exoplanets – Astronomy Now

Kepler spacecraft, nearly out of fuel, suspends exoplanet search

9 July 2018 Astronomy Now

The Kepler spacecraft, nearly out of fuel, has suspended its search for exoplanets pending the downlink of stored data. Flight controllers hope to resume observations in August for as long as the dwindling propellant holds out.

Ruling out false positives – and negatives – in search for life on other worlds

26 June 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers and astrobiologists are working to understand what lines of evidence will be needed to confirm the presence of life on an exoplanet, how to collect that evidence and how to avoid being misled.

Kepler finds nearly 80 more exoplanet candidates in recent search

25 June 2018 Astronomy Now

In a dress-rehearsal of sorts for NASA’s next planet-hunting satellite, researchers sifting through recent observations by NASA’s ageing Kepler space telescope have identified nearly 80 new candidate exoplanets.

X-rays, at least, no problem for planets orbiting Alpha Centauri AB

7 June 2018 William Harwood

More than a decade of observations shows any planets orbiting the two main stars in the nearby Alpha Centauri system are not being blasted by dangerous levels of radiation that would be hostile to life.

TESS planet hunter snaps test photo showing 200,000 stars

18 May 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA’s planet-hunting TESS satellite has completed a gravity assist flyby of the moon and sent back an initial test image from one of its four cameras showing about 200,000 stars. Science operations are expected to begin in mid June.

Astronomers chance upon mysterious binary companion

13 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers studying a binary star system in a thick disk of dust chanced upon a large exoplanet – or a small brown dwarf – orbiting at an enormous distance from the parent suns, apparently embedded in its own dust disk.

UK astronomers find exoplanets with sodium, helium in atmospheres

7 May 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers at the University of Exeter have found helium in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-class exoplanet – a first – and sodium in the atmosphere of another, an indicator of a cloud-free sky.

NASA’s new planet-hunting satellite begins climb into science orbit

25 April 2018 Stephen Clark

Looping back near Earth for the first time since its launch one week ago, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite fired its thrusters early Wednesday to begin boosting its orbit toward the moon for a May 17 gravity assist maneuver that will help catapult the probe into its unique science orbit.

After “terrific” launch, TESS nears first major orbit-raising burn

23 April 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s new planet-hunting TESS observatory completed its first post-launch thruster firing Saturday, setting up for a big boost Wednesday that will send the spacecraft toward the moon for a flyby next month, the next maneuvers in a two-month process to reach the mission’s final science orbit in mid-June.

All-sky surveyor launched from Cape Canaveral on the hunt for exoplanets

19 April 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, built to find planets around other stars that are close enough for detailed follow-ups by future telescopes, launched Wednesday into a unique high-altitude orbit on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.