Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a key chemical species that is found in a wide range of planetary atmospheres. In the context of exoplanets, CO2 is an indicator of the metal […]
telescope
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Rogue Planets And Brown Dwarfs: Predicting Populations Of Free-floating Planetary Mass Objects Observable With JWST
Free-floating (or rogue) planets are planets that are liberated (or ejected) from their host systems. Although simulations predict their existence in substantial numbers, direct observational evidence for free-floating planets with […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Combining Photometry and Astrometry to Improve Orbit Retrieval of Directly Imaged Exoplanets
Future missions like Roman, HabEx, and LUVOIR will directly image exoplanets in reflected light. While current near infrared direct imaging searches are only sensitive to young, self-luminous planets whose brightness […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Press Release
The Origins Space Telescope: Towards An Understanding of Temperate Planetary Atmospheres
The Origins Space Telescope (OST) is one of four mission concepts currently being studied by NASA in preparation for the Astrophysics 2020 Decadal Survey. With active cooling (~4 K), OST […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1
Inventing Tools for Detecting Life Elsewhere with Future Telescopes
Recently, astronomers announced the discovery that a star called TRAPPIST-1 is orbited by seven Earth-size planets. Three of the planets reside in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star […]
Posted inPress Release, SETI & Technosignatures
National Astronomical Observatories of China, Breakthrough Initiatives Launch Global Collaboration in Search for Intelligent life in the Universe
The National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) is joining forces with the Breakthrough Initiatives to launch a coordinated search for evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth Using some of the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes
Light Echoes from n Carinae's Great Eruption: Spectrophotometric Evolution and the Rapid Formation of Nitrogen-rich Molecules
By obtaining images and spectra at the same light echo position between 2011 and 2014, we follow the evolution of the Great Eruption on a three-year timescale. By obtaining images […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
The Gemini Planet Imager: First Light
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a dedicated facility for directly imaging and spectroscopically characterizing extrasolar planets. It combines a very high-order adaptive optics system, a diffraction-suppressing coronagraph, and an […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
A Small Step Toward Discovering Habitable Earths
University of Arizona researchers snapped images of a planet outside our solar system with an Earth-based telescope using essentially the same type of imaging sensor found in digital cameras instead […]
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 […]