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exoplanets

Latest Articles

Abstractions blog

A Close Look at Newborn Planets Reveals Hints of Infant Moons

By Joshua Sokol
June 11, 2019
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Astronomers have discovered a complex planetary system still swirling into existence.

Art for "As Planet Discoveries Pile Up, a Gap Appears in the Pattern"
Abstractions blog

As Planet Discoveries Pile Up, a Gap Appears in the Pattern

By Rebecca Boyle
May 16, 2019
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Astronomers are puzzling over a paucity of planets in the galaxy measuring between 1.5 and two times Earth’s size.

PHOTO: Sarah Hörst in her lab at JHU
Q&A

The Scientist Who Cooks Up the Skies of Faraway Worlds

By Shannon Hall
April 8, 2019
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Astronomers will soon take their first glance at the atmosphere of a distant exoplanet. Sarah Hörst is writing the guidebook for these exoplanetary explorers, one that will reveal what a distinctive atmosphere says about the world underneath.

Art for "Planets Found to Be Larger Than the Disks They Come From"
astrophysics

Planets Found to Be Larger Than the Disks They Come From

By Rebecca Boyle
October 4, 2018
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The new finding is challenging established theories of how planets come to be.

Photo of a diver between two tectonic plates in Silfra. reykjavik. Iceland
geophysics

Why Earth’s Cracked Crust May Be Essential for Life

By Rebecca Boyle
June 7, 2018
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Life needs more than water alone. Recent discoveries suggest that plate tectonics has played a critical role in nourishing life on Earth. The findings carry major consequences for the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

Composite of numerous protoplanetary disc images taken by SPHERE
astronomy

Stellar Disks Reveal How Planets Get Made

By Joshua Sokol
May 21, 2018
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Detailed images of disks swirling around young stars show the details of how solar systems come to be.

Abstractions blog

Exoplanet Puzzle Cracked by Jazz Musicians

By Joshua Sokol
May 10, 2017
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A system of seven Earth-like exoplanets appeared to be unstable. Now their orbits have been rewritten in the music of the spheres.

astrobiology

Scientists Debate Signatures of Alien Life

By Natalie Wolchover
February 2, 2016
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Searching for signs of life on faraway planets, astrobiologists must decide which telltale biosignature gases to target.

cosmology

Peering Into the Early Universe

By Natalie Wolchover
March 7, 2013
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Three “extremely large telescopes” poised to begin observations within a decade could help answer some of the universe’s oldest and best-kept secrets.


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