exoplanet
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Astronomers Spot a Mystery Object Spewing Dust in Space
Astronomers looking over data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) recently came across something weird: an object called TIC 400799224 has been fluctuating in brightness, like a star being routinely eclipsed. Their analysis of the observations suggests that TIC 400799224 is actually two stars, one of which is being orbited by a mystery object.…
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The Search for Life Around Alpha Centauri Just Took a Major Leap Forward
Our nearest neighbour, Alpha Centauri, is 4.37 light-years from Earth, which is super close from a cosmological perspective but achingly far from a human point of view. A new telescope promises to bring this intriguing star system, and any habitable planets it holds, into closer view.
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Astronomers Confirm Discovery of Moon-Forming Disk Around Young Exoplanet
Two years ago, astronomers spotted an apparent circumplanetary disk around a planet outside of our solar system, but they couldn’t be certain. Follow-up observations now show they were right, in a discovery that could improve our understanding of exomoons and how they form in emerging star systems.
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Pack Your Bags: Scientists Found An Exoplanet With A Stratosphere
We’re obsessed with the idea that somewhere out there in space there might be other places just like Earth — we’d even settle for remotely like Earth. Now, an international team of astronomers have spotted a planet with a stratosphere: a layer in the upper atmosphere where temperature increases with altitude, and the closest thing…