Move Over Saturn, Scientists Find Rings Around Miniature Planet
Whenever you think of a planet with rings around it, Saturn probably comes to mind first. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune – the four outer giant planets – also have rings, but they’re not as bright, wide and colorful as Saturn’s. However, scientists in Chile now say they’ve discovered the first miniature planet with two rings circling it. The team […]
Milky Way Might Have Formed From Inside-Out
The Milky Way Galaxy may have formed from the inside-out, according to data from the Gaia-ESO Survey. Using data gathered by the ESO’s 8-meter Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile’s Atacama desert, astronomers were able to make their findings by tracking and studying the amounts of elements, such as magnesium, within the chemical composition of stars […]
Science Images of the Week
Ultra-Light Planet Found Outside Solar System
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has discovered what appears to be the lightest planet ever to be directly observed outside of our Solar System. Astronomers made the discovery using the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile, which captured the faint object moving near a bright star about 300 light years from Earth. The possible […]
Science Images of the Week
Astronomers Identify Orphan Exoplanet Close to Our Solar System
An international team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope has identified what they’re calling the most exciting free-floating, or rogue planet ever found. Writing in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the scientists say this rogue planet, located relatively close to our own Solar System – about […]