Two new species of blind snakes found living on small, low-lying atolls in the Caroline Islands, are an unexpected discovery that is quite difficult to explain,

The post Not on a plane, but how did blind snakes ever get to the Pacific’s Caroline Islands? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers led by David Nesvorny of Southwest Research Institute and David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has inferred an unseen planet, this time orbiting a distant star, marking the first success of this technique outside the solar system.

The post Unseen planet’s gravity allows Kepler Telescope to “see” it appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Imagine a gas giant planet spanning three times more sky than the Moon looming over the molten landscape of a lava world. This alien vista exists in the newly discovered two-planet system of Kepler-36.

The post Close encounters between planetary systems of Kepler-36 stun astrophysicists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The discovery of the first transiting circumbinary multi-planet system: two planets orbiting around a pair of stars, is announced by astronomers.

The post Planetary system orbiting two suns discovered by astronomers appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Hew research by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows that planets still can form in the cosmic maelstrom of Milky Way's center.

The post Planets can form in the galactic center appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This artist’s illustration represents the variety of planets being detected by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. A new analysis has determined the frequencies of planets of all […]

The post One in six stars has an Earth-sized planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have found that six percent of red dwarf stars have habitable, Earth-sized planets and the closest could be just 13 light-years away!

The post Earth-like planets discovered right next door to Earth appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers using NASA's Kepler mission have detected two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant star.

The post First earth-sized planets found appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Detecting alien worlds presents a significant challenge since they are small, faint, and close to their stars. The two most prolific techniques for finding exoplanets […]

The post New method of finding planets scores first discovery appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Based on a treasure trove of recent discoveries, astronomers now know that planets are remarkably plentiful in our galaxy and may be common throughout the […]

The post Dust trap around distant star may unlock mystery as to how planets form appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

All stars begin their lives in groups. Most stars, including our Sun, are born in small, benign groups that quickly fall apart. Others form in […]

The post First transiting planets in a star cluster discovered appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time since exoplanets, or planets around stars other than the sun, were discovered almost 20 years ago, X-ray observations have detected an […]

The post NASA’s Chandra sees eclipsing planet in X-rays for first time appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers are constantly on the hunt for ever-colder star-like bodies, and two years ago a new class of objects was discovered by researchers using NASA’s […]

The post Coldest brown dwarfs blur lines between stars and planets appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

An international team of astronomers has discovered the first Earth-mass planet that transits, or crosses in front of, its host star. KOI-314c is the lightest […]

The post Newfound planet is Earth-mass but gassy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers announced today that they have discovered a new type of planet – a rocky world weighing 17 times as much as Earth. Theorists believed […]

The post Astronomers find new type of planet: The “Mega-Earth” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Two worlds orbiting a distant star are about to become a snack of cosmic proportions. Astronomers have announced that the planets Kepler-56b and Kepler-56c will […]

The post Star set to swallow two planets appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Life in the universe might be even rarer than we thought. Recently, astronomers looking for potentially habitable worlds have targeted red dwarf stars because they […]

The post Harsh space weather dooms life on red-dwarf planets appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers have discovered a transiting exoplanet with the longest known year. Kepler-421b circles its star once every 704 days. In comparison, Mars orbits our Sun […]

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What is a planet? For generations of kids the answer was easy. A big ball of rock or gas that orbited our Sun, and there […]

The post Is Pluto a planet? The votes are in appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Unless you live under a lunar rock, you’ve probably heard about or seen director Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster “Interstellar.” Starring Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey, […]

The post Interstellar exploration – five planets where humans may (or may not) be able to live someday appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, the report of the Kepler spacecraft’s death was greatly exaggerated. Despite a malfunction that ended its primary mission in May 2013, […]

The post Kepler spacecraft proves it can still find planets appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Astronomers announced today that they have found eight new planets in the “Goldilocks” zone of their stars, orbiting at a distance where liquid water can […]

The post Eight New Planets Found in “Goldilocks” Zone appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Skygazers at northern latitudes are familiar with the W-shaped star pattern of Cassiopeia the Queen. This circumpolar constellation is visible year-round near the North Star. […]

The post CASSIOPEIA’S HIDDEN GEM: THE CLOSEST ROCKY, TRANSITING PLANET appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Death Star of the movie Star Wars may be fictional, but planetary destruction is real. Astronomers announced today that they have spotted a large, […]

The post Cosmic “Death Star” is Destroying a Planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When astronomers study protoplanetary disks of gas and dust that surround young stars, they sometimes spot a dark gap like the Cassini division in Saturn’s […]

The post Disk Gaps Don’t Always Signal Planets appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The collection of rocky planets orbiting distant stars has just grown by one, and the latest discovery is the most intriguing one to date. The […]

The post Astronomers Eager to Get a Whiff of Newfound Venus-like Planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Earlier this year scientists presented evidence for Planet Nine, a Neptune-mass planet in an elliptical orbit 10 times farther from our Sun than Pluto. Since […]

The post Planet 9: A world that should not exist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 The distant planet GJ 1132b intrigued astronomers when it was discovered last year. Located just 39 light-years from Earth, it might have an atmosphere despite […]

The post Venus-like Exoplanet Might Have Oxygen Atmosphere, But Not Life appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

With roughly 5,500 individuals remaining in the wild, the black rhino population is critically endangered. To help save these iconic African giants, at risk for […]

The post A Planet in Peril: Q&A with Suzan Murray of the Smithsonian Global Health Program appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Every few thousand years, an unlucky star wanders too close to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The black hole’s powerful […]

The post Our Galaxy’s Black Hole is Spewing Planet-size “Spitballs” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Two separate teams of scientists have identified major challenges for the development of life in what has recently become one of the most famous exoplanet […]

The post There’s more to extraterrestrial life than planets in “habitable zone” orbits appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The number and diversity of tectonic landforms in our solar system “is truly remarkable,” Watters and Schultz write. Photographs of these structures have stimulated a range of scholarly investigations.

The post Book Review: Planetary Tectonics examines otherworldly landforms appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Could the universe’s earliest stars have formed planets, and if so, what might they have looked like? That was the question Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics […]

The post Diamonds are a planet’s best friend? In the early universe, perhaps appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Images obtained by NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft during the low-altitude orbital phase of the mission have revealed previously undetected […]

The post Mercury Joins Earth As Tectonically Active Planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Under the anomalous transmission condition in the Bragg mode, X-ray interference fringes were observed between two beams with different hyperbolic trajectories in a very weakly bent plane-parallel perfect crystal with negative strain gradient. The origin of the fringes was analysed based on the dynamical theory of diffraction for a distorted crystal. In the reflected beam from the entrance surface, the interference fringes were observed between once- and twice-reflected beams from the back surface. In the transmitted beam from the back surface, the interference fringes were observed between the direct beam and once-reflected beam from the entrance surface. In the emitted beam from the lateral surface, the interference fringes were observed between the beams after different numbers of reflections in the crystal. The multiply reflected beams were formed by a combined result of long propagation length along the beam direction with large divergence of the refracted beams when the strain gradient was negative. The period of these interference fringes was sensitive to very weak strain, of the order of 10−7.

Jim Zimbelman, planetary geologist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, shares his three favorite images from the exhibition "Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System.” On view at the Air and Space Museum through May 2, 2011, the exhibition by artist Michael Benson combines art, science, photography and exploration to unveil the diverse landscapes found on the planets in our Solar System.

The post A new perspective on the Solar System with Planetary Geologist Jim Zimbelman appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Smithsonian planetary scientist Tom Watters explains how he knows the moon is shrinking appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Kepler 11: A Six-Planet Sonata by Alex Parker, postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. Learn how the events of that day unfolded and what happened to […]

The post Where is the Miracle on the Hudson Plane today? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian is joining with local communities and the Nigerian Montane Forest Project to better understand and conserve montane forests in Nigeria.

The post Taking the Pulse of Our Planet’s Forests: appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

There is sufficient evidence from tree rings, boreholes, retreating glaciers, and other proxies of past surface temperatures to say with a high level of confidence that the last few decades of the 20th century were warmer than any comparable period in the last 400 years, according to a new report from the National Research Council.

The current process for planetary protection policy development is inadequate to respond to increasingly complex solar system exploration missions, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Despite significant cuts to NASAs Planetary Science Division budget early in this decade, the space agency has made impressive progress in meeting goals outlined in the 2013-2022 planetary decadal survey by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, says a new midterm assessment from the National Academies.

To answer significant questions about planetary systems, such as whether our solar system is a rare phenomenon or if life exists on planets other than Earth, NASA should lead a large direct imaging mission – an advanced space telescope – capable of studying Earth-like exoplanets orbiting stars similar to the sun, says a new congressionally mandated report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

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Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. This rocky world is a little more massive than the Earth and is the closest exoplanet to us -- and it may also be the closest possible abode for life outside the Solar System. A paper describing this milestone finding will be published in the journal Nature on 25 August 2016.

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