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    Category Astronomy/Space

    TRAPPIST-1e observations narrow down possibilities for atmosphere and surface water on elusive exoplanet

    September 9, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Transmission spectroscopy of the habitable zone planet TRAPPIST-1 e
    Scientists call this event a transit, when valuable data can be gathered as the exoplanet passes between the star and the telescope and starlight illuminates the atmosphere, if one is present. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has made initial observations of planets b, c, d, and e during their transits, with additional observations of planet e underway. While the star’s frequent flares make it difficult to detect an atmosphere, each transit builds up more and more information for scientists to get a more complete picture of these distant worlds. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI)

    University of Bristol astrophysicists are helping shed new light on an Earth-sized exoplanet 40 light years away where liquid water in the form of a global ocean or icy expanse might exist on its surf...

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    Astronomers uncover a hidden world on the solar system’s edge

    September 7, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Astronomers have uncovered a massive new trans-Neptunian object, 2017 OF201, lurking at the edge of our solar system. With an orbit stretching 25,000 years and a size that may qualify it as a dwarf planet, this mysterious world challenges long-held assumptions about the “empty” space beyond Neptune. Its unusual trajectory sets it apart from other distant bodies and may even cast doubt on the controversial Planet Nine hypothesis.

    A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), named 2017 OF201, at the edge of our solar system.

    The TNO is potentially large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet, the same category as the much more we...

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    Warped planet nurseries rewrite the rules of how worlds are born

    September 6, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Visualisation of the warped disc around the young star MWC 758, with warping exaggerated by a factor four to make it visible. Both panels show properties of the disc inferred from CO emission. On the left-hand side, we see deviations in the line-of-sight velocity from the expected rotation if the disc were flat. The variations in velocity can be used to infer the warp structure. On the right-hand side we see variations in the gas temperature, from which we can see evidence of shadowing in areas of the disc. Credit: A. Winter

    New ALMA observations reveal that the discs where planets form are often slightly warped, challenging long-held assumptions and offering clues about the subtle misalignments seen in our own Solar System.

    Astronomers using ALMA have discovered that planet-forming...

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    Solar flares may be 6.5 times hotter than previously thought

    September 4, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    New research from the University of St Andrews has proposed that particles in solar flares are 6.5 times hotter than previously thought. The research provides an unexpected solution to a 50-year-old mystery about our nearest star.

    Solar flares are sudden and huge releases of energy in the sun’s outer atmosphere that heat parts of it to greater than 10 million degrees. These dramatic events greatly increase the solar X-rays and radiation reaching Earth and are hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts, as well as affecting our planet’s upper atmosphere.

    The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, looks at evidence of how flares heat solar plasma to greater than 10 million degrees. This solar plasma is made up of ions and electrons...

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