exoplanets
WFIRST Will Use Relativity to Find More Exoplanets!
When it deploys in 2025, NASA's WFIRST mission will rely on the gravitational microlensing technique to locate exoplanets near the…
Astronomers Watched a Star System Die
About 570 light years from Earth lies WD 1145+017, a white dwarf star. In many respects it's a typical white…
Five Snapshots of how the Earth Looked at Key Points in its History Could Help us Find Habitable Exoplanets
A study by Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute provides models of how Earth looked like over time, which could help us…
How Will Clouds Obscure the View of Exoplanet Surfaces?
A new study shows how the presence of a cloud layer could make it harder for the James Webb Space…
Your Umbrella is Insufficient on a Planet Where it Rains Iron
Imagine a planet where it rained iron. Sounds impossible. But on one distant exoplanet, which is tidally locked to its…
Gas and Dust Stop Planets From Eating Their Moons
A team of Japanese researchers have created a new model for moon formation that explains how planets like Saturn end…
WFIRST Passes an Important Milestone, it’s Time to Begin Development and Testing
Soon, astronomers and astrophysicists will have more observing power than they know what to do with. Not only will the…
Are Low Density “Cotton Candy” Exoplanets Actually Just Regular Planets With Rings?
There's a type of exoplanet that astronomers sometimes refer to as cotton candy planets, or super-puffs. They're mysterious, because their…
Detecting Exoplanets Through Their Exoauroras
A team of scientists from the Netherlands have proposed an exciting new approach for finding exoplanets: look for signs of…
Here are the First Pictures from CHEOPS
The CHEOPS spacecraft is taking the first tentative steps in its mission. Back on January 29th, the spacecraft opened the…