A new study provides the most accurate estimate of the frequency that planets that are similar to Earth in size and in distance from their host star occur around stars similar to our Sun. Knowing the rate that these potentially ...
Astronomy
Aug 14, 2019
8
1570
When InSight landed on Mars on Nov. 26th, 2018, it deployed a parachute to slow its descent through the thin Martian atmosphere. As it approached the surface, it fired its retro rocket to slow it even more, and then gently ...
Space Exploration
Jun 17, 2019
1
176
Since its discovery in 2016, planetary scientists have been excited about TRAPPIST-1, a system where seven Earth-sized rocky planets orbit a cool star. Three of the planets are in the habitable zone, the region of space where ...
Astronomy
Apr 17, 2019
1
415
ANU scientists have found that Earth is made of the same elements as the Sun but has less of the volatile elements such as hydrogen, helium, oxygen and nitrogen.
Astronomy
Mar 18, 2019
31
1008
Most of Earth's essential elements for life—including most of the carbon and nitrogen in you—probably came from another planet.
Earth Sciences
Jan 23, 2019
24
3196
Rocky planets orbiting red dwarf stars may be bone dry and lifeless, according to a new study using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Water and organic compounds, essential for life as we know it, may get blown away before they ...
Astronomy
Jan 8, 2019
2
289
The planets so far discovered across the Milky Way are a motley, teeming multitude: hot Jupiters, gas giants, small, rocky worlds and mysterious planets larger than Earth and smaller than Neptune. As we prepare to add many ...
Astronomy
Oct 29, 2018
0
19
Small planetary systems with multiple planets are not fans of heavy metal—think iron, not Iron Maiden—according to a new Yale University study.
Astronomy
Oct 24, 2018
5
280
Step outside on a clear night, and you can be sure of something our ancestors could only imagine: Every star you see likely plays host to at least one planet.
Astronomy
Apr 17, 2018
0
82
Testing continued on NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, spacecraft on inside the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in early March 2018.
Space Exploration
Mar 30, 2018
0
10
