Category Archives: Terrestrial planet

L 98-59 is a shiny M dwarf located at 10.6 pc. Located on the border of the continuous observation zone of the James Webb Space Telescope, this system is destined to become a cornerstone of the comparative exoplanetology of terrestrial planets. The three planets in transit have transmission spectrum metrics ranging from 49 to 255, […]

The early Sun’s magnetic field may have driven the processes that resulted in the iron-rich cores of the terrestrial planets. Credit: NASA / SDO / AIA / LMSAL. The iron-nickel metal cores of terrestrial planets decrease in size relative to the size of the planets, with increasing distance from the Sun. Mercury, the planet closest […]

Credit: University of Copenhagen / Lars Buchave. Many planetary materials exhibit distinct isotopic compositions. For example, the isotopic compositions of oxygen differ between the terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These differences indicate that each planet formed from a separate isotopic reservoir, and possibly different regions, in the protoplanetary disc. Numerous attempts have been […]

You have a friend at Proxima b The star Proxima Centauri has long captivated the astronomical community. This is largely due to the fact that the red dwarf is the star closest to the Sun, which means that future interstellar missions like Revolutionary Starshot will probably start by venturing into the Proxima Centauri system first. […]

Scientists have long been intrigued by surfaces of terrestrial bodies other than Earth which reveal deep similarities under their superficially different volcanic and tectonic histories. A team of scientists from NASA, Hampton University and the University of Hong Kong propose a new way to understand the cooling and heat transfer of Earth’s planetary interiors and […]

Photo of Io with a volcanic plume at the top. Credit: The University of Hong Kong Scientists have long been intrigued by surfaces of terrestrial bodies other than Earth which reveal deep similarities under their superficially different volcanic and tectonic histories. A team of scientists from NASA, Hampton University and the University of Hong Kong […]

The recent announcement from ESO that they have discovered a candidate exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri – thus confirming weeks of speculation – has certainly been exciting news! Not only is this latest discovery the closest extra-solar planet to our own solar system, ESO has also indicated that it is rocky, similar in size and mass […]

Chaos in the formation of terrestrial planets Status report of: Electronic print archive arXiv.org Posted: Monday August 10 2015 Volker Hoffmann, Simon L. Grimm, Ben Moore, Joachim Stadel(Submitted August 4, 2015) It is believed that the terrestrial planets are the result of a large number of gravitational interactions and collisions between smaller bodies. We use […]

The terrestrial planets of our solar system at approximately relative sizes. From left to right, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute By studying our solar system over several centuries, astronomers have learned a lot about the types of planets that exist in our universe. This knowledge has since expanded with the […]