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Free-floating planets are hard to spot, but astronomers have bagged a large haul by looking for candidates in a nearby star-forming region Space 22 December 2021 By Alex Wilkins Artist’s impression of a rogue planet COSMIC DANCE Team Astronomers have spotted what seems to be at least 70 planets drifting through space by themselves. These … Read more
Astronomers have discovered dozens of new “rogue” planets, roughly doubling the known number of these mysterious free-roaming worlds. A team of researchers found a collection of at least 70 exoplanets without parent stars — the largest single group of rogue planets ever found — in a patch of space about 420 light-years from Earth, a … Read more
Kepler’s Third Law is the last of the revolutionary theorems by German astronomers Johannes Kepler and explains planetary orbits around the sun. Before Kepler outlined his laws of planetary motion in the early 17th century, humankind’s knowledge of the solar system and beyond was in its infancy and largely remained a mystery. At the time … Read more
December’s full moon on Saturday (Dec. 18), the last of the year, will usher in the winter constellations and notably, three naked-eye planets in the evening. The moon becomes officially full at 11:36 p.m. EST on Saturday (0436 on Dec. 19), according to Astropixels. For New York City observers, the moon will rise that … Read more
By Leah Crane A selfie of the Perseverance Mars rover NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Perseverance rover has taken some of the most detailed measurements we’ve ever had of Mars rocks, yielding insights into the lake that once filled Jezero crater. When the rover landed on Mars in February, researchers were immediately intrigued by layered outcroppings near its … Read more
By Leah Crane The exoplanet GJ 367b orbits its star in an extremely short time SPP 1992 (Patricia Klein) An extraordinarily dense exoplanet seemingly made mostly of iron has joined a group called the ultrashort-period planets that orbit so close to their stars that their years are less than one Earth day long. Kristine Lam, … Read more
We thought that planets couldn’t form around stars with more than three times the mass of the sun, but planet b Cen (AB)b challenges the idea Space 8 December 2021 By Chen Ly The twin stars of the most massive planet-hosting star system to date, b Centauri, and its giant planet b Cen (AB)b ESO/Janson … Read more
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has a very strict definition of the word “planet”. According to the definition – drafted, tweaked, and agreed upon in August 2006 – an astronomical body is officially a planet if it orbits the Sun, has sufficient mass to be spherical, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. … Read more