Planets in M dwarf stars’ habitable zones are likely to be tidally locked with orbital periods of order tens of days. This means that the effects of rotation on atmospheric […]
extrasolar
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Soliciting Community Input: Alternate Science Investigations for Kepler
The purpose of this call for white papers is to solicit community input for alternate science investigations that may be performed using Kepler and are consistent with its probable two-wheel […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
The Habitable Real Estate of our Nearest Stellar Neighbors
We use the sample of known stars and brown dwarfs within 5 pc of the Sun, supplemented with AFGK stars within 10 pc, to determine which stellar spectral types provide […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The NASA Exoplanet Archive: Data and Tools for Exoplanet Research
We describe the contents and functionality of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, a database and tool set funded by NASA to support astronomers in the exoplanet community. The current content of […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Transmission spectrum of Earth as a transiting exoplanet
Transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets is a tool to characterize rocky planets and explore their habitability. Using the Earth itself as a proxy, we model the atmospheric cross section as a […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Red Dwarf Stars Could Strip Away Planetary Protection
Red dwarf stars are the commonest type of stars, making up about 75% of the stars in our galaxy. They are much smaller and much less massive than our Sun […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Cloud Behavior Expands Habitable Zone of Alien Planets
A new study that calculates the influence of cloud behavior on climate doubles the number of potentially habitable planets orbiting red dwarfs, the most common type of stars in the […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
How to Distinguish between Cloudy Mini-Neptunes and Water/Volatile-Dominated Super-Earths
One of the most profound questions about the newly discovered class of low-density super-Earths is whether these exoplanets are predominately H2-dominated mini-Neptunes or volatile-rich worlds with gas envelopes dominated by […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
One Star, Three Habitable Planets
A team of astronomers, including Carnegie’s Paul Butler, has combined new observations with existing data to reveal a solar system packed full of planets. The star Gliese 667C is orbited […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Fomalhaut
Astronomers Gear Up to Discover Earth-like Planets
As part of an international team of exoplanets hunters, astronomers at the University of Arizona are developing a technique to detect faint dust clouds around other stars, many of which […]