Solar flares and cosmic rays may make Proxima b warm enough for life
12 March 2020
Proxima Centauri b, a planet orbiting our nearest stellar neighbour, is being blasted with cosmic rays and solar flares – which could make it warm enough to host life
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Found 317 results for dwarf planet
Weird star was born when two white dwarfs merged instead of blowing up
2 March 2020
White dwarf stars are common in the galaxy, but astronomers have found one that doesn't seem to obey the rules. They think it was born when two smaller white dwarfs merged together
An exoplanet is generating radio waves from its red dwarf sun
17 February 2020
For the first time, astronomers have spotted an exoplanet by detecting radio waves generated by interactions with its parent star
Pluto's icy nitrogen heart makes its atmosphere spin backwards
5 February 2020
Every day on Pluto, nitrogen puffs out the icy world’s heart-shaped plain into the atmosphere, and every night it refreezes, creating winds unlike any we’ve seen before
A star exploded into a supernova but it weirdly isn't very bright
3 February 2020
Astronomers have spotted a star that is exploding with a brightness 100 times less than expected – and it’s a mystery exactly why the explosion is so dim
Pigeons and woolly hats now have exoplanets named after them
17 December 2019
More than 100 exoplanets and the stars they orbit have just been officially named by a public vote. The names reference woolly hats, bush pigeons, coffee and van Gogh
Black holes formed from dark matter could be making dead stars explode
6 December 2019
White dwarfs are burnt out stars that can explode into supernovae, and this process might be kicked off by a black hole made of dark matter in the heart of the star
We’ve discovered a planet orbiting an exploded star for the first time
4 December 2019
A giant planet almost as big as Jupiter has been found orbiting a white dwarf, which is the remnants of an exploded star
Star systems full of planetary smash-ups are bad news for alien life
12 November 2019
We've seen the remains of a collision between two planets in a distant star system - and these planetary smash-ups are thought to be surprisingly common
Surprisingly round asteroid may actually be the smallest dwarf planet
28 October 2019
The best ever image of the asteroid Hygiea has revealed its shape for the first time and it looks as if it is round enough to be a tiny dwarf planet like Pluto
