The existence of water in extrasolar planetary systems is of great interest as it constrains the potential for habitable planets and life. Here, we report the identification of a circumstellar […]
extrasolar
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Assessing Circumbinary Habitable Zones using Latitudinal Energy Balance Modelling
Previous attempts to describe circumbinary habitable zones have been concerned with the spatial extent of the zone, calculated analytically according to the combined radiation field of both stars. By contrast […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Microlensing Discovers Extrasolar Planet in Habitable Zone
We used Keck adaptive optics observations to identify the first planet discovered by microlensing to lie in or near the habitable zone. The planet is at projected separation $r_\perp=1.1\pm 0.1\,$AU […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Watery Asteroid Discovered in Dying Star Points to Habitable Exoplanets
Astronomers have found the shattered remains of an asteroid that contained huge amounts of water orbiting an exhausted star, or white dwarf. This suggests that the star GD 61 and […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Scientists Generate First Map of Clouds on an Exoplanet
On the exoplanet Kepler 7b, the weather is highly predictable, an international team of scientists has found: On any given day, the exoplanet, which orbits a star nearly 1,000 light-years […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Diagnosing Chemical Disequilibrium in Planetary Atmospheres
Chemical disequilibrium has recently become a relevant topic in the study of the atmospheres of of transiting extrasolar planets, brown dwarfs, and directly imaged exoplanets. We present a new way […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology
Detecting Biomarkers on Faraway Planets
On Earth, life leaves telltale signals in the atmosphere. Photosynthesis is ultimately responsible for the high oxygen levels and the thick ozone layer. Microbes emit methane and nitrous oxide into […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Solar System Moons as Analogs for Compact Exoplanetary Systems
The field of exoplanetary science has experienced a recent surge of new systems that is largely due to the precision photometry provided by the Kepler mission. The latest discoveries have […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Exoplanet Adaptive Optics for the 5-meter Hale Telescope
We describe and report first results from PALM-3000, the second-generation astronomical adaptive optics facility for the 5.1-m Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory. PALM-3000 has been engineered for high-contrast imaging and […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Magnetic Shielding of Exomoons Beyond the Circumplanetary Habitable Edge
With most planets and planetary candidates detected in the stellar habitable zone being super-Earths and gas giants, rather than Earth-like planets, we naturally wonder if their moons could be habitable. […]