Exoplanets – worlds of other suns

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[Time_Traveller]

Astronomers Accidentally Capture Planet Collision for the First Time

October 16, 2023



Astronomers in Europe have captured the world’s first recording of an exoplanet collision and its subsequent aftermath—and it was all without their knowledge. Thanks to an amateur astronomer who happened upon the data on social media, the group can now use its accidental observation to fuel exoplanet research. They might even glean unexpected insights into the two ill-fated masses’ solar system, roughly 1,800 from Earth.

It all started with a look at an “otherwise unexceptional” star called 2MASS J08152329-3859234. (Now that the star is a bit more exceptional, it’s been christened ASASSN-21qj instead.) Research teams at the University of Bristol and Leiden University were viewing the star’s optical and infrared photometry data when they elected to share some of the data on social media. An unnamed “eagle-eyed amateur astronomer” saw the star’s light curve and noticed an atypical infrared brightening, according to the University of Bristol. They responded to the researchers’ post, unwittingly kicking off a two-year deep dive.

https://www.extremetech.com/aerospace/a ... ovpbkIcO-Y

[caltrek]

A New Study Suggests That the Universe May Be Teeming with Gas Giants Like Jupiter
by Kiona Smith
October 17, 2023

Introduction:

(Inverse) Gas giants like Jupiter may be more common than we thought, at least in some parts of the galaxy.

For a long time, we assumed that our Solar System was the very model of what a star system should look like: a few rocky little planets orbiting moderately close to the Sun, with giants of gas and ice farther out. But we were wrong. Many of the star systems we know of have “hot Jupiters,” gas giants orbiting perilously close to their stars, even closer than Mercury orbits the Sun. It’s rare to find a gas giant like Jupiter in the outer reaches of a star system.

A recent study suggests that that planets like Jupiter may be more common than we thought; they just need quiet neighborhoods to grow up in. That could have interesting implications for the history of our own Solar System.

Raffaele Gratten, of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, and his colleagues published their recent study in the journal Nature Communications.

Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/science/jupite ... itions

[firestar464]

Two Neptune-sized exoplanets discovered with TESS

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-neptune-s ... -tess.html

[firestar464]

New exoplanet-informed research sets clearer bounds on the search for radio technosignatures

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-exoplanet ... tures.html

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Roman set to ID our furthest-known exoplanet in its uncharted-space jaunt
By Bronwyn Thompson
October 25, 2023

https://newatlas.com/space/roman-exoplanet-milkyway/

With a field of view 100 times greater than the Hubble, NASA’s anticipated Roman Space Telescope is set to measure light from a billion galaxies, perform a microlensing survey deep in the Milky Way to find thousands of exoplanets, monitor hundreds of millions of stars and offer a look into distant galactic neighborhoods that could offer the greatest discoveries of this century so far.

NASA has updated details of the epic mission that’s set to begin as early as October 2026, 16 years on from its conceptual go-ahead in the 2010 United States National Research Council Decadal Survey, and a decade on from its development green light in February 2016.

[weatheriscool]

New Mass and Radius Constraints on the LHS 1140 Planets -- LHS 1140 b is Either a Temperate Mini-Neptune or a Water World
https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.15490

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A system of seven sweltering planets has been revealed by continued study of data from NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope: Each one is bathed in more radiant heat from their host star per area than any planet in our solar system. Also unlike any of our immediate neighbors, all seven planets in this system, named Kepler-385, are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. It is one of only a few planetary systems known to contain more than six verified planets or planet candidates. The Kepler-385 system is among the highlights of a new Kepler catalog that contains almost 4,400 planet candidates, including more than 700 multi-planet systems.

“We’ve assembled the most accurate list of Kepler planet candidates and their properties to date,” said Jack Lissauer, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and lead author on the paper presenting the new catalog. “NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the majority of known exoplanets, and this new catalog will enable astronomers to learn more about their characteristics.”

At the center of the Kepler-385 system is a Sun-like star about 10% larger and 5% hotter than the Sun. The two inner planets, both slightly larger than Earth, are probably rocky and may have thin atmospheres. The other five planets are larger – each with a radius about twice the size of Earth’s – and expected to be enshrouded in thick atmospheres.

I think it is sad that we don't create another kepler that is probably fitted with more advanced tech as in a kepler-2 and launch it. Tess is a utter fucking failure...Kepler found a shit ton of small earth like and bigger and smaller planets.

[firestar464]

Link found between age of stars and frequency of hot Jupiters

https://phys.org/news/2023-11-link-age- ... y-hot.html