High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) tagged posts

Astronomers find a Planet that Shouldn’t Exist

A "hot Jupiter" exoplanet named Halla may have orbited two stars at one time. Interactions between the two stars may have helped Halla survive a stellar outburst.
A “hot Jupiter” exoplanet named Halla may have orbited two stars at one time. Interactions between the two stars may have helped Halla survive a stellar outburst. Adam Makarenko/W.M. Keck Observatory

When our sun reaches the end of its life, it will expand to 100 times its current size, enveloping the Earth. Many planets in other solar systems face a similar doom as their host stars grow old. But not all hope is lost, as astronomers from the University of HawaiÊ»i Institute for Astronomy (UH IfA) have made the remarkable discovery of a planet’s survival after what should have been certain demise at the hands of its sun.

The Jupiter-like planet 8 UMi b, officially named Halla, orbits the red giant star Baekdu (8 UMi) at only half the distance separating the Earth and the sun...

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New Aurorae detected on Jupiter’s Four Largest Moons

Artist’s depiction of oxygen aurora on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, as observed from Maunakea on Hawaiʻi Island using the twin Keck Observatory telescopes. Credit: Julie Inglis

Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi have discovered that aurorae at visible wavelengths appear on all 4 major moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Using Keck Observatory’s High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) as well as high-resolution spectrographs at the Large Binocular Telescope and Apache Point Observatory, a team led by Caltech and Boston University observed the moons in Jupiter’s shadow so that their faint aurorae, which are caused by the gas giant’s strong magnetic field, could be spotted without competition fr...

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