Kepler’s view on the gravity of stars
A study of Kepler data reveals a correlation between brightness fluctuations and surface gravity of stars.
New Insight Into A Potentially Evaporating Planet
There is a small planet candidate, likely rocky, that looks like it’s being vaporized. The authors of this paper show evidence that this evaporation might be related to stellar activity, not just the planet’s proximity to its star.
The strength of planet formation: planets found in dense star clusters
The recent discovery of two planets in an open star cluster implies that planet formation can survive the harsh environments of a dense stellar cluster.
In Search of the First Habitable Exomoon
The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler project has conducted the first ever search for a moon around a planet in the habitable zone. While they find no evidence for such a moon, they demonstrate that Earth-sized and possibly habitable moons should be easily detectable with the current Kepler data.
Recap of the IAU Planet Formation Symposium
Highlights from the International Astronomical Union Symposium on “Exploring the Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems”.
How to Confirm a (Tiny) Exoplanet Candidate
Barclay et al. find a “candidate” planet smaller than Mercury in the Kepler data…will it pass their tests and be confirmed as the smallest known planet?