Two Worlds Orbiting a Nearby Star Could Be More Than Half Water
“A recent analysis of another world found that it could be a water world…” by MICHELLE STARR via sciencealert headline image credit: NASA/ESA/Leah Hustak (STScI) Two worlds orbiting a tiny star 218 light-years away appear to be of a kind unlike anything we have in our Solar System. The exoplanets are named Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d. Both are around 1.5 times … Continue reading
NASA Announces Discovery of Eight Planets Orbiting Distant Star (video)
In the above headline image, you can see the newly discovered planets and star compared to our solar system below it For the first time, eight planets have been found orbiting a distant star, Kepler-90, 2,545 light-years from Earth in the Draco constellation, NASA announced Thursday. It is the first star known to support as many planets as are orbiting … Continue reading
New Solar System that Could Support Alien Life on Multiple Planets Discovered, NASA
Scientists have found a new solar system (TRAPPIST-1) filled with planets that look like Earth and could support life, Nasa has announced. At least three of the seven planets represent the “holy grail for planet-hunting astronomers”, because they sit within the “temperate zone” and are the right temperature to allow alien life to flourish, the researchers have said. And they … Continue reading
Jackpot! Over a Hundred Nearby Planets Discovered!
A 20-year survey has yielded over 100 planets in solar systems relatively close to our own. The study has found 60 new exoplanets, one of which is a ‘super-Earth,’ and evidence of 54 others. The super-Earth is Gliese 411b, a “hot super-Earth with a rock Surface.” Gliese 411b orbits Lalande 21185, a red dwarf that is the sixth-closest star and … Continue reading
Two Rocky Planets that Could Support Life Discovered by Kepler Space Telescope
Using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have found more than 100 exoplanets — planets orbiting other stars — and four possibly rocky planets, two of which may be capable of supporting life. The international team found 197 planet candidates, with 104 being confirmed as exoplanets. One method of discovering exoplanets is to measure light emitted from stars. A minute dimming … Continue reading
SETI: Does ET Call a Red Dwarf ‘Home’?
California-based SETI Institute plans to expand a hunt for radio signals broadcast by extraterrestrial civilizations by scanning red dwarf stars, which are older and smaller than stars like the sun. The shift stems from recent discoveries that red dwarf stars, which are by far the most common type of star, can and do have planets in orbit that are properly … Continue reading