Exo Planets

Trio of NASA Telescopes Combine to Find Water Vapor and Clear Skies on Exo-Planet

Trio of NASA Telescopes Combine to Find Water Vapor and Clear Skies on Exo-Planet

Artists Concept: Image Concept NASA/JPL-Caltech JPL News Story: Astronomers using data from three of NASA’s space telescopes — Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler — have discovered clear skies and steamy water vapor on a gaseous planet outside our solar system. The planet is about the size of Neptune, making it the smallest planet from which molecules […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
NASA’s Spitzer Telescope Captures Cosmic Billiards

NASA’s Spitzer Telescope Captures Cosmic Billiards

Artist’s impression of cosmic billiards around NGC 2547-ID.  Credit: NASA JPL-CalTech NASA/JPL News Story: August 28, 2014 NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted an eruption of dust around a young star, possibly the result of a smashup between large asteroids. This type of collision can eventually lead to the formation of planets. Scientists had been […]

Water Ice Clouds Detected on Brown Dwarf 7.3 Light Years Away

Water Ice Clouds Detected on Brown Dwarf 7.3 Light Years Away

Artists Conception : Credit Rob Gizis, CUNY BMCC An astronomer at Penn State University appears to discovered the first ever direct evidence of water ice clouds on another world.  That world is WISE J0855-0714, an enigmatic brown dwarf of “failed star” located only 7.3 light years from Earth. The discovery was made using images from […]

Planet Discovery Leaves Astronomers Baffled

Planet Discovery Leaves Astronomers Baffled

Historians may one day look back at the present age with with a sense of envy.  In much the same way we can look back at the Renaissance or exploration in the Age of Sail and wonder what it was like to live in an era when the limits of knowledge were being being tested […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
NASA Discovers First Earth Sized Planet in a Habitable Zone

NASA Discovers First Earth Sized Planet in a Habitable Zone

  NASA announced today the discovery of the first Earth sized planet located within the habitable zone of another star. The planet, named Kepler 186F, is orbiting a red dwarf (M) type star approximately 500 light years from Earth. Estimated to be only 10% larger than Earth, Kepler 186F is the outermost planet in a […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
Kepler Data Confirms 715 New Planets

Kepler Data Confirms 715 New Planets

It is the biggest planet haul yet. NASA announced today the discovery of 715 new exo-planets orbiting 305 star systems, bringing the total number of confirmed worlds outside of our solar system to almost 1,700. The announcement is based on findings from data gathered during the first two years of the Kepler Space Telescope’s four […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
Hubble Spots a Blue Planet, but its Not What You Think

Hubble Spots a Blue Planet, but its Not What You Think

NASA Press Release RELEASE 13-202  NASA Hubble Finds a True Blue Planet WASHINGTON — Astronomers making visible-light observations with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have deduced the actual color of a planet orbiting another star 63 light-years away. The planet is HD 189733b, one of the closest exoplanets that can be seen crossing the face of […]

Posted in: Exo Planets, NASA
ESO Finds 3 Planets in Habitable Zone Only 22 Light Years Away

ESO Finds 3 Planets in Habitable Zone Only 22 Light Years Away

Researchers with the European Southern Observatory have taken a new look at Gliese 667C,  part of a trinary system in the constellation Scorpius. Gliese 667C is already something of a phenomenon, with the total planet count now standing at 7. Using imaging from several different telescopes, astronomers have determined that the small star has three large rocky planets or “super earths” orbiting within […]

Meet the New Neighbors : A Binary System 6.5 Light Years Away

Meet the New Neighbors : A Binary System 6.5 Light Years Away

We are currently living in what many consider a golden age of astronomical discovery in which ongoing analysis of  data produced by various space telescopes such as Kepler and Wise is constantly rewriting our understanding of the cosmos both distant and close. In the latter category comes yesterday’s  announcement from JPL that astronomers have discovered Earth’s third nearest star […]

Kepler Data Suggests Life Bearing Planets May Be Close

Kepler Data Suggests Life Bearing Planets May Be Close

Source : Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics NASA”s  Kepler space telescope, which is searching for planets transiting across their home stars in one very small segment of the sky has already produced volumes of data and leading to the confirmation of  105 extra solar planets. Now, astronomers using Kepler’s discoveries as a baseline, along with a new […]

π