Category Astronomy/Space

Using data from three different satellites, scientists have developed new models that recreate, in 3-D, CMEs and shocks, separately. Credit: Image courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Scientists have developed new models to see how shocks associated with coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, propagate from the Sun – an effort made possible only by combining data from three NASA satellites to produce a much more robust mapping of a CME than any one could do alone. CMEs set off interplanetary shocks when they erupt from the Sun at extreme speeds, propelling a wave of high-energy particles. These particles can spark space weather events around Earth, endangering spacecraft and astronauts...

Conceptual illustration. A key outcome from the current studies was that planets orbiting red dwarfs may have remarkably similar characteristics to planets orbiting solar-type stars. Credit: Tokyo Institute of Technology

A new planet near the habitable zone around a bright cool star. Scientists report the existence of 15 new planets – including one ‘super-Earth’ that could harbor liquid water – orbiting small, cool stars near our solar system. These stars, known as red dwarfs, are of enormous interest for studies of planetary formation and evolution. One of the brightest red dwarfs, K2-155 that is around 200 light years away from Earth, has 3 transiting super-Earths, which are slightly bigger than our own planet. Of those 3 super-Earths, the outermost planet, K2-155d, with a radius 1...

This simulated spectrum from the Webb telescope illustrates the kinds of molecules that may be detected in star-forming regions like the Eagle Nebula (background). Credits: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team, and M. McClure (Universiteit van Amsterdam) and A. Boogert (University of Hawaii)

Water is crucial for life, but how do you make water? Cooking up some H2O takes more than mixing hydrogen and oxygen. It requires the special conditions found deep within frigid molecular clouds, where dust shields against destructive ultraviolet light and aids chemical reactions. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will peer into these cosmic reservoirs to gain new insights into the origin and evolution of water and other key building blocks for habitable planets...

Lead author Sarah Hörst, right, and assistant research scientist Chao He examine samples of simulated atmospheres in a dry nitrogen glove box, where they are stored to avoid contamination from Earth’s atmosphere. Credit: Will Kirk/JHU

Scientists have conducted the first lab experiments on haze formation in simulated exoplanet atmospheres, an important step for understanding upcoming observations of planets outside the solar system with the James Webb Space Telescope. The simulations are necessary to establish models of the atmospheres of far-distant worlds, models that can be used to look for signs of life outside the solar system. Results of the studies appeared this week in Nature Astronomy...