Important Innovations Collection

New World Being Created in a Swirling Orange Disc Source:  European Space Agency  Creation of a Planet Deep in Space Astronomers have discovered a new planet being born inside a swirling orange disc surrounding a distant young star.  And, the team of international astronomers who discovered it say this is the first time that humanity has witnessed the birth of a planet.  They add this discovery will help them to better understand how planets come to exist around stars. Celestial Creation As you can see in the picture, the new planet is forming in the very bright yellow twist in the inner region of the orange, swirling disc that surrounds the young star AV Aurigae.  It was spotted by the European Space Agency's European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. 520 Light Years Away The birth of the new planet is taking place 520 light years from Earth.  Lead astronomer Anthony Boccaletti of the Observatoire de Paris in Fra...

Rains Liquid Molten Iron Source:  NASA Exoplanet WASP-76 B Some scientists are calling WASP-76 B the planet from Hell.  It was just discovered in another solar system and is therefore an exoplanet.  The exoplanet is so exotic that even the weather conditions are extremely bizarre.  On WASP-76 B it's usually cloudy with a chance of rain.  But the rain drops are hot liquid molten iron that are boiling hot.  European scientists and astronomers just spotted it using the planet hunting instrument EXPRESSO on a huge international telescope based in Chile.  The weather conditions on this exoplanet are so severe there is molten iron rain! It's a unique finding in the Universe. And despite the extremely harsh environment, you have to wonder about the value of the mineral deposits on such a far away frontier in space. 640 Light Years From Earth This very hot exoplanet is 640 light years away from the Earth.  And, it's a big one.  Twice the ...

Out of This World Exoplanet Source:  NASA Artist Rendering Exoplanet LHS 3844b A NASA space telescope has revealed for the first time a rocky Earth-sized exoplanet.  It's outside of our solar system and tightly orbits around  the most common type of star in our home galaxy, the Milky Way.  The exoplanet has no atmosphere to sustain life. Atmospheric Void Researchers  published their discovery in the journal Nature.  They say the surface of the exoplanet, known as LHS 3844b, is most likely barren like the Moon or covered in dark volcanic rock.  The exoplanet is 49 light years away from the  Earth.  It's one of 4000 exoplanets, discovered in the past 20 years, that orbit stars in the Milky Way.  It's 1.3 times larger than the planet Earth.