All posts tagged: Planets

“Dirty snowballs” have joined together since the planets formed

“Dirty snowballs” have joined together since the planets formed

Published by Jenni Sidey

Across cosmic time and space, stellar systems form. This image shows the Orion Molecular Clouds, the target of the VANDAM survey. Yellow dots are the locations of the observed protostars on a blue background image made by Herschel. Side panels show nine young protostars imaged by ALMA (blue) and the VLA (orange). Protoplanetary disks not only are rich in organic molecules, but contain species that are not often seen in typical interstellar dust clouds. For several million years after the protostar phase completes and the star reaches equilibrium, circumstellar gas-rich material can persist. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), J. Tobin; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello; Herschel/ESA Molecular gas clouds contract, fragment, and portions of it collapse. This false-color look inside the star-forming region G333.23–0.06 shows ALMA data of multiple systems of high-mass protostars. Within these clumps of matter, ALMA has found multi-star systems, with singlet stars being a relative rarity. Credit: S. Li, MPIA / J. Neidel, MPIA Graphics Department; Data: ALMA Observatory Some fragmented regions form protostars, surrounded by a protoplanetary disk. This planet-forming protoplanetary disk, IRAS 04302+2247, …

‘Superpuff‘ planets are as dense as cotton candy

‘Superpuff‘ planets are as dense as cotton candy

Published by Miika Tikkanen

A pair of newly found planets are the puffiest worlds ever seen. They’re both about the size of Jupiter but with less than 6 percent of its mass. In terms of density, these planets are “like candy floss or shaving foam,” says George Dransfield. She’s an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford in England. “They’re the lightest planets that are Jupiter-sized.” Both orbit TOI 791. That’s a sunlike star about 1,113 light-years from Earth. The TESS space telescope spotted them as they passed — or transited — in front of their star and blocked some of its light. Comparing the star when it was blocked and unblocked let Dransfield and others measure the planets’ width. One world is about 0.993 times as wide as Jupiter. The other has about 1.155 times Jupiter’s width. For the team to find their density, it needed to know both the planets’ size and mass. Transits only give their size. That’s where their orbits come in. The two planets periodically pass by one another as they circle their star. As they …

Two ‘super-puff’ planets are as wispy as cotton candy

Two ‘super-puff’ planets are as wispy as cotton candy

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. A pair of sibling gas giants originally spotted by citizen scientists are so lightweight that their density resembles wispy cotton candy more than a standard atmosphere. The rare duo detailed today in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society even have an appropriate technical term to describe them. TOI-791 b and TOI-791 c fit the bill for “super-puff” planets. “Only a handful of these super-puffy planets are known, and it is even rarer to find two in the same system,” George Dransfield, a study co-author and University of Oxford astrophysicist said in a statement. “Their extremely low densities make them fascinating targets for understanding how planetary systems form and evolve.” The two planets are situated about 1,110 light-years from Earth, in …

Do Aliens from Other Planets Also Believe in Gods?

Do Aliens from Other Planets Also Believe in Gods?

Published by Jenni Sidey

One day, probably far off in the very distant future, if astronomers are correct in their assumptions about the vastness of space, Earth will be visited by intelligent beings from another planet. Astrobiologists predict that their biochemistry will be very similar to ours. This prediction is based on evidence about bioactive molecules and familiar amino acids that occur throughout space and on other planets. Will they be bilaterally symmetrical with four limbs? We can’t predict what they will look like; however, I think that they will be able to tell us about their gods and their spiritual rituals. My prediction is based on only two assumptions. First, our visitors from space can die; they are not immortal. Second, they care about each other. When one of their own dies, they mourn them, just as humans do. These assumptions, I think, will have led these aliens to invent gods and a belief in the afterlife. Belief in the afterlife, where we defeat death and are reunited with loved ones who have died, is the basis of …