Exoplanets | Astronomy.com

What is Vega’s smooth-surface secret?

Mark Zastrow — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Vega, located in the constellation Lyra, is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky. It is known to be surrounded a disk of particle debris that’s almost 100 billion miles (160 billion kilometers) in diameter. The star and its orbiting disk have been photographed countless times by several observatories and satellites, although it was onlyContinue reading "What is Vega’s smooth-surface secret?"

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This young, shrouded super-Neptune could help teach us how such planets form

Alison Klesman — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 16:12:12 +0000

Not so far from Earth, an infant planet is just getting its start at life. And by peeking beneath the thick cocoon of material surrounding it, astronomers could be getting a rare chance to watch a world for which our solar system has no equivalent settle into its early life. The planet closely orbits theContinue reading "This young, shrouded super-Neptune could help teach us how such planets form"

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Discovery of a tiny exoplanet sheds new light on a very old star

Randall Hyman — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 20:41:47 +0000

As lone stars go, there’s nothing quite so distinctive as Barnard’s Star. After the Alpha Centauri system, it is our closest neighbor, a red dwarf one-fifth the size of the Sun and 4,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,500 degrees Celsius) cooler. Just 6 light-years away, it outpaces all other stars by shifting across the night sky byContinue reading "Discovery of a tiny exoplanet sheds new light on a very old star"

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Rogue worlds may give clues as to how stars form

Michael E. Bakich — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 20:32:44 +0000

A team of researchers has used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to discover six likely rogue planets. Such objects have masses similar to planets but do not orbit parent stars. The newfound objects, whose masses range from five to 10 times that of Jupiter, are all in NGC 1333, a reflection nebula in theContinue reading "Rogue worlds may give clues as to how stars form"

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How is TESS able to spot more planets in the sky than Kepler could?

Astronomy Staff — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 15:00:00 +0000

How is TESS able to spot more planets in the sky than Kepler could? Doug KaupaCouncil Bluffs, Iowa The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has outpaced the now-retired Kepler mission in discovering planets and planet candidates primarily because of the former’s significantly larger survey area. It covers almost the entire sky compared to the smallContinue reading "How is TESS able to spot more planets in the sky than Kepler could?"

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JWST directly images a surprise super-Jupiter planet

Alison Klesman — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:03:37 +0000

A case of cosmic mistaken identity led to astronomers finding a new exoplanet where an old one should have been. The world, Epsilon Indi Ab, now takes the place of a planet with the same designation that, it turns out, doesn’t exist. The bizarre case, which seems like a Law & Order plot twist, isContinue reading "JWST directly images a surprise super-Jupiter planet"

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Astronomers catch a planet changing into a hot Jupiter

Elizabeth Gamillo — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 13:57:15 +0000

Hot Jupiters, massive worlds that orbit close to their host star, likely weren’t always so hot. Astronomers believe that these exoplanets formed cold, in the outer regions of their star systems, and later migrated inward toward their star. Researchers have now spotted a juvenile planet in the process of doing just that, on its wayContinue reading "Astronomers catch a planet changing into a hot Jupiter"

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Greenhouse gases could indicate alien life — if we ever find them

Elizabeth Gamillo — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:33:01 +0000

In a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal, astronomers propose looking for greenhouse gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets using tools like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). But rather than searching for an advanced species suffering the consequences of climate change, such gases might be a sign of something else: terraforming. Terraforming isContinue reading "Greenhouse gases could indicate alien life — if we ever find them"

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Webb examines how planets form around Beta Pictoris

Elizabeth Gamillo — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 14:00:00 +0000

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is unlocking secrets about how planets form around nearby stars in the galaxy. While the formation of rocky planets can span millions of years, catching glimpses of their evolution may occur within human lifetimes. One of these places exists in the circumstellar disk surrounding the star Beta Pictoris. BetaContinue reading "Webb examines how planets form around Beta Pictoris"

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Neptune-like planet ‘Phoenix’ baffles astronomers with its atmosphere

mnewman — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 19:22:43 +0000

Astronomers have discovered a planet beyond our solar system that’s so cozy with its host star, its supremely puffy atmosphere should have been stripped down to bare rock billions of years ago. Yet the planet’s thick air has endured its star’s immense radiation for possibly billions of years, challenging conventional theories about how planets ageContinue reading "Neptune-like planet ‘Phoenix’ baffles astronomers with its atmosphere"

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