Category Archives: Exoplanets

Our Solar System’s Closest Planetary Neighbor

Posted on April 3, 2017 by kic27

Proxima b is a planet much like our own Continue reading →

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Planet-hunting

Posted on April 1, 2017 by Afi Mohd Sayuti

Image of the Surface of Proxima b Why would people live on other planet? Wouldn’t our Earth suffice the human needs? The answer is absolutely. But wouldn’t it be nice to discover some other worlds other than ours? What if there are actual lives out there besides humans who proclaimed to be the dominant of… Continue reading Planet-hunting → Continue reading →

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Super-Earth(s)?

Posted on March 28, 2017 by nazshaiful

The idea of discovering new “Earth-like” planets has always intrigue me! I mean, they could be habitable planets that we can ACTUALLY live in? Just like in Terra Nova (I’ll explain more about that series in the end of this post!). Super-Earth, in short, means exoplanets in which their masses are higher than Earth’s, extra … Continue reading Super-Earth(s)? Continue reading →

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Life: A Love Story

Posted on March 28, 2017 by brynnabhall

Sitting in my late-night astronomy lab last night, we watched a computer simulation (based completely on real, observed data) take us out as far into the universe as our understanding has gone. Starting in the Himalayas, Tibet, then Planet Earth, and rapidly, sooner than I thought possible, we were so far out of my realm … More Life: A Love Story Continue reading →

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Blog #3: PSR J1719-1438 b

Posted on February 14, 2017 by lillyastro2110

PSR J1719-1438 b is a really cool planet. It’s small and massive, and oh yeah, it’s made of diamonds.   PSR J1719-1438 b orbits around star PSR J1719-1438, which is a neutron star and a pulsar. Basically, because the star’s magnetic field is so great, it sends off waves of radiation. The relationship between the star … Continue reading Blog #3: PSR J1719-1438 b Continue reading →

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Blog #2: HAT-P-2’s Heart

Posted on February 14, 2017 by lillyastro2110

A very appropriate post for Valentine’s Day. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered a unique quality of a star and its orbiting planet that are some 370 light years away. The gravitational interaction between the two cause some vibrations in HAT-P-2 when its orbiting planet HAT-P-2b gets close. HAT-P-2b is a planet with a mass … Continue reading Blog #2: HAT-P-2’s Heart Continue reading →

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Transiting Extrasolar Planets

Posted on February 14, 2017 by kic27

A method for detecting planets beyond our solar system. Continue reading →

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Color in the Universe

Posted on April 26, 2016 by imanig625

The pale blue dot is Earth, but what if Earth is the only planet that gives off that specific color? While other exoplanets can and have mimicked the pale blue color, a broader portion of Earth’s overall spectrum shows a rather subtle signature that can only be attributed to life. Earth’s blue color comes from the… Continue reading →

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Living the fast life: Kepler-70b

Posted on April 12, 2016 by d51blog

The Kepler spacecraft (which was feared lost earlier this week) has discovered a veritable treasure trove of exoplanets over its seven year mission. Some of these planets may even be habitable. Kepler-70b is decidedly not one of them. Kepler-70b is the closer of two terrestrial planets to KOI-55, a subdwarf star which was once a red giant. […] Continue reading →

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Detection of Habitable Planets

Posted on April 10, 2016 by jasperluastronomy

We talked much in class about different methods of discovering extrasolar planets, and Dr. G pointed out to us that the only reason people bother looking for extrasolar planets is to try and find life outside of our solar system.  To do this, scientists have to narrow down the list of extrasolar planets into a […] Continue reading →

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