A team of UK scientists and engineers have announced plans for a small satellite, named “Twinkle,” that will give radical new insights into the chemistry, formation and evolution of planets […]
Astronomy & Telescopes
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
New Method for Finding Habitable Planets in Binary Star Systems
UT Arlington astrophysicist offers new method for finding regions favorable for life in stellar binary systems. Research by a University of Texas at Arlington astrophysicist sheds greater light on S-type […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
What Asteroseismology Can Do for Exoplanets
We describe three useful applications of asteroseismology in the context of exoplanet science: (1) the detailed characterisation of exoplanet host stars; (2) the measurement of stellar inclinations; and (3) the […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Origin & Evolution of Life
The Abundance of Extraterrestrial Life After the Kepler Mission
The data recently accumulated by the Kepler mission have demonstrated that small planets are quite common and that a significant fraction of all stars may have an Earth-like planet within […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Looking for Tatooines
A key discovery of the Kepler mission is of the circumbinary planets known as “Tatooines”, which appear to be well aligned with their host stars’ orbits. Whether this alignment is […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Ground-Based Detection of Super-Earth Transit Paves Way to Remote Sensing of Small Exoplanets
Astronomers have measured the passing of a super-Earth in front of a bright, nearby Sun-like star using a ground-based telescope for the first time. he transit of the exoplanet 55 […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
European Satellite Could Discover Thousands of Planets
Princeton University and Lund University researchers project that the recently launched European satellite Gaia could discover tens of thousands of planets during its five-year mission. In this image, the colored […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Discriminating Between Cloudy, Hazy and Clearsky Exoplanets Using Refraction
We propose a method to distinguish between cloudy, hazy and clearsky (free of clouds and hazes) exoplanet atmospheres that could be applicable to upcoming large aperture space and ground-based telescopes […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Characterizing Earth-like Planets Using Spectroscopy and High-Contrast Instruments
Future radial velocity, astrometric and direct imaging surveys will find nearby Earth-sized planets within the habitable zone (HZ) in the near future. How can we search for water and oxygen […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Instrumentation for the Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets
In no other field of astrophysics has the impact of new instrumentation been as substantial as in the domain of exoplanets. Before 1995 our knowledge about exoplanets was mainly based […]