So far no designated mission to either of the two ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, exists. Almost all of our gathered information on these planets comes from remote sensing.
Neptune
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Status Report
TOI-908: A Planet At The Edge Of The Neptune Desert Transiting A G-type Star
We present the discovery of an exoplanet transiting TOI-908 (TIC-350153977) using data from TESS sectors 1, 12, 13, 27, 28 and 39. TOI-908 is a T = 10.7 mag G-dwarf […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Press Release
Cheops Explores Mysterious Warm Mini-Neptunes
ESA’s exoplanet mission Cheops confirmed the existence of four warm exoplanets orbiting four stars in our Milky Way. These exoplanets have sizes between Earth and Neptune and orbit their stars […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Status Report
Terrestrial And Neptune Mass Free-floating Planet Candidates From The MOA-II 9-year Galactic Bulge Survey
We report the discoveries of low-mass free-floating planet (FFP) candidates from the analysis of 2006-2014 MOA-II Galactic bulge survey data.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Status Report
Atmospheres As Windows Into Sub-Neptune Interiors: Coupled Chemistry And Structure Of Hydrogen-Silane-Water Envelopes
Sub-Neptune exoplanets are commonly hypothesized to consist of a silicate-rich magma ocean topped by a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Previous work studying the outgassing of silicate material has demonstrated that such atmosphere-interior […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Status Report
A Super-Earth And A Mini-Neptune Near The 2:1 MMR Straddling The Radius Valley Around The Nearby Mid-M Dwarf TOI-2096
Several planetary formation models have been proposed to explain the observed abundance and variety of compositions of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Status Report
Atmospheric Chemistry of Secondary and Hybrid Atmospheres of Super Earths and Sub-Neptunes
The atmospheres of small exoplanets likely derive from a combination of geochemical outgassing and primordial gases left over from formation.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Neptune, Press Release
Revising Properties of Planet-host Binary Systems II: Apparent Near-Earth Analog Planets in Binaries Are Often Sub-Neptunes
Left: Planetary radius if the primary star is the planet host, plotted against the instellation flux for the planet. The open circles denote the Kepler values, while the closed circles […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Neptune
Can Carbon Fractionation Provide Evidence for Aerial Biospheres in the Atmospheres of Temperate Sub-Neptunes?
The search for signs of life on other worlds has largely focused on terrestrial planets. Recent work, however, argues that life could exist in the atmospheres of temperate sub-Neptunes. Here, […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Neptune
Water Vapor and Clouds on the Habitable-Zone Sub-Neptune Exoplanet K2-18b
Results from the Kepler mission indicate that the occurrence rate of small planets (