Page 5 - Planetary Research News Today

A quarter century after the first exoplanet discoveries, scientists have turned toward characterizing them more precisely to gain a deeper understanding of their variety.

Ever since the first exoplanet was discovered scientists have taken a deeper interest in characterising them more precisely in order to gain a thorough understanding of their variety from large gas giants akin to Jupiter to smaller rocky Earth like planets where life might thrive

An international team involving researchers at UCL has discovered a new planet, GJ 367 b, whose surface temperature may reach 1,500 degrees Centigrade –

According to the Interactive Extrasolar Planets Catalogue, we know of some 4,878 planets in 3,604 solar systems other than our own. Only few have been found in the habitable zone around their parent star, and none have life.

As our Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago, small grains of dust and ice swirled around, left over from the formation of the Sun. Through time, they collided and stuck to each other. As they grew in size, gravity helped them clump together. One such rock grew into the Earth on which we live.

NASA's TESS telescope finds a small, iron-rich planet which could help explain the origins of Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system

NASA's TESS telescope finds a small, iron-rich planet which could help explain the origins of Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system

NASA's TESS telescope finds a small, iron-rich planet which could help explain the origins of Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system

Scientists have spotted one of the smallest planets ever discovered outside our solar system, a scorching-hot world a bit larger than Mars and just about as dense as pure iron zooming around its home star every eight hours.

Scientists are eager to find exoplanets — as these alien worlds are known — to look for good candidates that may nurture extraterrestrial life.