Tag Archives: exoplanets

Jezero Sediment, TOI-715 b: Headlines and Extraterrestrial Life

Last month ended with headlines hinting that our first glimpse of extraterrestrial life was just around the corner. A week later, there’s the usual politics and pandemonium in the news: but no space aliens. I’m not surprised. I’m not disappointed, … Continue reading

Posted in Exoplanets and Aliens, Science News, Series | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Colliding Planets Near ASASSN-21qj: Maybe

They were looking for supernovae. What they found may become a double planet, like the Earth-Moon system, once it cools down. Or a planet with a giant moon, again like the Earth-Moon system. Then again, an oddly-uneven dusty disk may … Continue reading

Posted in Journal, Science News | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Double Jupiters, a JuMBO Puzzle; Antimatter Falls Down

Every time we develop new tech for studying this universe, we find something new. New to us, that is. This week, I’ll be talking about unexpected Jupiter-size objects in the Orion Nebula, and why scientists at CERN dropped a few … Continue reading

Posted in Exoplanets and Aliens, Journal, Science News, Series | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Back to Betelgeuse, Methenium in Orion, TRAPPIST-1 Update

Scientists found methenium, a simple organic compound, in a protoplanetary disk. I’ll talk about that this week, and why it’s a big deal. The planet TRAPPIST-1c is about the same size as Venus, but it’s very likely airless. Betelgeuse may … Continue reading

Posted in Exoplanets and Aliens, Science News, Series | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WASP-18 b and Other Wonderfully Weird WASP Worlds

When I started writing this, I’d planned on talking about WASP-18 b, a hot Jupiter: how we’ve found water in its atmosphere, and something odd about the planet’s temperature on the edge of its sunlit side. Down the Rabbit Hole: … Continue reading

Posted in Discursive Detours, Exoplanets and Aliens, Journal, Science News, Series | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment