The highly accurate astrometric method involves observing the movement of a host star’s position in the sky as it orbits around the center of mass of the star-planet system. Knowing the mass of the star then allows the true mass of the planet, as well as its orbital parameters--including the semi-major axis, eccentricity, and inclination--to be determined. CAPSCam should yield astrometric accuracies of 0.25 millarcsec per epoch. This accuracy is sufficient to detect planets with masses as low as 1/10 the mass of Jupiter on 12-year orbits around nearby late M dwarf stars, with a signal-to-noise ratio of four.

Amos Nur of Stanford University delivered today’s DTM seminar entitled “Oil Peak and Oil Panic: Revisiting M. K. Hubbert.” Using M. K. Hubbert’s 1956 oil-peak predictions as a backdrop, Nur described today's trends of world oil consumption. Acording to Nur, worldwide per capita oil consumption is closely correlated with standard of living—increasing prosperity requires increased oil consumption—especially in rapidly growing nations like China and India. With this growing demand for oil—a finite resource—a number of conflicts have arisen around the world, including the Gulf War, the September 11 attacks, and the war in Iraq, followed by what Nur claims are emerging conflicts in Iran and Venezuela, and potentially an even larger global conflict with China. For more information, see the Oil and War section of Nur’s Web site.