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From dust to planet: How gas giants form

Gas giant planets, such as Jupiter, can form rapidly by incorporating nearby icy bodies made from drifting pebbles born in the outer parts of young planetary systems - all in a period of about 200,000 years. This finding has implications for understanding how habitable planets are created; not just in our solar system, but in others too.

Jan 17th, 2022

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Being in space destroys more red blood cells

A world-first study has revealed how space travel can cause lower red blood cell counts, known as space anemia. Analysis of 14 astronauts showed their bodies destroyed 54 percent more red blood cells in space than they normally would on Earth.

Jan 14th, 2022

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Newly-found planets on the edge of destruction

Astronomers have found three Jupiter-like exoplanets that are dangerously close to being 'swallowed up' by their host stars. The discovery gives new insight into how planetary systems evolve over time, helping to reveal the fate of solar systems like our own.

Jan 13th, 2022

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Have astronomers finally found an exomoon? (w/video)

International researchers have found a new candidate for an exomoon - a moon that orbits planets beyond the realm of our Solar System. If its exomoon status is confirmed, Kepler-1708 b-i - which is 2.6 times larger than Earth - could represent a missing piece in the puzzle to understand the formation and evolution of planetary systems long ago in galaxies far, far away.

Jan 13th, 2022

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The search for an isotropic gravitational wave background

An international team of astronomers has announced the results of a comprehensive search for a background of low-frequency gravitational waves. These light-year-scale ripples, a consequence of general relativity, permeate all of spacetime and could originate from mergers of the most massive black holes in the Universe or from events occurring soon after the formation of the Universe in the Big Bang.

Jan 12th, 2022

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From dust to planet: how gas giants form

Astrophysicists have developed computer simulations that simultaneously use multiple types of celestial matter to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how these colossal planets grow from tiny specks of dust.

Jan 12th, 2022

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Hunting for dead stars

What they become afterwards depends on how big they were at birth - in other words the mass that they had when they were formed.

Jan 11th, 2022

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