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Distant Stellar Atmospheres Shed Light on How Jupiter-like Planets Form

It’s likely that Jupiter-like planets’ origins root back to either the rapid collapse of a dense cloud or small rocky cores that glom together until the body is massive enough to accrete a gaseous envelope. Although these two competing theories are both viable, astronomers have, for the first time, seen the latter “core accretion” theory …

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‘Mega-Earth’ And Doomed Planets Top Today’s Exoplanet Finds

Can you imagine a world that is 17 times as massive as Earth, but still rocky? Or two planets that are doomed to be swallowed up by their parent star in just a blink of astronomical time? While these scenarios sound like science fiction, these are real-life finds released today (June 2) at the American …

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Rocky Alien Planet Leftovers ‘Polluted’ White Dwarf Stars With Metal

What’s with all the metals in the atmosphere of white dwarfs, those things that are corpses of stars like our own Sun? While before scientists had theories about levitating star layers that “polluted” the white dwarfs, new research shows it’s more likely due to rocky material. More specifically, material left over from planet formation. Researchers …

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Planets Plentiful Around Abundant Red Dwarf Stars, Study Says

Good news for planet-hunters: planets around red dwarf stars are more abundant than previously believed, according to new research. A new study — which detected eight new planets around these stars — says that “virtually” all red dwarfs have planets around them. Moreover, super-Earths (planets that are slightly larger than our own) are orbiting in …

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Super-Earths Could Be More ‘Superhabitable’ Than Planets Like Ours

Alien planets that are slightly bigger than Earth could be more life-friendly than exoplanets closer to our own size, a new study implies. These so-called “super-Earths” that are about two to three times that of our own planet could be “superhabitable” — implying that our own planet is a rare bird indeed when it comes to being good …

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