Collaborate Disseminate
The Earth has an expiry date – in about five billion years, the Sun will expand and swallow up our home world. But it turns out life on Earth could have a much earlier end point. A new study has found that in about a billion years’ time, the atmosphere… Continue reading Scientists calculate life expectancy of Earth’s atmospheric oxygen
Astronomers have discovered a nearby system of exoplanets with unusually orderly orbits but disordered densities. Five of the six planets circle the star in a rare rhythmic dance called a resonance chain, and the types of planets are far more shuffled … Continue reading Exoplanet system discovered with strange balance of order and disorder
WASP-107b was already one of the weirdest exoplanets ever discovered, with its incredibly low mass for its size giving it the density of cotton candy. On closer inspection, astronomers have now found that its density is even lower than previously thoug… Continue reading “Cotton candy” exoplanet defies models for how gas giants form
WASP-107b was already one of the weirdest exoplanets ever discovered, with its incredibly low mass for its size giving it the density of cotton candy. On closer inspection, astronomers have now found that its density is even lower than previously thoug… Continue reading “Cotton candy” exoplanet defies models for how gas giants form
It’s no secret that space is incredibly weird, but every year astronomers seem to outdo themselves in discovering bizarre new objects and events. From extreme exoplanets to stars with strange fates, clues to an old mystery and the beginnings of a brand… Continue reading The 10 most bizarre space discoveries of 2020
Remember DSRC? If the initialism doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry — Dedicated Short-Range Communications, a radio service intended to let cars in traffic talk to each other, never really caught on. Back in 1999, when the Federal Communications Commission set aside 75 MHz of spectrum in the 5.9-GHz band, …read more
Remember DSRC? If the initialism doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry — Dedicated Short-Range Communications, a radio service intended to let cars in traffic talk to each other, never really caught on. Back in 1999, when the Federal Communications Commission set aside 75 MHz of spectrum in the 5.9-GHz band, …read more
ESA has given the go-ahead for its Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (Ariel) mission to progress out of the study phase and enter the implementation phase, with an industrial contractor to build the spacecraft to be chosen in m… Continue reading Ariel mission to study exoplanet atmospheres enters implementation phase
With well over 4,000 exoplanets discovered to date, there are worlds out there so weird they’d put Dr. Who writers to shame. The latest to join the ranks is K2-141b, a scorching planet where it rains rocks, winds whip around at supersonic speeds and hu… Continue reading Extreme exoplanet likely has lava oceans and rain made of rocks
While almost every planet we’ve ever found orbits a star of some kind, there are some loners that roam the cosmos entirely on their own. Now, astronomers have spotted the smallest of these “rogue planets” ever discovered, which is only about the size o… Continue reading Smallest rogue planet discovered seems to be a free-floating exo-Earth