Collaborate Disseminate
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
Astronomers have discovered a new exoplanet that belongs in a brand new class – an “ultrahot Neptune.” Known as LTT 9779b, the planet orbits extremely close to its star, and raises questions about how such a system came to be.Continue ReadingCategory: … Continue reading “Ultrahot Neptune” exoplanet discovered orbiting star in under a day
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a strange star system, where a giant gassy planet is tightly orbiting a tiny white dwarf. Not only is this the first time such an arrangement has been seen, but it raises some very odd … Continue reading Mysterious match-up as giant planet spotted orbiting tiny star
Diamonds are relatively rare here on Earth, but perhaps on other planets they’d be so common they’d be as worthless as a handful of dirt. Astronomers suggest that some planets might actually be largely made of diamonds, and now a team has calculated ho… Continue reading Diamond planets could be born from carbon-rich worlds – just add water
It can be easy to assume that the way things are in our solar system are mostly how they are elsewhere in the universe – but that’s often not the case. Now, astronomers have observed a triple star system that’s warping and splitting its planetary disc … Continue reading Triple star system found with weirdly warped planetary disc
It can be easy to assume that the way things are in our solar system are mostly how they are elsewhere in the universe – but that’s often not the case. Now, astronomers have observed a triple star system that’s warping and splitting its planetary disc … Continue reading Triple star system found with weirdly warped planetary disc
A new experiment placing bacteria on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) has found that micro-organisms can survive in space for years, or even decades. The study lends weight to the idea that life could travel between planets.Continue… Continue reading Bacterial colonies survive in space for years, could seed planets
For the first time, astronomers have used a machine learning algorithm – a form of self-teaching AI – to confirm the existence of exoplanets in data collected by the now-retired Kepler space telescope. The algorithm, which was designed to differentiate… Continue reading Astronomers confirm 50 new exoplanets using machine learning algorithm
While the Sun is very clearly a solo act nowadays, some astronomers theorize that it once had a binary companion star. Now, Harvard scientists have added weight to the idea by showing that an ancient binary solar system explains the strange structure o… Continue reading Sun’s long-lost twin could have captured Planet Nine
Although astronomers have detected more than 4,000 planets outside our solar system, most of them appear as points of data or dips in light charts. Now, astronomers have captured a very rare sight, with an image of two exoplanets orbiting a star very m… Continue reading First-ever direct image of two giant planets orbiting Sun-like star