For decades before Pluto, Eris, and other distant objects in our solar system were discovered, astronomers had posited that there must be another planet beyond Neptune that would make observed orbital calculations for Neptune and Uranus add up. This planet…
715 New Exoplanets Discovered by NASA’s Kepler
The last decade has seen a huge increase in the number of known exoplanets (those outside of our own solar system). NASA’s Kepler mission has been responsible for a great deal of these planet discoveries in the last few years…
“Wobbly” Planet Spotted in Binary Star System
NASA this week revealed that the Kepler Space Telescope has spotted a planet with a very erratic orbit. The planet, named Kepler-413b, orbits around a pair of stars and performs what astronomers are describing as a wobble as its spins.…
New Planets Found Among Star Cluster
Astronomers this week have announced the discovery of three planets found within the Messier 67 star cluster. The finding is significant because planets have rarely found orbiting stars that are part of star clusters. The new research shows that planets…
Massive Planet-Like Object Baffles Astronomers
Astronomers this week announced the discovery of an odd object orbiting a star located around 440 light years from our solar system. The object’s size and position is now giving scientists trouble in determining what exactly it is. The object,…
Hubble Spots Cloudy Atmospheres on Two Nearby Exoplanets
On the eve of a new year, astronomers have just revealed that two nearby exoplanets are covered in an atmosphere thick with clouds. Two new papers, both to be published in the journal Nature, examine the planets GJ 436b and…
Hot, Earth-Sized Exoplanet Found by Astronomers
Astronomers this week revealed that the mass of exoplanet Kepler 78b has been determined. The planet, located 400 light-year away in orbit around the star Kepler 78, has a mass of around 1.7 times that of Earth. The planet also…
Clouds Mapped on Jupiter-Like Exoplanet
Though much of the agency is preparing to shut down, NASA this week announced that astronomers have mapped the clouds of a planet outside our own solar system. Using the Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes, astronomers have created a cloud…
Kepler Space Telescope Broken, NASA Gives Up on Restoration
Sometimes the best physicists, engineers, and mathematicians in the world can’t save a failing satellite. NASA announced today that it has given up attempts to restore the malfunctioning Kepler Space Telescope. One of the Kepler’s four reaction wheels failed back…
Smallest Planet Yet Spotted Around Sun-Like Star
Astronomers this week announced they have directly imaged the smallest planet yet found around a sun-like star. The planet, GJ 504b, is about four times the mass of Jupiter. It orbits its star at around 43 times the distance from…
Hubble Telescope Spots a Blue Planet
Astronomers have been finding and cataloging exoplanets for years now, but NASA this week announced that the Hubble Space Telescope has helped determined the color of a planet orbiting a star 63 light-years from our solar system. The planet, HD…
Three Planets Found in the Habitable Zone of Nearby Star
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) this week announced it has found six planets in the Gliese 667C system, and that three of those planets are located within the system’s habitable zone. The habitable zone of a system is the area…
Giant Planet Formation May Have Been Spotted
Astronomers have found what could be the first-ever sighting of a planet forming while still in the midst of a dust cloud surrounding a star. The object, which orbits the star HD 100546, is only 335 light-years from Earth and…
NASA’s Kepler Finds Extra-Solar Planets Smaller Than Earth
Over the past year, NASA’s Kepler mission has found hundreds of possible planets outside of our solar system, and even a few candidates for Earth-like planets. This week, astronomers revealed that a new system has been found that contains planets…
Earth-Sized Planets May be Close by, Shows Study
Astronomers this week published a new study that estimates six percent of red dwarf stars may have Earth-sized planets orbiting within their “habitable zone” – the area around a star in which liquid water can exist on the surface of…
Rogue Planet Orbit Spotted by NASA’s Hubble
New images of the Fomalhaut star system could show evidence of a “titanic planetary disruption.” Astronomers have found that the debris belt in the system is wider than was thought, and that a “rogue” planet has a precarious orbit that…
461 New Planet Candidates Discovered by NASA’s Kepler, Including Four Earth-Like Ones
Astronomers last week announced that they estimate there to be 100 billion planets throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. This week, Astronomers announced 461 new candidates for extra-solar planets have been discovered. NASA‘s Kepler mission has been discovering exoplanets for years…
100 Billion Planets Populate the Milky Way Galaxy, Say Astronomers
For years now, NASA‘s Kepler mission has been confirming the existence of planets outside our solar system. Now, a new review of Kepler data suggests that there are billions upon billions of planets just in the Milky Way galaxy. “There…
Giant Planet Formation Revealed in New Observations
Astronomers have spotted a system that could reveal a key stage in the formation of giant planets. For the first time, images of vast gas streams flowing across a gap in the accretion disc of a young star have been…
Cassini to Track Venus Transit, Study Exoplanets
NASA announced today that it will begin using the Cassini probe’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) for uses other than studying Saturn and its moons. On Friday, from its vantage point in orbit around Saturn, the VIMS will be…