Collaborate Disseminate
Contrary to popular belief, not all planets orbit stars – some drift freely through the cosmos on their own. These cold, dark worlds don’t make great candidates for hosting life, but a new study suggests that their moons could be more habitable than th… Continue reading “Rogue planet” exomoons could potentially harbor water and life
ESA has selected EnVision as its next Venus orbiter. Scheduled to launch atop an Ariane 6 rocket between 2031 and 2033, the robotic deep-space probe will carry out a comprehensive survey of Earth’s sibling planet to learn why the two turned out so very… Continue reading ESA selects EnVision orbiter to uncover mysteries of Venus
Venus should have been Earth’s twin, but clearly that’s not the case today, with its thick poisonous atmosphere and barren rocky surface. Now, as part of its Discovery Program, NASA has selected two new missions to Venus to investigate where it all wen… Continue reading NASA selects two new Venus missions to investigate why it’s so awful
Scientists have recreated in the lab some of the wild weather that might be found on Jupiter and Saturn. Using extremely high pressures and laser shock waves, the researchers produced “helium rain” which has been hypothesized to fall on these planets.C… Continue reading Scientists recreate Jupiter’s possible helium rain in the lab
Carbon comes in many different structures, most famously graphite and diamond. Other forms were predicted to exist at extremely high pressures, but now researchers have examined carbon under the highest pressure ever studied in the lab, and found that … Continue reading Diamond stays strong under highest pressure ever achieved in the lab
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
Researchers at the Paris Observatory’s Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation have found that the unusual tilt of Saturn’s axis is due to the periodic gravitational pull of its moons over the last billion years.Continue ReadingCateg… Continue reading Saturn’s moons explain the planet’s tilt and why it’s increasing
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
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