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TOI-201 Planets Are Wobbling Out of Our Line of Sight

It turns out that even after studying our solar system in depth and discovering more than 6,100 exoplanets across more than 4,500 exoplanetary systems, not all solar systems are created equal. The longstanding notion is that planets orbit almost entirely in the same orbital path, also called an orbital plane. But what if an exoplanetary system was found to have exoplanets that not only orbit in different planes, but also exhibits changing behavior regarding when they pass in front of their star? from Universe Today https://ift.tt/FjbdXk3 via IFTTT
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JWST Hunts for an 'Earth-Moon' Twin in a Habitable Zone, But the Star Has Other Plans

The Moon has played a huge role in the development of Earth. It stabilizes the planet, tempered dramatic climate swings, and possibly even provided the tidal heating that might have led to the first life forms. So it’s natural we would want to find a similar Earth/Luna system somewhere else in the cosmos. But astronomers have been searching for one for years at this point to no avail. And a new paper from Emily Pass and her colleagues at MIT, Harvard, and the University of Chicago describes using the James Webb Space Telescope to track some of the most promising exomoon candidates - only to be foiled by the star they were orbiting. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/QrEFtHe via IFTTT

Colibre: A New Cosmic Simulation With Cinematic Flair

The new Colibre cosmological simulation includes more critical detail than previous simulations. It also includes updated models of things like AGN feedback and star formation. The simulations also include a sonic component, giving the results a cinematic and information-rich flair. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/Bo50RID via IFTTT

See the Moon Occult Regulus for The Americas Saturday Night

Much of visual astronomy requires nothing more than clear skies, keen eyes, and patience. If you’re out skywatching Saturday evening and live in North or South America, watch for the waxing gibbous Moon pairing with Regulus at dusk. For a privileged region, the Moon will actually blot out or occult the star, in one of the best-placed lunar occultations of a bright star for 2026. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/7e0dYVs via IFTTT

New Research Reveals That Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Formed in a System Far Colder Than Our Own

The interplanetary comet 3I/ATLAS is remarkably rich in a specific type of water that contains deuterium, meaning it came from somewhere colder and with lower levels of radiation than our early Solar System. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/s8UOGg1 via IFTTT

This Bathtub Ring of Minerals is More Evidence for an Ancient Warm, Wet Mars

NASA's MSL Curiosity rover found a bathtub ring-like deposit of zinc, manganese, and iron in Gale Crater. These metals precipitate out of water in the right conditions, and there's not really any other way they could've become concentrated here. Adding to the excitement, these deposits also form in lakes on Earth, where the concentrated metals are food for some types of bacteria. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/b0nwkP2 via IFTTT

The Stars Feeding our Galaxy’s Monster

At the heart of our Galaxy lurks a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of our Sun. For decades, astronomers have watched mysterious gas clouds drifting towards it on almost identical paths, wondering where they came from and why. Now, a team of researchers think they have finally cracked the puzzle and the answer involves two massive stars locked in a violent embrace! from Universe Today https://ift.tt/wfmSx4B via IFTTT