Astronomers Observe Exoplanet Temperatures Swinging Wildly
For the first time ever, scientists in the United Kingdom detected temperature fluctuations on a super-Earth exoplanet – 55 Cancri e, the so-called “diamond planet.” Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to study the rocky exoplanet’s thermal radiation over a two-year period, researchers led by the University of Cambridge found that the temperature on the side […]
Ground-Based Telescope Observes Exoplanet Transiting Bright Star
For the first time, an international team of astronomers has used a ground-based telescope to detect and observe the transit of a planet in front of a Sun-like star outside of our own solar system. Until now, only space-based telescopes were capable of detecting the transits of exoplanets as they passed by bright stars. Distortions […]
Scientists Discover Planet Covered in Diamonds
Scientists have found a planet outside of our solar system which could be a true diamond in the rough. This gem of a planet is twice Earth’s size, according to the US-Franco team that found it, and its surface appears to be covered in graphite and diamond. Researchers estimate that at least one-third of the […]
Science Scanner: NASA Detects Light from Earth-like Planet
It what it calls an historic step in the search for signs of life on other planets, NASA says its astronomers have detected light coming from a “super-Earth” planet 41 light years away. It marks the first time direct light from a rocky super-Earth planet has been seen, researchers said. The planet, called 55 Cancri […]