Stars with the mass of the sun or larger are typically accompanied by one or more orbiting companion stars. The system forms when gravity contracts the gas and dust of an interstellar cloud until clumps develop that are dense ...
Astronomy
Jul 1, 2022
0
173
The second of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's four primary scientific instruments, known as the Mid-Infrared instrument (MIRI), has concluded its postlaunch preparations and is now ready for science.
Space Exploration
Jun 30, 2022
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61
One of the James Webb Space Telescope's four primary scientific instruments, known as the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph instrument (NIRISS) has concluded its post-launch preparations and is now ready for ...
Space Exploration
Jun 27, 2022
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48
An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new super-Earth exoplanet orbiting a nearby M-dwarf star known as Ross 508. The newly found alien world, which received designation Ross 508 b, turns out to ...
Our planet's oceans generate tell-tale light signatures when sunlight reflects off them. Exoplanets with significant ocean coverage may do the same. Can we use the Earth's reflectance signatures to identify other Earth-like ...
Astronomy
May 27, 2022
0
31
In our solar system, there are several thousand examples of co-orbital objects: bodies that share the same orbit around the sun or a planet. The Trojan asteroids are such an example. We have not yet observed any similar co-orbitals ...
Astronomy
May 26, 2022
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45
ESA's Gaia space telescope revolutionizes our understanding of the Milky Way. It scans the sky to measure the position, movement, distance, and characteristics of billions of stars.
Astronomy
May 13, 2022
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25
Our solar system contains eight planets and more than 200 moons. The large majority of those moons have no chance of being habitable, but some of them—Europa and Enceladus, for example—are strong candidates in the search ...
Astronomy
May 12, 2022
0
141
Ninety percent of all exoplanets discovered to date (there are now more than 5,000 of them) orbit around stars the same size or smaller than our sun. Giant stars seem to lack planetary companions, and this fact has serious ...
Astronomy
May 9, 2022
1
41
As the scientific community searches for worlds orbiting nearby stars that could potentially harbor life, new Southwest Research Institute-led research suggests that younger rocky exoplanets are more likely to support temperate, ...
Astronomy
May 3, 2022
0
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