A new study from researchers in the Netherlands shows how scientists can detect exoplanets orbiting red dwarf stars, and learn about their environments, from the radio waves generated by auroras on those worlds. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/exoplanets-red-dwarfs-radio-waves-auroras…
Tag: dwarf star
LOFAR pioneers new way to study exoplanet environments
sing the Dutch-led Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope, astronomers have discovered unusual radio waves coming from the nearby red dwarf star GJ1151. The radio waves bear the tell-tale signature of aurorae caused by an interaction between a star and its planet. The radio emission from a star-planet interaction has been predicted for over thirty-years but this is the first time…
Goldilocks stars best for alien life?
A new research study suggests that K-type dwarf stars (smaller and cooler than our sun) are the best place to search for alien life. These stars are not too hot, not too cool, and not too violent for life to evolve. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/goldilocks-stars-g-k-dwarfs-best-for-alien-life…
NASA Has Discovered an Earth-Sized World in a Star’s Habitable Zone
“NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered its first Earth-size planet in its star’s habitable zone, the range of distances where conditions may be just right to allow the presence of liquid water on the surface,” reports NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center: Scientists confirmed the find, called TOI 700 d, using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and have modeled the planet’s…
These 2 stars in Sagitta will merge and explode by this century’s end
When the 2 stars in the binary star system V Sagittae come together – around the year 2083, astronomers say – they’ll create a star explosion called a nova. Then V Sagittae will temporarily outshine all the stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/v-sagittae-to-go-nova-around-2083…
This white dwarf star has a giant, evaporating planet
White dwarf stars are typically more or less Earth-sized. The planet orbiting white dwarf WDJ0914+1914 appears to be at least twice as big as its star! High intensity radiation from its star is causing this planet to evaporate. Will the same thing happen in our solar system someday? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/evaporating-giant-exoplanet-white-dwarf-star…
First giant planet around white dwarf found
Researchers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have, for the first time, found evidence of a giant planet associated with a white dwarf star. The planet orbits the hot white dwarf, the remnant of a Sun-like star, at close range, causing its atmosphere to be stripped away and form a disc of gas around the star. This unique system hints at what…
Astronomers propose a novel method of finding atmospheres on rocky worlds
When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launches in 2021, one of its most anticipated contributions to astronomy will be the study of exoplanets—planets orbiting distant stars. Among the most pressing questions in exoplanet science is: Can a small, rocky exoplanet orbiting close to a red dwarf star hold onto an atmosphere? Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-12-astronomers-method-atmospheres-rocky-worlds.html…
Exoplanet-tilt study boosts hope of complex life elsewhere
Most sunlike stars have at least one other star as a companion. Prior research has shown planets can exist in these systems, but how likely are these planets to evolve complex life? A new study sheds some light, by looking at how planets spin in double star systems. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/exoplanets-axial-tilt-evolution-of-complex-life-earth…
TESS spacecraft is finding hundreds of exoplanets
… and it’s poised to find thousands more. But will we find another Earth? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/tess-spacecraft-finding-exoplanets…