Planet

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Astronomers spot a new planetary system forming nearby

Michael Irving March 17, 2019

Roughly 4.6 billion years ago, all the planets in our solar system began to form in a huge disk of dust and gas that swirled around the Sun. Now astronomers have spotted the same kind of thing happening around a nearby young star, which could give us a better understanding of planet formation.

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NASA lab brews up alien atmospheres here on Earth

Michael Irving March 14, 2019

Earth’s pleasant, life-giving atmosphere is turning out to be somewhat of an oddity. To get a better understanding of exoplanets, a team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has recreated one of these alien atmospheres in the lab.

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NASA lab brews up alien atmospheres here on Earth

Michael Irving March 14, 2019

Earth’s pleasant, life-giving atmosphere is turning out to be somewhat of an oddity. To get a better understanding of exoplanets, a team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has recreated one of these alien atmospheres in the lab.

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Far out new dwarf planet is the most distant known object in the solar system

Michael Irving December 17, 2018

Astronomers are welcoming the newest and most distant object in the solar system – a dwarf planet orbiting more than 100 times further from the Sun than Earth. And because its discoverers aren’t the most creative bunch, it’s been dubbed “Farout.”

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Hubble spots "hot Neptune" exoplanet that's evaporating at a record rate

Michael Irving December 13, 2018

A type of world dubbed a "hot Neptune" has been conspicuously few and far between in terms of exoplanet discoveries, but a new observation may explain why. Hubble has now spotted a hot Neptune named GJ 3470b that’s vanishing at a record rate.

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Climate simulations forecast the weather on all seven TRAPPIST exoplanets

Michael Irving November 22, 2018

Among the almost-4,000 exoplanets found so far, none really capture the imagination like TRAPPIST-1. Now a team of astronomers led by the University of Washington has simulated the climates that could be found on each TRAPPIST world.

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Space

Alien life could be wiped out by outbursts from violent young stars

Michael Irving October 21, 2018

The majority of stars in our Milky Way aren’t Sun-like – they’re the smaller and cooler red dwarfs. To determine how well these stars might be able to support life, A NASA program is using Hubble to monitor their flare activity, and the first results don’t paint a positive picture.

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Earthquake vibrations suggest Earth's inner core is solid but squishy

Michael Irving October 21, 2018

It’s long been thought that the Earth's inner core is a solid ball of iron, but direct evidence is hard to come by. Now, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have detected a type of seismic wave passing through the core that only propagates through solid objects.

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New moon rising? Astronomers spot evidence of first exomoon

Michael Irving October 3, 2018

Although it’s basically a sure thing that exomoons are out there, astronomers haven’t been able to spot any – until now. Scientists using NASA’s Hubble and Kepler space telescopes have found evidence of a large moon orbiting a gas giant planet some 8,000 light-years away.

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Space

"Goblin" dwarf planet found lurking at the extreme fringes of the solar system

Michael Irving October 3, 2018

There could be thousands of dwarf planets – Pluto-sized or smaller – lurking at the very edges of the Sun’s influence. Now, astronomers have spotted a new distant dwarf with an incredibly wide orbit, lending further evidence to the idea that a much bigger “Planet X” is out there somewhere.

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