OMNI – Page 3 – planetaria

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope continues observations of TRAPPIST-1 planetary system

March 12, 2017 by Paul Scott Anderson

Artist’s conception of some of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. Image by ESO/M. Kornmesser/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)

The seven Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 generated a lot of excitement when their discovery was announced last month. This is the largest collection of Earth-sized worlds in one planetary system found so far, and some of them are well within the star’s “habitable zone” where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist on their surfaces. Little else is known about the actual conditions on these planets so far, but NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has also been observing TRAPPIST-1 in recent weeks.

MAVEN spacecraft makes evasive maneuver to avoid impact with Mars’ moon Phobos

March 8, 2017March 8, 2017 by Paul Scott Anderson

Artist’s illustration of MAVEN in orbit around Mars. Image Credit: NASA

Mars is a busy place these days, with multiple rovers and orbiters exploring the planet. Out of the several spacecraft currently in orbit, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) is a fairly recent addition, having been at Mars for just over two years now. Usually, things are pretty routine, but this week the spacecraft had to make an unplanned evasive maneuver – to avoid a collision with one of Mars’ two small moons, Phobos!

Could the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system be home to alien life?

March 7, 2017March 7, 2017 by Paul Scott Anderson

Artist’s conception of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system as seen from one of the seven Earth-sized planets. Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

The discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 generated a lot of excitement last week. Earth-sized planets have been found before, among the thousands of exoplanets discovered so far by astronomers, but this is the first time that so many have been detected in one planetary system. As of now, astronomers are limited in how much they can learn about these new worlds, but the James Webb Space Telescope, the upcoming successor to Hubble due to launch in 2018, will be able to gather more data and analyze whatever atmospheres these planets have, perhaps bringing us closer to finding another habitable world.

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