Palomar Observatory Archives

Multi-color ground-based light curves for our five targets. Data points represent 10-minute binned photometry, with light curves obtained using identical filters and exposure times phase-folded together. Black curves show the median transit model derived from the posterior distribution, with colored shading indicating the 68% confidence intervals. Blue curves represent the nominal TESS light curve model projected into the corresponding ground-based filters. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

From Earths To Super-Earths: Five New Small Planets Transiting M Dwarf Stars

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2025December 18, 2025

Earth-sized planets transiting M dwarf stars present one of the best opportunities with current facilities for studying the atmospheric and bulk compositions of terrestrial worlds.

Phased-folded and 2-minute binned TESS light curve (left panel) and detrended Palomar/WIRC light curves (middle and right panels) for the two transit observations of TOI-2267 d. Residuals after the best-fit transit light curve model has been subtracted are shown in the lower panels. Unbinned data are shown as grey circles, with 10 minute binned points overplotted as black circles. The best joint-fit transit models are overplotted as blue lines for the TESS data and red lines for the Palomar data, with 100 random draws from the posterior distribution to illustrate the typical model uncertainty. All detrended light curves are available electronically as data behind the figure. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

Validation Of A Third Earth-sized Planet In The TOI-2267 Binary System

by Keith CowingDecember 13, 2025December 13, 2025

We report the validation of a third terrestrial exoplanet in the nearby (22 pc) TOI-2267 system.

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 […]

Palomar Observatory

From Earths To Super-Earths: Five New Small Planets Transiting M Dwarf Stars

Validation Of A Third Earth-sized Planet In The TOI-2267 Binary System

Mystery Of Famed Brown Dwarf Gliese 229B Solved

Roman Space Telescope: Enabling Images Of Distant Worlds

NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) Cooperative Agreement Notice (NNH26ZDA016C) Final Text And Due Dates

Interstellar Aromatic Infrared Bands: IR Absorption Spectroscopy Of The Lowest Triplet State Of Naphthalene

The Highly Unusual Behavior And Chemical Composition Of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

Volatile Depletion In Rocky Planets As A Chemical Fingerprint Of Hybrid Accretion