Do All Planetary Systems Look The Same As Our Own? Do all planetary systems look the same as our own? No. Among the thousands of other planetary systems we have observed so far, systems have evolved along different evolutionary paths. Some have gas giant planets much closer to the Sun, for example. Are there solar
Why Is Jupiter So Huge? Structure. The composition of Jupiter is similar to that of the Sun—mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a liquid. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the solar system—an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water. How did Jupiter
Why Is Jupiter Mostly Hydrogen? Structure. The composition of Jupiter is similar to that of the Sun—mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, compressing the hydrogen gas into a liquid. This gives Jupiter the largest ocean in the solar system—an ocean made of hydrogen instead of water. Why does planet
Why Were Hot Jupiters Initially Puzzling To Astronomers? Giant alien planets known as “hot Jupiters” orbit their stars much closer than Mercury does the sun. But the mystery of the origins of hot Jupiters deepened when astronomers recently discovered the scorching orbits of these worlds are often bizarrely skewed, tilted when compared with the equators
When Did Galileo Discover Neptune? We have found that Galileo observed the planet Neptune on 28 December 1612 and 28 January 1613. The latter observation may be of astrometric value, and differs by 1 arc min from the predicted position of Neptune. Galileo also detected the motion of Neptune. How did Galileo discover Neptune? Galileo
Will We Ever Be Able To See Exoplanets? Right now, it’s impossible. From our vantage point, exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars—look like fireflies next to spotlights. In the few images we’ve managed to take of them, the exoplanets are mere dots. How long would it take to get to the closest exoplanet? Velocities that are currently
Are Extrasolar Planets Rare? It’s pretty rare for astronomers to see an exoplanet through their telescopes the way you might see Saturn through a telescope from Earth. That’s called direct imaging, and only a handful of exoplanets have been found this way (and these tend to be young gas giant planets orbiting very far from
Why Is Our Jupiter Not A Hot Jupiter? Jupiter, rather than continuing its migration to within a few million miles of the Sun as a Hot Jupiter would have done, instead changed course: it tacked. As Jupiter got to within 1.5 AU of the sun, about where Mars is now, it’s forward migration halted and
Who Named The 7 Planets? Greek astronomers such as Geminus and Ptolemy often divided the seven planets into the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets. How did each planet get its name? With the exception of Earth, all of the planets in our solar system have names from Greek or Roman mythology. This tradition
Does Kepler Have Planets? While our own inner solar system has four planets, Kepler found systems with considerably more planets — up to eight — orbiting close to their parent stars. What is the gravity on Kepler 186f? If the exoplanet were “rocky” like Earth (made up of one-third iron and two-thirds silicate rock, water