Related topics: nasa · solar system · planets · earth · saturn

Cloudy days on exoplanets may hide atmospheric water

Water is a hot topic in the study of exoplanets, including "hot Jupiters," whose masses are similar to that of Jupiter, but which are much closer to their parent star than Jupiter is to the sun. They can reach a scorching ...

New radio map of Jupiter reveals what's beneath colorful clouds

Astronomers using the upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico have produced the most detailed radio map yet of the atmosphere of Jupiter, revealing the massive movement of ammonia gas that underlies the colorful ...

Stars with planets on strange orbits: what's going on?

All the planets in our solar system orbit close to the sun's equatorial plane. Of the eight confirmed planets, the Earth's orbit is the most tilted, but even that tilt is still small, at just seven degrees.

Jupiter blasted by 6.5 fireball impacts per year on average

Jupiter is hit by an average of 6.5 objects per year that create impacts large enough to be visible from Earth, according to preliminary results from a worldwide campaign by amateur astronomers to observe the giant planet. ...

Amateurs prepare big-picture perspective to support Juno mission

Some of the world's leading amateur and professional astronomers are meeting on 12-13 May to prepare for a campaign of ground-based global observations in support of NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter. Juno arrives on 4th July ...

New 'hot Jupiter' discovered by Kepler's K2 mission

(Phys.org)—Despite losing its two reaction wheels, NASA's Kepler spacecraft hasn't stopped amazing the scientific community by detecting new alien worlds. The repurposed Kepler mission, called K2, has recently discovered ...

How long does it take to get to Jupiter?

We're always talking about Pluto, or Saturn or Mars. But nobody ever seems to talk about Jupiter any more. Why is that? I mean, it's the largest planet in the solar system. 318 times the mass of the Earth has got to count ...

Amateur astronomer spots apparent large impact on Jupiter

Jupiter may be the biggest planet, but it sure seems to get picked on. On March 17, amateur astronomer Gerrit Kernbauer of Mödling, Austria, a small town just south of Vienna, was filming Jupiter through his 7.8-inch (200mm) ...

Investigating the mystery of migrating 'hot Jupiters'

The last decade has seen a bonanza of exoplanet discoveries. Nearly 2,000 exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—have been confirmed so far, and more than 5,000 candidate exoplanets have been identified. Many of ...

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