exoplanets

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers have generated the first-ever weather report of a rogue exoplanet-like object — and it shows patches of clouds and carbon chemicals, along with high-altitude auroras.The findings, published March 3 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, also revealed that the celestial object possesses a complex, layered atmosphere.Earth's atmosphere is…

Astronomers have directly observed two worlds beyond our solar system shedding their outer layers into space for the first time. The new observations offer an unprecedented glimpse into the interiors of planets — a view that has long remained elusive, even for Earth.The first "disintegrating" exoplanet is a Neptune-size rocky world called K2-22b, which zips…

The habitable zone of a planetary system is based on a simple idea: if a planet is too close to its star then conditions are too hot for life, and if a planet is too distant then things are too cold. It’s broadly based on the estimated temperature/distance range for liquid water to exist on…

WASP-121 b is the definition of an "extreme" exoplanet — it's so hot that it rains droplets of liquid iron. Now, astronomers have discovered that this planet, located around 900 light-years away from us, is also ravaged by unexpectedly powerful winds.This represents the first time astronomers have been able to study the atmosphere of a…

Some exoplanets have characteristics totally alien to our Solar System. Hot Jupiters are one such type. They can have orbital periods of less than 10 days and surface temperatures that can climb to well over 4,000 K (3,730 °C or 6,740 °F). Unlike any planets in our system, they’re usually tidally locked. Astronomers probed the…

Biologists identified a series of “hard steps” on the journey from abiogenesis – that life evolved naturally from non-living matter – to modern civilisation. These steps, such as the evolution of multi-cellular organisms or even language make the stark suggestion that intelligent life is highly improbable! Instead, the researchers propose that human-like life could be…

Planets are born in swirling disks of gas and dust around young stars. Astronomers are keenly interested in the planet formation process, and understanding that process is one of the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) main science goals. PDS 70 is a nearby star with two nascent planets forming in its disk, two of the…

White dwarfs are the remnants of once brilliant main sequence stars like our Sun. They’re extremely dense and no longer perform any fusion. The light they radiate is from remnant heat only. Astronomers have doubted that white dwarfs could host habitable planets, partly because of the tumultuous path they follow to become white dwarfs, but…

NASA continues to progress with the development of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST), the next-generation observatory with a target launch date of 2027. As the direct successor to the venerable Hubble Space Telescope, Roman will build on the successes of Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Named after NASA’s first chief…

Planets are born in swirling disks of gas and dust around young stars. Astronomers are keenly interested in the planet formation process, and understanding that process is one of the JWST’s main science goals. PDS 70 is a nearby star with two nascent planets forming in its disk, two of the very few exoplanets that…