CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Scientists say they have discovered a new planet described as a "Super-Earth."
It's about 280 lightyears away and is known as an exoplanet because it's located outside of our solar system.
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Meaning the average surface temperature is most likely three thousand one hundred-and forty-degrees Fahrenheit.
Not to change the topic here:
NASA finds an alien planet with 3 suns | Fox News
NASA has discovered an exoplanet with three stars, one with a bizarre orbit that has left astronomers baffled.
The planet, known as KOI-5Ab was discovered in 2009 by NASA's Kepler space telescope, but it was "abandoned" by scientists because the space telescope had easier candidates to identify.
"KOI-5Ab got abandoned because it was complicated, and we had thousands of candidates," said David Ciardi, chief scientist of NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute, in a statement . "There were easier pickings than KOI-5Ab, and we were learning something new from Kepler every day, so that KOI-5 was mostly forgotten."
How to see meteor showers, lunar eclipse, planets in 2021
The year starts off slow when it comes to skywatching, but your patience will be rewarded later with a half-dozen meteor showers, four supermoons and even a total lunar eclipse.
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Jan. 20: The planet Uranus is often too faint to be seen with the naked eye. But on the evening of Jan. 20, NASA says you should be able to see the planet located between a crescent moon and Mars. Mars is the planet with the slightly reddish glow.
Mid- to late January: You should be able to see the planet Mercury just after sunset. Mercury will appear a few degrees above the horizon in the west.
Rocky 'super-Earth' planet spotted orbiting one of the Milky Way's oldest stars | Space
One of the oldest stars in the Milky Way galaxy hosts an unusually hot, rocky "super-Earth" planet , a new study reports.
Known as TOI-561b, this exoplanet is about 50% larger and three times more massive than Earth, researchers said. It whips around its host star in a very close orbit, taking less than 12 hours to complete one lap.
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"This is surprising, because you'd expect the density to be higher," study co-author Stephen Kane, a planetary astrophysicist from UC Riverside, said in the statement . "This is consistent with the notion that the planet is extremely old."
Quite a lot has been going on:
NASA extends planetary science missions at Mars and Jupiter | Space
NASA is ready to give missions at Mars and Jupiter a little more time to continue their investigations, although there's no guarantee they will finish out their extended missions.
The Juno orbital mission at Jupiter will be extended four years and the InSight lander mission at Mars two on the basis of each mission's producing "exceptional science," according to an independent review panel NASA quoted in a press release .
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InSight's power margins "are likely to reach critically low levels during the proposed EM [extended mission]," the review panel noted , adding that the spacecraft will likely need to implement power-saving measures to keep the mission going past late July 2021. Even given those measures, if dust accumulates beyond a certain threshold, the lander's solar panels may not draw enough power to continue the mission until the end of its extension, in December 2022.
The Christmas Star: Jupiter, Saturn To Form Double Planet
An amazing show will occur hundreds of millions of miles above our heads Monday. Jupiter and Saturn will be so close they will appear to form a double planet.
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This year's alignment is rare because the two planets will seem to overlap each other from Earth's point of view. In reality, the planets will still be about 450 million miles away from each other.
The last time the two planets were this close to each other, from Earth's point of view, was back in 1623.
Mars Needs Minerals: Researchers Are Trying to Turn the Red Planet Green - IGN
It can take seven months – or more – to get to Mars. NASA can send supplies to the International Space Station if need be, but the same isn't true of the distant planet. Instead, astronauts spending any time on Mars will have to rely on what's known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) – using what's around to replace objects brought from Earth. That includes food, which will eventually have to be grown there, to support any long-term residents.
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Some studies have shown it's theoretically possible to grow plants in replicated Martian soil, but there aren't big enough samples of actual Martian regolith to be certain. Since there's no way to do farming trials on Mars itself, scientists try to replicate conditions on Earth. Researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology recently tried to grow Arabidopsis thaliana, a weed, and Lactuca sativa, lettuce, in a trio of Martian Regolith Simulants .
Mike Lynch’s Skywatch: Mars meets the Planet George with a sheep watching – Twin
I admit that my title for this column is a strange one, but there is an explanation. Let's start with Mars. Since late last summer, Mars has been a part of the evening sky. In early October, Mars and Earth passed within 39 million miles of each other while traveling in their individual orbits around the sun, something astronomers call opposition.
Mars was very bright in October but has faded since then as the red planet is now over 100 million miles away. Despite that, Mars is still easily found high in the southern evening sky. Just look for the brightest star-like object in that part of the sky with a distinctive orange-red hue. If you're still unsure you're looking at Mars in the southern sky, the moon will confirm it for you this coming Wednesday evening.
Happening on Twitter
The science behind climate change is not a hoax. The science behind COVID-19 is not partisan. And President-elec… https://t.co/yUZ0eXs65m KamalaHarris (from California) Sat Jan 16 21:32:22 +0000 2021
.@JoeBiden and I will listen to the scientists. https://t.co/N0JloKI44w KamalaHarris (from California) Sun Jan 17 02:26:54 +0000 2021
Thank you @PresRajapaksa. The tireless efforts of our scientists and frontline workers have played a crucial role i… https://t.co/4GGNl0Ki5w narendramodi (from India) Sun Jan 17 02:48:54 +0000 2021
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