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There is More than 5,000 known worlds beyond our solar system.
Since the 1990s, astronomers have used ground- and space-based telescopes to look for signs of planets beyond our little corner of the universe.
Exoplanets are notoriously difficult to view directly because they are so far away from Earth.
But scientists know the signs, looking for wobbles of stars as orbiting planets use their gravitational pull, or dips in starlight as planets pass in front of their stellar hosts.
It is highly probable that there are hundreds of billions of exoplanets waiting to be discovered.
Part of the excitement around the James Webb Space Telescope is Look inside the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets and discover new worlds. This week, the space observatory has certainly delivered.
The Webb telescope has confirmed the existence of an exoplanet for the first time since the space observatory launched in December 2021.
Known as LHS 475 b, Earth is nearly the same size as Earth and is located 41 light-years away in the constellation Octans.
Scientists cannot yet determine whether the planet has an atmosphere, but the telescope’s precision capabilities are concentrated on a set of molecules. Based on this data, Webb will make a new achievement by observing the planet this summer.
The exoplanet was just one of Webb’s cosmic discoveries, announced this week at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. Moreover, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS mission, is a second Earth-sized exoplanet in an intriguing planetary system 100 light-years away – and the earth could potentially be habitable.
A year after the powerful eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, scientists are still learning about the more surprising effects of the event.
The explosion caused more than 25,500 lightning strikes in just five minutes, according to a new report. The event also triggered nearly 400,000 lightning strikes over the course of six hours, accounting for half of all lightning strikes in the world at the time of the eruption’s peak.
But even more surprising is that the January 2022 eruption Just one factor in a year of extremes for lightning Worldwide.
Blooming flowers are notoriously temporary, but a specimen about 40 million years old remains trapped in amber and frozen in time.
Researchers took another look at the extraordinary amber fossil first documented in 1872. Largest known flower fossilized in amber 1.1 inches (28 millimeters) in diameter.
Scientists were able to extract some of the flower’s pollen and discovered that it was related to a group of modern plants.
Meanwhile, archaeologists have uncovered eight prehistoric ostrich eggs next to an ancient fire pit in Israel.
Russian space agency Roscosmos will launch an uncrewed backup spacecraft to the International Space Station as a return vehicle for three crew members after the Soyuz capsule was damaged in December.
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio were launched to the space station in September.
A commission finds damage to the pipeline of the Soyuz radiator caused by a micrometeoroid effectA hole less than 1 millimeter in diameter, according to Roscosmos.
The crew members are in good health, but their as yet undetermined return to Earth will be delayed for at least a few months.
Meanwhile, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket attempted to launch from the UKand California-based start-up ABL Space Systems, Launch the RS1 rocket from Alaska. Both rockets have failed and investigations are ongoing to determine what went wrong.
The contrails flowing behind the planes flying past our skies every day may seem harmless, but these wispy clouds of ice are actually bad for the environment.
The condensation trails that form when ice crystals clump around tiny particles emitted from jet engines trap more heat than carbon dioxide emissions from burning fuel. The life of the contrails depends on the atmospheric conditions.
Researchers believe that slightly changing the routes of certain flights can help reduce damage.
Before you go, follow these stories:
— An unusually bright star, dust bomb by a mysterious star companion for years.
– Europe’s “swamp bodies”, incredibly well-preserved mummies and skeletons discovered in peatlands and wetlands, uncovering some of the grim realities of prehistoric life.
— Astronomers detected it Closest pair of supermassive black holes ever observed at multiple wavelengths of light. Cosmic bodies were brought together by colliding galaxies.
