We might not yet have an exact figure for how many star systems exist in the Milky Way, but we've made some significant progress since the first exoplanet was discovered. NASA's Kepler space telescope, for example, has allowed us to identify several planets in other star systems. Launched ...
The problem, however, is that although nearly 6,000 exoplanets have been discovered so far, the information that we have on these worlds is patchy. And in general, even 6,000 worlds is not enough to train the algorithm. So, Davoult and her colleagues at the University of Bern,...
But that includes exoplanets, alien worlds that orbit alien suns. Only eight planets call our solar system home. Or there might still be nine if some astronomers are correct about an as-yet undiscovered large body out past Neptune. On the other hand, if you’re nostalgic (and a tad anti...
“The problems arising when interpreting the data from WASP-39b are well known from many other exoplanets – regardless whether they are observed with Kepler,TESS, James Webb, or the future PLATO spacecraft,” explains MPS scientist Dr. Nadiia Kostogryz, first author of the new study. “As ...
Many exoplanets have been spotted in binary systems, so the question is how they got there. Some astronomers have even suggested that perhaps these planets were floating in interstellar space and got sucked in by the gravity of a binary, for instance. ...
Before Kepler, astronomers had discovered nearly 400 exoplanets.As of now, from its original mission and K2, Kepler added more than 3,200 confirmed worlds to that list. When evidence is first found of a planet orbiting another star, it...
No star’s exoplanets have yet been proven to support life – the Sun is the only star so far to host life. There is only one solar system. The answer to question 4 is truly a trick question: “No other stars have a solar system… becauseonly one star is named “Sol”… the Sun...
The school-bus-sized Hubble, which sees primarily in the visible spectrum with some ultraviolet and near-infrared coverage, kicked off the program in 1990 and, with further servicing, willcomplement and work with Webb. Appropriately named for Edwin Hubble, the astronomer who discovered many of the...
Many of the exoplanets discovered early on were so-called "hot Jupiters," large gas giants that orbit very close to their parent star. Some planets are very old, such as PSR 1620-26 b (nicknamedMethuselahas it's only 1 billion years younger than the universe itself.) Some planets are so...
"Amongst the over 5,000 exoplanets discovered orbiting other stars than our Sun, resonances are not rare, nor are systems with several planets," said Hugh Osborn, one of the researchers based at the University of Bern in Switzerland, in a statement. "What is extremely rare, though, is to...