Category Astronomy/Space

IMAGE1: HD189733: The planet HD 189733b is shown here in front of its parent star. A belt of wind around the equator of the planet travels at 5400mph from the heated day side to the night side. The day side of the planet appears blue due to scattering of light from silicate haze in the atmosphere. The night side of the planet glows a deep red due to its high temperature.
Credit: Mark A. Garlick/University of Warwick

The University of Warwick discovery is the first time that a weather system on a planet outside of Earth’s solar system has been directly measured and mapped. The wind speed recorded is 20x greater than the fastest ever known on earth, where it would be 7x the speed of sound.

Tom Louden, of the University of Warwick’s Astrophysics group, said: “This is the first ever weather map...

Venus as a model: Today this planet looks like the Earth might have looked before the onset of plate tectonics. Credit: NASA/JPL

It is common knowledge that Earth’s rigid upper layer called lithosphere is composed of moving plates. But just what mechanism first set plate tectonics into motion still remains a mystery. Scientists have now come up with one possible answer with simulations. But just as in the past, earth scientists still do not understand what triggered plate tectonics in the first place, nor how the first subduction zone was formed. A weak spot in the Earth’s lithosphere was necessary in order for parts of the Earth’s crust to begin their descent into the Earth’s mantle...

In this artist’s conception GJ 1132b, a rocky exoplanet very similar to Earth in size and mass, circles a red dwarf star. GJ 1132b is relatively cool, about 450 degrees F, and could potentially host an atmosphere. At a distance of only 39 light-years, it will be a prime target for additional study with Hubble and future observatories like the Giant Magellan Telescope. Credit: Dana Berry

The collection of rocky planets orbiting distant stars has just grown by one, and the latest discovery is the most intriguing one to date. The newfound world, although hot as an oven, is cool enough to potentially host an atmosphere...

This image of the debris disk around SDSS1228+1040 made from observations taken over twelve years. The application of Doppler Tomography results in an image of the velocities within the disk, which has an ‘inside-out’ structure, gas closer to the white dwarf appears further. The two dashed circles illustrated 0.64 and 0.2 times the radius of the Sun. Credit: University of Warwick

Research includes 1st image of ring system orbiting a white dwarf. The sight of an asteroid being ripped apart by a dead star and forming a glowing debris ring has been captured in an image for the first time. Comprised of dust particles and debris, the rings are formed by the star’s gravity tearing apart asteroids that came too close...