Astronomers detect gas released in a giant planetary collision

An international team of astronomers from MIT, the National University of Ireland at Galway, University of Cambridge, and elsewhere have discovered evidence of a giant impact that occurred in a nearby star system, just 95 light years from Earth. The study represents the first detection of a planetary atmosphere that was vaporised by a giant impact.

First joint measurement of exoplanet’s mass and brightness challenges classical model of planet formation

A team of astronomers led by led by Cambridge astronomer Mathias Nowak have used the ESO instrument GRAVITY to take the first image of an exoplanet that had previously only been detected indirectly via the spectrum of its star. The result is the first set of measurements that allows astronomers to both determine an exoplanet’s intrinsic brightness and estimate its mass. For the planet, beta Pictoris c, the outcome is surprising: Even though it may have a similar mass as its sister planet beta Pictoris b, its brightness is lower by a factor 6.

Giant planets around young star raise questions about how planets form

 

Researchers have identified a young star with four Jupiter and Saturn-sized planets in orbit around it, the first time that so many massive planets have been detected in such a young system. 

The system has also set a new record for the most extreme range of orbits yet observed: the outermost planet is more than a thousand times further from the star than the innermost one, which raises interesting questions about how such a system might have formed. 

‘Sunscreen’ Layer found on Extreme Planet

NASA scientists detected a stratosphere on WASP-33b by measuring the drop in light as the planet passed behind its star (top). Temperatures in the low stratosphere rise (right) because of molecules absorbing radiation from the star; otherwise, temperatures would cool down at higher altitudes (left).

Link to the accompanying NASA vido on Youtube.

‘Sunscreen’ layer detected on distant planet