There's a population of planets that drifts through space untethered to any stars. They're called rogue planets or free-floating planets (FFPs.) Some FFPs form as loners, never having enjoyed the company of a star. But most ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 2, 2024
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76
Every time a star forms, it represents an explosion of possibilities. Not for the star itself; its fate is governed by its mass. The possibilities it signifies are in the planets that form around it. Will some be rocky? Will ...
Astronomy
Mar 27, 2024
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29
When we look out to the stars, it is typically not a yearning for the distant depths of outer space that drives us. When we are looking out there, we are truly looking back at ourselves. We try to understand our place in ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 16, 2024
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34
In a series of studies, a team of astronomers has shed new light on the fascinating and complex process of planet formation. The stunning images, captured using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's ...
Astronomy
Mar 5, 2024
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92
Astrophysicists from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) have found that planets have flattened shapes like smarties just after they form rather than being spherical as previously thought.
Astronomy
Feb 5, 2024
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645
The origin of Earth and the solar system inspires scientists and the public alike. By studying the present state of our home planet and other objects in the solar system, researchers have developed a detailed picture of the ...
Astronomy
Jan 8, 2024
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2995
ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) has demonstrated the highest resolution yet with observations of an old star. The observations show that the star is surrounded by a ring-like structure of gas and that ...
Astronomy
Nov 15, 2023
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33
A team of astronomers and astrophysicists affiliated with several institutions in China, working with one colleague from Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi, in Italy, and another from the University of Utah, in the U.S., has found ...
Solving the mystery of how planets like Earth were formed is an important question for understanding the origin of life. Planets are thought to form when interstellar dust and gas collect in a protoplanetary disk surrounding ...
Astronomy
Oct 6, 2023
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1389
Roughly 5 billion years ago Earth was in the process of forming. Gas and dust gathered with the young sun's protoplanetary disk, likely nudged a bit by the resonant gravitational pull of Jupiter and other large worlds. One ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 13, 2023
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