Astronomers have confirmed that an object with the nickname of Farfarout is, to date, the farthest object we’ve seen in the solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/farthest-known-object-solar-system-farfarout…
Tag: dwarf planets
220 years ago today: 1st asteroid discovered
Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the asteroid Ceres – now considered a dwarf planet – on January 1, 1801. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/jan-1-1801-discovery-of-ceres…
Detailing the formation of distant solar systems with NASA’s Webb Telescope
We live in a mature solar system—eight planets and several dwarf planets (like Pluto) have formed, the latter within the rock- and debris-filled region known as the Kuiper Belt. If we could turn back time, what would we see as our solar system formed? While we can’t answer this question directly, researchers can study other systems that are actively forming—along with…
Ancient life signs under dinosaur-killing Chicxulub crater
Researchers have found evidence for an ancient microbial ecosystem in a hydrothermal system beneath Mexico’s Chicxulub Crater, thought to be the site of the impact that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/dinosaur-killing-chicxulub-impact-crater-hydrothermal-microbial…
See all 5 bright planets in November!
See all five bright planets in November 2020. Three of them – Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – pop out first thing at dusk and nightfall. The other two – Mercury and Venus – are found in the early morning sky. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/see-all-5-bright-planets-in-november…
NASA’s Webb to examine objects in the graveyard of the solar system
Beyond the orbit of Neptune, a diverse collection of thousands of dwarf planets and other relatively small objects dwells in a region called the Kuiper Belt. These often-pristine leftovers from our solar system’s days of planet formation are called Kuiper Belt objects, or trans-Neptunian objects. NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will examine an assortment of these icy bodies in a…
Lighting a path to find Planet Nine
The search for Planet Nine – a hypothesized 9th planet in our solar system – may come down to pinpointing the faintest orbital trails in an incredibly dark corner of space. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/lighting-path-to-find-planet-nine…
Super-Earth and sub-Neptune found orbiting a red dwarf star
Astronomers using a telescope in Mexico have found two more exoplanets – a super-Earth and a sub-Neptune – orbiting a red dwarf star 120 light-years from Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/super-earth-sub-neptune-orbiting-red-dwarf-star-toi-1266…
Uranian moons in new light
More than 230 years ago astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus and two of its moons. Using the Herschel Space Observatory, a group of astronomers led by Örs H. Detre of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy now has succeeded in determining physical properties of the five main moons of Uranus. The measured infrared radiation, which is generated by the…
Ceres’ bright spots come from salty water below
The mysterious bright spots on Ceres caused a sensation when the Dawn spacecraft first spied them in 2015. Now, they’re known to be salt deposits from a recent or ongoing percolation of briny water from a large reservoir in Ceres’ interior. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/bright-areas-dwarf-planet-ceres-salty-water-below…