Latest HD 189733 b Stories

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online In addition to the eight beloved planets circling our Sun, our galaxy is literally teeming with an enormous variety of planets. More than 800 of the so-called exoplanets have been identified circling stars beyond our solar system. And several different “species” of exoplanets have been discovered as well, including so-called ‘roasters’ or ‘hot Jupiters,’ which are gas giants like our own Jupiter that orbit closely to their...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Astronomers have detected a new exoplanet 33 light-years away that is two-thirds the size of Earth, making it the nearest known world to our solar system that is smaller than our home planet. UCF-1.01 was discovered by astronomers from the University of Central Florida using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The exoplanet is the first ever identified with the telescope, pointing to a possible new role for Spitzer in helping to...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Astronomers have observed one planet in another solar system, similar to Jupiter, giving off a powerful burst of evaporation after passing by its parent star. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers saw exoplanet HD 189733b bathe in an intense X-ray radiation after its parent star gave off a violet flare. The team observed the planet with Hubble during early 2010 and late 2011, during which HD 189733b was silhouetting its...

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An international team of astronomers using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made an unparalleled observation, detecting significant changes in the atmosphere of a planet located beyond our solar system. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The scientists conclude the atmospheric variations occurred in response to a powerful eruption on the planet's host star, an event observed by NASA's Swift...

Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal a distant planet with a warm spot in the wrong place.The gas-giant planet, named upsilon Andromedae b, orbits tightly around its star, with one face perpetually boiling under the star's heat. It belongs to a class of planets termed hot Jupiters, so called for their scorching temperatures and large, gaseous constitutions.One might think the hottest part of these planets would be directly under the sun-facing side, but previous...

NASA astronomers have successfully demonstrated that a David of a telescope can tackle Goliath-size questions in the quest to study Earth-like planets around other stars. Their work, reported today in the journal Nature, provides a new tool for ground-based observatories, promising to accelerate by years the search for prebiotic, or life-related, molecules on planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system.The scientists reported on a new technique used with a relatively small Earth-based...

Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. The planet is not habitable but it has the same chemistry that, if found around a rocky planet in the future, could indicate the presence of life."It's the second planet outside our solar system in which water, methane and carbon dioxide have been found, which are...

The U.S. space agency says its Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the discovery is an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life. Although the extrasolar, Jupiter-sized planet called HD 189733b is too hot for life, NASA said the Hubble observations are a proof-of-concept demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can be measured on...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Jupiter-sized planet, called HD 189733b, is too hot for life. But the Hubble observations are a proof-of-concept demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can...

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This is an important step along the trail of finding the chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life as we know it.The Jupiter-sized planet, called HD 189733b, is too hot for life. But the Hubble observations are a proof-of-concept demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can be measured on planets orbiting other stars. Organic compounds can also be a by-product of life...