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Read MoreUnveiling 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 radiation, according to a new study by an international collaboration led by Penn State astronomers. The study leveraged the unparalleled...
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Read MoreCombination 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.
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Read MoreWobbling 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 has been uniquely discovered by Gaia’s ability to sense the gravitational tug or ‘wobble’ the planet induces on a star. Both the planet and...
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Read MoreCEHW 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...
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Read MoreNew 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 research led by researchers from Penn State and Osaka University. The research team set out to study Kepler-51d, the third planet in...
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Read MoreJWST identifies tiniest free-floating brown dwarf
CEHW Professor Kevin Luhman led a study identifying the new record-holder for the smallest object that forms like a star: a tiny, free-floating brown dwarf with only three to four times the mass of Jupiter. NASA Press Release Penn State Press Release Paper the Astronomical...
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Read MoreMassive planet too big for its own sun pushes astronomers to rethink exoplanet formation
Congrats to former CEHW graduate student, Dr. Gudmundur Stefansson, and the rest of the team on their recent paper in Science that reports the discovery of a Neptune-mass exoplanet in close orbit around a very low-mass star using the Habitable Zone Planet Finder and Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Artistic rendering of the possible view from LHS 3154b towards its low mass host star. Given its large mass, LHS...
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Read MoreEarth-like planets could form even in the harshest environments
CEHW Professor Eric Feigelson is a member of the XUE (eXtreme UV environments) collaboration that found potentially planets with water could form even in the harshest known planet-forming environments using JWST. Earth-like planets, including planets with water, could form even in the harshest known planet-forming environments, according to a new study by an international team that includes Penn State...
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Penn State set to lead on new exoplanet science priorities
A report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine sets...
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Habitability of Exoplanet Water Worlds
“Water world” planets, those covered with a deep global ocean, could maintain...
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Measuring Rocky Exoplanet Compositions with the James Webb Space Telescope
NASA NExSS and NPP postdoc Dr. Eva Bodman recently published a paper on...
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CEHW Professor Dawson honored with Powe Award
Rebekah Dawson, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn...
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CEHW Professor Rebekah Dawson awarded Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
Congratulations to CEHW Professor Rebekah Dawson who was recently honored with...
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Alien Megastructure not the cause of mysteriously dimming star
A team of more than 200 researchers, including Penn State Department of...
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