Gas Giants Archives

Distribution of our found planets in period–radius space (left) and instellation–radius space (right). Each planet and its associated errors are are marked with the red points, while the background grid shows the peak occurrence rate fpeak in each bin of the grid. Regions where our average sensitivity is < 10% are highlighted in pink. The top and leftmost panels show the cumulative fpeak distributions from each map. We note that these distributions are not representative of the full occurrence rates, and differ because planets may find themselves in different regions of sensitivity based on their instellation and period. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Ice Giant, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

TESS Planet Occurrence Rates Reveal the Disappearance of the Radius Valley Around Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs

by Keith CowingMarch 2, 2026March 2, 2026

We present the deepest systematic search for planets around mid-to-late M dwarfs to date. We have surveyed 8134 mid-to-late M dwarfs observed by TESS with a custom built pipeline and […]

Top: Simulated time-series spectroscopy observation of a SIMP 0136-like brown dwarf for our Scenario 1. The difference between the each spectrum and time-averaged mean flux is shown at each phase to highlight the variability patterns. Center: the corresponding best-fit solution from the Tempawral atmospheric retrieval. Bottom: residuals between the simulated observations and the best-fit solution. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Tempawral: A Time-Resolved Retrieval Framework for Variable Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets

by Keith CowingFebruary 25, 2026February 25, 2026

Brown dwarfs and exoplanets are thought to host complex atmospheric phenomena such as clouds, storms, and chemical heterogeneity, akin to weather patterns on Earth. These features can produce pronounced spectral […]

Artist's impression of the planetary system around the star LHS 1903. Credit: ESA

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Study Reveals A Planetary System With An Unexpected Rocky Planet In Its Outer Region

by Keith CowingFebruary 16, 2026February 16, 2026

An international scientific team, led by the University of Warwick and involving the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, has used the European Space Agency’s Cheops satellite to discover that the […]

Planet mass (or minimum mass) as a function of orbital period for planetary systems hosting cold Jupiters.

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

TESS Planets In Known Radial Velocity Cold Jupiter Systems: Hot Super Earth Occurrence Is Enhanced By Cold Jupiters

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2026February 14, 2026

The correlation between inner super-Earths (SEs) and outer cold Jupiters (CJs) provides an important constraint on the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems. Previous studies have suggested a positive […]

Cheops open questions: How do planets form?

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Ice Giant, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Cheops Discovers Late Bloomer Planet From Another Era

by Keith CowingFebruary 13, 2026February 13, 2026

Many Vile Earthlings Munch Jam Sandwiches Under Newspapers and My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos. What sounds like gibberish half-sentences are memory aids taught to children to help […]

Schematic of some of the key processes throughout planet formation that influence carbon supply and retention. (a) Key ice/grain sublimation fronts in the disk noted (CO2 between water–CO and that of Silicates at inner disk edge not shown). Planets forming in these locations will receive different compositions at birth (Öberg et al. 2011). Dust that grows beyond the “soot” line (Lodders 2004, Kress et al. 2010, Li et al. 2021) will be rich in refractory carbon content and at greater distances molecular ices. (blow-out:) The drift of carbon-rich pebbles from the outer disk is a key process in carbon supply. Drift itself is influenced by pressure bumps that can lead to a pile-up of pebbles that can be potential sites for planetesimal and planet formation (shown on left side of disk). (b) Solids accrete ice mantles, sublimate key components at sublimation fronts and can collide leading to both growth and fragmentation. (c) Rocky planets and cores of gas-rich planets grow and gain carbon through accretion of pebbles (top) and/or planetesimals (bottom). Impacts of larger planetesimals can also strip atmospheric gas and also supply material. (d) heavy element differentiation can take carbon to the core, and the resulting magma ocean/atmosphere equilibrium can influence atmospheric composition with lighter gases escaping depending on the planet mass. Figure credit to N. Fuller and Sayo Studio. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Carbon From Interstellar Clouds To Habitable Worlds

by Keith CowingFebruary 12, 2026February 12, 2026

Carbon is an essential element for a habitable world. Inner (r < 3 au) disk planetary carbon compositions are strongly influenced by supply and survival of carbonaceous solids. Here we […]

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Science Fiction, Status Report

Finding Endor With Lunar Eclipses — Exomoons And Exorings With The Habitable Worlds Observatory II

by Keith CowingJanuary 29, 2026January 29, 2026

Giant planets in the habitable zone may host exomoons with conditions conducive to life. In this paper we describe a method by which the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) could detect […]

Schematic representation of the microscopic structure of superionic water, in which the oxygen atoms form a solid crystal lattice, while hydrogen ions are virtually free to move within it. With the aid of powerful lasers, this extreme state, which otherwise only occurs inside large planets, could be measured experimentally. (Image: Greg Stewart / SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Press Release

Key To Researching Large Planets: Research Team Discovers Novel Form Of Water

by Keith CowingJanuary 14, 2026January 14, 2026

Temperatures of several thousand degrees Celsius and pressures of millions of atmospheres: superionic water only forms under extreme conditions. These conditions transform water into an unusual state in which hydrogen […]

Stability analysis of the TOI-6041 system. The phase space of the system is explored by varying the orbital period Pi and eccentricity ei of each planet independently. For each initial condition (Table 4), the system is integrated over 10 kyr, and a stability criterion is derived with the frequency analysis of the mean longitude. The chaotic diffusion is measured by the variation in the frequencies. The color scale corresponds to the logarithmic variation in the stability index used in (Correia et al. 2010). The red zone corresponds to highly unstable orbits, while the dark blue region can be assumed to be stable on a billion-year timescale. White dashed lines indicate the nominal orbital periods reported in Table 4. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOTEM) Survey.VII. TOI-6041: A Multi-planet System Including A Warm Neptune Exhibiting Strong TTVs

by Keith CowingDecember 28, 2025December 28, 2025

We present the characterization of the TOI-6041 system, a bright (V=9.84±0.03) G7-type star hosting at least two planets.

[LEFT:] A Rare Brown Dwarf: HIP 71618 B [RIGHT:] A New Giant Planet: HIP 54515 b -- W. M. Keck Observatory and the Subaru Telescope.

Astronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Discoveries From Maunakea Reveal Hidden Worlds Around Accelerating Stars

by Keith CowingDecember 17, 2025December 17, 2025

Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory and the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island have discovered a massive planet and a brown dwarf orbiting distant stars—two rare companions that deepen […]

Gas Giants

TESS Planet Occurrence Rates Reveal the Disappearance of the Radius Valley Around Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs

Tempawral: A Time-Resolved Retrieval Framework for Variable Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets

Study Reveals A Planetary System With An Unexpected Rocky Planet In Its Outer Region

TESS Planets In Known Radial Velocity Cold Jupiter Systems: Hot Super Earth Occurrence Is Enhanced By Cold Jupiters

Cheops Discovers Late Bloomer Planet From Another Era

Carbon From Interstellar Clouds To Habitable Worlds

Finding Endor With Lunar Eclipses — Exomoons And Exorings With The Habitable Worlds Observatory II

Key To Researching Large Planets: Research Team Discovers Novel Form Of Water

Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass (GOTEM) Survey.VII. TOI-6041: A Multi-planet System Including A Warm Neptune Exhibiting Strong TTVs

Discoveries From Maunakea Reveal Hidden Worlds Around Accelerating Stars

Perseverance Astrobiology Droid Has Completed A Martian Marathon

Machine Learning And Deep Learning For Exoplanet Detection And Atmospheric Characterization With JWST And The Upcoming Ariel Mission

Bioleaching Of Critical Trace Metals By Sphingomonas Desiccabilis: Substrate-driven Selectivity In Earth And Space Analogues

TESS Reveals The Puffiest Exoplanets Ever Found

An Agnostic Machine Learning Model of Photosynthetic Habitability