New Study Suggests Cloudy Weather and Molten Metal Downpours on Rogue Exoplanet

By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on November 4th, 2015

An artist’s concept of the free-floating planet PSO J318.5-22. Astronomers have found evidence that the planet is covered with clouds which rain down molten metals, even in the coldness of interstellar space. Image Credit: MPIA/V. Ch. Quetz

We tend to define planets as objects that need a star around which to revolve. Yet, […]

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Gemini Planet Imager Concludes Year-Long Commissioning Phase, Begins Regular Science Observations With Impressive First Results

By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on January 14th, 2015

The circumstellar disk around the young star HR 4796A, as imaged by the Gemini Planet Imager, which is mounted on the 8.2-m Gemini South telescope in Chile. These images reveal a complex pattern of variations in brightness and polarization around the HR 4796A disk. The western side (tilted closer to the Earth) appears […]

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First Direct Imaging of Exoplanet in Visible Light Obtained by Ground-Based Telescope

By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on April 5th, 2014

Image of the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b made with the Magellan Adaptive Optics (MagAO) VisAO camera. This image was made using a CCD camera, which is essentially the same technology as a cell phone camera. The planet is nearly 100,000 times fainter than its star and orbits its star at roughly the same […]

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