In case you are keeping track:
Dark matter could warm the hearts of lonely old planets, scientists predict | Science | AAAS
Dark matter might be raising the temperature of planets outside our Solar System, a pair of physicists predicts. Space telescopes already in the works should be able to spot the effect, they say, potentially enabling scientists to trace how the mysterious stuff is distributed within our Milky Way Galaxy.
"In science, we rarely get a brand-new idea," says Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who was not involved in the work. "So, I think it's great to see this overlapping intersection of dark matter and exoplanets."
VIDEO: Spot the space station, moon and other planets this weekend with these several
Star Trak: Viewing planets difficult in April night skies | Outdoors | hoosiertimes.com
Viewing planets during April will be limited to the evening and morning hours, with a broad stretch of nighttime lacking major planets.
Mars will be high in the western sky after sunset in April, glowing red-orange among the stars of the constellation Taurus. Compare the Red Planet's rusty color with reddish Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus.
After Mars sets around midnight, several hours will pass before Saturn rises shortly after 4 a.m. local time. It will stand 10 degrees high in the southeast by the start of morning twilight, but this is still quite low for good viewing because of turbulence in our atmosphere. Observing the ringed planet will be possible toward the end of the month when it will be more than 20 degrees high as twilight begins. Even at low altitude, moons of Saturn can be spotted in small telescopes.
And were you following this?
Signs of a hidden Planet Nine in our solar system may be an illusion | Science News for Students
Planet Nine might be a mirage. What once looked like evidence for a massive planet hiding at the solar system's edge may be an illusion. That's the conclusion of a new study.
"We can't rule it out," says Kevin Napier of Planet Nine. He's a physicist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "But there's not necessarily a reason to rule it in."
Previous work had suggested that a number of far-out objects in the solar system clump in the sky as if shepherded by an unseen giant planet. That planet would have to have at least 10 times the mass of Earth. Astronomers dubbed the invisible world Planet Nine or Planet X.
First X-rays from Uranus Discovered | NASA
Why 'The Hunt For Planet B' Is An Impossible Task—But One That's Already Changing Our World
The Webb Space Telescope near completion in a scene from The Hunt for Planet B, directed by ... [+] Nathaniel Kahn.
The Hunt for Planet B is the human story. It reveals a world of thinkers, dreamers and doers that dare to imagine what's out there on exoplanets—defined as a planet outside the Solar System—and who build machines to find out more that take entire careers to complete.
Two strange planets: Neptune and Uranus remain mysterious after new findings
Computer simulations show that water and ammonia, the main components of Uranus and Neptune, enter an unusual state at very high pressures and temperatures: a "superionic state," which has the properties of both a solid and a liquid. In this state, the hydrogen ions become mobile within the lattice structure formed by oxygen or nitrogen.
Recent experimental studies confirm that superionic water can exist at the depth where, according to theory, the stably layered region is located. It could therefore be that the stratified layer is formed by superionic components. However, it is unclear whether the components are actually able to suppress convection, since the physical properties of the superionic state are not known.
Happening on Twitter
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will create enormous cosmic panoramas, helping us answer questions about t… https://t.co/kInQg3vIuz NASAExoplanets (from Beyond) Thu Apr 01 19:01:25 +0000 2021
NASA's #Roman mission predicted to find 100,000 transiting #planets @NASAGoddard https://t.co/9zNoPmL57y physorg_com Thu Apr 01 11:50:59 +0000 2021
Panoramas aren't just for beautiful landscape photos on Earth. Our @NASARoman will create huge cosmic panoramas, he… https://t.co/AJwPIZ76zq NASAGoddard (from Greenbelt, MD USA) Thu Apr 01 10:57:15 +0000 2021
Using new infrared filter technology, our @NASARoman telescope will be able to spot water ice on objects in the out… https://t.co/uqjO8GIp3w NASA (from Pale Blue Dot) Mon Mar 29 15:25:06 +0000 2021
