Astronomers Find and Confirm 44 New Extrasolar Planets
An international team of astronomers has confirmed the existence of 44 new extrasolar planets. The planets were first spotted by the astronomers through data gathered from Campaign #10 of NASA’s Kepler K2 mission. According to NASA’s Kepler and K2 webpage, campaign #10 ran from July 6, 2016, to September 20, 2016. To verify their findings, […]
Kepler Discovers More Exoplanets / Scientists Classify Types of Planets
NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission recently released what it calls the most comprehensive and detailed catalog of candidate exoplanets. Exoplanets or extrasolar planets are planetary bodies that exist outside of our solar system. The new and final Kepler catalog from data gathered from the spacecraft’s initial patch of sky view within the Cygnus constellation includes 219 […]
Ancient Oxygen Found; Biggest Tatooine-Like Planet Spotted; 2nd Gravitational Wave Detected
Astronomers Find Really Really Old Oxygen in Distant Galaxy Astronomers say they have spotted some of the oldest oxygen in the universe. Using the European Southern Observatory’s ALMA or Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of radio telescopes, the scientists say they’ve picked up a strong signal that indicates oxygen in a galaxy about 13.1 billion light-years […]
Dwarf Planet Moon Discovered; Supplements Boost Antidepressants; Kepler Back in Business
Hubble Spots Moon Circling Distant Dwarf Planet Out in the far reaches of our solar system lies the Kuiper Belt. This region of space is occupied by icy objects left over from the creation of the solar system. Several dwarf planets, such as Pluto, also occupy the Kuiper Belt. Astronomers studying images gathered by the […]
Jupiter’s Northern Lights; Watching Stars Explode & Too Much Sitting Kills
Astronomers Study Jupiter’s ‘Northern Lights’ Earth’s Auroras – Borealis in the northern polar region and Australis in the south – are among the most beautiful and haunting light displays in nature. Now, for the first time, scientists have been able to study Jupiter’s auroras, in x-ray wavelengths thanks to NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Auroras both […]
Earth’s ‘Cousin’ Found; Burnt Scroll Made Readable, ET Search Boosted
NASA Finds Earth’s Older and Bigger Cousin NASA announced that its Kepler mission has discovered a planet and star that closely resembles the Earth and our Sun. Some have even been calling the discovery of the exoplanet “Earth’s older and bigger cousin”. The planet and sun are part of the Kepler-452 system and are about […]
Astronomers May Have Spotted A Moon Orbiting an Extrasolar Planet
According to NASA, more than 1,000 extrasolar planets have been confirmed in recent years. There are also thousands more potential planets beyond our solar system that are waiting to be discovered. Now, an international group of astronomers think they may have found the first exomoon, or moon circling an exoplanet, some 1,800 light years away […]
NASA, ESA Ramp Up Planet-hunting Missions
NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission stirred up excitement this week when mission officials announced they’d hit the proverbial jackpot – discovering and confirming a record 715 new planets orbiting 305 stars. Nearly 95 percent of these newly found planets are smaller than Neptune, but four are about 2.5 times bigger than Earth and are located within […]
60 Billion Earth-like Planets Could Exist in Milky Way Galaxy
A new study finds there could be about 60 billion Earth-sized habitable planets orbiting red dwarfs – the most common stars in our universe – in the Milky Way galaxy. That’s more than twice as many potentially habitable planets than was previously thought. The new report from two Chicago area universities finds that clouds surrounding […]
Glitch Jeopardizes Planet Hunter’s Mission
A malfunction could force an abrupt end to the Kepler Space Telescope’s planet-hunting mission. NASA received the unwelcome news last Sunday after discovering Kepler had malfunctioned and is currently operating in a self-protective “safe-mode” as it also did earlier this month. The US space agency made the news public this past Wednesday. It appears at […]