Planets

Artist's concept of WASP-39b and its star (Image NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI))

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An article published in the journal “The Astronomical Journal” describes a study of the exoplanet WASP-39b. A team of researchers led by Hannah Wakeford of the University of Exeter and the Space Telescope Science Institute used the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to discover the traces of water in the atmosphere of this gas giant very close to its star. These planets are classified as hot Jupiters even if in this case its characteristics are comparable to Saturn’s. The most complete map of the atmosphere of an exoplanet obtained so far showed a considerable amount of water.

The protoplanetary disk AS 209 (Image ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/ D. Fedele et al.)

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” describes the study of the protoplanetary disk AS 209. A team of researchers led by Davide Fedele of INAF Arcetri, Italy, used the ALMA radio telescope to observe that disk of gas and dust around a star in its formation phase showing a central core and two large rings with two large gaps. Their conclusion is that there’s at least one planet with a mass that could be close to Saturn’s orbiting at a considerable distance from its star.

Part of Perseverance Valley (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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NASA has published new photos taken by its venerable Mars Rover Opportunity, which after 14 Earth years and 5,000 Sols – Martian days – continues its scientific mission on the planet Mars. In the ancient valley called Perseverance Valley it found a soil with a texture that resembles certain very particular rock strips on some mountain slopes on the Earth. These formations can be created by cycles of freezing and thawing of moist soil or wind, downhill transport or other processes.

The Jura rock (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

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NASA has published photographs of star-shaped and swallowtail rock formations discovered by the Mars Rover Curiosity during the exploration of the area of Gale Crater on Mars called Vera Rubin Ridge. This ridge is offering interesting research cues, in this case gypsum crystals similar to those found in lakes that dried up on Earth, for example in Scotland. This is another clue of the fact that in Gale Crater in ancient times there was a lake.

Artist's concept of TRAPPIST-1's planets with the Earth (Image ESO/M. Kornmesser)

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Two articles, one published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” and one in the journal “Nature Astronomy”, describe two researches on the TRAPPIST-1 system’s rocky planets. Various telescopes, both space and ground-based, allowed to gather more information on those 7 exoplanets and to improve the measurements of their characteristics. An important result is the estimate of their density, which suggests that some of them are composed up to 5% of water. Spectroscopic detections suggest that at least 3 of them have a compact atmosphere that could allow liquid water to exist on their surface.