Exoplanets – worlds of other suns

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https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exopl ... rth-venus/
Gliese 12 b: A Temperate Earth-sized Planet at 12 pc Ideal for Atmospheric Transmission Spectroscopy.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3 ... ad3642/pdf

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With Wobbling Stars, Astronomers Gauge Mass of 126 Exoplanets and Find 15 New Ones
May 24, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) LAWRENCE — Using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, an astronomer at the University of Kansas led a study appearing today revealing 15 new exoplanets — planets beyond our solar system — along with the mass of 126 other exoplanets. The findings give astronomers new understanding of the makeup of exoplanets and their star systems generally.

The study cataloging the exoplanets — comprising severe and exceptional environments, some of which hold promise to support life — was conducted under auspices of the TESS-Keck Survey and appears in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement.

“These two facilities (TESS and Keck) work synergistically to study exoplanets,” said lead author Alex Polanski, doctoral student in physics & astronomy at KU, where he works at the KU ExoLab, a research group dedicated to the discovery and characterization of nearby planetary systems. “TESS is a satellite orbiting above Earth's atmosphere, scanning the sky for exoplanets using the transit method.”

This transit method involves observing a planet as it passes in front of its host star, causing a slight dimming of the star's light.

“By detecting and measuring these transit events, researchers can determine the planet's orbital period and size,” Polanski said. “Larger planets block more light, making them easier to detect. However, transit data doesn't provide information about the planet’s mass, which is crucial for understanding its composition.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1045953

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BREAKING : Potentially habitable exoplanet with Earth-like size and temperatures detected just 40 light years away
https://x.com/latestinspace/status/1794569694051197067

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TESS finds intriguing world sized between Earth and Venus
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-tess-intr ... earth.html
by Francis Reddy, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Using observations by NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and many other facilities, two international teams of astronomers have discovered a planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus only 40 light-years away. Multiple factors make it a candidate well-suited for further study using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

TESS stares at a large swath of the sky for about a month at a time, tracking the brightness changes of tens of thousands of stars at intervals ranging from 20 seconds to 30 minutes. Capturing transits—brief, regular dimmings of stars caused by the passage of orbiting worlds—is one of the mission's primary goals.

"We've found the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size world located to date," said Masayuki Kuzuhara, a project assistant professor at the Astrobiology Center in Tokyo, who co-led one research team with Akihiko Fukui, a project assistant professor at the University of Tokyo. "Although we don't yet know whether it possesses an atmosphere, we've been thinking of it as an exo-Venus, with similar size and energy received from its star as our planetary neighbor in the solar system."

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TOI-1685 b is a Hot Rocky Super-Earth: Updates to the Stellar and Planet Parameters of a Popular JWST Cycle 2 Target
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.14895

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Astronomers Finally Discovered Why WASP-107 b Is So Gassy, Bloated, and Distended
by Doris Elín Urrutia
May 26, 2024

Introduction:

(Inverse) Two iconic space telescopes have shed light on why a planet dwelling around another star is “puffy.”

This exoplanet, called WASP-107 b, is giant and full of gas. But, it’s strange. According to a Monday announcement from NASA, this body has 80 percent the volume of Jupiter, but less than 10 percent of its mass.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers could study the exoplanet’s inflated body in a fresh way.

WHY SO PUFFY?

Astronomers can learn a lot about what exoplanets are made of without having to personally go there. Scientists use a special technique, called spectroscopy, to analyze the light that comes off the surface of these exoplanets. “Different materials emit and interact with different wavelengths (colors) of light in different ways,” explain JWST officials. Then, they interpret their compositions from this data. JWST and Hubble carry instruments to do just that.

Spectroscopy revealed WASP 107-b had very little methane in its atmosphere. This tells astronomers that the exoplanet is hot. Methane is unstable at high temperatures

Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/science/jwst-h ... exoplanet


An illustration of puffy exoplanet WASP-107 b.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, RALF CRAWFORD (STSCI)

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Rogue Planets May Originate from 'Twisted Tatooine' Double Star Systems
by Robert Lea
June 3, 2024

Introduction:

(Space.com) Star Wars fans will definitely get a kick out of binary star systems nicknamed "Tatooine" systems — a reference to the planet Luke Skywalker stands on to gaze up at twin suns in Star Wars: A New Hope. As it turns out, some of the planets in the real-life versions of these systems may have been getting a much more literal kick out of them, too.

New research suggests "rogue planets" that wander the Milky Way — aka, planets that are isolated from parent stars and live as cosmic orphans — may be getting kicked out of double, or binary, star systems. But there's a twist (literally)!

The team found that rogue planets are more likely to be ejected from "twisted Tatooine" systems specifically. These are systems in which the stars and the planets that orbit those are misaligned, thus existing at tilted angles from one another.

As telescopes have improved, the detection of these rogue planets has burgeoned to the point that astronomers think free-floating planetary bodies vastly outnumber stars in cozy arrangements, like the solar system, in the Milky Way. Recent projects put the number of rogue planets ejected from their home systems in our galaxy as high as a quadrillion (10 followed by 14 zeroes). These new twisted-Tatooine findings could help explain why rogue planets are so common.

"A normal planetary system, like our solar system, is comprised of multiple planets orbiting a single star. On the other hand, binary stars are also common, accounting for more than 50% of star systems," Cheng Chen, team leader and an astrophysicist at the University of Leeds, told Space.com. "If there are planets orbiting around a binary, we call it a 'circumbinary planetary system.'"

Read more here: https://www.space.com/twisted-tatooine ... ue-worlds

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Small, cool and sulfurous exoplanet may help write recipe for planetary formation

https://phys.org/news/2024-06-small-coo ... ecipe.html