Early in 2017, Assistant Professor Yoko Oya gave graduate student Yuki Okoda some recent complex data on a nearby star with which she could begin her Ph.D. Little did she realize that what she would find could unlock not only the secrets of how planets form but possibly her career as a professional astronomer. The … Read more
Recent observations by NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes of ultrahot Jupiter-like planets have perplexed theorists. The spectra of these planets have suggested they have exotic — and improbable — compositions. However, a new study just published by a research team that includes Arizona State University astrophysicist Michael Line, an assistant professor in ASU’s School … Read more
Forty-four planets in solar systems beyond our own have been unveiled in one go, dwarfing the usual number of confirmations from extrasolar surveys, which is typically a dozen or less. The findings will improve our models of solar systems and may help researchers investigate exoplanet atmospheres. Novel techniques developed to validate the find could hugely … Read more
Researchers from Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) and the University of Oviedo in Spain analysed the data collected by the K2 mission of NASA’s Kepler satellite, which started in November 2013. The study, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), reveals the existence of two new planetary systems detected … Read more