Space and astronomy news
Have you heard of LU Camelopardalis, QZ Serpentis, V1007 Herculis and BK Lyncis? No, they’re not members of a boy band in ancient Rome. They’re Cataclysmic Variables, binary stars that are so close together one star draws material from its sibling. This causes the pair to vary wildly in brightness. Can planets exist in this …
Continue reading “Astronomers Have a New Way to Find Exoplanets in Cataclysmic Binary Systems”
A team of astronomers studied brown dwarfs to figure out how hot exoplanets form clouds of sand. They found that sand clouds can only exist in a narrow range of temperatures.
Have you ever seen wispy arcs and rings in astronomical images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories? These unusual features are caused by a quirk of nature called gravitational lensing, which occurs when light from a distant object is distorted by a closer massive object along the same line of sight. This …
“Where are all the Trojans” is a question valid in both the study of ancient history and the study of exoplanets. Trojan bodies, which share orbital paths with other, larger planets, are prevalent in our solar system – most obviously in the Trojan asteroids that follow Jupiter around on its orbital path. However, they seem …
Our planet’s oceans generate tell-tale light signatures when sunlight reflects off them. Exoplanets with significant ocean coverage may do the same. Can we use the Earth’s reflectance signatures to identify other Earth-like worlds with large oceans? We should be able to, eventually.
A team of Chinese researchers has proposed a new mission to find Earth-like planets in neighboring star systems – the Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES)!
We’ve found thousands of exoplanets in the last couple of decades. We’ve discovered exoplanets unlike anything in our own Solar System. But even with all we’ve found, it seems like there’s more and more to discover. Space scientists of all types are always working on the next generation of missions, which is certainly true for …
When the James Webb Space Telescope aims at exoplanet atmospheres, it’ll use spectroscopy to identify chemical elements. One of the things it’s looking for is methane, a chemical compound that can indicate the presence of life. Methane is a compelling biosignature. Finding a large amount of methane in an exoplanet’s atmosphere might be our most …
Continue reading “It’s Not Conclusive, But Methane is Probably the Best Sign of Life on Exoplanets”
There are now more than 5,000 known planets in the universe, and we’re just getting started.
A new study has shown how machine learning will aid next-generation telescopes in the search for water on exoplanets.