One aim of modern astronomy is to detect temperate, Earth-like exoplanets that are well suited for atmospheric characterization. Recently, three Earth-sized planets were detected that transit (that is, pass in front of) a star with a mass just eight per cent that of the Sun, located 12 parsecs away1. The transiting configuration of these planets, …
Tag: Exoplanets
Feb 23 2017
Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond our Solar System: NASA telescope reveals largest batch of Earth-size, habitable-zone planets around single star
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed a new exoplanet discovery: the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of these planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the parent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water. Sorgente: Exoplanet Exploration: Planets Beyond …
Feb 26 2016
Eying exomoons in the search for E.T. >> SETI
When I was young, the only planets we knew about were the ones in our own solar system. Astronomers presumed that many of the other stars in the night sky had planets too, but this was sheer speculation. We could never know for sure, the thinking went, because such planets were ridiculously small and faint. …
















