News tagged with planet transits

Venus transit may boost hunt for other worlds

Astronomers around the world will be using advanced telescopes to watch Venus cross in front of the Sun on June 5 and 6 in the hopes of finding clues in the hunt for other planets where life may exist.

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 31, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

An exoplanet orbiting a double star

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Kepler satellite, which has now reported the detection of 1781 candidate exoplanets (a planet around a star other than the sun), has also discovered that at least one of them orbits a ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Star blasts planet with X-rays

A nearby star is pummeling a companion planet with a barrage of X-rays a hundred thousand times more intense than the Earth receives from the Sun.

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Kepler spacecraft discovers 'invisible world'

Usually, running five minutes late is a bad thing since you might lose your dinner reservation or miss out on tickets to the latest show. But when a planet runs five minutes late, astronomers get excited because ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 08, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (32) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Kepler's astounding haul of multiple-planet systems

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler spacecraft is proving itself to be a prolific planet hunter. Within just the first four months of data, astronomers have found evidence for more than 1,200 planetary candidates. ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created May 24, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 36 | with audio podcast

Exoplanetary systems

(PhysOrg.com) -- There are now about fifty stars known with more than one orbiting planet - they are the exoplanetary equivalents of the solar system. These stellar families are critical to astronomers piecing ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 07, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (10) | comments 56

The Kepler Mission

(PhysOrg.com) -- Since the first planet around another star (an "extrasolar planet") was discovered by SAO astronomers and others in 1989, over 450 extrasolar planets have been found. Their study now comprises a whole new ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 26, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Detecting Life-Friendly Moons

The search for life-friendly real estate around distant stars doesn't have to be limited to planets. New research shows that habitable exomoons can be detected with a new method using current technology.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 26, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (11) | comments 3

Kepler and the Search for Life in Our Galaxy

(PhysOrg.com) -- There are so many stars in our galaxy that even if planets with complex life (animals and plants) are rare - say one for every billion stars - there could still be dozens here in the Milky ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (9) | comments 1

Finding Twin Earths: Harder Than We Thought

(PhysOrg.com) -- Does a twin Earth exist somewhere in our galaxy? Astronomers are getting closer and closer to finding an Earth-sized planet in an Earth-like orbit. NASA's Kepler spacecraft just launched to ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 20, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (16) | comments 1

Transit Search Finds Super-Neptune

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth. While Neptune ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 20, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (9) | comments 8