ScienceDaily: Extrasolar Planet News

Weather on the outer planets only goes so deep

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:56:56 EDT

What is the long-range weather forecast for the giant planets Uranus and Neptune? These planets are home to extreme winds blowing at speeds of over 1000 km/hour, hurricane-like storms as large around as Earth, immense weather systems that last for years and fast-flowing jet streams. Researchers set an upper limit for the thickness of jet streams on Uranus and Neptune.

New method of finding planets scores its first discovery

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:28:28 EDT

Detecting alien worlds presents a significant challenge since they are small, faint, and close to their stars. The two most prolific techniques for finding exoplanets are radial velocity (looking for wobbling stars) and transits (looking for dimming stars). Astronomers have just discovered an exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein's special theory of relativity.

Sifting through atmospheres of far-off worlds

Fri, 10 May 2013 19:28:28 EDT

Gone are the days of being able to count the number of known planets on your fingers. Today, there are more than 800 confirmed exoplanets -- planets that orbit stars beyond our sun -- and more than 2,700 other candidates. What are these exotic planets made of? Unfortunately, you cannot stack them in a jar like marbles and take a closer look. Instead, researchers are coming up with advanced techniques for probing the planets' makeup.

Dead stars 'polluted' with planetary debris: Signs of Earth-like planets found

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:36:36 EDT

Astronomers have found signs of Earth-like planets in an unlikely place: the atmospheres of a pair of burnt-out stars in a nearby star cluster. The white dwarf stars are being polluted by debris from asteroid-like objects falling onto them. This discovery suggests that rocky planet assembly is common in clusters, say researchers.

NASA's Spitzer puts planets in a petri dish

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:10:10 EDT

Our galaxy is teeming with a wild variety of planets. In addition to our solar system's eight near-and-dear planets, there are more than 800 so-called exoplanets known to circle stars beyond our sun. One of the first "species" of exoplanets to be discovered is the hot Jupiters, also known as roasters. These are gas giants like Jupiters, but they orbit closely to their stars, blistering under the heat. Thanks to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers are beginning to dissect this exotic class of planets, revealing raging winds and other aspects of their turbulent nature.

Saturn's youthful appearance explained

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:15:15 EDT

As planets age they become darker and cooler. Saturn, however, is much brighter than expected for a planet of its age -- a question that has puzzled scientists since the late 1960s. New research has revealed how Saturn keeps itself looking young and hot.

Astronomer studies far-off worlds through 'characterization by proxy'

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:46:46 EDT

An astronomer is using Earth's interstellar neighbors to learn the nature of certain stars too far away to be directly measured or observed, and the planets they may host.

TRAPPIST participated in the detection of ten percent of all transiting exoplanets known to date

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:32:32 EDT

Among the many planets detected orbiting other stars (exoplanets) over the last twenty years, a little less than three hundred periodically pass in front of their star. This is what astronomers call a planetary transit. Exoplanets that "transit" their stars are key objects for the study of other planetary systems, because they are the only planets beyond our solar system that can be studied in detail, both in terms of their physical parameters (mass, radius, orbital parameters) and their atmospheric properties (thermal structure, dynamics, composition).

Looking for life by the light of dying stars

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:23:23 EDT

Astronomers have now demonstrated that with the advanced technology available in the next decade we should be able to detect biomarkers like oxygen and methane in the planets that orbit dead stars called "white dwarfs" -- and to find new forms of life on those planets.

Three super-Earth-size planets found in 'habitable zone'

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:29:29 EDT

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and 69c. Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-sized planets.

New techniques allow discovery of smallest super-Earth exoplanets

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:24:24 EDT

New research has perhaps the smallest super-earth planet in its host star habitable zone. Kepler 62f is a small, probably rocky planet orbiting a sun-like star in the Lyra constellation. The planet is about 1.4 times the size of Earth, receives about half as much solar flux, or heat and radiation, as Earth and circles its star in 267.3 (Earth) days.

New Earth-like planets found orbiting a Sun-like star

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:09:09 EDT

A team of scientists has discovered two Earth-like planets in the habitable orbit of a Sun-like star. Using observations gathered by NASA's Kepler Mission, the team found five planets orbiting a Sun-like star called Kepler-62. Four of these planets are so-called super-Earths, larger than our own planet, but smaller than even the smallest ice giant planet in our Solar System. These new super-Earths have radii of 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, and 1.9 times that of Earth. In addition, one of the five was a roughly Mars-sized planet, half the size of Earth.

Can one buy the right to name a planet? A response to recent name-selling campaigns

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:23:23 EDT

In the light of recent events, where the possibility of buying the rights to name exoplanets has been advertised, the wishes to inform the public that such schemes have no bearing on the official naming process. The IAU wholeheartedly welcomes the public’s interest to be involved in recent discoveries, but would like to strongly stress the importance of having a unified naming procedure.

Ghostly green bubble: Detailed image of planetary nebula

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:27:27 EDT

An intriguing new picture shows the glowing green planetary nebula IC 1295 surrounding a dim and dying star located about 3300 light-years away in the constellation of Scutum (The Shield). This is the most detailed picture of this object ever taken.

Retired star found with planets and debris disc

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:12:12 EDT

The European Space Agency's Herschel space observatory has provided the first images of a dust belt -- produced by colliding comets or asteroids -- orbiting a subgiant star known to host a planetary system.

NASA selects Explorer investigations for formulation

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:52:52 EDT

NASA's Astrophysics Explorer Program has selected two missions for launch in 2017: a planet-hunting satellite and an International Space Station instrument to observe X-rays from stars.

TESS project will launch telescopes to perform full-sky search for transiting exoplanets

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 05:50:50 EDT

NASA has selected the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) project for a planned launch in 2017. The $200 million project will use an array of wide-field cameras to perform an all-sky survey to discover transiting exoplanets, ranging from Earth-sized planets to gas giants, in orbit around the brightest stars in the sun's neighborhood.

Dead star warps light of companion red star, astronomers say

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:47:47 EDT

Astronomers have observed the effects of a dead star bending the light of its companion red star. The findings are among the first detections of this effect -- a result predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity -- in binary, or double, star systems.

Astronomers anticipate 100 billion Earth-like planets

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:13:13 EDT

Researchers have proposed a new method for finding Earth-like planets and they anticipate that the number will be in the order of 100 billion. The strategy uses a technique called gravitational microlensing, currently used by a Japan-New Zealand collaboration.

Distant planetary system is a super-sized solar system

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:42:42 EDT

Astronomers have made the most detailed examination yet of the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like planet beyond our Solar System. A spectrum reveals that the carbon to oxygen ratio is consistent with the core accretion scenario, the model thought to explain the formation of our Solar System.

Observing exoplanets like never before: New instrument reveals exotic nature of four planets orbiting same nearby star

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:16:16 EDT

Thanks to a new high-tech gadget, astronomers have observed four planets orbiting a star relatively close to the sun in unprecedented detail, revealing the roughly ten-Jupiter-mass planets to be among the most exotic ones known.

Earth-sized planets in habitable zones are more common than previously thought

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:20:20 EDT

The number of potentially habitable planets is greater than previously thought, according to a new analysis by a Penn State researcher, and some of those planets are likely lurking around nearby stars.

Astronomers conduct first remote reconnaissance of another planetary system

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:37:37 EDT

Researchers have conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant planetary system with a new telescope imaging system that sifts through the blinding light of stars. Using a suite of high-tech instrumentation and software called Project 1640, the scientists collected the first chemical fingerprints, or spectra, of this system's four red exoplanets, which orbit a star 128 light years away from Earth.

Closest star system found in a century

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:40:40 EDT

A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun and the closest discovered since 1916. At 6.5 light years, it is so close that Earth's television transmissions from 2006 are now arriving there. It is an excellent hunting ground for planets because it is very close to Earth and, in the distant future, it might be one of the first destinations for manned expeditions outside our solar system.

Modeling Jupiter and Saturn's possible origins

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:46:46 EST

New theoretical modeling provides clues to how the gas giant planets in our solar system -- Jupiter and Saturn -- might have formed and evolved.

Birth of a giant Planet? Candidate protoplanet spotted inside its stellar womb

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:33:33 EST

Astronomers have obtained what is likely the first direct observation of a forming planet still embedded in a thick disc of gas and dust. If confirmed, this discovery will greatly improve our understanding of how planets form and allow astronomers to test the current theories against an observable target.

Future evidence for extraterrestrial life might come from dying stars

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:16:16 EST

Even dying stars could host planets with life -- and if such life exists, we might be able to detect it within the next decade. This encouraging result comes from a new theoretical study of Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarf stars. Researchers found that we could detect oxygen in the atmosphere of a white dwarf's planet much more easily than for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star.

NASA's Kepler mission discovers tiny planet system: Smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:35:35 EST

NASA's Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun. The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge.

Hunt for distant planets intensifies

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:23:23 EST

Armed with new tools, astronomers search for worlds like Earth.

Earth-size planets may be next door, Kepler data suggest

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:09:09 EST

Using publicly available data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, astronomers have found that six percent of red dwarf stars have habitable, Earth-sized planets. Since red dwarfs are the most common stars in our galaxy, the closest Earth-like planet could be just 13 light-years away.

Are super-Earths actually mini-Neptunes?

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:46:46 EST

In the last two decades astronomers have found hundreds of planets in orbit around other stars. One type of these so-called 'exoplanets' is the super-Earths that are thought to have a high proportion of rock but at the same time are significantly bigger than our own world. Now a new study suggests that these planets are actually surrounded by extended hydrogen-rich envelopes and that they are unlikely to ever become Earth-like. Rather than being super-Earths, these worlds are more like mini-Neptunes.

Herschel finds past-prime star may be making planets

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:59:59 EST

A star thought to have passed the age at which it can form planets may, in fact, be creating new worlds. The disk of material surrounding the surprising star called TW Hydrae may be massive enough to make even more planets than we have in our own solar system.

Researchers develop model for identifying habitable zones around star

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:24:24 EST

Researchers searching the galaxy for planets that could pass the litmus test of sustaining water-based life must find whether those planets fall in a habitable zone, where they could be capable of having liquid water and sustaining life. New work will help scientists in that search.

Origin and maintenance of a retrograde exoplanet

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 10:39:39 EST

Astronomers have shown that the HAT-P-7 planetary system, which is about 1040 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, includes at least two giant planets and one companion star. The discovery of a previously unknown companion (HAT-P-7B) to the central star (HAT-P-7) as well as confirmation of another giant planet (HAT-P-7c) orbiting outside of the retrograde planet HAT-P-7b, offer new insights into how retrograde planets may form and endure.

New evidence indicates auroras occur outside our solar system

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:32:32 EST

Planetary scientists have found new evidence suggesting auroras – similar to Earth’s Aurora Borealis - occur on bodies outside our solar system.

Life possible on extrasolar moons

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 07:53:53 EST

In their search for habitable worlds, astronomers have started to consider exomoons, or those likely orbiting planets outside the solar system. In a new study, a pair of researchers has found that exomoons are just as likely to support life as exoplanets.

Hubble reveals rogue planetary orbit for Fomalhaut b

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:36:36 EST

Newly released Hubble Space Telescope images of a vast debris disk encircling the nearby star Fomalhaut and a mysterious planet circling it may provide forensic evidence of a titanic planetary disruption in the system.

Evidence of asteroid belt around Vega

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:22:22 EST

Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The discovery of an asteroid belt-like band of debris around Vega makes the star similar to another observed star called Fomalhaut. The data are consistent with both stars having inner, warm belts and outer, cool belts separated by a gap. This architecture is similar to the asteroid and Kuiper belts in our own solar system.

Earth-size planets common in galaxy: Perhaps 17 percent of sun-like stars have Earth-size planets within the orbit of Mercury

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:20:20 EST

Last year, astronomers were excited to discover that the number of exoplanets increases towards smaller sizes, which suggests that there are many Earth-size planets in the galaxy. A new analysis of three years of Kepler data shows that this increase stops around twice Earth size and holds for planets one to two times the diameter of Earth. Nevertheless, Earth-size planets occur around at least 17 percent of sun-like stars, they conclude.

NASA's Kepler gets a little help from its friends: Kepler's follow-up observers confirm new discoveries

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:39:39 EST

More than 2,300 exoplanet candidate discoveries have made it the most prolific planet hunter in history. But even NASA's Kepler mission needs a little help from its friends. Enter the Kepler follow-up observation program, a consortium of astronomers dedicated to getting in-depth with the mission's findings and verifying them to an extremely high degree of confidence.

Exocomets may be as common as exoplanets

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:22:22 EST

Astronomers have found thousands of potential exoplanets and many stars with massive disks of gas and dust that suggest planets are forming, but not much of the stuff intermediate between dust and planets, such as asteroids, planetesimals and comets. Astronomers looked closely at a number of stars with dust disks and found evidence that they also have comets, suggesting that comets are a common accompaniment to planets in many stellar systems.

At least one in six stars has an Earth-sized planet, analysis finds

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:22:22 EST

The quest for a twin Earth is heating up. Using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, astronomers are beginning to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17 percent of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury. Since the Milky Way has about 100 billion stars, there are at least 17 billion Earth-sized worlds out there.

NASA's Kepler discovers 461 new planet candidates

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:31:31 EST

NASA's Kepler mission Monday announced the discovery of 461 new planet candidates. Four of the potential new planets are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun's "habitable zone," the region in the planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet.

Fifteen new planets hint at 'traffic jam' of moons in habitable zone

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:00:00 EST

Volunteers from the Planethunters.org website have discovered 15 new planet candidates orbiting in the habitable zones of other stars. Added to the 19 similar planets already discovered in habitable zones, where the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water, the new finds suggest that there may be a 'traffic jam' of all kinds of strange worlds in regions that could potentially support life.

Wide binary stars wreak havoc in planetary systems, astrophysicists find

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 14:57:57 EST

Astrophysicists have shown that planetary systems with very distant binary stars are particularly susceptible to violent disruptions, more so than if they had stellar companions with tighter orbits around them. Unlike the sun, many stars are members of binary star systems -- where two stars orbit one another -- and these stars' planetary systems can be altered by the gravity of their companion stars.

Planets abound: Astronomers estimate that at least 100 billion planets populate the galaxy

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:34:34 EST

Look up at the night sky and you'll see stars, sure. But you're also seeing planets -- billions and billions of them. At least. That's the conclusion of a new study by astronomers that provides yet more evidence that planetary systems are the cosmic norm. The team made their estimate while analyzing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 -- planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.

How young star and planets grow simultaneously

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:03:03 EST

The ALMA telescope gives astronomers their first glimpse of a fascinating stage of star formation and helps resolve a mystery about how young planets and their infant star can both grow at the same time.

Giant planets seen guzzling gas as they grow: Key stage of birth of giant planets seen for first time

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:01:01 EST

Astronomers have seen a key stage in the birth of giant planets for the first time. Vast streams of gas are flowing across a gap in the disc of material around a young star. These are the first direct observations of such streams, which are expected to be created by giant planets guzzling gas as they grow.

Saturn mission: Cassini instrument learns new tricks

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:04:04 EST

For seven years, a mini-fridge-sized instrument aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft reliably investigated weather patterns swirling around Saturn; the hydrocarbon composition of the surface of Saturn's moon Titan; the aerosol layers of Titan's haze; and dirt mixing with ice in Saturn's rings. But this year the instrument -- the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS) -- has been testing out some new telescopic muscles.

Closest single star like our sun may have habitable planet

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:41:41 EST

An international team of astronomers has discovered that Tau Ceti, one of the closest and most Sun-like stars, may host five planets -- with one in the star's habitable zone.

Venus transit and lunar mirror could help astronomers find worlds around other stars

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:17:17 EST

On June 6, 2012, Venus passed directly between Earth and the sun, in a so-called transit where the planet appears as a silhouette against the solar disk, something that will not happen again until Dec. 5, 2117. A team of Italian astronomers used the opportunity to perform an unusual and challenging experiment, looking at the sunlight reflected off the moon ('moonlight') to see how it changed during the transit. This technique could help scientists to find planets in orbit around other stars.

Astronomers discover and 'weigh' infant solar system: Young star with rotating dust disk is youngest still-forming planetary system yet found

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:24:24 EST

A young star no more than 300,000 years old is surrounded by a disk of dust and gas rotating in the same manner as planets in our Solar System, making it the youngest such infant system yet found.

Planet rings could be behind the formation of solar system satellites

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:20:20 EST

Two researchers have recently proposed the first ever model explaining how the great majority of regular satellites in our solar system were formed out of planet rings. The model, the only one of its kind, was first tested in 2010 on Saturn's moons. It seems to account for the present distribution of “giant” planets and also explains how the satellites of the “terrestrial” planets such as Earth or Pluto came into being. These results are a major step forward in understanding and explaining the formation of planet systems across the universe.

Search for life suggests planetary systems more habitable than ours

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:58:58 EST

Scattered around the Milky Way are stars that resemble our own sun—but a new study is finding that any planets orbiting those stars may very well be hotter and more dynamic than Earth.

Can life emerge on planets around cooling stars?

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:31:31 EST

New research hints that planets orbiting white and brown dwarfs, even in the habitable zone, face a "difficult path to habitability."

Dust grains highlight path to planet formation

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 09:31:31 EST

Astronomers have captured a clear image of the protoplanetary disk of the star UX Tauri A. The team’s subsequent, detailed study of the disk’s characteristics suggests that its dust particles are large in size and non-spherical in shape. This exciting result shows that these dust grains are colliding with and adhering to each other, a process that is expected to eventually lead to planet formation.

Do missing Jupiters mean massive comet belts?

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:12:12 EST

Astronomers have discovered vast comet belts surrounding two nearby planetary systems known to host only Earth-to-Neptune-mass worlds. The comet reservoirs could have delivered life-giving oceans to the innermost planets.

Dwarf planet Makemake lacks atmosphere: Distant frigid world reveals its secrets for first time

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:55:55 EST

Dwarf planet Makemake is about two thirds of the size of Pluto, and travels around the Sun in a distant path that lies beyond that of Pluto but closer to the Sun than Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System. Previous observations of chilly Makemake have shown it to be similar to its fellow dwarf planets, leading some astronomers to expect its atmosphere, if present, to be similar to that of Pluto. However, the new study now shows that, like Eris, Makemake is not surrounded by a significant atmosphere.

Planet 'devoured in secret' by its own sun

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:31:31 EST

A planet roughly 1.4 times the size of Jupiter is being consumed by its own star behind a shroud thanks to a magnesium veil absorbing all of certain light wavelengths, according to new observations. WASP-12 b, originally spotted in 2008, is a gas giant planet orbiting extremely close to its parent star. The distance between the star and planet is so small that the planet completes an orbit of its star in just over one Earth day. This proximity has "boiled off" a superheated gas cloud roughly three times the radius of Jupiter which feeds the star.

Astronomers directly image massive star's 'super-Jupiter'

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:13:13 EST

Astronomers using infrared data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii have discovered a "super-Jupiter" around the bright star Kappa Andromedae, which now holds the record for the most massive star known to host a directly imaged planet or lightweight brown dwarf companion.