Items tagged with planet

A new study from a survey of 91 pairs of twin stars named C3PO sheds new light on the so-called “three-body problem” that has befuddled scientists for centuries. At least 8%, or 1 in 12, of twin stars in the study show chemical anomalies that indicate one star had gobbled up planetary material that once orbited it... Read more...
It appears Saturn was not happy that gas giant Jupiter overtook it as the planet with the most moons earlier this year with 95 known natural satellites. Thanks to an international team of astronomers, however, the ringed planet has taken back its crown with 62 new moons being discovered. Saturn is adorned with... Read more...
Astronomers have documented an aging star engulfing a planet for the first time ever. The new study is a possible foreshadowing of what will eventually happen to our own planet as the Sun goes through the same end-of-life-transition. As our own Sun gets closer to its red giant phase in approximately 6 billion... Read more...
Scientists have found direct evidence of active volcanism on Venus, Earth's twin, for the first time ever. The 30-plus-year-old evidence will be followed up on with NASA's upcoming VERITAS mission. Surprisingly, the newly found evidence was found in archival radar images from the 1990s, during NASA's Magellan... Read more...
Skywatchers will be able to view all the planets in our Solar System on the same night. Those wanting to get an early sneak peek can join a live broadcast by The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 later today. December has been chock full of celestial events for skywatchers to enjoy. Those who love to admire the Moon... Read more...
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured a gorgeous image of Neptune, its rings, and seven of the planet's moons. One of Neptune's moons shines so brightly, that it could be mistaken for a star. Neptune was first discovered in 1846 and has enamored astronomers since. The frigid planet is located 30... Read more...
NASA's InSight lander has captured the first audio of a meteoroid impacting another planet, and it sounds quite different than one might imagine. The lander's seismometer has been able to pick up vibrations from four separate impacts in the past two years. InSight first landed on the Red Planet in 2018. Since its... Read more...
Uranus is capable of making it rain diamonds, and that's no joke. Along with Neptune, the two planets, referred to as ice giants, have temperatures and pressures that are so excessive it causes intense physical reactions. In order for a diamond to form, it requires a combination of events to occur, according to a new research paper released Read more...
A recent research paper suggests that dwarf planet Ceres may have originated at the icy edges of the solar system. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt and is vastly different than its rocky neighbors. Ceres is classified as a dwarf planet that exists in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and... Read more...
Thanks to a new deep neural network called ExoMiner, NASA has added a whopping 301 exoplanets that human eyes had missed. These exoplanets have been added to the 4,569 other planets that have been validated by NASA. NASA scientists, astronomers and researchers are always on the lookout for new exoplanets that may... Read more...
The search for another planet in our solar system has came up empty for astronomers searching the skies. Astrophysicists have explored the possibility for some time and many firmly believe one does exist. Now 38-year-old data may back up what they have suspected all along. The exploration of space has taken us far... Read more...
NASA is always on the lookout for signs of life beyond Earth and new planets it could exist on. Astronomers at NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory may have discovered a new planet the size of Saturn in another galaxy (far, far away). NASA has recently been crunching new data coming in from its probe Juno currently... Read more...