Telescopes have been collecting copious amounts of data on exoplanets in recent years. One of the most common datasets tracks what are known as “transits,” where an exoplanet crosses in front of its host star and dims the star’s light slightly as it does so. The majority of exoplanets have been found this way, but other interesting details might be hidden in the data. For example, what would it mean if the transits happened in a way that disagreed with typical Newtonian physics? One answer to that question is that there might be an intelligent force behind the discrepancy – and that’s what a group of researchers at Breakthrough Listen began looking for in a paper recently published on arXiv.
Continue reading “Astronomers Scan Hundreds of Stars for “Anomalous Transits””17 Known Exoplanets Could Have Oceans of Liquid Water
The search for life is tied to the search for liquid water. That’s why astronomers are so keen on detecting rocky, Earth-like exoplanets in their stars’ habitable zones. In a habitable zone, a planet receives enough energy from its star to maintain liquid water on its surface, given the right atmospheric conditions.
But in our Solar System, we’ve found worlds with liquid water that are way beyond the habitable zone. Can we do the same in other solar systems?
Continue reading “17 Known Exoplanets Could Have Oceans of Liquid Water”What’s the Source of Binary Rogue Planets?
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is already making great strides in helping us to unravel the mysteries of the Universe. Earlier this year, hundreds of rogue planets were discovered in the Orion Nebula. The real surprise to this discovery was that 9% of the planets were paired up in wide binary pairs. To understand how this binary planets formed, astronomers simulated various scenarios for their formation.
Continue reading “What’s the Source of Binary Rogue Planets?”A Tiny Telescope is Revealing “Hot Jupiter” Secrets
A recent study presented this week at the 2023 meeting of the American Geophysical Union discusses observations of “hot Jupiters” from the NASA-funded CubeSat mission known as the Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE). Unlike most exoplanet-hunting telescopes, whose sizes are comparable to a small school bus, CUTE measures 36 centimeters (14 inches) in length, equivalent to the size of a cereal box. These findings come after members of the team, which consists of undergraduate and graduate students, published an overview paper about CUTE in The Astronomical Journal in January 2023 and results from CUTE observing WASP-189b in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in August 2023.
Continue reading “A Tiny Telescope is Revealing “Hot Jupiter” Secrets”Planets Orbiting Pulsars Should Have Strange and Beautiful Auroras. And We Could Detect Them
We have been treated to some amazing aurora displays over recent months. The enigmatic lights are caused by charged particles from the Sun rushing across space and on arrival, causing the gas in the atmosphere to glow. Now researchers believe that even on exoplanets around pulsars we may just find aurora, and they may even be detectable.
Continue reading “Planets Orbiting Pulsars Should Have Strange and Beautiful Auroras. And We Could Detect Them”Exomoons Defy Discovery
For a long time, we wondered if other stars hosted planets like the Sun does. Finally, in the 1990s, we got our answer. Now, another question lingers.
Most of the planets in our Solar System have moons. Do exoplanets have exomoons?
Continue reading “Exomoons Defy Discovery”Amateur Astronomers Found Planets Crashing Into Each Other
Astronomy is one of the sciences where amateurs make regular contributions. Over the years, members of the public have made exciting discoveries and meaningful contributions to the scientific process, either through direct observing, citizen science projects, or through combing through open data from the various space missions.
Recently, amateur astronomer Arttu Sainio saw a conversation on X (Twitter) where researchers were discussing the strange behavior of a dimming sun-like star. Intrigued, Arttu decided to look at the data on this star, called Asassn-21qj, on his own. Looking at archival data from NASA’s NEOWISE mission, Sainio was surprised to find that the star had dimmed before, with an unexpected brightening in infrared light two years before the optical dimming event. So, he joined the discussion on social media and shared his finding – which led to more amateurs joining the research, which lead to an incredible discovery.
Continue reading “Amateur Astronomers Found Planets Crashing Into Each Other”ESA’s Ariel Mission is Approved to Begin Construction
We’re about to learn a lot more about exoplanets. The ESA has just approved the construction of its Ariel mission, which will give us our first large survey of exoplanet atmospheres. The space telescope will help us answer fundamental questions about how planets form and evolve.
Continue reading “ESA’s Ariel Mission is Approved to Begin Construction”Astronomers Calculate Which Exoplanets Are Most Likely to Have Water
Astronomers know of about 60 rocky exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zones of their stars. When they try to determine how habitable these planets might be, detecting water in their atmospheres plays a huge role. But what if there was another way of measuring the water content in these worlds?
Researchers are developing a way of modelling these worlds to determine how much water they have.
Continue reading “Astronomers Calculate Which Exoplanets Are Most Likely to Have Water”This Planet is Way Too Big for its Star
Scientists love outliers. Outliers are nature’s way of telling us what its boundaries are and where its limits lie. Rather than being upset when an outlier disrupts their understanding, scientists feed on the curiosity that outliers inspire.
It’s true in the case of a new discovery of a massive planet orbiting a small star. That goes against our understanding of how planets form, meaning our planet-formation model needs an update.
Continue reading “This Planet is Way Too Big for its Star”