Category Archives: Exoplanets

Exoplanets 101: Does the earth have a twin?

Posted on April 7, 2019 by alfredprah

Potential Habitable Planets An extrasolar planet is a planet that orbits a star that’s not our sun. Even though these planets can be recognized, and their sizes measured, they are light years away so it would take astronomers thousands of years to reach these extrasolar planets. To detect these planets, scientists use either one of … Continue reading Exoplanets 101: Does the earth have a twin? → Continue reading →

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Extrasolar Planets: A Search to Span Solar Systems

Posted on April 7, 2019 by Sam Bianco

Recently, I have started work as an undergraduate research assistant in the Physics and Astronomy department at my university. The project I was assigned to is of a stellar nature; we are attempting to find evidence of extrasolar planets, or planets around other stars. Though we haven’t found any planets yet, I keep thinking about … Continue reading Extrasolar Planets: A Search to Span Solar Systems → Continue reading →

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Blog 5: TESS

Posted on April 6, 2019 by Katie

NASA’s new exoplanet telescope, the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), was launched April 18, 2018 and is expected to find 20,000 exoplanets during its 2 year primary mission. This is huge increase compared to the 3,933 that are currently confirmed. Among these planets will hopefully be multiple rocky planets in the habitable zone, or zone … Continue reading Blog 5: TESS → Continue reading →

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Chemical Composition of Exoplanet Atmospheres

Posted on March 12, 2019 by richardficek

One goal of studying exoplanet atmospheres is to understand its composition and temperature. Specifically, we want to be able to recognize planets that could potentially have atmospheres most similar to Earth’s (with water vapor, oxygen, ozone, and carbon dioxide) – with the main objective being to find planets with strong water features that could support … Continue reading Chemical Composition of Exoplanet Atmospheres → Continue reading →

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Awesome Planetary Formation Videos

Posted on February 27, 2019 by drgrundstrom

I’d love to show you a whole bunch of videos that show planetary formation! Some showcase certain parts of formation better than others but they all are pretty awesome. Beginning of Solar System formation (from gas cloud to disk) from ESA (0:39) Why is the Solar System Flat? from Minute Physics (3:12) Planetary Formation – […] Continue reading →

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Walking on Diamonds

Posted on April 9, 2018 by hellouniverse1234

At some point in their life, every girl (or guy, I’m not judging!) wants a beautiful diamond on her finger. Not only are they shiny, sparkly, and oh-so-shimmery, but also incredibly expensive and valuable – from a material’s standpoint. But out there, floating out in the depths of the universe, exists a planet created with […] Continue reading →

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Naming Exoplanets: Explained

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Xave

So you’ve just discovered an exoplanet via the Astrometric method, the Doppler method, the Transit method, or some other scheme. … More Continue reading →

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Many interesting exoplanets.

Posted on March 31, 2018 by kkim7243

Even though we are the most familiar with planets within our solar system, there have been many discoveries of exoplanets with the development of scientific technology and the improvement our understanding of the Universe. Among these exoplanets, there are some interesting and habitable planets outside our solar system. First of all, “Kepler-186f” was found to … Continue reading Many interesting exoplanets. → Continue reading →

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Proxima b

Posted on January 22, 2018 by evanjmiranda

We’ve alluded to exoplanets and habitable zones in class, but you may be wondering just how similar these planets are to Earth – and if we can even get there. Proxima b is a rocky mass larger than Earth that orbits our Sun’s closest neighbor, Proxima Centauri. Astronomers have determined that Proxima b lies in … Continue reading Proxima b → Continue reading →

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The Drake Equation, Exoplanets, Self Destructive Civilizations

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Paolo Dumancas

N = R* • fp • ne • fl • fi • fc • L N = Detectable Electromagnetic emissions R* = Star Formation Rate … More Continue reading →

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