Astronomy and Planetary Science Thread

NASA Webb Looks at Earth-Sized, Habitable-Zone Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e
For reference, here's a couple of diagrams of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

The lower scale in one of them shows stellar illumination relative to Earth - though bear in mind that the spread of wavelengths is different and atmospheric composition (if there is one) will affect the greenhouse effect.

Comparison_of_TRAPPIST-1_to_the_Solar_System.jpg original.jpg
 
Since TRAPPIST-1 is a red dwarf, many artist's impressions of it and the landscapes of its planets depict it as a giant tomato. The truth is more complex. Here's an article I scanned some years... er, decades ago.

The surface of an M dwarf is still hotter than the filament in an incandescent light bulb, which appears a warm white to the human eye.

(If you read the last line of the article, it's amusing: It is a happy coincidence, then, that we live under a sky whose most prominent stars fall just within the narrow range of brightness necessary for us to see their true colours. Evolution did that to us. One might as well say that it's a happy coincidence that the shape of the water in a puddle exactly fits the depression in the ground in which it rests.)
 

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Something similar to the proto-Earth/Theia collision has been proposed for Mars.
We have four planets with giant impact.

Earth/Theia were ice ball in size Mars hit Earth in right angel create Moon and make Earth habitable.
Mars who was hit by something big, that impacts on North pole of Mars flatten half the planet !
Mercury seems was much bigger, but also hit by something big. left with only mantel and Iron Core.
Uranus Axle change could result also by Impact moon size object.
 
I seem to remember write-ups about how Ice Giants were diamond factories.

Maybe some were thrown clear.

On risk

Asteroids

Space cameras for all

Sneak attacks

The Mars Iron Age?
Mining Mars

The Space Bar

Let's say--in the far future-humanity was able to put some telescopes in the TRAPPIST system....would that allow good interferometry?
 
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NASA’s Bennu Samples Reveal Complex Origins, Dramatic Transformation
Melissa Gaskill
Aug 22, 2025

 
"An Unimaginable Breakthrough": Loudest-Ever Gravitational Wave Collision Proves Stephen Hawking Correct

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration has decided to mark the 10th anniversary of the discovery of gravitational waves with a very special gift. They have published data on the clearest signal they have yet detected in the observatory, which allowed them to confirm Stephen Hawking's area theorem of black holes.

The event was seen on January 14, 2025, so it is known as GW250114, and it was not included in the recent release of data. It is similar to the first gravitational wave event ever observed, GW150914. Both involved collisions between black holes of 30 to 40 solar masses, and both happened around 1.3 billion light-years from Earth. The difference is 10 years of improvements in how we measure gravitational waves, making this new signal incredibly clear.



“GW250114 is the loudest gravitational-wave signal that we have observed so far – by a lot! By “loudest,” I mean that the amplitude of the signal is much larger than the background noise in our detectors,” Simona Miller, a Caltech grad student and co-author of the paper, told IFLScience.

“Think of it like being at a dinner party where everyone is quietly chatting. Previous gravitational waves detected by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA are somewhere between a loud laugh or a shout over the din of the party. GW250114 is akin to a fire alarm going off.”


Link to the related paper doesn’t appear to be working.
 
Some new discoveries from TRAPPIST-1e, from Anton Petrov:


0:00 Exciting TRAPPIST-1 Updates
0:30 What we know about other planets here so far
3:00 Why this is so difficult to study
4:38 TRAPPIST-1e in a nutshell
6:15 2 New studies and main discoveries
7:00 What this means - 2 explanations
8:35 Habitability or no?
9:10 What's next? More JWST observations! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=004QfJeb7Z8&t=607s
10:07 Summary and conclusions
#trappist1 #trappist1e #astronomy
 
Earth Has A New Quasi-Moon – And It Has Probably Been Around For Decades

The total number of quasi-satellites of our planet has gone up by one. There are now 8 small asteroids going around the Sun at the same time as our planet, acting almost like moons, hence the term quasi-satellite or quasi-moon. Meet the newest entry, 2025 PN7.

The object is small. The estimate that can be made based on its absolute magnitude is rough, but place it in the tens of meters, no bigger than that, and likely we are erring on the side of caution. It also doesn’t come closer than several million kilometers to Earth, so even if it has been around for a while, it is not surprising that it was only discovered last month.



The relative proximity of these objects can allow missions to study them with relative ease. Quasi-satellite 469219 Kamoʻoalewa will be visited by the Chinese mission Tianwen-2, launched this May. It will reach the object next year, and collect a sample likely the year after.


Related paper:

 
you got source on that or a Link ?
It's been awhile and I seem to be unable to dig up that again. The key indication are:
1. its tilt being near 90° and the solar system's own tilt being near 90° to the galaxis's plane.
2. its the only planet with retrogate rotation.


But here's a simulation result for a collisionless scenario for Uranus tilting due to migration.
 
Video from GEO GIRL* concerning a new paper about signs of ancient life on Mars:


0:00 Exciting new study alert!
0:43 Brief Background Info
1:29 New Study’s Findings
2:28 Significance of Findings
3:30 How do we tell if these findings mean life?
6:13 Important Note

*I highly recommend her geology videos as they're highly informative and well written (And presented, Rachael is quite photogenic) too.
 
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Another factor for the Drake equation

The closest technological species to us in the Milky Way galaxy could be 33,000 light years away and their civilization would have to be at least 280,000 years, and possibly millions of years, old if they are to exist at the same time that we do, according to new research presented at the EPSC–DPS2025 Joint Meeting in Helsinki this week.

The Universe

Moon missions
 
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Scientists say there's a 90% chance we could spot an exploding black hole in the next decade

New research suggests that there is a 90% chance that within the next decade, humanity could use a space or Earth-based telescope to spot an exploding black hole. Such a detection would change our perspective of the universe by proving the existence of "primordial black holes" born 13.8 billion years ago, a second after the Big Bang.


Related paper:

 
Scientists say there's a 90% chance we could spot an exploding black hole in the next decade

Exploding blackhole? IIRC the correct technical term is "Evaporating blackhole" as the blackhole radiate its' mass away by Hawking radiation.
 
Scott Manley has uploaded a video about the possibility of three billion year old Mars fossils discovered in rocks on Mars:


New research based upon measurements of microscopic spots in rocks on Mars has discovered minerals associated with biological processes on earth, and after months of trying to find an alternate explanation and failed they've concluded this could be the best evidence for martian life so far.
We could verify this in days..... if we could get the sample back to Earth.
Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
 
Project Hyperion, a design competition to produce concepts for a generation starship, has announced its winners.


Principium, the publication of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies is quarterly and is likely the first venue for publication. Free pdfs can be downloaded here:


It's quarterly and the next issue is due some time in August, so you may want to bookmark it.

Images of winners' entries, fuller details on the link above, including further links to the full submissions of the winners and honourable mentions.

It's available now.

For in-depth presentation of the winners and honourable mentions, you're better off looking at the links I've already posted but this is still quite newsy, with articles on Invictus (Skylon reborn) and Dragonfly etc.

 
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Once-In-A-Decade Close Encounter With Hazardous Asteroid 2025 FA22 Approaches [Sep 15]

2025 FA22 was discovered on March 29 this year by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS 2) observatory in Hawaii. The asteroid is currently thought to be around 120–280 meters (394–919 feet) in size, making it a fairly sizeable object.

[...]

On September 18, 2025 at 07:42 am UTC, the object will approach at around 0.00563 AU.

That's around 841,900 kilometers (523,100 miles), further out than the Moon. On September 18 and 19, the asteroid will reach magnitude 13, potentially making it visible to observers with a small telescope.
 
JWST finds an exoplanet around A pulsar whose atmosphere is all carbon

The exoplanet around PSR J2322-2650, known as PSR J2322-2650b, does fit the description of a Jupiter-sized planet that seems to have the same density as what would be expected if it was made up primarily of helium. However, its atmosphere is unlike any other black widow companion ever seen. According to the spectrographic reports from JWST, its atmosphere is composed mainly of elemental carbon, taking the form of tricarbon (C3) or dicarbon (C2).


Related paper:

 
JWST finds an exoplanet around A pulsar whose atmosphere is all carbon




Related paper:


So basically this carbon-atmosphere exoplanet isn't a weird gas-giant but a stripped star-core?
 
They might even survive the death of the Sun, who knows what may happen to the tardigrades at that time. They also survive radiation exposure that would otherwise kill a human.
 

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