Related topics: earth · stars · planets · spacecraft · moon

Rocky planets might need to be the right age to support life

Extrasolar planets are being discovered at a rapid rate—4,531 planets in 3,363 systems (with another 7,798 candidates awaiting confirmation). Of these, 166 have been identified as rocky planets (also known as "Earth-like"), ...

The planet does not fall far from the star

A compositional link between planets and their respective host star has long been assumed in astronomy. For the first time now, a team of scientists deliver empirical evidence to support the assumption—and partly contradict ...

Baked meteorites yield clues to planetary atmospheres

In a novel laboratory investigation of the initial atmospheres of Earth-like rocky planets, researchers at UC Santa Cruz heated pristine meteorite samples in a high-temperature furnace and analyzed the gases released.

Much of Earth's nitrogen was locally sourced

Where did Earth's nitrogen come from? Rice University scientists show one primordial source of the indispensable building block for life was close to home.

Space weather discovery puts 'habitable planets' at risk

A discovery that links stellar flares with radio-burst signatures will make it easier for astronomers to detect space weather around nearby stars outside the Solar System. Unfortunately, the first weather reports from our ...

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