Space _stars

• Data gathered in 1983 shows signs of what a British astronomer believes to be possible evidence of a ninth planet in our solar system. The news could provide some solace to people who are still upset over Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet.
• Michael Rowan-Robinson, a leading astronomer and Emeritus professor of astrophysics at Imperial College London, found that data gathered by an early space telescope showed a possible candidate for the ninth planet theory. The data was pulled from historical observations made by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), which launched in 1983. It was the first orbiting observatory to look at the entirety of the night sky in the infrared spectrum.

Virtual Planetary Exploration v2.0

1. COROT-7b: On February 3, the European Space Agency announced the discovery of a planet orbiting the star COROT-7. Although the planet orbits its star at a distance less than 0.02 AU, its diameter is estimated to be around 1.7 times that of Earth, making it the smallest super-Earth yet measured.
2. The planet: TIC 172900988 b

The discovery: A newly discovered planet about as big around as Jupiter belongs to a system that’s a stunner. The planet orbits two stars and, viewed from Earth, crosses the faces of both. That means this system put on quite a show for astronomers: They observed the two stars make a total of three eclipses, while the planet traced its way across one star and then, a few days later, across the other.