http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org)—Astronomers have discovered a veritable rogues' gallery of odd exoplanets—from scorching hot worlds with molten surfaces to frigid ice balls. http://phys.org/news266659132.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:10:06 EST news266659132 (Phys.org)—A star's internal chemistry can doom a planet's life long before the star itself dies. http://phys.org/news266216374.html Space & Earth Fri, 07 Sep 2012 05:59:42 EST news266216374 A new superterran exoplanet (aka Super-Earth) was found in the stellar habitable zone of the red dwarf star Gliese 163 by the European HARPS team. The planet, Gliese 163c, has a minimum mass of 6.9 Earth masses and takes nearly 26 days to orbit its star. Superterrans are those exoplanets between two and ten Earth masses, which are more likely composed of rock and water. Gliese 163 is a nearby red dwarf star 50 light years away in the Dorado constellation. Another larger planet, Gliese 163b, was also found to orbit the star much closer with a nine days period. An additional third, but unconfirmed planet, might be orbiting the star much farther away. http://phys.org/news265623612.html Space & Earth Fri, 31 Aug 2012 09:20:36 EST news265623612 NASA's Kepler mission has found the first multi-planet solar system orbiting a binary star, characterized in large part by University of Texas at Austin astronomers using two telescopes at the university's McDonald Observatory in West Texas. The finding, which proves that whole planetary systems can form in a disk around a binary star, is published in the August 28 issue of the journal Science. http://phys.org/news265374281.html Space & Earth Tue, 28 Aug 2012 18:30:02 EST news265374281 Detecting water on the surface of exoplanets is becoming a high priority for researchers, as surface water is considered a requirement for habitability. New research examines whether or not the "glint" of light from a planet can be interpreted as evidence for surface oceans. http://phys.org/news261384159.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:43:07 EST news261384159 (Phys.org) -- It's not little green men, but it could be a step in that direction: Cornell astronomers, using data from the NASA Kepler Mission, have identified three Earthlike planets orbiting their own suns, all of which could be hospitable to life. http://phys.org/news254648755.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:46:01 EST news254648755 Earth-sized exoplanets within a distant star’s habitable zone could still be very much uninhabitable, depending on potential tidal stresses — either past or present — that could have "squeezed out" all the water, leaving behind a bone-dry ball of rock. http://phys.org/news252231850.html Space & Earth Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:40:02 EST news252231850 There's a tiny moon orbiting beyond Saturn's rings that's full of promise, and maybe -- just maybe -- microbes. http://phys.org/news252146315.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:10:01 EST news252146315 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new result from ESO’s HARPS planet finder shows that rocky planets not much bigger than Earth are very common in the habitable zones around faint red stars. The international team estimates that there are tens of billions of such planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone, and probably about one hundred in the Sun’s immediate neighbourhood. This is the first direct measurement of the frequency of super-Earths around red dwarfs, which account for 80% of the stars in the Milky Way. http://phys.org/news252135474.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:38:00 EST news252135474 While scientists believe conditions suitable for life might exist on the so-called "super-Earth" in the Gliese 581 system, it's unlikely to be transferred to other planets within that solar system. http://phys.org/news251462038.html Space & Earth Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:34:04 EST news251462038 (PhysOrg.com) -- This artist's concept depicts a planetary system so compact that it's more like Jupiter and its moons than a star and its planets. Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler mission and ground-based telescopes recently confirmed that the system, called KOI-961, hosts the three smallest exoplanets currently known to orbit a star other than our sun. An exoplanet is a planet that resides outside of our solar system. http://phys.org/news251021165.html Space & Earth Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:06:16 EST news251021165 (PhysOrg.com) -- If you aren’t familiar with the Drake Equation, or how it may actually apply to exomoons, continue reading to learn more about the famous equation. Additionally, what conditions could make a habitable moon like Pandora as depicted in Avatar, or the forest Moon of Endor as seen in Return of the Jedi? http://phys.org/news250340372.html Space & Earth Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:01:01 EST news250340372 (PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of scientists has discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star. With an orbital period of about 28 days and a minimum mass 4.5 times that of the Earth, the planet orbits within the star’s “habitable zone,” where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the planet’s surface. The researchers found evidence of at least one and possibly two or three additional planets orbiting the star, which is about 22 light-years from Earth. http://phys.org/news247400697.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:25:19 EST news247400697 Last year came to an exciting end with the discovery of an Earth-like planet, Kepler-22b, orbiting a sun-like star outside of our solar system. It was found by NASA’s Kepler mission and is the first planet detected orbiting in a star’s habitable zone, the region around a star where liquid water, a requirement for life on Earth, could persist. http://phys.org/news246181493.html Space & Earth Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:45:06 EST news246181493 The search for extraterrestrial life outside our Solar System is currently focused on extrasolar planets within the ‘habitable zones’ of exoplanetary systems around stars similar to the Sun. Finding Earth-like planets around other stars is the primary goal of NASA’s Kepler Mission. http://phys.org/news245926289.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:51:41 EST news245926289 An international team has used the technique of gravitational microlensing to measure how common planets are in the Milky Way. http://phys.org/news245504503.html Space & Earth Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:14 EST news245504503 (PhysOrg.com) -- A group of astrophysicists from The University of Texas at Arlington plans to expand the discussion about a newly discovered planet orbiting two stars by presenting a study suggesting where an Earth-type planet could exist in the system. http://phys.org/news245339704.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:55:18 EST news245339704 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun. http://phys.org/news243610019.html Space & Earth Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:27:13 EST news243610019 Tidally-locked planets - planets with one side perpetually facing their star while the other remains shrouded in darkness - tend to be warmer on one side than the other. The presence of an atmosphere can help distribute the heat across the planet, equalizing the temperatures. But tidal locking could result in wide climate variations, a result that could threaten the evolution of life on the surface of these planets. http://phys.org/news242634545.html Space & Earth Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:29:14 EST news242634545 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets. http://phys.org/news242310714.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:32:04 EST news242310714 Once again news from the Kepler mission is making the rounds, this time with a research paper outlining a theory that Earth-like planets may be more common around class F, G and K stars than originally expected. http://phys.org/news236425928.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:52:19 EST news236425928 We know for certain that life exists in the Milky Way galaxy: that life is us. Scientists are continually looking to understand more about how life on our planet came to be and the conditions that must be met for its survival, and whether those conditions can be replicated elsewhere in the Universe. It turns out that looking at our entire Galaxy, rather than focusing just on life-giving properties of our planet or indeed the habitability of regions of our own Solar System, is a good place to start. http://phys.org/news235988517.html Space & Earth Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:00:02 EST news235988517 This has been a good year for Kepler, NASA's planet-hunting satellite telescope. http://phys.org/news235641715.html Space & Earth Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:02:19 EST news235641715 Astronomers believe they have found a second planet outside our solar system that seems to be in the right zone for life, just barely. But it would feel like a steam bath - hot, sticky and beyond uncomfortable. http://phys.org/news235061940.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:59:45 EST news235061940 Astronomers using ESO's world-leading exoplanet hunter HARPS have today announced a rich haul of more than 50 new exoplanets, including 16 super-Earths, one of which orbits at the edge of the habitable zone of its star. By studying the properties of all the HARPS planets found so far, the team has found that about 40% of stars similar to the Sun have at least one planet lighter than Saturn. http://phys.org/news235049215.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:27:45 EST news235049215 The distant region beyond Saturn is too cold for liquid water, a necessity for life as we know it. But new research indicates that rocky planets far from their parent star could generate enough heat to keep water flowing - if their atmospheres were made up primarily of hydrogen. http://phys.org/news233573697.html Space & Earth Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:35:06 EST news233573697 (PhysOrg.com) -- The "habitable zone" is the region around a star where a suitable planet could sustain the conditions necessary for life. Most astronomers take it to be the region where the balance between stellar radiation onto the planet and radiative cooling from the planet allows water on the surface to be a liquid; this definition also presumes the planet has an atmosphere and a solid surface. In our solar system, the Earth is cozily situated in the middle of the habitable zone which, depending on the model, extends roughly from Venus to Mars. http://phys.org/news233218642.html Space & Earth Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:57:43 EST news233218642 The Kepler science team announced on Aug. 12 the next release of data to the public archive. Quarter three science data collected during the months of September to December 2009 will be available for download on Sept. 23, 2011 from the Multimission Archive at STScI (MAST) at: http://archive.stsci.edu/kepler http://phys.org/news232616748.html Space & Earth Mon, 15 Aug 2011 08:48:24 EST news232616748 It is our general understanding of solar system composition that planets fall into two categories: gas giants like Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus… and rocky bodies that support some type of atmosphere like Earth, Mars and Venus. However, as we reach further into space we’re beginning to realize the Solar System is pretty unique because it doesn’t have a planetary structure which meets in the middle. But just because we don’t have one doesn’t mean they don’t exist. As a matter of fact, astronomers have found more than 30 of them and they call this new class of planet a “Super-Earth.” http://phys.org/news232014873.html Space & Earth Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:50:12 EST news232014873 The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia counted 548 confirmed extrasolar planets at 6 May 2011, while the NASA Star and Exoplanet Database (updated weekly) was today reporting 535. These are confirmed findings and the counts will significantly increase as more candidate exoplanets are assessed. For example, there were the 1,235 candidates announced by the Kepler mission in February, including 54 that may be in a habitable zone. http://phys.org/news224157295.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 May 2011 11:20:01 EST news224157295