JWST Discovers Its First Exoplanet
JWST was launched into space on December 25, 2021, and started taking pictures and collecting data a few months later. Since the telescope has been fully operational, JWST has been […]
JWST was launched into space on December 25, 2021, and started taking pictures and collecting data a few months later. Since the telescope has been fully operational, JWST has been […]
To understand how, when, and where planets form in a star system, we need to first look at planetesimals, the building blocks of the planets. Age dates of meteorites provide […]
Two exoplanets, WASP-76b and WASP-121b, have clouds of barium in their upper atmospheres. Barium is the heaviest element ever recorded in an exoplanet atmosphere thus far. These two exoplanets, which […]
In the age of exoplanet discovery, most planets found have either been large gaseous giants or large terrestrial planets orbiting very close to their stars. Both types of planets are […]
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched in 2021 and recently completed its deployment and mirror alignment. The start of the primary science phase of the mission was heralded […]
Liquid water is a prerequisite for life as we know it. Consequently, scientists have long sought stable liquid water in our solar system to search for life. This idea has […]
The Copernican principle, inspired by the mid-16th-century idea of Nicolaus Copernicus that Earth is not the center of the universe, states that we may not be alone in the universe […]
One of the most exciting advances that has accompanied the detection of exoplanets is the discovery of exomoons—natural satellites orbiting these far away, alien planets. While we know moons to […]
Giant planets are defined by their massive size, thick gaseous atmospheres, and lack of solid planetary surfaces due to low amounts of solid rocky material. The current “core-formation” model for […]
NASA’s Kepler mission and other efforts have shown that planets are ubiquitous in our galaxy. However, finding planets outside the Milky Way is a different challenge. Because the light from […]
Isotope variations provide important insights into the origin and evolution of stellar and planetary systems. The carbon isotope ratio in carbon monoxide molecules, 12CO/13CO, is roughly constant across the solar […]
To date, more than 4,000 exoplanets have been confirmed, with thousands more possible exoplanet detections. The physical properties and chemical compositions of these planets are important for understanding how planets […]
The search for signs of life on exoplanets relies heavily on our ability to detect key biosignatures within a given planet’s atmosphere. Among potential markers for life in exoplanet atmospheres, […]
Getting an early start may have helped rocky exoplanets in the race for habitability, according to researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Plate tectonics is considered an important factor […]
Extrasolar planets or “exoplanets” are planets that orbit around stars other than our Sun. With increasingly sophisticated technology and detection methods, more exoplanets are being discovered. One method for identifying […]
Magnetic fields around planetary bodies are important factors for understanding the habitability of other worlds because they reduce atmospheric loss and protect the surface of the planet from radiation. The […]
Many planets have been detected around stars beyond our Sun, but few of them are solid like the Earth, and it has been a struggle to determine whether any are […]
Giant planets have been identified orbiting 290 of the stars within 500 light-years of the sun; the remaining 4,200 stars appeared to be planet-less. However, Natalie Hinkel of the Southwest […]
Abstract deadline: August 2, 2017 https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm17/preliminaryview.cgi/Session23322 We invite you to submit your abstract to our session to be held at the Fall 2017 AGU Meeting, described below: This session consists of […]
The 2nd Advanced School on Exoplanetary Science will be held at the International Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies (IIASS) in Vietri sul Mare (Salerno), Italy from 22 to 26 May, 2017. The […]