Moons are planets too
What makes a planet a planet? The answer turns out to be rather contentious. The official definition of a planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is that a planet must satisfy three conditions:.....»»
Astronomers find "tilted" planets even in pristine solar systems
Scientists have long puzzled over why all of the planets in Earth's solar system have slightly slanted orbits around the sun. But a new, Yale-led study suggests this phenomenon may not be so unusual after all. Even in "pristine" solar systems, planet.....»»
Where are all the double planets?
A recent study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society examines formation mechanisms for how binary planets—two large planetary bodies orbiting each other—can be produced from a type of tidal heating known as tidal diss.....»»
NASA uses two worlds to test future Mars helicopter designs
For the first time in history, two planets have been home to testing future aircraft designs. In this world, a new rotor that could be used with next-generation Mars helicopters was recently tested at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern Cali.....»»
Life might be easiest to find on planets that match an earlier Earth
We're inching closer and closer to reliably detecting biosignatures on distant planets. Much of the focus is on determining which chemicals indicate life's presence......»»
ALMA observation of young star reveals details of dust grains
One of the primary goals of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to study the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Young stars are often surrounded by a disk of gas and dust, out of which planets can form......»»
A novel system for slip prevention in unmanned rovers
Given the hostile conditions of extraterrestrial environments, unmanned rovers play a critical role in the exploration of planets and moons. NASA's Mars and lunar exploration rovers have significantly contributed to our understanding of these extrate.....»»
Webb findings support long-proposed process of planet formation
Scientists using James Webb Space Telescope just made a breakthrough discovery in revealing how planets are made. By observing water vapor in protoplanetary disks, Webb confirmed a physical process involving the drifting of ice-coated solids from the.....»»
This is a first: An exoplanet in a polar circumbinary disk surrounding two stars
We live in an age of exoplanet discovery. One thing we've learned is not to be surprised by the kinds of exoplanets we keep discovering. We've discovered planets where it might rain glass or even iron, planets that are the rocky core remnants of gas.....»»
Old data from Kepler turns up a system with seven planets
NASA's Kepler mission ended in 2018 after more than nine years of fruitful planet-hunting. The space telescope discovered thousands of planets, many of which bear its name. But it also generated an enormous amount of data that exoplanet scientists ar.....»»
Scorching, seven-planet system revealed by new Kepler exoplanet list
A system of seven sweltering planets has been revealed by continued study of data from NASA's retired Kepler space telescope: Each one is bathed in more radiant heat from their host star per area than any planet in our solar system. Also unlike any o.....»»
An exo-Neptune beat the odds and kept its atmosphere
As planet-hunting scientists find more and more planets, they've encountered some puzzles. One of them concerns the lack of Neptune-size worlds orbiting close to their stars. Astronomers think that these planets aren't massive enough to retain their.....»»
What"s inside the Carina pillars? Massive protostars and newly forming planets
Star-forming nebulae are busy places. Unfortunately, clouds of gas and dust usually hide the action. To cut through the dust in one such region, a team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). They peered inside the Pillars of t.....»»
Io has 266 active volcanic hotspots linked by a global magma ocean, finds study
Jupiter's Io stands apart from the solar system's other moons, with its numerous volcanoes and its surface dominated by lava flows. Io's surface volcanism was confirmed in 1979 when the Voyager spacecraft imaged it, but its volcanic nature isn't dupl.....»»
Why NASA"s Roman mission will study Milky Way"s flickering lights
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide one of the deepest-ever views into the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. The mission will monitor hundreds of millions of stars in search of tell-tale flickers that betray the presence of planets, di.....»»
Astrophysicists scan the galaxy for signs of life
The astrophysicists, from Trinity and the Breakthrough Listen team and Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden, are scanning the universe for "technosignatures" emanating from distant planets that would provide support for the existence of intelligent, al.....»»
Simulating space to explore the great mystery of interstellar chemistry
The universe is more than 13 billion years old and space is often depicted as a vast, empty vacuum. Other than planets and stars, there's nothing there, right? Actually, space is littered with complex, carbon-based molecules. However, the range of mo.....»»
Astronomers carry out largest ever cosmological computer simulation
An international team of astronomers has carried out what is believed to be the largest ever cosmological computer simulation, tracking not only dark but also ordinary matter (such as planets, stars and galaxies), giving us a glimpse into how our uni.....»»
JWST looks at the debris disk around a white dwarf
Debris disks are quite common in the universe. Young stars have protoplanetary disks from which planets form. Black holes have accretion disks that are the source of the galactic jets. Supernova remnants can form a disk around neutron stars. So what.....»»
Do we live in a computer simulation like in The Matrix? Proposed new law of physics backs up the idea
The simulated universe theory implies that our universe, with all its galaxies, planets and life forms, is a meticulously programmed computer simulation. In this scenario, the physical laws governing our reality are simply algorithms. The experiences.....»»
Juno completes its closest flyby of Io yet
Jupiter's ocean moons capture most of our attention because of their potential habitability. But Io, Jupiter's bad-boy volcanic moon, is in a class of its own. There's nothing else like it in the solar system, and NASA's Juno spacecraft captured new.....»»