Kepler space telescope

Researchers using data from the Kepler Space Telescope have found that some exoplanets are shrinking due to loss of their atmospheres, likely caused by radiation from their cores. This discovery helps explain the observed size gap in exoplanets and indicates a significant atmospheric loss process different from the previously theorized photoevaporation.A new study could explain the ‘missing’ exoplanets between super-Earths and sub-Neptunes.Some exoplanets seem to be losing their atmospheres and shrinking. In a new study…

NASA's retired Kepler Space Telescope, which was designed to study the Milky Way Galaxy and look for exoplanets may help researchers unveil why some of these planets have, what is called a "size gap". Over the years, more than 5000 exoplanets have been discovered. These planets have different sizes and masses as some are more massive than the Earth. Now, scientists may have come across a reason why the exoplanets are shrinking in size. Know what experts say about the phenomena.Why exoplanets are shrinking?According to…

Exoplanets pushing their atmospheres away may explain a gap in exoplanet masses, according to a team of researchers that recently studied data from NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope.What Is Planet Nine and Why Can’t We Find It?The activity could explain an absence of exoplanets with masses between 1.5 to 2 times the size of Earth, according to findings published this week in The Astronomical Journal.“Exoplanet scientists have enough data now to say that this gap is not a fluke,” said Jessie Christiansen, a research…

Five years since the Kepler Space Telescope was retired, a team of astronomers believe they’ve found exoplanets captured by some of the veteran observatory’s last light.What Is Planet Nine and Why Can’t We Find It?Kepler launched to space in 2009 with one essential task: find new worlds. In its nearly decade-long tenure in solar orbit, Kepler found over 2,600 exoplanets, including some that lurk in the so-called “Goldilocks Zone” of habitability, suggesting that they may have conditions suitable for fostering life.Kepler…

AI is the biggest buzzword these days courtesy ChatGPT. And guess what? AI is now helping scientists to discover planets out there in space! A recent study conducted by a research team from the University of Georgia confirmed the evidence of a new planet outside our solar system which has been identified by machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence. This breakthrough marks an initial milestone in bringing AI into practice to discover unknown exoplanets.The study says that an exoplanet can be determined just…

TRAPPIST-1b is a superhot rocky world just 40 light-years away. Astronomers recently trained the Webb Space Telescope this exoplanet, a world in the TRAPPIST-1 star system, and found that it’s devoid of an atmosphere.The finding could alter what we know about the formation of exoplanets that orbit similar ultracool red dwarf stars, also known as M stars. Because life as we know it needs an atmosphere to survive, the research also has implications for the search for life beyond Earth. The team’s findings are published…

An artist’s rendition of the Kepler-138 system, with the Earth-like water world Kepler-138d in the foreground.Illustration: NASA, ESA, L. Hustak (STScI)Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have observed two exoplanets that may be examples of a long-hypothesized planetary classification: a water world.The planets are known as Kepler-138c and Kepler-138d and are located in a star system 218 light-years away, according to a release from the European Space Agency. The team, led by Caroline Piaulet of the Institute for…

Astronomers have now discovered two exoplanets that are unlike any…

TESS has been discovering alien worlds outside of our solar system.Illustration: NASAIn the midst of surveying thousands of stars to spot exoplanets, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) entered into safe mode on Monday. It’s not yet clear what happened to the spacecraft, but engineers are trying to resuscitate the planet hunter. What’s Your First Fandom? | New York Comic Con 2022The spacecraft is stable, but early investigations suggests it suffered from a computer glitch, NASA announced on Wednesday. The…

It’s now been six months since the Webb Space Telescope launched from French Guiana towards its observation point in space, one million miles from us. Now the telescope’s first color images are finally being taken; they will be released to the public on July 12.In a press conference today, NASA officials offered a couple tantalizing details about the images and gave some updates on the Webb’sperformance. The team announced that the upcoming release will include the deepest-ever image of the universe, and at least one…