An article published in “The Astronomical Journal” reports a study on the scarcity of exoplanets with a radius between 1.5 and 2 times the Earth’s. A team of researchers led by Trevor David of the Flatiron Institute in New York studied what is commonly referred to as a radius gap using data collected by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. By dividing the exoplanets studied between those older than 2 billion years and those younger, the exam offers new information confirming the theory that sub-Neptunes can lose most of their atmosphere and transform into super-Earths even after billions of years.

An article accepted for publication in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the confirmation by a team of researchers led by Marion Cointepas of the exoplanet TOI-269 b, a sub-Neptune orbiting a red dwarf discovered thanks to NASA’s TESS space telescope. It’s a warm Sub-Neptune because its year only lasts 3.7 Earth days, as it’s very close to its star. It’s not the first case of that type, but this is interesting because estimates of its characteristics indicate that it’s close to the boundaries between sub-Neptunes and super-Earths. The loss of the atmosphere with the transformation from sub-Neptune to super-Earth is a case studied only in theory and TOI-269 b could provide useful information to understand this process.

An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the first estimates of the growth of a young gas giant exoplanet. A team of researchers used observations conducted with the Hubble Space Telescope of the exoplanet PDS 70b exploiting its sensitivity to ultraviolets emitted by hot gas that gets swallowed by the young giant. This study opens the door to new possibilities for estimating the growth of gas giant planets.

An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” reports an analysis of a superflare of the star Proxima Centauri observed in 2019 in various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. A team of researchers led by Meredith MacGregor of the University of Colorado at Boulder used various ground-based and space telescopes to obtain complete observations of a flare one hundred times more powerful than solar flares on the closest star to the Sun. It’s the most powerful flare ever observed on Proxima Centauri and one of the most powerful observed in the entire Milky Way.