Exoplanets Archives

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020 by Brian Koberlein

During A Lunar Eclipse, It’s A Chance To See Earth As An Exoplanet

With the lunar horizon in the foreground, the Earth passes in front of the Sun on September 27, 2015 in this simulation, revealing the red ring of sunrises and sunsets along the limb of the planet responsible for illuminating the Moon during the eclipse. The clarity of the stratosphere at eclipse time can greatly affect lunar brightness during totality. The Earth and Sun are in Virgo for observers on the Moon with the bright star Beta Virginis at top. Click to see the video. Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

There are several ways to look for alien life on distant worlds. One is to listen for radio signals these aliens might send, such as SETI and others are doing, but another is to study the atmospheres of exoplanets to find bio-signatures of life. But what might these signatures be? And what would they appear to our telescopes?

February 12, 2020February 12, 2020 by Evan Gough

Here are the First Pictures from CHEOPS

First image of the star chosen as target for CHEOPS after cover opening. The star, at the centre of the image, is located at a distance of 150 light-years from us, in the constellation of Cancer. Image Credit:ESA/Airbus/CHEOPS Mission Consortium

The CHEOPS spacecraft is taking the first tentative steps in its mission. Back on January 29th, the spacecraft opened the cover on its lens. Now, we have the first images from CHEOPS.

January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by Evan Gough

CHEOPS Just Opened Its Eyes to Start Studying Known Exoplanets, We Should See the First Picture in a Few Weeks

Artist's impression of CHEOPS © ESA / ATG medialab

The CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite) spacecraft just opened the cover on its telescope. The spacecraft was launched on December 18th 2019 and has so far performed flawlessly. In one or two weeks we could get our first images from the instrument.

January 15, 2020January 15, 2020 by Evan Gough

A Second Planet May Have been Found Orbiting Proxima Centauri! And it’s a Super Earth.

An artist's illustration of the Proxima Centauri system. Proxima b is on the left, while Proxima C is on the right. Image Credit: Lorenzo Santinelli

Astronomers have discovered another candidate exoplanet orbiting our neighbor, Proxima Centauri. A paper announcing these results was just published in the journal Science Advances. If confirmed, it will be the second exoplanet orbiting the star.

January 10, 2020January 10, 2020 by Evan Gough

The Perfect Stars to Search for Life On Their Planets

This infographic compares the characteristics of three classes of stars in our galaxy: Sunlike stars are classified as G stars; stars less massive and cooler than our Sun are K dwarfs; and even fainter and cooler stars are the reddish M dwarfs. The graphic compares the stars in terms of several important variables. The habitable zones, potentially capable of hosting life-bearing planets, are wider for hotter stars. The longevity for red dwarf M stars can exceed 100 billion years. K dwarf ages can range from 15 to 45 billion years. And, our Sun only lasts for 10 billion years. The relative amount of harmful radiation (to life as we know it) that stars emit can be 80 to 500 times more intense for M dwarfs relative to our Sun, but only 5 to 25 times more intense for the orange K dwarfs. Red dwarfs make up the bulk of the Milky Way's population, about 73%. Sunlike stars are merely 6% of the population, and K dwarfs are at 13%. When these four variables are balanced, the most suitable stars for potentially hosting advanced life forms are K dwarfs. Credits: NASA, ESA and Z. Levy (STScI)

We tend to think of our Earthly circumstances as normal. A watery, temperate world orbiting a stable yellow star. A place where life has persisted for nearly 4 billion years. It’s almost inevitable that when we think of other places where life could thrive, we use our own experience as a benchmark.

But should we?

January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 by Evan Gough

TESS Finds a Planet That Orbits Two Stars

TOI 1338 b is a circumbinary planet orbiting its two stars. It was discovered by TESS. Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith

Researchers working with data from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) have a found a planet that orbits two stars. Initially, the system was identified by citizen scientists as a pair of eclipsing binary stars without a planet. But an intern taking a closer look at that data found that it was misidentified.

January 8, 2020January 8, 2020 by Evan Gough

TESS Finds its First Earth-Sized World in the Habitable Zone of a Star

An artist's illustration of TOI 700d, an Earth-size exoplanet that TESS found in its star's habitable zone. New research questions if life really needs planets at all. Image Credit: NASA

NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has found its first Earth-sized planet located in the habitable zone of its host star. The find was confirmed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. This planet is one of only a few Earth-sized worlds ever found in a habitable zone.

December 19, 2019December 19, 2019 by Evan Gough

ESA’s CHEOPS Just Launched. We’re About to Learn a LOT More About Exoplanets

The ESA's CHEOPS launching aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Image Credit: ESA - S. Corvaja

The CHEOPS mission is underway. On December 18th, the exoplanet-studying spacecraft launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana aboard a Soyuz-Fregat rocket. Initial signals from CHEOPS show that the launch was a success.

December 19, 2019December 19, 2019 by Evan Gough

Without a Magnetosphere, Planets Orbiting Flare Stars Don’t Stand a Chance

An artist's conception of a superflare event, on a dwarf star. Image credit: Mark Garlick/University of Warwick

Earthlings are fortunate. Our planet has a robust magnetic shield. Without out magnetosphere, the Sun’s radiation would’ve probably ended life on Earth before it even got going. And our Sun is rather tame, in stellar terms.

What’s it like for exoplanets orbiting more active stars?

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019 by Evan Gough

Planetary Mass Objects Discovered in Other Galaxies

In this artist's conception, a rogue planet drifts through space. Credit: Christine Pulliam (CfA)

A team of researchers at the University of Oklahoma have discovered “planetary mass bodies” outside of the Milky Way. They were discovered in one gravitationally-lensed galaxy, and in one gravitationally-lensed galaxy cluster using a technique called quasar micro-lensing. According to the researchers, the planetary mass objects are either planets or primordial black holes.