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While exoplanets are seemingly a dime a dozen, their looks have been mysteries; they often exist only as measurements. Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have partly solved that riddle by pinpointing the visible color of an extrasolar world for the first time. By measuring reflected light, they can tell that HD 189733b (conceptualized above) is a cobalt blue, much like Earth’s oceans. Not that we can claim much kinship, though. The planet is a gas giant 63 light-years away — its blue tint comes from an atmosphere likely full of deadly silicate. As disappointing as that may be, the discovery should at least help us understand planet types that don’t exist in the Solar System.

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Source: ESA

NASA’s Kepler telescope has discovered three “super-Earth-size” exoplanets that are close enough to their stars to make them possibly suitable for water. Two of the planets (Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f) orbit a K2 dwarf estimated to be around 7 billion years old. Measuring at two-thirds the size of our sun, this cosmic lantern is orbited by a total of five planets, three of which are too close to be habitable for life. Kepler-69c, the biggest of this newly discovered trio is estimated to be 70 percent larger than Earth and takes 242 days to revolve around its sun-like star Kepler-69. While there’s great excitement surrounding these new findings, this isn’t the first time we’ve spotted a potentially habitable planet. A little over a year ago Kepler discovered Kepler-22b, an exoplanet about 600 light-years away from Earth believed to be covered in liquid. Like their predecessor, NASA has yet to determine if these newfound planets actually have water or a rocky composition. Until then, Ridley Scott might want to hold off on naming them as locations for his sequel to Prometheus.

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Via: Wired

Source: NASA

It’s taken more than six years of development, but a new imaging system for the Palomar Observatory’s 200-inch Hale Telescope finally started capturing images last month, and promises to aid significantly in the search for planets outside our solar system (otherwise known as exoplanets). With the suitably mysterious name of “Project 1640,” the new instrument is the first of its kind that’s able to directly spot planets orbiting distant suns — as opposed to existing systems that use indirect detection methods to determine the orbit of exoplanets. To do that, Project 1640 effectively blots out the light from stars, which allows astronomers to more clearly observe what might be around them, including objects up to 10 million times fainter than the star itself (the image on the right above is a nearby star captured with the imaging system in place, compared to the same star captured without the new system on the left). Those curious can find more specifics on just how that’s accomplished in the official announcement linked below.

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Project 1640 offers new way to search for planets beyond our solar system originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Imagine you’re outside, walking happily on a beautiful sunny day. Suddenly, the light gets intense. You look up, and see a bright flash filling everything. Seconds later, a powerful wind starts pushing the clouds out of view at hypersonic speed. Buildings, trees, and people fly away, disintegrating into a billion pieces. Everything around you disappears and the sky is no longer blue, because the atmosphere has been blown away like a candle. More »