exoplanets – Astronomy Now

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.

British-led exoplanet mission selected as ESA’s next space science probe

22 March 2018 Stephen Clark

A mission proposed by a British-led science team to investigate the atmospheres of planets around other stars has been selected by the European Space Agency for launch in the late 2020s, officials announced this week.

New instrument built to search for Earth-like exo-planets

14 March 2018 William Harwood

New high precision spectrometers are expected to help ground-based telescopes detect the presence of Earth-size planets orbiting other stars by measuring subtle changes in starlight caused by the gravitational tugs of orbiting exoplanets.

Exoplanet-hunting satellite arrives in Florida for April launch

18 February 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final testing, fueling and attachment to a Falcon 9 launcher for liftoff in mid-April, a delay of nearly one month to allow SpaceX additional time to prepare the rocket for the mission.

Unlocking the mysteries of super Earths

8 February 2018 Astronomy Now

Three planets orbiting a star 100 light years away may serve as a test bed of sorts to shed light on the dividing line between rocky super Earths and sub-Neptune “gassy” planets with the full range represented in a single solar system.