Astronomers Find a Six-Planet System Which Orbit in Lockstep With Each Other
Astronomers have found a star system with six exoplanets that orbit with an almost perfect 3:2 resonance.
Astronomers Watched a Star System Die
About 570 light years from Earth lies WD 1145+017, a white dwarf star. In many respects it’s a typical white dwarf star. Its mass is about 0.6 solar masses, and its temperature is about 15,900 Kelvin. But five years ago, a team of astronomers wrote a paper on the white dwarf, showing that something unusual …
NASA Chooses 4 New Astronomy Space Missions for Additional Study
NASA recently selected four new missions for development that will study gravitational waves, supernovae, relativistic jets, and exoplanet habitability.
Your Umbrella is Insufficient on a Planet Where it Rains Iron
Imagine a planet where it rained iron. Sounds impossible. But on one distant exoplanet, which is tidally locked to its star, the nightside has to contend with a ferrous downpour.
3 Billion Years Ago, the World Might Have Been a Waterworld, With No Continents At All
Evidence from an ancient section of the Earth’s crust suggest that Earth was once a water-world, some three billion years ago. If true, it’ll mean scientists need to reconsider some thinking around exoplanets and habitability. They’ll also need to reconsider their understanding of how life began on our planet.
What is a Generation Ship?
The concept of a Generation Ship is a time-honored one, but is it the best way to send an interstellar mission to colonize a distant planet?
Here’s What the Climate Might Look Like on Proxima Centauri B
NASA scientists have run simulations that show what the climate on Proxima b might be like, with encouraging results!
Rosetta Saw the Building Blocks of Life on Comet 67P
Why is there so little nitrogen in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P)? That’s a question scientists asked themselves when they looked at the data from the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. In fact, it’s a question they ask themselves every time they measure the gases in a comet’s coma. When Rosetta visited the comet in 2014, it measured the …
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In About 3 Million Years, WASP-12b Will Spiral into its Star and be Consumed
A new study led by Princeton researchers has confirmed that in the long run, hot Jupiters are destined to be devoured by their suns.
How Large Can A Planet Be?
When it comes to planets, the largest planet in the universe probably isn’t the most massive.