Planetary

This illustration shows a white dwarf star siphoning off debris from shattered objects in a planetary system. The Hubble Space Telescope detects the spectral signature of the vaporized debris that revealed a combination of rocky-metallic and icy material, the ingredients of planets. The findings help describe the violent nature of evolved planetary systems and the composition of their disintegrating bodies. Credit: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)Both Rocky and Icy Bodies Were Identified Among the Debris on the Surface…

Skywatchers in June will want to see the planets Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, the Hercules Cluster, and the constellation Lyra.What’s Up for June? A planetary breakup, prime viewing for a well-known star cluster, and the constellation Lyra.Skywatching highlights for June 2022 include the gathering of four naked-eye planets (<span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Saturn</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Saturn is the…

If a large asteroid struck the Earth, it could have devastating consequences.Over 100 participants from 18 countries – including <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is…

Is our Solar System comparable to other solar systems? What do other systems look like? We know from exoplanet studies that many other systems have hot Jupiters, massive gas giants that orbit extremely close to their stars. Is that normal, and our Solar System is the outlier?  One way of addressing these questions is to study the planet-forming disks around young stars to see how they evolve.But studying a large sample of these systems is the only way to get an answer.So that's what a group of astronomers did when they…