Measuring a distant planet’s transit (The Exoplant Transit Method)

Measuring a distant planet’s transit (The Exoplant Transit Method)

Astronomers first discovered evidence of a new planet outside of our solar system in 1995. Since then astronomers have discovered 529 other planets. These planets outside our solar system, referred to as extra-solar planets or in short exoplanets, have been detected

55 Cancri E – Super-Earth planet scientists think is likely made of diamond

55 Cancri E – Super-Earth planet scientists think is likely made of diamond

A recent study done by Nikku Madhusudhan, a Yale postdoctoral researcher in physics and astronomy, Yale geophysicist Kanani Lee, and Olivier Mousis, a planetary scientist at the IRAP suggests a surface of a nearby super-Earth planet is covered in graphite and diamond.

First cosmic census estimates there are 50 billion planets in Milky Way

First cosmic census estimates there are 50 billion planets in Milky Way

Scientists have estimated the first cosmic census of planets in our galaxy and the numbers are astronomical – at least 50 billion planets in the Milky Way. And some 500 million of those planets are in what is known as the Goldilocks zone, where the climate is thought