TESS discovers its third new planet, with longest orbit yet
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, has discovered a third small planet outside our solar system, scientists announced this week at the annual American Astronomical Society winter...
View ArticleNature's magnifying glass reveals unexpected intermediate mass exoplanets
Astronomers have found a new exoplanet that could alter the standing theory of planet formation. With a mass that's between that of Neptune and Saturn, and its location beyond the 'snow line' of its...
View ArticleMystery orbits in outermost reaches of solar system not caused by 'Planet Nine'
The strange orbits of some objects in the farthest reaches of our solar system, hypothesized by some astronomers to be shaped by an unknown ninth planet, can instead be explained by the combined...
View ArticleMissing link in planet evolution found
For the first time ever, astronomers have detected a 1.3 km radius body at the edge of the solar system. Kilometer-sized bodies like the one discovered have been predicted to exist for more than 70...
View ArticleRetreating snow line reveals organic molecules around young star
Astronomers using ALMA have detected various complex organic molecules around the young star V883 Ori. A sudden outburst from this star is releasing molecules from the icy compounds in the planet...
View ArticleHubble reveals dynamic atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered another mysterious dark storm on Neptune and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north polar region on Uranus.
View ArticleHot great white sharks could motor but prefer to swim slow
Great white sharks have warmer muscles than other cold-blooded fish so they could swimmer faster, but now it turns out that they actually choose to swim relatively slowly when browsing their feeding...
View ArticleHubble helps uncover origin of Neptune's smallest moon Hippocamp
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, along with older data from the Voyager 2 probe, have revealed more about the origin of Neptune's smallest moon. The moon, which was discovered in...
View ArticleTiny Neptune moon spotted by Hubble may have broken from larger moon
After several years of analysis, a team of planetary scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has at last come up with an explanation for a mysterious moon around Neptune that they discovered...
View ArticleMore support for Planet Nine
Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin offer further clues about Planet Nine.
View ArticleSwRI-led New Horizons research indicates small Kuiper Belt objects are...
Using New Horizons data from the Pluto-Charon flyby in 2015, a Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists have indirectly discovered a distinct and surprising lack of very small objects in the...
View ArticleThe case of the over-tilting exoplanets
For almost a decade, astronomers have tried to explain why so many pairs of planets outside our solar system have an odd configuration -- their orbits seem to have been pushed apart by a powerful...
View ArticleALMA observes the formation sites of solar-system-like planets
Researchers have spotted the formation sites of planets around a young star resembling our sun. Two rings of dust around the star, at distances comparable to the asteroid belt and the orbit of Neptune...
View ArticleNeural networks predict planet mass
To find out how planets form astrophysicists run complicated and time consuming computer calculations. Members of the NCCR PlanetS at the University of Bern have now developed a totally novel approach...
View ArticleJupiter's unknown journey revealed
The giant planet Jupiter was formed four times further from the sun than its current orbit, and migrated inwards in the solar system over a period of 700 000 years. Researchers found proof of this...
View ArticleHubble captures birth of giant storm on Neptune
Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope document the formation of a Great Dark Spot on Neptune for the first time, report researchers in a new study.
View ArticleIcy giant planets in the laboratory
Giant planets like Neptune may contain much less free hydrogen than previously assumed. HZDR researchers drove shock waves through two different types of plastic to reach the same temperatures and...
View ArticleTESS finds its first Earth-sized planet
A nearby system hosts the first Earth-sized planet discovered by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite, as well as a warm sub-Neptune-sized world. This milestone sets the path for finding...
View ArticleTESS discovers its first Earth-sized planet
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, has discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanet. The planet, named HD 21749c, is the smallest world outside our solar system that TESS has identified...
View ArticleAstronomers discover third planet in the Kepler-47 circumbinary system
The SDSU-led research has been published in the Astronomical Journal.
View ArticleFive planets revealed after 20 years of observation
To confirm the presence of a planet, it is necessary to wait until it has made one or more revolutions around its star. This can take from a few days for the closest to the star to decades for the...
View ArticleBrazilian scientists investigate dwarf planet's ring
Theoretical paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society proposes an explanation for the dynamics of the ring around Haumea, a dwarf planet located beyond Pluto's orbit.
View ArticleInitial results from New Horizon's exploration of distant Kuiper Belt Object...
On Jan. 1, 2019, the New Horizons Spacecraft conducted a flyby of (486958) 2014 MU -- a distant object orbiting in the outer reaches of the solar system.
View ArticleNeptune's moon Triton fosters rare icy union
Astronomers using the Gemini Observatory explore Neptune's largest moon Triton and observe, for the first time beyond the lab, an extraordinary union between carbon monoxide and nitrogen ices. The...
View Article18 Earth-sized exoplanets discovered
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), the Georg August University of Göttingen, and the Sonneberg Observatory have discovered 18 Earth-sized planets beyond the solar...
View ArticleMeteor magnets in outer space
A UC Riverside-led team has discovered two Jupiter-sized planets about 150 light years away from Earth that could reveal whether life is likely on the smaller planets in other solar systems.
View ArticleThe 'Forbidden' planet has been found in the 'Neptunian Desert'
An exoplanet smaller than Neptune with its own atmosphere has been discovered in the Neptunian Desert, by an international collaboration of astronomers, with the University of Warwick taking a leading...
View ArticleAstronomers see 'warm' glow of Uranus's rings
Two telescopes have measured the faint heat from the main, or epsilon ring, of Uranus, enabling astronomers for the first time to determine its temperature: a cool 77 Kelvin. Earlier images of the...
View ArticleSwRI-led team studies binaries to make heads or tails of planet formation
A Southwest Research Institute-led team studied the orientation of distant solar system bodies to bolster the 'streaming instability' theory of planet formation.
View ArticleTokyo Tech-led study shows how icy outer solar system satellites may have formed
Beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune, there are a multitude of icy and rocky small bodies, smaller than planets but larger than comets. These likely formed at the same time as the Solar System, and...
View ArticleALMA pinpoints the formation site of planet around nearest young star
Researchers using ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) found a small dust concentration in the disk around TW Hydrae, the nearest young star. It is highly possible that a planet is...
View ArticleNASA's TESS mission finds its smallest planet yet
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a world between the sizes of Mars and Earth orbiting a bright, cool, nearby star. The planet, called L 98-59b, marks the tiniest...
View ArticleAtmosphere of mid-size planet revealed by hubble and spitzer
Two NASA space telescopes have teamed up to identify, for the first time, the detailed chemical 'fingerprint' of a planet between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. No planets like this can be found in...
View ArticleMassive stars grow same way as light stars, just bigger
Astronomers obtained the first detailed face-on view of a gaseous disk feeding the growth of a massive baby star. They found that it shares many common features with lighter baby stars. This implies...
View Article'Moon-forming' circumplanetary disk discovered in distant star system
Astronomers using ALMA have made the first-ever observations of a circumplanetary disk, the planet-girding belt of dust and gas that astronomers strongly theorize controls the formation of planets and...
View ArticleNew space discovery sheds light on how planets form
A newly-discovered planet orbiting one of the brightest young stars known could provide valuable information on how planetary bodies form.
View ArticleNASA's TESS mission finds 'missing link' planets
NASA's newest planet-hunting satellite has discovered a type of planet missing from our own solar system. The finding will soon allow for study of this 'missing link' between rocky Earth-like planets...
View ArticleTESS discovers three new planets nearby, including temperate 'sub-Neptune'
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has discovered three new worlds that are among the smallest, nearest exoplanets known to date. The planets orbit a star just 73 light years away...
View ArticleNASA's TESS mission scores 'hat trick' with 3 new worlds
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), has found 3 new worlds in a system that promises to be among the most important targets for future studies.
View ArticleAfrican smoke is fertilizing Amazon rainforest and oceans, new study finds
A new study led by researchers at the University of Miami's (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found that smoke from fires in Africa may be the most important source of a key...
View ArticleNASA's Hubble finds water vapor on habitable-zone exoplanet for 1st time
With data from the Hubble Space Telescope, water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth with habitable temperatures.
View ArticleFirst water detected on potentially 'habitable' planet
Water vapour has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth with habitable temperatures by UCL researchers in a world first.
View ArticleNanoparticles wiggling through mucus may predict severe COPD
In a proof-of-concept experiment, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used microscopic man-made particles to predict the severity of patients' chronic obstructive...
View ArticleAnalysis of Galileo's Jupiter entry probe reveals gaps in heat shield modeling
The entry probe of the Galileo mission to Jupiter entered the planet's atmosphere in 1995 in fiery fashion, generating enough heat to cause plasma reactions on its surface. The data relayed about the...
View ArticleLonesome no more: White sharks hang with buddies
White sharks form communities, researchers have revealed. Although normally solitary predators, white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) gather in large numbers at certain times of year in order to feast...
View ArticleWorldwide observations confirm nearby 'lensing' exoplanet
Researchers using telescopes around the world confirmed and characterized an exoplanet orbiting a nearby star through a rare phenomenon known as gravitational microlensing. The exoplanet has a mass...
View ArticleShark proof wetsuit material could help save lives
A new wet suit material tested by Flinders marine researchers can help reduce blood loss caused by shark bites, to reduce injuries and prevent the leading cause of death from shark bites.
View ArticleEndangered whales react to environmental changes
Some 'canaries' are 50 feet long, weigh 70 tons, and are nowhere near a coal mine. But the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale is sending the same kind of message about disruptive change in...
View ArticleFirst giant planet around white dwarf found
Researchers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have, for the first time, found evidence of a giant planet associated with a white dwarf star. The planet orbits the hot white dwarf, the remnant of a...
View ArticleHidden giant planet revealed around tiny white dwarf star
The first evidence of a giant planet orbiting a dead white dwarf star has been found in the form of a disc of gas formed from its evaporating atmosphere.
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