Charged dust grains in the atmospheres of exoplanets may play a key role in the formation of prebiotic molecules, necessary to the origin of life. Dust grains submerged in an […]
extrasolar
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
New Theoretical Models Aid the Search for Earth-like Planets
Researchers from Bern have developed a method to simplify the search for Earth-like planets: By using new theoretical models they rule out the possibility of Earth-like conditions, and therefore life, […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Possible Climates on Terrestrial Exoplanets
What kind of environment may exist on terrestrial planets around other stars? In spite of the lack of direct observations, it may not be premature to speculate on exoplanetary climates, […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
On the Radius of Habitable Planets
The conditions that a planet must fulfill to be habitable are not precisely known. However, it is comparatively easier to define conditions under which a planet is very likely not […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Planet Packing in Circumbinary Systems
The recent discovery of planets orbiting main sequence binaries will provide crucial constraints for theories of binary and planet formation. The formation pathway for these planets is complicated by uncertainties […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Runaway Greenhouse Effect on Exomoons Due to Irradiation From Hot, Young Giant Planets
The Kepler space telescope has detected transits of objects as small as the Earth’s Moon, and moons as small as 0.2 Earth masses can be detected in the Kepler data […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Video: Kepler Exoplanet Orrery As of November 2013
This shows the relative sizes of the orbits and planets in the multi-transiting planetary systems discovered by Kepler up to Nov. 2013. The colors simply go by order from the […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
1 in 5 Sun-like Stars Has Earth-size Planet in Habitable Zone
NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, now crippled and its four-year mission at an end, nevertheless provided enough data to complete its mission objective: to determine how many of the 100 billion stars […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Scientists Discover the First Earth-Sized Rocky Planet
Astronomers have discovered the first Earth-sized planet outside the solar system that has a rocky composition like that of Earth. Kepler-78b whizzes around its host star every 8.5 hours, making […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones
Carbon Worlds May be Waterless
Planets rich in carbon, including so-called diamond planets, may lack oceans, according to NASA-funded theoretical research. Our sun is a carbon-poor star, and as result, our planet Earth is made […]