A massive, Jupiter-sized exoplanet has been discovered orbiting a small, low-mass star and this discovery is challenging theories on how planets form around their stars. This is unusual because planets this large are not supposed to form around low-mass stars.
Our galaxy likely holds hundreds of billions of planets around other stars but when and how did we begin finding them? What was the first exoplanet detected? It turns out that the first discovery wasn’t one, but two planets in the same system.
What are the best ways to see planets around other stars? One can imagine that it is not easy. This episode looks at ways astronomers find exoplanets.
WASP-39 b is a hot and puffy planet with a mass roughly one-quarter that of Jupiter and a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter
Aside from our own solar system, one of the most studied stellar systems lies about 40 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Aquarius. Seven rocky exoplanets orbiting the TRAPPIST-1 star. more about it at #365DaysOfAstro
Astronomers have found evidence of a possible planet outside of our Milky Way galaxy. If confirmed, this is the first time that a planet has been detected in another galaxy. It is located in the spiral galaxy Messier 51, also called the Whirlpool Galaxy.
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected its first exoplanet. Its name is LHS 475b, and astronomers believe it is remarkably similar to our own home planet.
Astronomers have found a planet around a red giant star that should have been destroyed, yet it still exists, leaving astronomers to wonder why the planet is still there. So what’s the puzzle?
Proxima Centauri-b is the closest exoplanet to Earth and lies within the habitable zone of its star. And not only that, but it’s in the habitable zone!
Astronomers estimate there are more planets in our galaxy than there are stars. Just how many is that?