Worlds within Worlds: Hubble Peels Back the Layers of a Warm Neptune

Source - NASA Science News for Oct. 31, 2015

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered an immense cloud of hydrogen evaporating from a Neptune-sized planet named GJ 436b. The planet’s atmosphere is evaporating because of extreme irradiation from its parent star.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/31oct_worlds/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://youtu.be/TbWX7-ZoJAk



Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

Exoplanet Measured with Remarkable Precision

Source - NASA Science News for August 18, 2014

Astronomers are not only discovering planets around distant suns, they are also starting to measure those worlds with astonishing precision. The diameter of a super-Earth named "Kepler 93 b" is now known to within an accuracy of 1%.
  
The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/18aug_sizeup/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA6MJkHJXVk&feature=youtu.be



License: Standard YouTube License

Kepler Discovers First Earth-Size Planet In The 'Habitable Zone' of Another Star

Source - NASA Science News for April 17, 2014

Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/17apr_firstearth/

Kepler Finds a Very Wobbly Planet

Source - NASA Science News for Feb. 4, 2014

Imagine living on a planet with seasons so erratic you would hardly know whether to wear Bermuda shorts or a heavy overcoat. That is the situation on a weird, wobbly world found by NASA's Kepler space telescope. The planet wobbles wildly on its spin axis, much like a child's top.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/04feb_wobble/

Survey on Exoplanet Classification

Those interested in exoplanets might be interested in taking this survey on Exoplanet Classification, organized as part of the *Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs: Mind the Gap Conference* at U. Hertfordshire, 2013 September 2-5.

Here is the URL for the survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zlvCS_y1irCasALukIQnGA4JLVvuX1AC2aWap1alf5Q/viewform

The Strange Attraction of Hot Jupiters

Source - NASA Science News for August 17, 2013

An exotic class of exoplanets called "hot Jupiters" are even weirder than astronomers imagined. While these worlds may have Earth-like blue skies, new data show that they are anything but Earth-like.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/17aug_hotjupiters/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmsYCbYu-LA



License: Standard YouTube License

Hubble Observes a Cobalt Blue Exoplanet

Source - NASA Science News for July 11, 2013

Astronomers working with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have deduced the actual color of a planet orbiting another star 63 light-years away. The planet is HD 189733b, and its color is cobalt blue. If seen directly, this planet would look like a deep blue dot, reminiscent of Earth's color as seen from space.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/11jul_cobaltblue/

Big Picture Science for 06/17/13 - Exoplanets

Big Picture Science - Exoplanets

You may be unique, but is your home planet? NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has uncovered thousands of planetary candidates, far far beyond our solar system. Some may be habitable and possibly even Earth-like. But now a failure in its steering apparatus may bring an abrupt end to this pioneering telescope’s search for new worlds.

But Kepler has a massive legacy of data still to be studied. Many new worlds will undoubtedly be found in these data. Hear why the astronomer who has discovered the greatest number of exoplanets is hopeful about the hunt for alien life, and meet the next generation of planet-hunting instruments.

Also, “Weird worlds? That was our idea!” Sci-fi writers lay claim to the first musings on exotic planetary locales. And a biographer of Magellan and Columbus describes the dangerous hunt for new worlds five centuries ago.

Guests:

• Charlie Sobeck – Engineer, deputy project manager, Kepler Mission, NASA Ames Research Center
• Geoff Marcy – Astronomer, University of California, Berkeley
• Dan Clery – Deputy news editor, European office of Science
• Laurence Bergreen – author of Voyage to Mars, Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe (P.S.)
• Robert J. Sawyer – Hugo Award-winning author; most recently of Red Planet Blues

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Exoplanets

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Kepler Discovers Smallest 'Habitable Zone' Planets to Date

Source - NASA Science News for April 18, 2013

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/18apr_habitablezone/

Kepler Discovers a Tiny Planet System

Source - NASA Science News for Feb. 20, 2013

NASA's Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/20feb_tinyplanets/

Weird Planets

Source- NASA Science News for Sept. 12, 2012

Once, astronomers thought planets couldn't form around binary stars. Now Kepler has found a whole system of planets orbiting a double star. This finding shows that planetary systems are weirder and more abundant than previously thought.

The full story can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/12sep_weirdplanets/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl5EknhEsSQ

Stellar Flare Blasts Exoplanet

Source - NASA Science News for June 28, 2012

Working in tandem, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Swift satellite have caught a distant star blasting one of its own planets with a powerful stellar flare.

The eruption stripped thousands of tons of material from the planet's atmosphere.

The full story can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/28jun_alienflare/

NASA Space Telescope Sees the Light from an Alien Super-Earth

Source - NASA Science News for May 8, 2012

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" beyond our solar system for the first time.

FULL STORY: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/08may_superearth/

Re-thinking an Alien World

- NASA Science News for Jan. 13, 2012

A distant super-Earth named "55 Cancri e" is wetter and weirder than astronomers thought possible. The discovery has researchers re-thinking the nature of alien worlds.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/13jan_rethink/

A video version of this story is below and is also available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_CZCmJ2om0

Kepler Discovers a Tiny Solar System

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 11, 2012

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the tiniest solar system so far: a red dwarf star with three rocky planets smaller than Earth.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/11jan_smallestexoplanets/

Kepler Discovers Earth-Sized Exoplanets

Source - NASA Science News for Dec. 20, 2011

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant sun-like star. These alien worlds are intermingled in their star system with other much larger planets, an arrangement which challenges orthodox ideas of how planets are formed.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/20dec_earthsized/

Kepler Confirms First Planet in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star

Source - NASA Science News for Dec. 5, 2011

In a significant milestone on the road to finding Earth's "twin" elsewhere in the galaxy, NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the habitable zone of a distant sun-like star.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/05dec_firstplanet/

Kepler-22b -- Comfortably Circling within the Habitable Zone



"This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first "habitable zone" planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth.

Kepler-22's star is a bit smaller than our sun, so its habitable zone is slightly closer in. The diagram shows an artist's rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. Kepler-22b has a yearly orbit of 289 days. The planet is the smallest known to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a sun-like star. It's about 2.4 times the size of Earth."

Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
Diagram and descriptive text source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-22b-diagram.html

ScienceCasts: An Astronomer's Dilemma

Source - NASAtelevision on Jul 7, 2011

Stars are bright, but their planets are not, which makes planet hunting difficult. NASA's ultraviolet telescope GALEX may be providing a solution.



You can find out more information about the GALEX ultraviolet telescope at: http://www.galex.caltech.edu/

Are We Alone for 10/25/10 - Off to the Traces

Are We Alone - Off to the Traces

If a tree fell on another planet, would we be able to detect it? Not quite yet – but we might be able to tell if the planet was habitable. A living-planet is the promise of newly-discovered Gliese 581g. But does the planet exist at all?

Discover how we learn a planet’s geology and chemistry from afar. Also, what we learn about a civilization from what it discards, beginning with our own sloppy habits.

Plus, the hunt for derelict alien spaceships… and a man who sketches alien creatures for a living – based on real science.

Guests:

• Lisa Kaltenegger – Astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Brad Bebout – Biologist, NASA Ames Research Center
• Robin Nagle – Anthropologist, New York University
• Robin Hanson – Economist, George Mason University
• Joel Hagen – Computer graphics instructor, Modesto Junior College

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Off_to_the_Traces

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

And be sure to check out the Are We Alone iPhone/iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/are-we-alone-make-contact/id374968004?mt=8

This Planet Smells Funny

Source - NASA Science News for Sept. 13, 2010

An alien world in the constellation Leo is breaking the rules of giant-planet chemistry, prompting researchers to re-think the make-up of exoplanet atmospheres.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/13sep_funnyplanet/