planet
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Classical Astronomers Observed a Different Great Red Spot on Jupiter
In 1665, astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini observed a massive storm raging on Jupiter. It became known as the Great Red Spot, a swirling oval of clouds that’s almost twice as wide as Earth. New research, however, suggests that the red-hued feature spotted by Cassini is not the same storm we see today. Using historical observations…
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Newly Discovered Exoplanet Has Nearly the Same Surface Temperatures as Earth
A newly discovered exoplanet, with its remarkably temperate surface temperature, is suddenly one of the most intriguing objects in our immediate celestial neighborhood. This rocky Venus-sized world transits a red dwarf star, offering astronomers the rare opportunity to study whether such planets can retain their atmospheres and potentially support life. Gliese 12 b, comparable in…
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Something Is Messing With a Ring System Between Saturn and Uranus
A previously unknown satellite may be shaping the rings of Chariklo, a petite body that orbits the Sun between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, according to a team of astronomers that recently simulated the rings’ dynamics. Chariklo is about 160 miles (257.5 kilometers) across and is one of the Centaurs, a group of icy…
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‘Mind Blowing’ Trojan Planet Suspected of Sharing the Same Orbit as Its Sibling
A group of radio telescopes in the Chilean desert was aimed at a young star system 400 light years away when it detected something unusual: a cloud of debris chasing a planet along the same orbit. The debris could be a planet in the midst of being born or the remains of one that already…