‘Planets’ Articles at NetMassimo Blog, Page 8

Diagrama of the planetary system of the star GJ 667C, also known as Gliese 667C (Image ESO)

The star GJ 667C has three potentially habitable planets

Massimo Luciani June 29, 2013 0

The star GJ 667C (also known as Gliese 667C) rose to the spotlight a little more than a year ago, when a scientific study led to the identification of three planets and the one called GJ 667Cc was in the habitable zone of its star. Some doubt was expressed regarding this discovery but a new research, conducted by Guillem Anglada-Escudé of the University of Göttingen, Germany, and Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire, UK, led to the conclusion that the star has at least 6 planets of which 3 in its habitable zone.

Picture of the giant hurricane at the North Pole of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft (Photo NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)

The giant hurricane at the North Pole of Saturn has been photographed by the Cassini space probe

Massimo Luciani May 4, 2013 1

NASA has released a series of images taken by the Cassini spacecraft of the huge hurricane in progress at the north pole of the planet Saturn. The eye of this hurricane has a width of about 2,000 km (1,250 miles), about 20 times the average of the hurricanes on Earth, and the winds at its edges reach a speed of around 530 km/h (330 mph).

Map of water distribution in Jupiter's stratosphere (Image ESA/Herschel/T. Cavalié et al.; Jupiter image: NASA/ESA/Reta Beebe (New Mexico State University))

The water in Jupiter’s stratosphere was brought by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

Massimo Luciani April 28, 2013 1

Astronomers have been studying the presence of water in the stratosphere of Jupiter for a long time. Now, thanks to the use of ESA’s Herschel Space Telescope, a team believe they have found evidence that this water was brought by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into the planet in 1994.

Comparison between the Kepler-62 system and our internal solar system (Image NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech)

The stars Kepler-62 and Kepler-69 have potentially habitable planets

Massimo Luciani April 21, 2013 2

Thanks to NASA’s Kepler space telescope it’s been discovered that the star Kepler-62, approximately 1,200 light-years from the Sun, has five planets and the star Kepler-69, approximately 2,700 light-years from the Sun, has two planets. The most interesting news is that two of Kepler-62 planets and one of Kepler-69 planets are probably of the rocky type and their orbit is within the habitable zone of those solar systems.

Artist's concept illustrating how charged water particles flow into Saturn's atmosphere from the planet's rings (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/University of Leicester)

On Saturn, the rain arrives from its rings

Massimo Luciani April 14, 2013 0

In an article published on “Nature”, a team of scientists led by James O’Donoghue, University of Leicester, England, explains how a rain of charged particles from Saturn’s rings falls on the planet in much greater quantities and on a much wider area than previously thought.