Recent Posts
Newly discovered super-Earth offers prime target in search for alien life
The discovery of a possible “super-Earth” less than 20 light-years from our own planet is offering scientists new hope in the hunt for other worlds that could harbor life, according to an international team including researchers from Penn State. They dubbed the...
Abundant carbon dioxide in planet-forming disk challenges planet origin models
CEHW researchers find a strikingly unusual chemical composition for a newly discovered planet-forming disk. Read more at Penn State News.
Unveiling the secrets of planet formation in environments of high UV radiation
Astronomers at Penn State use data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and theoretical modeling to study a distant, irradiated protoplanetary disk The fundamental building blocks for planet formation can exist even in environments with extreme ultraviolet...
Alessandro Morbidelli to give Friedman Lectures in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Dr. Alessandro Morbidelli from the Collège de France will give this year's Friedman lectures, “The Diversity of Planetary Systems: How Singular Is Our Own?” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, in Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center, and a more-specialized lecture,...
CEHW faculty’s JWST Image on postage stamp
Read the story about how CEHW Professor Kevin Luhman took the picture on a recent postage stamp.
Combination of cosmic processes shapes the size and location of sub-Neptunes
Penn State Presidential and CEHW Postdoc Dr. Rachel Fernandes led a study to better understand the processes shapes the size and location of sub-Neptunes. Read the press release or the paper published in the Astronomical Journal.
Does planetary evolution favor human-like life?
New theory proposes that humans — and analogous life beyond Earth — may represent the probable outcome of biological and planetary evolution Adrienne Berard 17 February 2025 Humanity may not be extraordinary but rather the natural evolutionary outcome for our planet...
Wobbling stars reveal hidden companions in Gaia data
Using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, and the Habitable Zone Planet Finder and NEID Spectrometers developed at Penn State, scientists, including Penn State astronomers, have found a huge exoplanet and a brown dwarf. This is the first time a planet...
CEHW researchers characterize the internal composition of a distant planet
CEHW Graduate student Nick Tusay led a JWST program to measure the mineralogical composition of an exoplanet, K2-22b, and presented his results at a press conference at the 2024 Winter AAS Meeting. Read more in stories from Science News and Live Science.
New planet in Kepler-51 system discovered using James Webb Space Telescope
The unusual system of three 'super puff' planets has at least one more planet, revealed by its gravitational tug on other planets An unusual planetary system with three known ultra-low density “super-puff” planets has at least one more planet, according to new...
