Researchers Spot First Signs of an Exomoon
Titan, Europa, Io and Phobos are just a few members of our solar system’s pantheon of moons. Are there are other moons out there, orbiting planets…
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Magnetism Explains Mystery of Planet-Forming Disks
Astronomers say that magnetic storms in the gas orbiting young stars may explain a mystery that has persisted since before 2006. Researchers using NASA’s Spitzer Space…
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Kepler Provides Insights on Enigmatic Planets
More than three-quarters of the planet candidates discovered by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft have sizes ranging from that of Earth to that of Neptune, which is nearly…
Read the articleHubble Predicts Weather for Two Exoplanets
Weather forecasters on exoplanet GJ 1214b would have an easy job. Today’s forecast: cloudy. Tomorrow: overcast. Extended outlook: more clouds. Two teams of scientists using NASA’s…
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Faint Signatures of Water Found in Atmospheres of Five Distant Planets
Using the powerful eye of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, two teams of scientists have found faint signatures of water in the atmospheres of five distant planets.…
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Planets Rich in Carbon May Lack Oceans
Planets rich in carbon, including so-called diamond planets, may lack oceans, according to NASA-funded theoretical research. Our sun is a carbon-poor star, and as result, our…
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Why the Kepler-56 Star Is Misaligned With Its Planets
A long-standing puzzle in the study of exoplanets is the formation of hot Jupiters – gas giant planets that snuggly orbit their host star. To explain…
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Planetary Building Blocks Rich in Water Found Around White Dwarf
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found the building blocks of solid planets that are capable of having substantial amounts of water. This rocky debris,…
Read the articlePatchy Clouds on Kepler 7b Identified by Kepler and Spitzer
Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes have created the first cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system, a sizzling, Jupiter-like…
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The Prevalence of Hot Jupiters
When the Space Age began, astronomers knew of exactly zero planets outside the solar system. What a difference 50 years makes. Modern, ground-based telescopes and NASA’s…
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