exoplanets – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-best-neighborhoods-for-starting-a-life-in-the-galaxy-20240124/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-best-neighborhoods-for-starting-a-life-in-the-galaxy-20240124/#respond Wed, 24 Jan 2024 14:37:59 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=134397 The post The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> To harbor life, at least as we know it, a planet must orbit a star that is relatively calm and stable. The planet’s orbit must also be nearly circular so the planet experiences similar warmth throughout its year. And it must be not too hot, lest any surface water boil off; not too cold, lest that water remain locked in ice; but just right, so that rivers and seas remain liquid.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-best-neighborhoods-for-starting-a-life-in-the-galaxy-20240124/feed/ 0 New Clues for What Will Happen When the Sun Eats the Earth https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-clues-for-what-will-happen-when-the-sun-eats-the-earth-20231220/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-clues-for-what-will-happen-when-the-sun-eats-the-earth-20231220/#respond Wed, 20 Dec 2023 15:20:15 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=133427 The post New Clues for What Will Happen When the Sun Eats the Earth first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Earth’s fate rests on a coin flip. In 5 billion years, our sun will balloon into a red giant star. Whether Earth survives is an “open question,” said Melinda Soares-Furtado, an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Sure, Earth could be swallowed by the sun and destroyed. But in some scenarios, Earth escapes and is pushed further out into the solar system. Now...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-clues-for-what-will-happen-when-the-sun-eats-the-earth-20231220/feed/ 0 Rogue Worlds Throw Planetary Ideas Out of Orbit https://www.quantamagazine.org/rogue-worlds-throw-planetary-ideas-out-of-orbit-20231113/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/rogue-worlds-throw-planetary-ideas-out-of-orbit-20231113/#respond Mon, 13 Nov 2023 15:37:51 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=132215 The post Rogue Worlds Throw Planetary Ideas Out of Orbit first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> When Galileo Galilei, a mathematician at the University of Padua, trained a spyglass of his own creation on the sky, he was overwhelmed with what he saw — more than 500 new stars in the constellation Orion, in addition to the familiar three in the hunter’s belt and six in the sword. In October, astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to zoom in on one of the middle stars in the sword and...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/rogue-worlds-throw-planetary-ideas-out-of-orbit-20231113/feed/ 0 Quaking Giants Might Solve the Mysteries of Stellar Magnetism https://www.quantamagazine.org/quaking-giants-might-solve-the-mysteries-of-stellar-magnetism-20230821/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/quaking-giants-might-solve-the-mysteries-of-stellar-magnetism-20230821/#respond Mon, 21 Aug 2023 13:58:11 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=129327 The post Quaking Giants Might Solve the Mysteries of Stellar Magnetism first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Our planet is doomed. In a few billion years, the sun will exhaust its hydrogen fuel and swell into a red giant — a star so big it will scorch, blacken and swallow up the inner planets. While red giants are bad news for planets, they’re good news for astrophysicists. Their hearts hold the keys to understanding a range of stellar bodies, from fledgling protostars to zombie white dwarfs...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/quaking-giants-might-solve-the-mysteries-of-stellar-magnetism-20230821/feed/ 0 Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism https://www.quantamagazine.org/exoplanets-could-help-us-learn-how-planets-make-magnetism-20230807/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/exoplanets-could-help-us-learn-how-planets-make-magnetism-20230807/#respond Mon, 07 Aug 2023 15:44:07 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=128685 The post Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> For decades, astronomers have been perplexed by planetary magnetic fields. In our own solar system, there is no rule that explains which worlds generate these magnetic sheaths: Earth, for example, has one, but its sister world — Venus — does not. Astronomers suspect that one of the best ways to understand the mysteries of magnetism might be to study worlds orbiting other suns.

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