California Institute of Technology Archives - Astrobiology

This artwork highlights a pair of recently uncovered brown dwarf twins, named Gliese 229Ba and Gliese 229Bb. Gliese 229B, discovered in 1995, was the first-ever confirmed brown dwarf, but until now astronomers thought they were observing a single body not two. New observations from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile revealed that the orb is two brown dwarfs tightly orbiting around each other every 12 days (as indicated by the orange and blue orbital lines), with a separation only 16 times larger than the distance between Earth and the Moon. The brown dwarf pair orbit a cool M-dwarf star every 250 years. CREDIT K. Miller, R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)

Gas Giants, Jupiter, Press Release

Mystery Of Famed Brown Dwarf Gliese 229B Solved

by Keith CowingOctober 21, 2024

Hundreds of papers have been written about the first known brown dwarf, Gliese 229B, since its discovery by Caltech researchers at the Institute’s Palomar Observatory in 1995. But a pressing […]

This illustration depicts a binary star system consisting of a dense neutron star and a normal Sun-like star (upper left). Using data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, astronomers found several systems like this one, in which the two bodies are widely separated. Because the bodies in these systems are far apart, with separations on average 300 times the size of a Sun-like star, the neutron star is dormant—it is not actively stealing mass from its companion and is thus very faint. To find these hidden neutron stars, the scientists used Gaia observations to look for a wobble in the Sun-like stars caused by a tugging action of the orbiting neutron stars. These are the first neutron stars discovered purely due to their gravitational effects. As depicted in this illustration, the intense gravity of the compact neutron star—which is about 100,000 times smaller than the Sun-like star yet heavier—warps our view of the sky around it, producing a distorted mirrored view of the nearby star. Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Radiation, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Stellar Cartography

Sun-like Stars Have Been Found Orbiting Hidden Companions

by Keith CowingJuly 29, 2024July 29, 2024

Most stars in our universe come in pairs. While our own Sun is a loner, many stars like our Sun orbit similar stars, while a host of other exotic pairings […]

protoplanetary disk

Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

How Do Rocky Planets Really Form?

by Keith CowingJanuary 12, 2023January 12, 2023

A new theory for how rocky planets form could explain the origin of so-called “super-Earths”—a class of exoplanets a few times more massive than the Earth that are the most […]

Cassini Crater (415 kilometres across) Arabia Terra. ©UAESA/MBRSC/HopeMarsMission/EXI/AndreaLuck

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Taking The Temperature Of Mars’ Past

by Keith CowingOctober 12, 2011April 14, 2024

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have directly determined the surface temperature of early Mars for the first time, providing evidence that’s consistent with a warmer and wetter […]

Earth and The Moon

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Moon, Press Release

Caltech Team Finds Evidence of Water in Moon Minerals

by Keith CowingJuly 21, 2010June 13, 2024

That dry, dusty Moon overhead? Seems it isn’t quite as dry as it’s long been thought to be. Although you won’t find oceans, lakes, or even a shallow puddle on […]

The meteorite, called Miller Range 03346 nakhlite (MIL 03346), was recovered in 2003 in the Miller Range of Antarctica. About the size of a tennis ball and weighing in at one-and-a-half pounds, MIL 03346 was one of hundreds recovered from that area. -- NASA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Mars Has Been in the Deep Freeze for the Past Four Billion Years, Study Shows

by Keith CowingJuly 21, 2005April 14, 2024

The current mean temperature on the equator of Mars is a blustery 69 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Scientists have long thought that the Red Planet was once temperate enough for […]