News Wand (2024)

18/07/2024

Newswand: Astronomers at MIT, Penn State University, and elsewhere have discovered a hot Jupiter “progenitor” — a sort of juvenile planet that is in the midst of becoming a hot Jupiter. And its orbit is providing some answers to how hot Jupiters evolve. Photo credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva The new planet, which astronomers labeled TIC 241249530 b, orbits a star that is about 1,100 light-years from Earth....

Newswand: Astronomers at MIT, Penn State University, and elsewhere have discovered a hot Jupiter “progenitor” — a sort of juvenile planet that is in the midst of becoming a hot Jupiter. And its orb…

12/07/2024

Newswand: A team of astronomers from UdeM has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising "super-Earth" covered in ice or water. When the exoplanet LHS 1140 b was first discovered, astronomers speculated that it might be a mini-Neptune: an essentially gaseous planet, but very small in size compared to Neptune. But after analyzing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) collected in December 2023 - combined with previous data from other space telescopes such as Spitzer, Hubble and TESS - scientists have come to a very different conclusion....

Newswand: A team of astronomers from UdeM has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising “super-Earth” covered in ice or water. When th…

05/07/2024

Newswand: Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently tracked two asteroids as they flew by our planet. Photo credit: NASA / JPL - Caltech One turned out to have a little moon orbiting it, while the other had been discovered only 13 days before its closest approach to Earth. There was no risk of either near-Earth object impacting our planet, but the radar observations taken during these two close approaches will provide valuable practice for planetary defense, as well as information about their sizes, orbits, rotation, surface details, and clues as to their composition and formation....

Newswand: Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently tracked two asteroids as they flew by our planet. Photo credit: NASA / JPL – Caltech One turned out to…

01/07/2024

Newswand: An international team, led by Penn State researchers identified three mysterious objects in the early universe, about 600-800 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only 5% of its current age. Photo credit: Penn State The team studied spectral measurements, or intensity of different wavelengths of light emitted from the objects. Their analysis found signatures of “old” stars, hundreds of millions of years old, far older than expected in a young universe....

Newswand: An international team, led by Penn State researchers identified three mysterious objects in the early universe, about 600-800 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only …

27/06/2024

Newswand: Lava lakes being probed by NASA’s Juno probe are providing insights into the volcanic processes at work there. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Andrea Luck (CC BY) Io has intrigued the astronomers since 1610, when Galileo Galilei first discovered the Jovian moon, which is slightly larger than Earth's Moon. Some 369 years later, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft captured a volcanic eruption on the moon....

Newswand: Lava lakes being probed by NASA’s Juno probe are providing insights into the volcanic processes at work there. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Andrea Luck (CC…

15/06/2024

Newswand: A team of Jananese astronomers has discovered mini-Neptunes around four red dwarfs, which are named TOI-782, TOI-1448, TOI-2120, and TOI-2406, using observations from a global network of ground-based telescopes with MuSCATs and the TESS space telescope. Photo credit: Astrobiology Center These four mini-Neptunes are close to their parent stars, and the three of them are likely to be in eccentric orbits (TOI-782 b, TOI-2120 b, TOI-2406 b)....

Newswand: A team of Jananese astronomers has discovered mini-Neptunes around four red dwarfs, which are named TOI-782, TOI-1448, TOI-2120, and TOI-2406, using observations from a global network of …

14/06/2024

Newswand: An exoplanet with sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere is helping the astronauts to understand the process of formation of a planet. Photo creidit: Department of Astronomy, UW–Madison It is located about 96 light years away from our own solar system and became a prime target for scientists trying to understand how worlds are formed. Astronomers discovered the planet, GJ 3470 b, in 2012 when the planet’s shadow crossed the star it orbits....

Newswand: An exoplanet with sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere is helping the astronauts to understand the process of formation of a planet. Photo creidit: Department of Astronomy, UW–Madison It is l…

11/06/2024

Newswand: ESA’s ExoMars and Mars Express missions have spotted water frost for the first time near Mars’s equator, a part of the planet where it was thought impossible for frost to exist. The frost sits atop the Tharsis volcanoes: the tallest volcanoes not only on Mars but in the Solar System. It was first seen by ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), and later by both another instrument aboard TGO and ESA’s Mars Express....

Newswand: ESA’s ExoMars and Mars Express missions have spotted water frost for the first time near Mars’s equator, a part of the planet where it was thought impossible for frost to exist. The frost…

07/06/2024

Newswand: A rare exoplanet that should have been stripped down to bare rock by its nearby host star's intense radiation somehow grew a puffy atmosphere —the latest in a string of discoveries forcing scientists to rethink theories about how planets age and die in extreme environments. Photo credit: ROBERTO MOLAR CANDANOSA/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Nicknamed "Phoenix" for its ability to survive its red giant star's radiant energy, the newly discovered planet illustrates the vast diversity of solar systems and the complexity of planetary evolution—especially at the end of stars' lives....

Newswand: A rare exoplanet that should have been stripped down to bare rock by its nearby host star’s intense radiation somehow grew a puffy atmosphere —the latest in a string of discoveries …

25/05/2024

Newswand: Astronomers have made the rare and tantalising discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet 40 light-years away that may be just a little warmer than our own world. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC) The potentially-habitable planet, named Gliese 12 b, orbits its host star every 12.8 days, is comparable in size to Venus - so slightly smaller than Earth - and has an estimated surface temperature of 42°C (107°F), which is lower than most of the 5,000-odd exoplanets confirmed so far....

Newswand: Astronomers have made the rare and tantalising discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet 40 light-years away that may be just a little warmer than our own world. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hu…

21/05/2024

Newswand: Astronomers have proposed that the tidal heating was the cause of the ballooning of the warm gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b with the help of findings from the James Webb Space Telescope. Photo credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) Data collected using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, combined with prior observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, show surprisingly little methane (CH4) in the planet’s atmosphere, indicating that the interior of WASP-107 b must be significantly hotter and the core much more massive than previously estimated....

Newswand: Astronomers have proposed that the tidal heating was the cause of the ballooning of the warm gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b with the help of findings from the James Webb Space Telescope. …

13/02/2024

Newswand: A team of researchers from the SETI Institute, Berkeley SETI Research Center and the University of Washington reported an exciting development for the field of astrophysics and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), using observations from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission to monitor the SETI Ellipsoid, a method for identifying potential signals from advanced civilizations in the cosmos....

Newswand: A team of researchers from the SETI Institute, Berkeley SETI Research Center and the University of Washington reported an exciting development for the field of astrophysics and the search…

10/02/2024

Newswand: An international team of scientists led by Georgina Dransfield of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom has found a “Super-Earth” which is 137 light years away from Earth. It orbits its Sun for every 19 days. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The bigger planet, dubbed as TOI-715 b, is about one and a half times as wide as Earth, and orbits within the “conservative” habitable zone around its parent star....

Newswand: An international team of scientists led by Georgina Dransfield of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom has found a “Super-Earth” which is 137 light years away from Earth. It orbit…

26/01/2024

Newswand: Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapour has been detected in its atmosphere. At only approximately twice Earth’s diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy....

Newswand: Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapour has been detected in its atmosphere. At only approximately twice Earth’s diameter,…

25/01/2024

Newswand: An international team led by a young researcher from the Institut d’astrophysique de Paris announced the discovery of an interesting planetary system around a star other than Sun. It includes a planet with radius and mass between those of the Earth and Neptune, possibly transiting in front of its bright host star each 146 days, as well as an outer, more massive companion....

Newswand: An international team led by a young researcher from the Institut d’astrophysique de Paris announced the discovery of an interesting planetary system around a star other than Sun. It incl…

16/01/2024

Newswand: A team of astronomers have discovered a planet closer and younger than any other Earth-sized world yet identified. It’s a remarkably hot world whose proximity to our own planet and to a star like our Sun marks it as a unique opportunity to study how planets evolve. The new planet was described in a new study published this week by The Astronomical Journal....

Newswand: A team of astronomers have discovered a planet closer and younger than any other Earth-sized world yet identified. It’s a remarkably hot world whose proximity to our own planet and to a s…

17/12/2023

Newswand: An international team using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has identified a tiny, free-floating brown dwarf with only three to four times the mass of Jupiter....

Newswand: An international team using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has identified a tiny, free-floating brown dwarf with only three to four times the mass of Jupiter. This image from…

06/12/2023

Newswand: The discovery of a planet that is far too massive for its sun is calling into question what was previously understood about the formation of planets and their solar systems, according to Penn State researchers. Photo credit:Penn State / Penn State. Creative Commons In a paper published online in the journal Science, researchers report the discovery of a planet more than 13 times as massive as Earth orbiting the “ultracool” star LHS 3154, which itself is nine times less massive than the Sun....

Newswand: The discovery of a planet that is far too massive for its sun is calling into question what was previously understood about the formation of planets and their solar systems, according to …

23/11/2023

Newswand: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed methane gas and water v***r on exoplanet WASP-80 b as it passed in front of and behind its host star. Photo credit: NASA While water v***r has been detected in over a dozen planets to date, until recently methane – a molecule found in abundance in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune within our solar system – has remained elusive in the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets when studied with space-based spectroscopy....

Newswand: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed methane gas and water v***r on exoplanet WASP-80 b as it passed in front of and behind its host star. Photo credit: NASA While water v***r has b…

18/11/2023

Newswand: A team of European astronomers, co-led by researchers from the Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, with the help of James Webb Space Telescope, have discovered water vapour and sulfur dioxide, silicate sand clouds on an exoplanet WASP- 107b. These particles reside within a dynamic atmosphere that exhibits vigorous transport of material. The results of the study appeared in the prestigious journal Nature....

Newswand: A team of European astronomers, co-led by researchers from the Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, with the help of James Webb Space Telescope, have discovered water vapour and sulfur diox…

06/11/2023

Newswand: A system of seven sweltering planets has been revealed by continued study of data from NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope: Each one is bathed in more radiant heat from their host star per area than any planet in our solar system. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter Also unlike any of our immediate neighbors, all seven planets in this system, named Kepler-385, are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune....

Newswand: A system of seven sweltering planets has been revealed by continued study of data from NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope: Each one is bathed in more radiant heat from their host star …

24/10/2023

Newswand: By analyzing tiny lunar crystals gathered by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972, researchers recalculated the age of the Earth’s Moon. Although previous assessments estimated the Moon as 4.425 billion years old, the new study discovered it is actually 4.46 billion years old — 40 million years older than previously thought. A lunar zircon grain under a microscope....

Newswand: By analyzing tiny lunar crystals gathered by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972, researchers recalculated the age of the Earth’s Moon. Although previous assessments estimated the Moon as 4.425 …

17/10/2023

Newswand: NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is about 25 million kilometers away from asteroid Dinkinesh and it may reach the asteroid in about 14 days. Since NASA’s Lucy spacecraft first imaged the asteroid Dinkinesh on Sept. 3, 2023, Lucy has traveled over 33 million miles (54 million km) and is now 4.7 million miles (7.6 million km) away from the small asteroid. However, as Dinkinesh continues on its orbit around the Sun, Lucy still has another almost 16 million miles (25 million km) to travel to its meet-up with the asteroid on Nov....

Newswand: NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is about 25 million kilometers away from asteroid Dinkinesh and it may reach the asteroid in about 14 days. Since NASA’s Lucy spacecraft first imaged the asteroid D…

10/10/2023

Newswand: Theoretical physicists are reporting that the some observations inspiring the hunt for a ninth planet might instead be evidence within the solar system of a modified law of gravity originally developed to understand the rotation of galaxies. Researchers Harsh Mathur, professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University, and Katherine Brown, an associate professor of physics at Hamilton College, made the assertion after studying the effect, that the Milky Way galaxy would have an object in the outer solar system—if the laws of gravity were governed by a theory known as Modified Newtonian Dynamics ( MOND)....

Newswand: Theoretical physicists are reporting that the some observations inspiring the hunt for a ninth planet might instead be evidence within the solar system of a modified law of gravity origin…

18/09/2023

Newswand: Researchers have found an exoplanet made almost with iron. Over the past decades, astronomers have found several thousand extrasolar planets. Extrasolar planets orbit stars outside our solar system. The next frontier in this research field is to learn more about their composition and internal structure, in order to develop a better understanding of how planets form. Elisa Goffo, Ph.D. student at the Physics Department of the University of Turin (Italy) and at the Thüringer Landessternwarte (Germany), together with an international research team, has made a unique discovery about the planet GJ 367 b that raises interesting questions about how planets are born....

Newswand: Researchers have found an exoplanet made almost with iron. Over the past decades, astronomers have found several thousand extrasolar planets. Extrasolar planets orbit stars outside our so…

01/09/2023

Newswand: Astronomers have found a planet with long orbit which opened new vistas in the research of the Universe and exoplanets. Of the more than 5,000 planets known to exist beyond our solar system, most orbit their stars at surprisingly close range. More than 80 percent of confirmed exoplanets have orbits shorter than 50 days, placing these toasty worlds at least twice as close to their star as Mercury is to our sun — and some, even closer than that....

Newswand: Astronomers have found a planet with long orbit which opened new vistas in the research of the Universe and exoplanets. Of the more than 5,000 planets known to exist beyond our solar syst…

26/08/2023

Newswand: Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have observed a large dark spot in Neptune’s atmosphere, with an unexpected smaller bright spot adjacent to it. This is the first time a dark spot on the planet has ever been observed with a telescope on Earth. These occasional features in the blue background of Neptune’s atmosphere are a mystery to astronomers, and the new results provide further clues as to their nature and origin....

Newswand: Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have observed a large dark spot in Neptune’s atmosphere, with an unexpected smaller bright spot adjacent to it. This is the first time …

18/08/2023

Newswand: Astronomers have discovered a new type of astronomical object — massive magnetic helium stars —, Magnetar, which sheds light on the origin of magnetars. Magnetars are the strongest magnets in the Universe. These super-dense dead stars with ultra-strong magnetic fields can be found all over our galaxy but astronomers don’t know exactly how they form. Now, using multiple telescopes around the world, including European Southern Observatory (ESO) facilities, researchers have uncovered a living star that is likely to become a magnetar....

Newswand: Astronomers have discovered a new type of astronomical object — massive magnetic helium stars —, Magnetar, which sheds light on the origin of magnetars. Magnetars are the strongest magnet…

14/08/2023

Newswand: Astronomers have come across a hundred year old storm on Saturn after studying radio emissions from the planet, which come from below the surface, and found long-term disruptions in the distribution of ammonia gas. Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute We already know that Jupiter has the longest storms. The largest storm in the solar system, a 10,000-mile-wide anticyclone called the Great Red Spot, has decorated Jupiter's surface for hundreds of years....

Newswand: Astronomers have come across a hundred year old storm on Saturn after studying radio emissions from the planet, which come from below the surface, and found long-term disruptions in the d…

08/08/2023

Newswand: An international team of scientists have discovered an unusual Jupiter-sized planet in unusual conditions orbiting a low-mass star called TOI-4860, located in the Corvus constellation. The newly discovered gas giant, named TOI-4860 b, is an unusual planet for two reasons: stars of such low mass are not expected to host planets like Jupiter, and the planet appears to be particularly enriched by heavy elements....

Newswand: An international team of scientists have discovered an unusual Jupiter-sized planet in unusual conditions orbiting a low-mass star called TOI-4860, located in the Corvus constellation. Th…

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