Astronomers Find a Hellish Exoplanet Orbiting a Twin of the Sun … in a Star Cluster
11 years, 2 months ago

Astronomers Find a Hellish Exoplanet Orbiting a Twin of the Sun … in a Star Cluster

Slate  

We’re still learning a lot about how planets form around other stars. We’ve seen big planets, little planets, hot planets, cold planets, and rogue planets, and we’ve seen them around small stars, big stars, dead stars, and binary stars. One of the host stars is a bit smaller and cooler than the Sun, and another is what we call an evolved star; it’s already become a red giant. Since the cluster is about the same age, too, this makes the star one of the very rare solar analogs, or “solar twin.” Only a handful of planets have been found orbiting stars so similar to the Sun, and none in a cluster. This means that other stars just like the Sun can form planets and that they can do so even when in a cluster, where it’s pretty crowded.

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History of this topic

Astronomers discover exoplanet that may have a sibling sharing the same orbit
1 year, 8 months ago

Astronomers discover exoplanet that may have a sibling sharing the same orbit

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The discovery would be the strongest evidence yet that two exoplanets – planets outside our …

Astronomers find a new planetary system close to Earth and are ‘optimistic’ there will be habitable worlds
2 years, 9 months ago

Astronomers find a new planetary system close to Earth and are ‘optimistic’ there will be habitable worlds

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “We consider that range outside the habitable zone, too hot for liquid water to exist on the …

Are we alone? Citizen scientists discover two planets orbiting Sun-like star
3 years, 9 months ago

Are we alone? Citizen scientists discover two planets orbiting Sun-like star

India Today  

One of the biggest questions in astronomy has been: Are we alone? Citizen scientists, part of the Planet Hunters TESS project, have found two exoplanets orbiting a Sun-like star. However, all 15 scientists part of the project flagged at least two transits showing there were two planets orbiting the star. Meanwhile, to confirm the presence of two planets and the …

Astronomers discover exoplanet that behaves like long theorized Planet Nine
4 years, 3 months ago

Astronomers discover exoplanet that behaves like long theorized Planet Nine

Hindustan Times  

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and European Space Agency’s Hubble Space Telescope have helped astronomers and astronauts identify a bizarre exoplanet that behaves a lot like the long hypothesised ‘Planet Nine’. However, for scientists to pinpoint the Jupiter-like planet’s orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope was required to collect accurate measurements of its motion over 14 years. Hubble scientists also …

Astronomers detect an 'incredibly rare' Earth-like planet
4 years, 10 months ago

Astronomers detect an 'incredibly rare' Earth-like planet

Daily Mail  

An incredibly rare super-Earth planet has been spotted orbiting a star one-tenth the size of the Sun 25,000 light-years away. Astronomers say the star the planet orbits is so small they can't tell whether it is just very low mass or a brown dwarf - also known as a failed star. Exact details of the rocky world and the tiny …

A SECOND planet could be orbiting the closest star to our Solar System
5 years, 2 months ago

A SECOND planet could be orbiting the closest star to our Solar System

Daily Mail  

Scientists have discovered what they believe is a second planet orbiting the star closest to our solar system, Proxima Centauri. In this image from the Hubble Space Telescope is our relative neighbour Proxima Centauri, a low mass star in the triple-star Alpha Centauri system. Proxima b is the closest known exoplanet to our Solar System and was the first confirmed …

Giant exoplanet is ‘like a wrecking ball,’ astronomers say
5 years, 7 months ago

Giant exoplanet is ‘like a wrecking ball,’ astronomers say

CNN  

CNN — Astronomers have discovered an unlikely exoplanet with the strangest orbit they’ve ever witnessed more than 100 light-years away, according to a new study. It makes me wonder how many other stars have massive planets on these slingshot orbits and we usually miss them.” The exoplanet’s very elliptical orbit is not unusual for giant planets around other stars, but …

Eight planets found orbiting distant star, NASA says
7 years, 3 months ago

Eight planets found orbiting distant star, NASA says

CNN  

Story highlights For the first time, eight planets have been found orbiting Kepler-90 It is tied with our solar system for a star hosting the most known planets CNN — For the first time, eight planets have been found orbiting a distant star, Kepler-90, 2,545 light-years from Earth in the Draco constellation, NASA announced Thursday. But Google Artificial Intelligence – …

Alien solar system of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby dwarf star could be rich with water and life
8 years, 1 month ago

Alien solar system of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby dwarf star could be rich with water and life

ABC  

Seven Earth-sized planets, many of which could harbour life, have been discovered orbiting a dwarf star in our own galactic neighbourhood. Key points: System of seven planets orbiting a dwarf star 40-light years away contains the most Earth-sized planets ever seen The inner six of these planets are rocky like Earth Three or more could harbour oceans of water on …

Three giant exoplanets found orbiting twin stars
8 years, 6 months ago

Three giant exoplanets found orbiting twin stars

CNN  

Story highlights Researchers have found three giant Jupiter-sized exoplanets orbiting twin stars The stars are close together and metal-poor CNN — It’s beginning to look a lot like Star Wars in our universe. This year, we’ve already seen discoveries like a planet orbiting two stars, then there was a planet orbiting three stars and now, researchers at the Carnegie Institution …

Three Earth-like planets discovered orbiting dwarf star
8 years, 10 months ago

Three Earth-like planets discovered orbiting dwarf star

CNN  

Story highlights Researchers have discovered three potentially habitable, Earth-like worlds orbiting a dwarf star The star and its planets are 40 light-years away in another star system CNN — For the first time, researchers have discovered three potentially habitable, Earth-like worlds orbiting an ultracool dwarf star 40 light-years away in another star system, according to a study published in the …

Three Earth-like planets discovered orbiting dwarf star
8 years, 10 months ago

Three Earth-like planets discovered orbiting dwarf star

CNN  

Story highlights Researchers have discovered three potentially habitable, Earth-like worlds orbiting a dwarf star The star and its planets are 40 light-years away in another star system CNN — For the first time, researchers have discovered three potentially habitable, Earth-like worlds orbiting an ultracool dwarf star 40 light-years away in another star system, according to a study published in the …

Our sun has a twin! Rare star close to three super hot planets is discovered 2,500 light years away
11 years, 2 months ago

Our sun has a twin! Rare star close to three super hot planets is discovered 2,500 light years away

Daily Mail  

Our sun has a twin! Rare star home to three super hot planets is discovered 2,500 light years away One of the planets orbits a star similar to our sun once every 6.9 days This is the first solar twin in a cluster that has been found to have a planet Scientists now believe that planets in open star clusters …

First exoplanet found around sun-like star
11 years, 2 months ago

First exoplanet found around sun-like star

The Hindu  

Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting a star much like the sun, the European Southern Observatory, located in Chile’s northern desert, said. The cluster lies about 2,500 light years away in the constellation of Cancer, where one of the planets orbits a star very similar to our sun, the ESO said in a statement on Wednesday. Despite the fact that …

Astronomers spot lightest exoplanet
11 years, 9 months ago

Astronomers spot lightest exoplanet

The Hindu  

Astronomers may have discovered the lightest exoplanet ever seen, which appears just as a dot orbiting a young star. “Direct imaging of planets is an extremely challenging technique that requires the most advanced instruments, whether ground-based or in space,” said Julien Rameau from Institut de Planetologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, France. The observations were made using infrared light and a …

Lightest exoplanet found in Earth's backyard
12 years, 5 months ago

Lightest exoplanet found in Earth's backyard

Firstpost  

Astronomers have discovered a new intriguing exoplanet about the mass of the Earth, orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri star system. London: Astronomers have discovered a new intriguing exoplanet about the mass of the Earth, orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri star system — the nearest to our planet. “Our observations extended over more than four years using …

Tightly Packed Planets Spotted Around Sun-Like Star
12 years, 5 months ago

Tightly Packed Planets Spotted Around Sun-Like Star

Wired  

By Ian Steadman, Wired UK The Kepler space telescope has spotted the most tightly packed exoplanet system yet, with five planets orbiting around the star KOI-500 within a fraction of the distance between Mercury and our Sun. The outer four planets exist in a kind of orbital resonance, which sees them return to a set formation every 191 days -- …

Survey suggests billions of planets in galaxy › News in Science (ABC Science)
13 years, 2 months ago

Survey suggests billions of planets in galaxy › News in Science (ABC Science)

ABC  

News in Science Survey suggests billions of planets in galaxy Planets abound A new study suggests each star in the Milky Way galaxy is most likely orbited by a planet - and there's a good chance that planet is closer in size to Earth, than to Jupiter. "Planets orbiting stars in our galaxy is the rule, rather than the exception," …

Planet orbiting two suns discovered
13 years, 6 months ago

Planet orbiting two suns discovered

The Hindu  

Astronomers claim to have discovered a planet which orbits two suns, like the fictional planet Tatooine featured in the sci-fi film series Star Wars. Images captured by Kepler’s camera showed two stars orbiting each other and producing eclipses as they moved in front of one another. The planet completes a circular orbit around both stars every 229 days at a …

In search of a second earth
14 years ago

In search of a second earth

The Hindu  

The discovery of six exoplanets or extra-solar planets orbiting a single sun-like star, dubbed Kepler-11, at a distance of about 2,000 light-years from Earth makes it the largest collection to be ever found. The discovery by the Kepler spacecraft launched in March 2009 and reported recently online in Nature became possible as the Kepler telescope continuously looks out for exoplanets …

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