For the first time, astronomers have detected the vaporized remains of the crusts of long-dead Earth-like and Mars-like planets in the atmospheres of white dwarf stars. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/vaporized-earth-like-mars-like-crusts-white-dwarf-stars…
Tag: earth-like
Vaporised crusts of Earth-like planets found in dying stars
Remnants of planets with Earth-like crusts have been discovered in the atmospheres of four nearby white dwarf stars by University of Warwick astronomers, offering a glimpse of the planets that may have once orbited them up to billions of years ago. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-vaporised-crusts-earth-like-planets-dying.html…
Update on the 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby TRAPPIST-1
A new study of the seven Earth-sized exoplanets around TRAPPIST-1 indicate that all 7 planets are extremely similar to each other in makeup, but potentially quite different from Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/7-trappist-1-planets-similar-composition-unlike-earth…
Striped brown dwarf looks a lot like Jupiter
The surface features of brown dwarfs – objects midway in mass between planets and stars – can’t be seen. But researchers have found a way to reveal Jupiter-like stripes and bands in the atmosphere of the closest brown dwarf, Luhman 16B. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/brown-dwarf-luhman-16b-jupiter-like-stripes…
An Earth-like planet might orbit our closest single sun-like star
Tau Ceti is a star just 12 light years away – and it could host a planet called PXP-4 that sits as close to the star as Earth does to our sun and has years about as long as ours Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264919-an-earth-like-planet-might-orbit-our-closest-single-sun-like-star/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Venus was once more Earth-like, but climate change made it uninhabitable
We can learn a lot about climate change from Venus, our sister planet. Venus currently has a surface temperature of 450℃ (the temperature of an oven’s self-cleaning cycle) and an atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide (96 percent) with a density 90 times that of Earth’s. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-venus-earth-like-climate-uninhabitable.html…
An Earth-like stellar wind for Proxima Centauri c
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun, and its planet, Proxima Cen b (“Proxima b”), lies in its habitable zone (the distance range within which surface water can be liquid), making the planet a prime target for exoplanet characterization. The star is an M- dwarf with a mass of only 0.12 solar-masses and an effective surface temperature of about…
Curiosity rover spots signs of ancient megafloods on Mars
We already know that Gale Crater on Mars used to hold a lake or series of lakes a few billion years ago. Now, NASA’s Curiosity rover has found evidence for ancient giant floods that washed through the region as well. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/megafloods-gale-crater-mars-life-curiosity-rover…
Pluto’s landscape more like Earth’s than previously thought
New analysis of data gathered from New Horizons’ 2015 flyby of Pluto shows evidence of Earth-like snow-capped mountains and the potential for glaciers made of methane ice. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/pluto-landscape-more-like-earths-than-previously-thought…
Hubble telescope reveals asteroid Psyche’s rusty surface
Scientists already had Psyche classified as a metallic asteroid, but new observations with the Hubble telescope reveal its rusty surface and provide scientists with a unique view into what Earth-like planets are like during their formation. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/hubble-asteroid-psyche-iron-nickel-rust-protoplanet…