A super-precise super-Earth: measuring a planet’s radius to within 120 km
Kepler-93b is a super-Earth with a radius of 1.481 Earth radii, plus or minus Long Island.
Titan’s Cameo as an Exoplanet
This paper uses Cassini’s infrared eyes to watch the Sun appear to pass behind Titan and light up its atmosphere. From these observations, the authors model different components of the thick atmosphere, and gain new insights about how exoplanets with similar hazy atmospheres might look.
Astrobites@AAS: Boston
The summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society is close to home again for this Astrobites author: the 224th meeting of the AAS is taking place in downtown Boston. Summer is the smaller of the two annual AAS meetings, and (sadly!) you won’t see too many Astrobites authors wandering around Copley Square this week. Because of that, we won’t be suspending our regular posting schedule as we’ve done in the past.But never fear, you can still follow AAS 224 from afar! As in previous years, we’re covering some of talks on twitter, and you can check out the AAS 224 hashtag for updates from all the conference attendees. Our liveblogging will be making a return this AAS as well, and we’ve decided to try out using Facebook as a liveblogging platform. You can follow our updates on the Astrobites Facebook page. Several of us will be giving presentations at the conference. Stop us and say hello! Our presentations are listed below, ordered chronologically:Courtney Dressing, Oral presentation 113.01 How Close are the Nearest Transiting Exoplanet Systems? Updated Planet Occurrence Rates from Kepler & Implications for TESS Monday 2:00pm – 3:40pm; St. George AB* *if you missed Courtney’s talk today, you can always find her to ask about it!Ben Montet, Oral presentation 314.04 Transit Timing Observations of a Hierarchical Triple M Dwarf System Wednesday 2:00pm – 3:30pm; St. George ABAllyson Beiryla & Elisabeth Newton, Poster 320.05 Harvard Observing Project (HOP): Undergraduate and graduate observing opportunities Wednesday 9:00am – 6:30pm; Essex Ballroom and America FoyerIan Czekala, Poser 322.01 A Novel Tool for the Spectroscopic Inference of Fundamental Stellar Parameters Wednesday 9:00am – 6:30pm; Essex Ballroom and America FoyerTanmoy Laskar, Poster 421.08...
The Sun, a gravitational wave detector
Gravitational waves passing through our solar system make the Sun ring like a bell. Can their effect be measured to learn about the violent phenomena that caused them?
Astrophysical Classics: Cosmochronology with White Dwarfs
In today’s Astrophysical Classic, we hark back to 1987 and the introduction of a new method determining the age of the universe through the use of white dwarf stars.
How Easily Do Carbon-Rich Planets Form?
A new model simulates the composition of growing planetesimals in an evolving protoplanetary disk. The model predicts that carbon-rich terrestrial planets can form more easily than previously thought.