Faraway Planets Collided, Study Suggests Posted: 7 months ago by AutumnLotus
An extrasolar planet about one-fourth the heft of Jupiter might have formed from the collision and merger of two planets, astronomers announced today. Known as 2M1207B, the object orbits a brown-dwarf star called 2M1207A located 170 light-years from Earth and seen in the direction of the constellation Centaurus.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 169 [+].
Largest transiting extrasolar planet found around a distant star Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
An international team of astronomers with the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey announce today the discovery of TrES-4, a new extrasolar planet in the constellation of Hercules. The new planet was identified by astronomers looking for transiting planets – that is, planets that pass in front of their home star – using a network of small automated telescopes.
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Scientists Discover Record Fifth Planet Orbiting Nearby Star Posted: 10 months ago by AutumnLotus
Astronomers have announced the discovery of a fifth planet circling 55 Cancri, a star beyond our solar system. The star now holds the record for number of confirmed extrasolar planets orbiting in a planetary system.
Comments: 6 Score: [-] 322 [+].
'Twilight zones' on scorched planets could support life Posted: 8 months ago by AutumnLotus
Rocky extrasolar planets thought to be half frozen and half scorched might instead rock back and forth, creating large swaths of twilight with temperatures suitable for life.
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New Super-Earth is Smallest Yet Posted: 4 months ago by AutumnLotus
Astronomers have discovered possibly the smallest extrasolar planet yet, a rocky world that's orbiting a star in the constellation Leo. "The study opens a new path that should lead to the discovery of even smaller planets in the near future, with the goal of eventually finding worlds more and more similar to the Earth."
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Two unusual older stars giving birth to second wave of planets Posted: 7 months ago by AutumnLotus
Hundreds of millions — or even billions — of years after planets would have initially formed around two unusual stars, a second wave of planetesimal and planet formation appears to be taking place. "This is a new class of stars, ones that display conditions now ripe for formation of a second generation of planets, long, long after the stars themselves formed."
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The 10 most intriguing extrasolar planets Posted: 11 months ago by AutumnLotus
Primeval worlds and shrinking planets discovered beyond our Solar System.
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How to destroy a giant planet Posted: 9 months ago by AutumnLotus
Theorists have what they think is a good handle on how rocky planets like Earth form. Leftovers of star formation collide, stick together and eventually form a ball of rock. However, the formation of gas giant planets is more mysterious.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 138 [+].
Astronomers finding 2 new planets a month Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
As of July 20, the latest available date, 246 extrasolar planets had been detected circling other stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Among them are 25 alien "solar systems" consisting of two, three or four bodies orbiting single suns.
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Star eats star and builds planets from the crumbs Posted: 6 months ago by AutumnLotus
An unusual star may have swallowed its stellar companion and burped out a planet-forming cloud as a result, a new study reports. The star, called BP Piscium, is surrounded by a thick disc of gas and dust from which it appears to be sucking up new material at a prodigious rate.
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Astronomers Spot Exploding Faraway Star Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
A massive exploding faraway star _ the brightest supernova astronomers have ever seen _ has scientists wondering whether a similar celestial fireworks show may light up the sky much closer to Earth sometime soon.
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Gliese 581: one planet might indeed be habitable Posted: 8 months ago by AutumnLotus
In April, a European team of astronomers announced in Astronomy & Astrophysics the discovery of two possibly habitable Earth-like planets. A&A is now publishing two independent, detailed studies of this system, which confirm that one of the planets might indeed be located within the habitable zone around the star Gliese 581.
Comments: 2 Score: [-] 199 [+].
Small planets forming in the Pleiades: astronomers Posted: 9 months ago by AutumnLotus
Small, rocky planets that could resemble the Earth or Mars may be forming around a star in the Pleiades star cluster. One of the stars in the cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters, is surrounded by an extraordinary number of hot dust particles that could be the "building blocks of planets".
Comments: 4 Score: [-] 191 [+].
Peanut-shaped comet likely formed in collision Posted: 7 months ago by AutumnLotus
Amateur astronomers saw only a fuzzy patch of light when Comet 8P/Tuttle made its closest approach to the Earth on 2 January. But astronomers using the world's largest radio dish, the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, got a much more detailed, and surprising, view: The comet's nucleus resembled a peanut, suggesting it formed when two comets collided and stuck together.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 192 [+].
Spitzer Sees Light From Faraway Worlds Posted: 1 year ago by Neiako
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured for the first time enough light from planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, to identify signatures of molecules in their atmospheres.
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Astronomers Find Grains Of Sand Around Distant Stars Posted: 5 months ago by AutumnLotus
In a find that sheds light on how Earth-like planets may form, astronomers this week reported finding the first evidence of small, sandy particles orbiting a newborn solar system at about the same distance as the Earth orbits the sun.
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Planet-hunters find bonanza of new solar systems Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
Planet-seekers who have spotted 28 new planets orbiting other stars in the past year say Earth's solar system is far from unique and there could be billions of habitable planets.
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Astronomers from Heidelberg discover planet in a dusty disk around a newborn star Posted: 8 months ago by AutumnLotus
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg have discovered the youngest known extrasolar planet. Its host star is still surrounded by the disk of gas and dust from which it was only recently born. This discovery allows scientists to draw important conclusions about the timing of planet formation.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 237 [+].
Massive Transiting Planet With 31-hour Year Found Around Distant Star Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
Astronomers with the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey today announce the discovery of their third planet, TrES-3 in the constellation Hercules about 10 degrees west of Vega. The new planet was identified by astronomers looking for transiting planets — that is, planets that pass in front of their home star.
Comments: 1 Score: [-] 99 [+].
Planets Go 'Splat' on Stars Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
Debris spots found on stars reveal planets that went splat like bugs on a windshield. The finding could help unravel mysteries of planet formation.
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Quadruple star system may host a planet Posted: 1 year ago by AutumnLotus
Planets may be present in a quadruple star system 150 light years from Earth, according to Spitzer Space Telescope observations. The system, called HD 98800, consists of two pairs of stars in which the partners in each pair orbit one another closely. The pairs themselves travel around each other on a very elongated path.
Comments: 0 Score: [-] 53 [+].