A new beginning: Astronomers search for more temperate 'Tatooines'
Star Wars protagonist Luke Skywalker's childhood might have been slightly less harsh if he'd grown up on a more temperate Tatooine—like the ones identified in a new study.
Star Wars protagonist Luke Skywalker's childhood might have been slightly less harsh if he'd grown up on a more temperate Tatooine—like the ones identified in a new study.
Astronomy
Feb 22, 2024
0
19
Astrophysicists studying a popular exoplanet in its star's habitable zone have found that electric currents in the planet's upper atmosphere could create sufficient heating to expand the atmosphere enough that it leaves the ...
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have detected a new ultra-short-period exoplanet. The newly found alien world is nearly two times larger than the Earth and orbits its host star in less ...
Jupiter is our solar system's undisputed king of the planets. Jupiter is bright and easy to spot from our vantage point on Earth, helped by its massive size and banded, reflective cloud tops. Jupiter even possesses moons ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 15, 2024
0
39
Stars that pass by our solar system have altered the long-term orbital evolution of planets, including Earth, and, by extension, modified our climate.
Astrobiology
Feb 14, 2024
0
221
The unique two thin rings around the Centaur Chariklo could be shaped by an even smaller satellite. Chariklo is a Centaur, which are small bodies similar to asteroids in size but to comets in composition, that revolve around ...
Astronomy
Feb 6, 2024
0
113
Trappist-1 is a fascinating exoplanetary system. Seven worlds orbiting a red dwarf star just 40 light-years away. All of the worlds are similar to Earth in mass and size, and three or four of them are potentially habitable. ...
Astrobiology
Feb 5, 2024
1
61
Astronomers have found a new Super-Earth orbiting an M-dwarf (red dwarf) star about 137 light-years away. The planet is named TOI-715b, and it's about 1.55 Earth's radius and is inside the star's habitable zone. There's also ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 5, 2024
1
22
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
3
645
Planets orbit their parent stars while separated by enormous distances—in our solar system, planets are like grains of sand in a region the size of a football field. The time that planets take to orbit their suns have no ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 3, 2024
1
89