planet

  • This Earth-Sized Star Rotates Once Every 25 Seconds

    This Earth-Sized Star Rotates Once Every 25 Seconds

    Isaac Schultz

    Astronomers announced this week the discovery of the fastest-rotating white dwarf star on record, with a spin rate of once every 25 seconds. The star is about the size of Earth but, by the team’s measurements, contains least 200,000 times more mass, making the dense little object a spinning freak of nature.

  • Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Spinning Faster

    Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Spinning Faster

    Isaac Schultz

    NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope keeps an eye on Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a 16,093 km-wide storm system that has been swirling for at least 190 years and possibly much longer. Recent data from the telescope indicates that the spot’s outer winds have picked up speed in the past decade.

  • Astrophysicists Suggest New Place Where Planet Nine Could Be Hiding

    Astrophysicists Suggest New Place Where Planet Nine Could Be Hiding

    Isaac Schultz

    Five years ago, a couple of astronomers declared they had found evidence for another planet in our solar system, a so-called “Planet X.” Though now commonly referred to as Planet Nine, the cosmic object — much bigger than Earth and lurking somewhere in the solar system’s outer reaches — is still very much theoretical, though…