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...
20 June 2016
Trio of hot Jupiters give clue to their formation
...2300+ exoplanets detected so far with Kepler belong to this class of planet. However, despite being found in such large numbers, not much is... coupled with the non-zero eccentricity of the planet orbits, are qualitatively consistent with formation by a...
22 June 2016
Does a subsurface ocean exist on Pluto?
.... Data gathered last year by New Horizons on the loneliest planet in our Solar System revealed an unexpected find; Pluto, it...of the solar system, an ocean environment may exist on a planet that has seen its fair share of controversy. “The possibility...
01 December 2017
Search for life more difficult than previously assumed
... the ozone in the equatorial region. This in turn could have a knock-on effect for the habitability of the planet. "Absence of traces of ozone in future observations does not have to mean there is no oxygen at all. It might be found in different...
11 March 2020
Ultra-hot exoplanet literally rains iron say astronomers
... for exoplanets using transit photometry with an array of robotic telescopes on La Palma in the Canary Islands. This puffed-up planet is unflatteringly referred to as a bloated-hot Jupiter, because it is nearly twice the size of our own gas giant and...
06 March 2020
Life in the Universe could be common, but not near us says study
..., when it comes to studying the origins of life everywhere, scientists are restricted to the specific conditions we find on our planet. And so far, all biological and physical studies dedicated to this research has yet to provide a definitive answer...
