Gravity-Darkened Seasons on Planets
Spinning stars can potentially double the number of seasons that a planet experiences due to surface temperature variations on the stellar surface.
Shooting for the Stars (and damage of doing so)
We now know that our nearest stellar neighbor may harbor an Earth-like exoplanet. The Breakthrough Starshot initiative plans to get spacecraft there in only 20 years. However, the “empty” space between us and our nearest star is not completely empty, and the material in the path of these spacecraft may have catastrophic consequences for the mission.
KELT-16b: a new benchmark for future exoplanet atmosphere studies
On KELT-16b you would melt. I would melt too. A look at an exciting and newly discovered Hot Jupiter, and why KELT-16b is a valuable addition to the group of boiling gas giant planets, and a fantastic target for future atmospheric studies.
An Ocean of Magma
Planets form with molten surfaces; but how does this ocean of magma affect the planet’s atmosphere?
Ten Whales’ Worth of White Dwarf Accretion
Measuring exoplanet composition by studying a white dwarf’s atmosphere
Why is Mercury so far from the Sun?
Roughly half of all planetary systems have planets much closer to their stars than Mercury is to our Sun. Can a system’s magnetic field during the stage of planet formation explain why half of all systems (including our own) do not have these planets when the other half do?