Category Archives: Exoplanets

Extrasolar Planets: A Search to Span Solar Systems

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

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

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

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

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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Walking on Diamonds

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

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.

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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Many interesting exoplanets.

Even though we are mostly familiar with planets within our solar system, there have been many discoveries of exoplanets with the development of scientific technology and the improvement of 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

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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