The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope offers a multitude of spectacular images of celestial objects and a huge amount of scientific data helpful for astronomers. A team of scientists from UK and Sweden has recently made use ...
We thought we understood how big rocky planets can get. But most of our understanding of planetary formation and solar system development has come from direct observation of our own solar system. We simply couldn't see any ...
Astronomy
Feb 11, 2016
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53
We know the Earth is habitable because—well, here we are. But would it look like a good candidate for life from hundreds of light-years away?
Astronomy
Feb 3, 2016
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434
How do you go about hunting for life on another planet elsewhere in our galaxy? A useful starting point is to imagine looking from afar for signs of life on Earth. In a telescope like those we have on Earth, those aliens ...
Astronomy
Nov 25, 2015
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18
There are almost 1800 confirmed exoplanets known today, and over 4000 exoplanet candidates. Astronomers have obtained estimates for the masses and radii (and hence the average densities) of over four hundred of these confirmed ...
Astronomy
Nov 18, 2015
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63
Powerful telescopes are coming soon. Where exactly shall we point them?
Astronomy
Oct 6, 2015
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929
Earth-like planets orbiting close to small stars probably have magnetic fields that protect them from stellar radiation and help maintain surface conditions that could be conducive to life, according to research from astronomers ...
Astronomy
Sep 29, 2015
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1744
Hot Jupiters, giant Jupiter-like exoplanets that orbit 20 times closer to their host stars than the Earth does to the Sun, can form and migrate towards their infant stars in as little as a few million years, researchers at ...
Astronomy
Sep 9, 2015
4
126
We only have one example of a planet with life: Earth. But within the next generation, it should become possible to detect signs of life on planets orbiting distant stars. If we find alien life, new questions will arise. ...
Astronomy
Aug 27, 2015
10
165
Most if not all galaxies are thought to host a supermassive black hole in their nuclei, a finding that is both one the most important and amazing in modern astronomy. A supermassive black hole grows by accreting mass, and ...
Astronomy
Jun 22, 2015
9
82
