Exoplanets

Exoplanets are the celestial bodies orbiting stars other than our Sun. Their small size makes them difficult to detect from Earth, particularly as they appear much dimmer than their parent stars. So indirect methods are employed, such as observing changes in starlight as a result of the exoplanet and its motion.

Latest Research and Reviews

Research
29 July 2022 | Open Access

Miscibility of rock and ice in the interiors of water worlds
- Tanja Kovačević
- , Felipe González-Cataldo
- & Burkhard Militzer
Scientific Reports 12, 13055
Research
27 June 2022 | Open Access

Potential long-term habitable conditions on planets with primordial H–He atmospheres

Modelling of Earth- or super-Earth-sized planets with a thick H–He atmosphere shows that the hydrogen collision-induced absorptions in the infrared wavelength can make the planet amenable to hosting surface liquid water for several billion years, thus creating a long-term potentially habitable environment.
- Marit Mol Lous
- , Ravit Helled
- & Christoph Mordasini
Nature Astronomy 6, 819-827
Research
21 June 2022 | Open Access

Reply to: The breakup of a long-period comet is not a likely match to the Chicxulub impactor
- Amir Siraj
- & Abraham Loeb
Scientific Reports 12, 10427
Research
21 June 2022 | Open Access

Stability of high-temperature salty ice suggests electrolyte permeability in water-rich exoplanet icy mantles

Hot cubic ice is shown to retain dissolved salt in its lattice, suggesting the mantle of water-rich exoplanets is more permeable to electrolytes than assumed, which has implications on its properties and on the element cycles inside such planets.
- Jean-Alexis Hernandez
- , Razvan Caracas
- & Stéphane Labrosse
Nature Communications 13, 3303
Research
07 June 2022 | Open Access

A global network model of abiotic phosphorus cycling on Earth through time
- Marcos Jusino-Maldonado
- , Rafael Rianço-Silva
- & H. James Cleaves II
Scientific Reports 12, 9348
Research | 23 May 2022

A ubiquitous unifying degeneracy in two-body microlensing systems

The offset degeneracy in gravitational microlensing observations, found by analysing various microlensing events with an approach driven by machine learning, unifies previous mathematical degeneracies and points to a deeper symmetry in the mathematics of two-body lensing.
- Keming Zhang
- , B. Scott Gaudi
- & Joshua S. Bloom
Nature Astronomy 6, 782-787

All Research & Reviews

News and Comment

Research Highlights | 10 August 2022

Double or nothing
- May Chiao
Nature Astronomy 6, 882
News & Views | 18 July 2022

IR 2022: An infrared-bright future for ground-based IR observatories in the era of JWST

Shortly after the James Webb Space Telescope launched into space, the IR 2022 conference convened to identify and explore synergies between ground-based and space-based infrared observations.
- Abigail J. Frost
- , Ryan M. Lau
- & Rika Kobayashi
Nature Astronomy 6, 772-773
News | 12 July 2022

Stunning new Webb images: baby stars, colliding galaxies and hot exoplanets

Anticipation of future science grows as NASA releases unprecedented glimpses of the night sky.
- Alexandra Witze
Nature 607, 429-430
News | 11 July 2022

Landmark Webb telescope releases first science image — astronomers are in awe

Galaxies from near the dawn of time pepper the deepest-ever look into the night sky.
- Alexandra Witze
Nature
News & Views | 27 June 2022

Liquid water on planets with a primordial atmosphere can be long-lasting

Super-Earths that retain their primordial atmospheres can have long-lasting temperate surfaces. If a layer of water can form on such a planet, it could be liquid for billions of years.

Nature Astronomy 6, 778-779
Comments & Opinion
21 June 2022 | Open Access

Salty ice and the dilemma of ocean exoplanet habitability

Habitability of exoplanet’s deepest oceans could be limited by the presence of high-pressure ices at their base. New work demonstrates that efficient chemical transport within deep planetary ice mantles is possible through significant salt incorporation within the high-pressure ice.
- Baptiste Journaux
Nature Communications 13, 3304

All News & Comment

Exoplanets

Latest Research and Reviews

Miscibility of rock and ice in the interiors of water worlds

Potential long-term habitable conditions on planets with primordial H–He atmospheres

Reply to: The breakup of a long-period comet is not a likely match to the Chicxulub impactor

Stability of high-temperature salty ice suggests electrolyte permeability in water-rich exoplanet icy mantles

A global network model of abiotic phosphorus cycling on Earth through time

A ubiquitous unifying degeneracy in two-body microlensing systems

News and Comment

Double or nothing

IR 2022: An infrared-bright future for ground-based IR observatories in the era of JWST

Stunning new Webb images: baby stars, colliding galaxies and hot exoplanets

Landmark Webb telescope releases first science image — astronomers are in awe

Liquid water on planets with a primordial atmosphere can be long-lasting

Salty ice and the dilemma of ocean exoplanet habitability

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