It’s not too soon to begin thinking about this.

Since the goal is to find Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars, the Sun is an ideal proxy, as it is the only one astronomers can fully resolve. Dedicated instruments with high-precision spectrographs have been developed to observe the “Sun-as-a-star,” such as the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher North (HARPS-N) solar telescope and the HARPS spectrograph (HELIOS). The main drawback is that only disc-integrated spectra are obtained, precluding a detailed analysis of individual stellar features.

According to the team, what is needed is a telescope that can offer three vital things: 1. Spatially resolved spectroscopy with very high wavelength stability 2. Very high spectral resolution to adequately resolve photospheric line asymmetries 3. Extended wavelength coverage, for the simultaneous observation of thousands of spectral lines probing different physical conditions.

This, they claim, can be achieved by linking the ESPRESSO spectrograph to a solar telescope — in this case, PoET. The solar telescope will observe the Sun at different spatial scales, corresponding to sunspots and solar granules, and send the light it gathers to ESPRESSO via optical fibers. The overall system involves three telescopes, starting with the main telescope (MT) developed by Officina Stellare. This telescope has a Gregorian configuration, standard for solar observations, and will observe small areas of the solar disc.

A tiny world in our Solar System has an atmosphere it shouldn’t—hinting something dramatic happened there recently.

A group of Japanese astronomers, including both professionals and amateur observers, has found signs of a thin atmosphere surrounding a small object far beyond Neptune. The discovery is surprising because the object is so small that it should not be able to hold onto gas for long. This raises new questions about when the atmosphere formed and what is keeping it there. Additional observations will be needed to better understand this unusual finding.

Why most trans-neptunian objects are airless.

Across the Milky Way galaxy, a planetary odd couple is circling a star some 190 light years from Earth. A normally “lonely” hot Jupiter is sharing space with a mini-Neptune, in a rare and unlikely pairing that’s had astronomers puzzled since the system’s discovery in 2020.

Now MIT scientists have caught a glimpse into the atmosphere of the mini-Neptune, which is circling inside the orbit of its Jupiter-sized companion, and discovered clues to explain the origins of this unusual planetary system.

In a study appearing in Astrophysical Journal Letters, the scientists report on new measurements of the mini-Neptune’s atmosphere, made using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is the first time astronomers have measured the composition of a mini-Neptune that resides inside the orbit of a hot Jupiter.

This is about making debris removal operational, not experimental.

Scientists have seemingly settled long-standing arguments about whether the components of Earth originated from the inner or outer Solar System.