
This was my last task. I looked but discovered there were no fiction authors on the shelf that share my last name. So, I walked over to Biographies to check there. Again, none of the books featured my last name, so I chose one whose author’s last name starts with the same letter as mine. I’ve read and enjoyed other titles by Melissa Febos, so Abandon Me was a definite win.
Overall, I have to say, this was such a fun experiment! Smith offers these task ideas as suggestions, and from there you get to make/bend the rules. There is no pressure, no right or wrong way to locate books. Try every task, or don’t. Read every book you pull, or don’t. Feel free to challenge yourself to read them all. I might try it. I’d like to keep track in my reading journal and see how it goes. In the end, the point is to discover books that aren’t on your radar and maybe never would’ve been. It’s rewarding to find a new favorite author or that you like a genre you’d previously steered clear of.
What exciting discoveries might await you? Come wander the stacks and find out.
My introduction to James Baldwin came about 20 years too late while taking a Rhetoric of Social Movements course in college and it was both revelatory and infuriating. Where has this voice of reason, truth, anger, outrage, hope, and passion been all my life? Baldwin’s writing was both intimate and expansive, challenging us to see how systemic injustices affect communities and the self and guiding us to a better, more humane society.
Baldwin forced a nation to confront the rot and corruption, on both a personal and societal level, of white supremacy in The Fire Next Time, openly explored his sexuality in his 1956 novel Giovanni’s Room and brought the devastation of an unjust carceral system home in If Beale Street Could Talk. James Baldwin was a pinnacle of authenticity, speaking truth to power through his writing, speeches, and activism at the risk of his well-being, in the hope that we could, in Baldwin’s own words, “do something unprecedented: to create ourselves without finding it necessary to create an enemy.”
Stephen Shames
James Baldwin would have turned 100 on August 2, 2024, and we’re celebrating his life, writing, and lasting legacy at the Bexley Public Library with a series of programs:
Dr. Cynthia Young, Chair of the Dept. of African American and African Studies at OSU, will facilitate a conversation after a screening of the documentary I Am Not Your Negro on Saturday, August 3 at 3 PM.
Finally, we’re excited to have authors Prince Shakur (When They Tell You To Be Good) and Quartez Harris (We Made It to School Alive), both of whom have been profoundly influenced by James Baldwin’s life and writing, in conversation celebrating James Baldwin at 100 on Thursday, August 29 at 7 PM.
Unless you have been living under a rock (or outside of North America), you probably noticed the eclipse that occurred on April 8, 2024. The media took to calling it “The Great American Eclipse”, as it covered only Mexico, the mainland United States and a small swath of Canada. Maybe you traveled to see the totality personally, maybe you just noticed the streetlights coming on at two in the afternoon and maybe you decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and stayed inside, away from the madness.
Now, as you may know, eclipses occur when one celestial body passes between another one and a source of light (traditionally a star).1 The star doesn’t have to be completely blocked out for the event to be considered an eclipse. Eclipses interrupt the view of the light from the star and because eclipses can occur whenever any planet or moon passes in front of its star, this fluctuation is one way that scientists are looking for life around the universe.2 When these eclipses do happen, enough of the glare of the star is blocked that we can now see these extrasolar planets orbiting them. In celebration of the wild world of extrasolar eclipses and exoplanets, let’s take a look at the weird and fascinating extrasolar worlds out there and how scientists find them.
Image from scitechnow.org
Exoplanets are planets that orbit stars outside our solar system.3 Astronomers theorized for a long time that such planets existed, though without a way of proving it.4 It’s not as though most exoplanets give off light that we can detect, after all.5 Currently, we know of more than five thousand exoplanets, not including the more than ten thousand potential planets that are still being verified.6 That’s about one exoplanet for every other day since we first began discovering them. But remember, it’s how we find them that relates back to eclipses. How do you find something that doesn’t give off or reflect visible light? Well, you look at where the light should be, but isn’t (the transit method), or you hunt for invisible light (the radical velocity method).7
Let’s take a look at the transit method first, as it’s the method that involves an eclipse. Here, scientists watch selected stars closely and track if their light ever dims. If it does, that’s most likely because a planet passed between the star and the earth. From our point of view on Earth, this doesn’t form a complete eclipse like the moon and our sun do,8 and, in fact, the light from the star generally only dips about 1% or less.9 That 1% is for big planets, by the way, orbiting close to their stars; smaller planets are harder, if not impossible to detect10 like this.
Visually, the transit method looks something like this:11
There are a few downsides to this method, however. Outside of having a bias toward discovering larger planets, all planets found this way have to be orbiting parallel to the Earth. If the planet never passes between its star and the Earth, scientists can’t observe the dip in the star’s light.12 Even more frustratingly, planets eclipse their stars for very brief periods of time. It might take a planet four years to circle its star and only transit between its star and our view for a few hours. It can be hard to catch a dip that narrow in four or more years of data. In addition, the dip in light can be so small that scientists can have trouble determining if it is a planet causing the variation in light or some sort of bug in the data collection. Despite these problems, this method has still been the most successful means scientists have for finding exoplanets. According to NASA, scientists have located 4,216 planets by looking for dips in starlight, and only13 1,089 planets via radical velocity.14
Unfortunately, the radical velocity method is slightly more complicated to explain, and it involves a lot of physics, so bear with me. Planets, like stars themselves, exert a gravitational pull on everything in their vicinity. We normally think of this in connection to the gravity that keeps us firmly planted on the ground or how the Earth keeps the moon in orbit. But planets also pull slightly at their stars, too. This causes the star to move ever so slightly back and forth as the planet rotates around it.15 Now, this is cool to know, but how can scientists tell that from so far away?
Amazingly, they can discover this data via the Dopler effect and invisible light.16 For those who might not remember all the way back to middle school science, the Dopler effect is “an increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move toward (or away from) each other. The effect causes the sudden change in pitch noticeable in a passing siren, as well as the redshift seen by astronomers.”17 In scientific terms, the waves of light or sound lengthen and shorten as the object making them moves, so as the observed stars wobble, they give off a pattern of redder light and then bluer light on repeat.18 The very first exoplanet discovered, named 51 Pegasi b,19 was discovered this way.
Radical Velocity looks something like this:20
To pile on top of all this coolness, scientists can also determine the type of planets they find (at least sometimes) by combining these two methods. Originally, scientists relied on both methods just to verify that the planets existed. Having a star that wobbles and dims at the same time is proof that it has at least one planet orbiting it. But looking at how much the star dims versus how much it wobbles also allows astronomers to see what type of planet they have. A star that dims only slightly, but wobbles a lot more indicates a dense, rocky, Earth-like world orbits it. A star that dims a lot, but wobbles much less, is likely to have a large gas giant floating around it. A big, but not very dense, planet.21 Something along the lines of Jupiter or Saturn.
That is not to say either of these methods are infallible. Recently, scientists took another look at the super-Earth HD 26965 b, known colloquially as Vulcan. As HD 26965 b orbited orange star 40 Eridani A, the star that hosts the home planet of Star Trek’s Spock, the name was perhaps inevitable. This planet was discovered using the radical velocity method in 2018. However, even when they announced the discovery, the scientists involved in the original study warned that the planet might be a false positive from the data, as they could not determine Eridani A’s rotation rate.22 Four other groups conducted studies looking for this planet, with the latest one using new technology to measure the radical velocity of Eridani A, and have concluded that the wobble is an effect of the star itself and not because a planet is tugging on it. Sadly, as in Star Trek itself, Vulcan is no more.
Now we come to my favorite and least favorite question: why do we care? First, because this is just epic and why wouldn’t you want to know and secondly, because finding exoplanets, and determining how they form, expands our knowledge of the universe and how it works. For example, when 51 Pegasi b was found in the 1990s, it blew astronomers’ minds and forced them to rethink how solar systems were formed. 51 Pegasi b is a gas giant larger than Jupiter that orbits ten times closer to its star than Mercury does to our sun.23 It also circles its star every four days. But basic physics says this should be impossible. A developing star would not leave behind enough matter for such a large planet to form. Then how did it get there? It turns out that planets are capable of moving within their solar systems after being formed, but before the star ignites nuclear fusion. Without this planet, no one would have thought that was possible. Who knows what else there is out there to learn. And we won’t ever know, unless we go looking.
This has just been a brief sampling of the amazingness of space and eclipses and light. So, if you want to learn more, I recommend looking at the books below, or take a look at some of the links hidden in my footnotes. I also want to highlight this website which talks about detecting exoplanets from your own yard and this website where you can submit your own ideas for what to name exoplanets.
1I learned while researching this that there is another definition of eclipse: “a phase during which the distinctive markings of a bird (especially a male duck) are obscured by molting of the breeding plumage.” Weird.
2That’s right, I tricked you, this blog is about exoplanets.
3So if it isn’t Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune, but it’s still a planet, it’s an exoplanet. I’m sorry, Pluto.
4The first evidence of an exoplanet was actually found in 1917, though the astronomers looking at it did not realize what they had discovered. In fact no one would work it out for another hundred years. For more information, take a look at this article: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/overlooked-treasure-the-first-evidence-of-exoplanets
5 I say most because some very young planets are hot enough to give off detectable light, as proven by astronomer Christian Marois, who managed to take a picture of the four young planets around star HR 8799.
6Alien Earths by Lisa Kaltenegger, pg. 172
7And no, I am not joking.
8The planet is much too close to its sun to eclipse it for us earthlings.
12To put that into perspective, for a planet the size of the earth, orbiting its star at about the same distance as we orbit the sun, it’s estimated there is a mere .47% chance it is lined up properly for us to see the dimming effect.
13I feel like only should be in quotations here. As though finding more than a thousand exoplanets wasn’t an astonishingly impressive feat.
15The same way that the moon causes tides on Earth.
16 Invisible to the human eye, anyway.
17Oxford English Dictionary
18If you’re wondering why you cannot see such a shift in stars, that’s because the change in light frequency when a star does this is outside the range of human visible light, and scientists have to use spectrometers to measure it.
19I understand why planets are named like that, but it’s not very catchy.
21I read Alien Earths for this blog, and the author compared one such planet’s density to that of a marshmallow, as it is larger than Jupiter, but half as dense as Saturn.
23Planets like this are now known as ‘hot Jupiters’ and are quite common. Or, at least, they’re the perfectly sized and positioned to be found by scientists.
Coffee Lovers’ Corner
Teatime Treasures
