Lifeboat Foundation

Astronomers have discovered a “forbidden” planet that appears to be far larger than should be possible given its circumstances. A team of researchers investigated a candidate exoplanet called TOI 5205b, first identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and not only confirmed that the planet was there but also discovered that it has some baffling characteristics.

The exoplanet orbits a type of star called an M dwarf or red dwarf. These are the most common type of stars in our galaxy and are small and cool, typically being around half as hot as our sun.

While it’s common to find exoplanets orbiting red dwarfs, it’s rare to find gas giants orbiting them. And in the case of the recent discovery, the gas giant exoplanet was found orbiting a low-mass M dwarf, which is unheard of. The planet is very large in comparison to its star and blocks out around 7% of the star’s light when passing in front of it.

A newly discovered “forbidden planet” orbiting a tiny star challenges theories of gas giant formation.

Eliezer Yudkowsky is an author, founder, and leading thinker in the AI space.

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“It’s safe, economical and gentle for people,” Iwaya told reporters. “The idea is to make space tourism for everyone.” He said he wants to “democratize space.”

The company, Iwaya Giken, based in Sapporo in northern Japan, has been working on the project since 2012 and says it has developed an airtight two-seat cabin and a balloon capable of rising up to an altitude of 25 kilometers (15 miles), where the curve of the Earth can be clearly viewed. While passengers won’t be in outer space—the balloon only goes up to roughly the middle of the stratosphere—they’ll be higher than a jet plane flies and have an unobstructed view of outer space.

Space Mysteries: An international team of astronomers is on the hunt for objects that should be impossible.

Astronomers have discovered a white dwarf with unprecedented characteristics. It is simultaneously the smallest and most massive white dwarf ever observed by astronomers.

Astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility, which operates at the Palomar Observatory at California Institute of Technology, have discovered an extremely unusual white dwarf star with an extreme magnetic field nearly one billion times more powerful than the one of our Sun. The unique celestial object is both the smallest and most massive white dwarf discovered to date.

White dwarfs are dense, collapsed remnants of stars that were once about eight times more massive than the Sun. They form when stars literally shed their outer layers at the end of their life.

Recently, astronomers observing the sky received a shocking discovery. They found a large galaxy in a hitherto unexplored part of our galaxy. It materialized suddenly out of thin air.

So, how did the galaxy known as Crater 2 accomplish this, similar to a deer springing from cosmic bushes to look into our collective headlights? Although Crater 2 may appear to have suddenly appeared, he has been around the entire time. We just disregarded it.

However, now that we are aware of its existence, astronomers have uncovered a number of embarrassing characteristics. We cannot ascribe the galaxy’s relative obscurity to its size to begin with. Crater 2 is so enormous that it has already been identified as the fourth biggest galaxy inside the orbit of our galaxy. We also cannot blame its remoteness. Crater 2’s orbit around the Milky Way brings it directly overhead.

Stargazers across Wales were able to witness Venus, Jupiter and the Moon aligned in the night sky on Thursday.

M92 is a globular cluster full of stars.