Three definitely isn’t a crowd for planets around a distant infant star. Astronomers had already discovered two planets forming in the disk of gas and dust, or protoplanetary disk, around the infant star PDS 70. Now, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers with the MIRI mid-infrared Disk Survey (MINDS) project have seen hints of […]
The Space Telescope Science Institute has announced which astronomy proposals have been selected to be given time with the James Webb Space Telescope over the next two years. On Thursday (Feb. 29), the organization outlined 253 General Observers (GO) programs that will use humanity’s most powerful and sensitive space telescope for a collective 5,500 hours […]
Astronomers always knew spotting moons around planets outside the solar system would be no mean feat — but a debate currently raging in planetary science circles shows just how tough detecting these so-called exomoons is going to be. The story begins in 2018, when astronomers including David Kipping, an assistant professor of astronomy at Columbia […]