29 June 2016
Researchers detect interstellar organic materials being fed into a young planetary system
..., with telescopes such as ALMA it has been possible to show these organic molecules being brought into the planet-forming region. These results build on previous observations of a system known as L1527, whereby a similar ring structure of SO (sulfur...
02 November 2016
How life on Mars might be 'sniffed out' by BILI
... is being developed to detect organic bio-signatures on other planets. BILI works on a similar principle to other types of...placement on a rover rumbling around the barren surface of a planet, as it could also be installed on an orbiting spacecraft,...
19 October 2020
Astronomers identify a true water-world that could have an ocean over 100 kms deep
...the Earth's surface, they only account for 0.02 percent of our planet's total mass. For LHS1140c, less than 0.006 percent of its.../radius calculations suggest that a staggering four percent of the planet’s mass is water, which could equate to a deep ...
November 2025
Searching for life beyond Earth
.... The radial velocity method to detect exoplanets uses ground-based telescopes to detect the tiny ‘wobbles’ an (unseen) planet induces in its host star’s motion as it orbits the star. By regularly looking at the spectrum of a star - and so, measuring...
18 August 2016
Space Rebel Niku Baffles Astronomers
... orbiting retrograde. So what it is that makes Niku so rebellious? One possibility is that Niku is influenced by the theoretical Planet Nine – a planet that astronomers believe may exist at the edge of our solar system that is about 10 times as big...
19 May 2017
Exoplanets galore and possibly the next Trappist-1 system?
... to wobble slightly in the presence of an orbiting planet thus causing a change in the colour of the light...set-up could rival the recently announced Trappist-1 system, which has seven planets in a favourable position near to its star. HD 20794 is ...
