A team of astronomers has detected for the first time a growing planet outside our solar system, embedded in a cleared gap of a multi-ringed disk of dust and gas. The team, led by University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and Richelle van Capelleveen, an astronomy graduate student at LeidenContinue Reading
The textbook picture of how planets form – serene, flat discs of cosmic dust – has just received a significant cosmic twist. New research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is set to reshape this long-held view. An international team of scientists, wielding the formidable power of the Atacama LargeContinue Reading
A study led by Jenny Frediani at Stockholm University has revealed a planet-forming disk with a strikingly unusual chemical composition: an unexpectedly high abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2) in regions where Earth-like planets may one day form. The discovery, made using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), challenges long-standing assumptionsContinue Reading
An international team of astronomers, co-led by researchers at University of Galway, has made the unexpected discovery of a new planet. Detected at an early stage of formation around a young analog of our own Sun, the planet is estimated to be about 5 million years-old and most likely aContinue Reading
The host star, TOI-6894, is a red dwarf with only 20% the mass of the Sun, typical of the most common stars in our galaxy. Until now, such low-mass stars were not thought capable of forming or retaining giant planets. But as published recently in Nature Astronomy, the unmistakable signature ofContinue Reading
The twin cube satellites will operate through at least September 2026, expanding focus from the poles to the whole planet to improve modelling and weather forecasts. NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission has been extended through September 2026 and is broadening its focus from Earth’s polesContinue Reading
Found using the MIRI instrument on NASA’s Webb telescope, which was managed by JPL through launch, the possible planet would be easier to study than more far-flung worlds. Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found strong evidence of a giant planet orbiting a star in the stellar systemContinue Reading
Most stars in the Universe exist in binary or multiple star systems, where the presence of close-in companion stars in such systems can adversely influence the formation and orbital stability of planets around one of the stars. An international team of astrophysicists led by Professor Man Hoi LEE from theContinue Reading
Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disc with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its innerContinue Reading
Subaru Telescope has made an exciting discovery: a small body beyond Pluto, with implications for the formation, evolution, and current structure of the outer Solar System. The object was found as part of the survey project FOSSIL (Formation of the Outer Solar System: An Icy Legacy), which takes advantage ofContinue Reading
