nickwinlund77 shares a report from Phys.Org: A new study finds that Earth’s water may have come from materials that were present in the inner solar system at the time the planet formed — instead of far-reaching comets or asteroids delivering such water. The findings published Aug. 28 in Science suggest that Earth may have always been wet. Researchers from the Centre…
Tag: planet formation
A surprising spiral around a planet factory
A new image of the planet-forming disk around the young star RU Lup reveals a beautiful and unexpected massive spiral of gas, reminiscent of a spiral galaxy. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/ru-lup-spiral-shaped-protoplanetary-disk…
Surprisingly dense exoplanet challenges planet formation theories
New detailed observations with NSF’s NOIRLab facilities reveal a young exoplanet, orbiting a young star in the Hyades cluster, that is unusually dense for its size and age. Weighing in at 25 Earth-masses, and slightly smaller than Neptune, this exoplanet’s existence is at odds with the predictions of leading planet formation theories. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-surprisingly-dense-exoplanet-planet-formation.html…
Designing better asteroid explorers
Recent NASA missions to asteroids have gathered important data about the early evolution of our Solar System, planet formation, and how life may have originated on Earth. These missions also provide crucial information to deflect asteroids that could hit Earth. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-07-asteroid-explorers.html…
The cosmic commute towards star and planet formation
The molecular gas in galaxies is organized into a hierarchy of structures. The molecular material in giant molecular gas clouds travels along intricate networks of filamentary gas lanes towards the congested centers of gas and dust where it is compressed into stars and planets, much like the millions of people commuting to cities for work around the world. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-07-cosmic-commute-star-planet-formation.html…
In planet formation, it’s location, location, location
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are finding that planets have a tough time forming in the rough-and-tumble central region of the massive, crowded star cluster Westerlund 2. Located 20,000 light-years away, Westerlund 2 is a unique laboratory to study stellar evolutionary processes because it’s relatively nearby, quite young, and contains a large stellar population. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-05-planet-formation.html…
The mysterious yellow skies of WASP-79b
Scientists studying the huge, hot exoplanet WASP-79b have found that, surprisingly, the planet has yellow skies instead of blue. But why it does is still a mystery. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/wasp-79b-exoplanets-atmosphere-rayleigh-scattering…
Update on 2I/Borisov, the first known interstellar comet
The first known interstellar comet – 21/Borisov – probably came here from a red dwarf star, according to a new study of data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/comet-21-borisov-comets-red-dwarf-stars-hubble-space-telescope…
Top 5 Mercury mysteries that BepiColombo will solve
BepiColombo – a joint mission of Europe and Japan – successfully passed Earth last night and is now headed toward the innermost part of the solar system. Here are some questions about our sun’s innermost planet, Mercury, the spacecraft is expected to answer. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/top-5-mercury-mysteries-that-bepicolombo-will-solve…
The strange orbits of ‘Tatooine’ planetary disks
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found striking orbital geometries in protoplanetary disks around binary stars. While disks orbiting the most compact binary star systems share very nearly the same plane, disks encircling wide binaries have orbital planes that are severely tilted. These systems can teach us about planet formation in complex environments. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-03-strange-orbits-tatooine-planetary-disks.html…